"You what?" Ryan yelled at the top of his lungs as he stood up and slammed his hands onto the table, shaking the plates and glasses on it. The words he just heard come out of his daughter mouth shook him to his core. He never imagined hearing one of his own children tell him something so horrible. His mind began racing with horrible thoughts. He glanced down at his wife to see her covering her mouth with her hand and her teary eyes wide open.
"I had to join an assassins guild…" Jamie said with her head held low with ears pointed down.
"You did not have to!" Ryan interrupted loudly. "You could have done anything but that! You joined a despicable group of low lives who kill for pocket change."
"It was NOT pocket change. I was taken in and given a home." Jamie shot up and rebuked, "They paid me well and fed me."
"To kill people Jamie." Ryan huffed as he stood there with a red face. "You are taking people's lives for gold."
"I'm doing it to survive, since I had no home to return to." Jamie said sternly
"You did have a place to return to and a place you could have gone, multiple places in fact." Ryan stated harshly. "And what about those you've killed, are they not trying to survive themselves?"
"Trust me," Jamie exclaimed back, "most of the people I had to kill should not be alive anyways."
"That is not for you to decide Jamie." Ryan told his daughter with a heavy sigh. "Why did you run away Jamie, why didn't you try coming back or going to the church? Or better yet if you didn't want to go there why didn't you go to your Aunt Hillary? Why did you run off and join a guild that despicable?"
"Because I thought everyone was dead!" Jamie slammed her hands onto the table and stood up. "Because I was told there was no point going back since no one would be there! Because little nine year old Jamie was pulled out of her burning home and watched it get engulfed. Then was told by her older brother that he was all that was left as he pulled her away from there. He was all I had, then I lost him too!" She screamed as tears streamed down her face. "I was told to always trust my family growing up, and I listened. I trusted my brother and he brought me far away from safety, then abandoned me in a village of thieves and mercenaries. And now I finally wanted to come forward and tell someone I thought I could trusted what happened, and I was proven wrong again." She aggressively turned around and stormed out of the house.
"Jamie, wait!" Ryan called with a heavy heart, but he was only met with the slam of the heavy wooden door.
Jamie stormed down the small hill her parents home sat on. She made her way down into the small town and continued to walk while wiping tears off of her face. She ignored the glances of the people as she passed by them until she heard her brother's voice calling to her. She turned her head to the left to see Mykael standing there with Katelyn. He held up his hand to wave her over but Jamie turned her head away and kept walking forward, she couldn't bare speaking to him right now. She got through the town gates and made her way down the dirt road. She walked far enough to get out of the gatekeepers' view and looked around. She then darted into the woods near the road. As she ran into the woods she began to cry again. She started running as fast as she could through the woods until she ran straight into a tree. The force of the impact knocked her onto her back. Tears flowed down her face as she stared into the gray cloudy sky. Her mind began to replay the scene of her mother and father's reaction. She could vividly see the pain on her mother's face once again. She made a mistake and she knew it. How was she to face her family once again now that they know some of the things she had done. If this is how they would react to that, then it could only get worse. She finally got her family back, just to throw it away. She still had the guild though, they were technically family. Suddenly a bolt of bright lightning struck the forest a few miles from her. The loud thunderous boom that came after startled her as it almost seemed to shake the ground. She looked around as wiped the tears from her eyes and saw nothing but the forest around her. She regained her composure, stood up, and began to dust herself off. She looked around at the trees next to her for moss. She eventually found some and began to head northeast. Light rain began to fall upon the forest as she traveled. After an hour of walking she came upon a river that flowed south. She stopped to rest for a bit and clear her thoughts again. She studied the area until she had a general idea on where she was. She knew her destination was on the river to the northwest, but she was running out of what daylight could come through the clouds. She knew she had to hurry and follow the river. She picked up her pace and began to follow it upstream and the rain gently came down upon her. As she walked she kept thinking about earlier that day, and her mind kept racing. She pulled a small cloth bag from her pocket and opened it. She pulled a small orange leaf out and glared at it. The leaf came from a small rare plant called the Demon's Thorn. The plant grows sporadically throughout the continent, generally around areas where demons were exercised. When burned at specific temperatures, it creates a mild hallucinogenic and significantly increases the dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain. When used it is called Eupherium because it creates a euphoric effect in the brain which is highly addictive. Jamie began to sweat profusely while looking at the leaf. It had been awhile since she had used it and had the incident, but her last contract had some on him. She had been contemplating it over and over for days, but today seemed like the day. Pulled out a small piece of paper and began to crush up the leaf onto it. She rolled the paper up and put the end in her mouth and covered the top with her hand. She put her pointer finger up to the end and produced a small but very hot flame. As she began to burn the end the bushes to her right began to russell. She hid the Eupherium and turned quickly to her right, and what she saw startled her. There was a skinny light skinned man squinting at her. The human was covered in ragged clothes that looked more like strips of cloth and had dirty brown hair and brown eyes. The man looked to be in his very early 20s and didn't have much in the way of muscle. He raised his hand up to wave when suddenly in the blink of an eye he was pushed up against a tree with a blade to his throat.
"Who the hell are you?" Jamie demanded as she pushed harder on his neck with her sword.
"Woah calm down!" The man stuttered
"No, fuck you!" She shouted with rage. "Tell me who the fuck you are and why you are out this way!"
"I, uh, I'm not really sure how to give you an answer." He stuttered while squinting into her eyes.
"Don't give me that bullshit, how can you not even know your fucking name dipshit" She looked him up and gown and gave him a look of disgust. "Are you some kind of fucking pervert lost out in the wood while spiked up on weird shit?" she snarled.
"No, no I haven't taken anything. I can't remember who I am if I'm honest with you." He said quietly as his face turned red with embarrassment.
"I don't believe that." Jamie spurted out angrily, pushing the blade harder onto the man's throat causing blood to trickle down. "I'm not in the mood for this today, I've already had to deal with enough shit and I'm sick of it." As she said this a small tear trickled down her face, but she didn't notice it due to the rain. The man stared at her for a minute.
"Are you ok?" The man blurted out suddenly
"What?" She said, startled by his question.
"You're crying, are you ok?" She took the sword off of his neck and stabbed it into the tree next to his head then took her elbow and slammed on his neck. He felt something metal under her sleeve and it pressed on him.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" She yelled and more tears began to form in her emerald eyes.
"Well you seem really stressed and emotional, so I was just wondering if you were ok." He said hesitantly. There was a long awkward silence as she looked at him dumbfounded. The rain fell gently around them as thunder roared in the distance with the sound of the river flowing to the side of them. Jamie loosened her grip on him and let her head fall and face the ground. For a second the man thought he heard a few whimpers which turned to light laughter. She continued laughing harder, eventually throwing her head back and letting go of the man while leaving the sword still stuck in the tree. Jamie took a step back and began to laugh louder. The tranquil forest was now filled with the sound of her laughter. She finally looked back down at him to reveal that tears were flowing from her eyes now.
"You're an odd one, aren't you?"