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KEIRA WAS SILENTLY WALKING THROUGH the metallic and cold hallways of the Ark. The sound of her small steps was the only thing she could hear as she moved towards her compartment. She was looking at the grey floor, walking as fast as she could, wanting to arrive to her house. She always felt this way whenever she got back home. The feeling of nervousness increased at the sight of the door of her neighbors.
Msr. Sullivan had always been a quiet woman, hidden behind quiet words to her family and always wearing clothes of three size bigger than hers. When Keira was little she would ask her parents the reason of it, but they would just shrug and make their daughter walk as far away from her as they could. Just as she grew older, Keira understood why Mrs. Sullivan acted thia way.
Mr. Sullivan, or as everyone knew him, Johnny was a very well-known engineer who had the respect of powerful people in the Ark, such as the Guard or some people from the Council. He had blonde hair, always perfectly brushed, and deep blue eyes. He was also an abusive and alcoholic husband.
Keira found that out after hearing constant shouts and cries from their compartment, though she never spoke about that with her family. But every night when she would go to bed, she would start hearing screams, sounds of glass breaking and sobs of agony. Then, the next day when she would see Mrs. Sullivan she would understand the bruise in her eye, and the way she grabbed her huge sweatshirt to cover up her injured arms. It was horrible and Keira hated herself for not helping the poor woman, but she couldn't, no one could. In the society of the Ark, power was above everything else.
Keira turned right, her heart bumping into her chest, hoping she would not have to see Johnny at his door. She was afraid of him even though she knew that he never acted violent in front of anyone who wasn't his wife. But instead of finding him, she found Mrs. Sullivan.
She was desperately knocking on the door of the compartment she and her husband shared, her clothes ripped off and tears and blood in her cheeks. The teenage girl stayed in shock at sight of the abused woman but then rushed towards her. She wanted to help her. She had to help her.
"Mrs Sullivan" she called softly. The woman turned to her and she collapsed to the ground, shaky breaths coming out from her mouth as she tried to stop crying. "Mrs Sullivan" Keira repeated crouching down in front of her and grabbing her hand. "Are you okay?"
Keira regretted instantly asking such a dumb question, but the woman shook her head yes while she tried to cover herself with her torn apart shirt. Her clothes were a disaster, as they had been ripped. Keira's eyes found their way to all the scars of her body but she looked away rapidly, the tears starting to form in her eyes. In that moment, she despised herself. She could have done something to stop that horrible situation or at least, try to do so. But she had remained silent, following her parents' advice of not getting involved in things that didn't concern her.
"How about I give you some clothes and I make some soup for you?" Keira asked her, guilt and regret present in her voice and eyes. The woman in front of her nodded, wiping the tears away from her cheeks and swallowing the lump she had in her throat.
Keira helped her stand up and then typed the code of her compartment, the door opening and creaking. Mrs Sullivan entered before her and then Keira shut the door. She watched how Mrs Sullivan sat down on the small sofa they had in their room and smiled softly at her.
"I'm going to prepare some soup and I'll get some clothes of my mom, okay?" Keira said sending her a comforting smile.
She left the room and shut the door of her parents' bedroom just to lean on it and breathe. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Well, she also didn't want to believe the huge scolding of her parents when they came home, which was about, twenty minutes.
Keira breathed deeply and then grabbed some of her mom's clothes. "You can do this" she whispered to herself while she entered to the room where Mrs Sullivan was. But Keira didn't found her in the sofa, instead, she found her staring at her husband who was in front of the principal door. She was letting her husband into Keira's house.
The teenager's lips trembled as she watched how the woman mumbled millions of apologies to the man in front of her. But Johnny didn't looked pleased with them, in fact, he looked more furious as the words kept coming out of his wife's mouth.
Keira's eyes went wide when she saw what Mr. Sullivan was holding in his arms. A knife. He was holding it so hard that his knuckles were white. Suddenly, he stepped inside her home and shut the door behind him.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" Mrs. Sullivan continued repeating that sentence. The woman even kneeled in front of him, breaking into sobs "Johnny please, think about our son"
Keira held her breath as she looked at Mrs Sullivan's belly, she was pregnant. But she had to be only a few months because the bump in her belly was still unnoticeable.
That was when Johnny directed the knife in his hand towards her, stabbing her in the chest and then removing it from there, throwing the knife to the floor. Keira screamed in horror as she dropped the clothes in her hands and ran in her direction.
Mrs. Sullivan's body fell backwards and Keira was fast enough to catch her before she collapsed to the metal floor. The seventeen year old girl left her softly on the ground just to put her hands in her chest, trying to prevent more blood from coming out of her body. But she couldn't.
The blade had gone too deep and Keira knew the woman was going to die. The tears in her eyes started to make Keira's vision blurry as she cried for help, her hands still trying to put pressure on her wound.
"I- I-" Mrs Sullivan started to mumble grabbing Keira's bicep and squeezing it so tightly that it hurt. "Th- Thank" the woman didn't finish the sentence, her blood covered lips stopping moving and her eyes staring blankly at the roof of Keira's compartment.
Keira then stopped applying pressure to her wound. She realized the woman had died and so did the baby she was carrying inside her. The teenager turned to look at Johnny, who was staring at the scene with a blank expression. Then his eyes were filled with fear as he started hearing the guards arriving to the Anderson family's house.
"Help!" he suddenly started to shout, gaining the attention of the guards who appeared just some seconds after "Help! She killed my wife! She's crazy!"
Keira looked away from the man and then stared at her hands, red from the blood. She looked at her white shirt which was now soaked from Mrs Sullivan's blood and brought her hands to her hair sobbing uncontrollably as she felt some strong arms pulling her up.
"She had just told me we were having a baby" Johnny cried as he collapsed to the floor, fake tears rolling from his cheeks.
Keira felt some guards grabbing her by her arms and pulling her against the wall of her house. Her cheeks met with the cold metal as the guards handcuffed her, but Keira didn't even realize that, her eyes still on the unmoving figure of Mrs Sullivan.
