Rak - 2019-
The final exams before graduation are near, and everyone is talking about how much fun are we going to have at uni, but to be honest I don't know if that's the case for me.
I don't know what I want to major in and I've never had a dream of mine. My hobby is photography, but I'm doing it just because my friends like it and I don't wanna be excluded from the group.
My life has always been boring and meaningless, bland.
"Rak?" I sigh as I open the English book, getting psychologically ready to study all this stuff "Dokrak!" I hear Goya's voice sharp in my ear and i suddenly back off, covering my ear with one hand "Earth to Rak! I asked you a question" she says to me in her usual sassy tone that she usures when she's annoyed, but I should be the one who's annoyed since she just made me deaf.
"Sorry, what did you say?" I ask her
"What topic do you think we should focus on? The teacher's a massive bitch, I'm sure she'll make it harder for us to pass." She says while she fixes her makeup while looking into her phone screen "Well, it's mostly all about speaking skills, idioms. That's what she told us to study the most."
I don't even wanna hear anything about school right now, it all just stresses me out "I don't get why we need all of this! We're gonna be photographers not translators!" She complains making me smile a bit.
She's been like this for as long as I've known her, since elementary school, she's been a total diva. Always just thinking about clothes, nails, makeup and boys. That's her whole world.
I mean, looking at her now, she's totally against the school rules; her hair died a cherry red, fake lashes and makeup, gel nails.tahts why she always gets scolded.
But I belive she's gonna be a great photographer, unlike me. She takes pictures and they instantly look like a movie cover, with a story and emotion, while my photos are freaking basic.
.
.
.
- 2 hours later-
We pack our bags and get up from the tables outside, since we finished studying. Goya turns to me "Wanna go get something to eat?"
"I'd rather not,"
"Oh common! I'm so bored, let's hang out."
I sigh.
I'm just tierd. And my social battery lasts like five minutes "I'm going home, call Oh if you want company."
I walk away to the school gate "You bitch! Oh is probably with his boyfriend! You're always ditching me!!" I hear her scream behind me.
I walk silently on the road back home, with the toughts of today still haunting me.
"Bang! Bang!" It felt like an explosion that scared me so much i suddenly collapsed on my knees on the floor.
Huh? Was that a gunshot? I try to find a spot to hide but I'm in the middle of the street.
The silence that follows is the heaviest thing I've ever felt. It's a vacuum that sucks the air out of my lungs.
Suddenly someone falls on me, and I'm frozen underneath them. When I look up I see a girl, she's ingured, her lip is bleeding "A-Are you—-" she pushes me away and runs, I'm terrified and immediately run after her, to escape whatever is running behind us.
When I'm scared I can't be alone so I just follow her to a dark alley, she notices my presence and stops "Get lost" she tells me, no— it's like she orders me to.
I take a better look at her, she seems older. She's got a short wolfcut with some grown bags "what are you staring at? Get lost if you don't wanna die" I hear her rough voice again, this time angrier, and that scares me so much I just stand there, paralised.
She sighs and runs a hand trough her hair looking annoyed, and I'm incredibly ashemed, but I'm too scared to even move when we suddenly hear the gunshots again.
A group of six men, all armed appear behind her "fuck" she grabs my hand and starts running, while the rain starts pouring above us.
Her grip on me is tight, and she runs so fast I my legs can barley take it, but the fear in me makes me keep up with her.
The men keep getting closer and closer, and we both can't run anymore. My heart is beating out of my chest, am I really going to die today?
"Try to stay behind me," she says.
Her voice is so quiet it's scary. I catch the silver glint of those two tiny knives in her hands and my stomach just drops. Those? Against all of them? I want to scream at her to run but when I open my mouth nothing comes out.
Then the sound happens.
CRACK.
It's not like the movies. It's a physical punch to the air that makes my ears ring instantly. I flinch, waiting for the cold rip of a bullet, but instead, I hear this sharp clink. I swear I see a spark fly off her blade. She didn't just move; she danced around it.
One guy lunges for me—his face is twisted, his hand reaching out like a claw—and I let out a choked sob, pulling back. But she's already there. She doesn't leave my side; she just pivots, her back still pinned to mine, and her arm is a blur. The knife catches him across the arm, and he's howling before he even touches my shirt.
I'm huddled in her shadow, trying to make myself invisible. Every time someone tries to get a hand on me, she's there like a shield.
It's over. It happened so fast I couldn't even scream. Six grown men—guys who looked like they could break me with one hand—are just… gone. They're sprawled out on the cold ground like broken dolls. And she's just standing there.
She looks like a nightmare. Her hands are stained a deep, slick crimson, and the blood is dripping off the tips of those two small blades, making a rhythmic tap-tap-tap on the floor. She's wearing these baggy, ripped jeans and an animal print short-sleeved shirt—a leopard-print button-down—that's tucked in just enough to show the gold chain around her neck. It catches the overhead light, flickering against her skin.
She looks like a gangster. Like someone who grew up in the shadows and learned how to bite back.
But then she turns, and the air catches in my chest. Up close, under the grime and the splatters, she looks so... young. Her face hasn't even lost that soft, teenage roundness yet. How can someone who looks like she should be worrying about a math test have eyes that stay that steady while ending six lives?
She walks closer to me, just a step, and I stare at her young, yet sharp features and beautiful brown almond eyes "Don't get in trouble again." She says, and then turns around and walks away.
What the hell was all this?