Killer Vixen

We're All Alike In The Eyes of the Watcher

Some say if you beg, you get what you will receive; but if you are chosen, the pleasure is all the more exciting.

In the beginning, there were no real signs to alarm us of what was soon to happen, no flashing lights or blaring sirens. Just little girls and boys snatched from their mothers and fathers, taken to the highest room in the tallest castle. New laws were set and king’s overruled. We were no longer free to be who we wanted. Instead, us little boys and girls had to train for a stronger kingdom.

We were the trained assassins of Caviel.

“Awake, Avivah. It is time for breakfast.”

After a small groan, my eyes open to both the blinding sunlight and my friend, Perri’s freckled face. She wasn’t the most athletic or brainy of the bunch but she came in handy where it counted.

“Yes, I know, Perri. I’ll be down in a minute. Tell Officer Lu that I’m getting ready.”

“I already did. I got your clothes too.” Perri smiled her big cheesy smile and twirled over to the bedside table near her bed. “Here they are. Black camisole, black tights, and black converse. Just as you like it.”

“Thanks, Perri.” Getting out of bed and pulling off last night’s sleepwear, I notice her smile faltering. For someone who never stops smiling, it was pretty off. It just wasn’t like Perri.

“No problem, Avivah.”

A part of me hesitates to ask but I couldn’t just let it slide. “Hey, um, Perri?”

“Yes?”

“Why aren’t you downstairs with the other kids? I mean, it was nice of you to wake me and all but, did something happen down there?”

“Of course not! Why would you think that?” Perri’s voice dropped to almost a whisper as she said, “I just felt like staying upstairs for a while, ya know?”

Nope. This wasn’t the Perri I knew.

“Perri, did Bren say anything to you again? If she did I can-”

“No.” She snarled. “Bren didn’t say anything to me.”

“Then why are you so-”

“I’m fine, Avivah. Now hurry before Officer Lu makes you run five miles for being late and missing breakfast.”

Seeing as though this Perri didn’t wanna open up to me, I shrugged and laced my converse, thinking maybe she would later.

Downstairs in the lunchroom, Bren sat with her obnoxious clique of snobby girlfriends, pointing and giggling at the lower yet advanced class of assassins.

“Like, really? Look at her arms. Those twigs probably can’t hold a machine gun.” She laughed and pointed to the far side of the lunchroom where a guy no older than seventeen sat quietly eating his lunch with his hair in the cut of a mohawk. “And him over there. What was he thinking wearing that type of haircut? What’s it called anyway? ‘Mommy doesn’t love me so Daddy will’?”

Her group of snotty nosed wannabes shook their heads and gave amused laughs. Bren and her clique basically defined high school lunch; raw and undercooked. By the time I got to the middle of the lunchroom, Bren had already noticed me by now and wasn’t gonna let me hear the end of it.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in. If it isn’t little Miss Sleeping Beauty. Had a great rest? Or did Perri kiss you so soon?” Bren’s lips formed into a mocked kissy face as her friends made puckering noises.

Perri looked down at her shoes and walked to the window, a single tear finding its way down her cheek.

“Really, Bren? What’s your deal? Have you decided to be an evil witch today?” I gave a sarcastic gasp. “Oh, I’m sorry. You’re like this everyday.”