Locked Gates: Chapter 03

Chapter Three: Forsaken Memories

          “Run! Hanaka! Run now!” The woman was screaming, her eyes taut with pain and fear. The girl was frozen; her back pressed up against the wall, terror consuming her tiny body.
          Gunfire filled the air. There were screams and shouts echoing through the street. The house was on fire. It was burning. Burning to the ground. The woman grabbed the little girl with both arms, lifted her up and carried her as fast as she could. Suddenly a door to their right burst open and a great back draft of fire burst out as though shooting forth from a dragon’s mouth. The two of them screamed as the ball of flames burst upon the woman, sending them both flying.
          They hit the ground, smashed into the carpet. Face burning, the girl; Hanaka; looked up, her eyes widening at the sight of the burning walls. Screams were issuing all around her, along with the echoing cries of guns.
          “H… Hanaka…” the woman, Hanaka’s mother, reaching out for Hanaka with both her blood-stained hand, and tear stained cheeks. “Hanaka… Go …” her hand was reaching hopelessly…
          The girl flinched when the woman touched her cheek, but tears welled up in her eyes when her soft fingers began to caress her skin. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she move properly? Why wasn’t mummy running anymore?
          Hanaka’s eyes gazed upwards. She found out why: the entire midsection of the woman’s back was nothing more than smoking charcoal. “M – mummy…?” Hanaka whimpered, reaching out to touch the woman’s tear stained face. Mummy’s cuddles had always made things better. And maybe, just maybe, in the middle of this burning building, mummy’s cuddles could make everything better…
          Suddenly another door burst open, but instead of a blast of fire, a man appeared. His eyes reflected the fire, and yet they seemed so icily cold, and looked just as evil. He stood there momentarily, searching with landing, before coming to a rest on Hanaka. She felt her entire body freeze with fear, before the man vanished behind a wall of gunfire.
          Mummy’s hands thrashed around, smacking Hanaka in the face as her entire body writhed and contorted as a rain of bullets pummelled into her. Hanaka screamed as her mummy exploded before her eyes in a field of blood, her body was thrown back against the wall, mouth forever open in a silent scream of agony, eyes wide with pain, tearing out from her skull.
          Hanaka froze. Eyes blazing, her screaming silenced by the roar of the flames. The man turned on her. His deep brown eyes glaring, he advanced towards her. The ground shook with every footstep. But she couldn’t move, she couldn’t run, mortified by the events, her entire body had frozen up.
          Before the man could even move and closer, a smaller figure slammed into him. The two grappled with each other, and Hanaka took this chance, to run. Logic, courage and thought had been completely erased by fear. Hanaka leapt over a flaming stair and landed in the hallway.
          Fire was all around her. Her life was burning red. Burning blood red. Tears pouring down her horrified face, the girl recognised the screams accompanying the roar of the flames; her baby brother. Her baby brother must be trapped somewhere in the fire! She could hear shouting on the other side of the door to her right. She could hear screaming from her left coming from behind the dining room door; her brother’s screams. Smoke was furling through the gap underneath the door.
          Hanaka, beside herself with fear, took a deep breath and charged the door. At the sound of her baby brothers petrified screams blind courage had beaten down the blind fear.
          Bursting through the door, Hanaka could see her brother, pink, and round, crying in his cot, fire creeping up the sides of the frame, reaching out for him with flaming hands. Smoke was in the air, Hanaka was screaming. She ran forward through the ashen cloud, coughing and spluttering.
          “Jamie!” She screamed in her high-pitched voice. She heard the door behind her slam, but she didn’t care, she needed to get to her brother before the fire did. With trembling hands, Hanaka reached towards her brother but jumped back in a screaming yelp, fire scorching her skin, but her brother’s cries kept her going. She had to… she had to!
          Her fingers wrapped around her baby brother’s body as she lifted him from the cot as fast as she could. Coughing, she hugged her brother to her, hiding under the table, hiding from the flames that were roaring at her like an army of lions.
          Her tears were nearly as scorching at the burning room around her. It was only then that Hanaka realised she was trapped. Trapped underneath a table, fire on all sides; smoke hiding everything. She sobbed and sobbed, wishing her mummy would come.
          Suddenly, a hand reached in through the smoke, like the hands of some hideous monster, they grabbed hold of her baby brother. Hanaka fought but the hands were too strong, and she was forced to watch her baby brother, her Jamie, vanish into the smoke.
          Anger burst out alongside her fear. Hanaka charged forwards, running headlong into the smoke, kicking and punching everything in her path. She ran through the open doorway and into another. She opened her eyes; the smoke was not as thick here. She could see two figures fighting, one with his fists, one with a sword.
          The swordsman struck forwards, his opponent leaping away, but not before the blade cut into his arm. Hanaka watched in silent horror as her father clutched his arm, blood trickling down his wrist. His back hit the wall and the man with the sword walked forward.
          Through the smoke, Hanaka’s father turned a strained eye towards where Hanaka crouched, eyes wide, mouth hidden behind trembling hands. His own eyes widened as he saw the look of terror on her face. The man with the blood-stained blade lunged forwards, sword raised over his head, ready to kill, but her father lifted his leg up high, colliding with the swordsman in the chest, before swinging his foot, catching the man by the heels, knocking him to the ground. From there he pelted forwards, running towards his darling daughter.
          “Daddy!” Hanaka screamed holding up her arms, the dad charged forwards and scooped her up in one arm. Pressing her into his chest, he ducked as another swing came from the swordsman, colliding with the table. He tugged, but the sword was stuck.
          Her father made as if to run away, but the man roared with fury and swung the sword, table and all. He ducked and heard wood splinter as the table crashed into the wall.
          And they were off, Hanaka in hand, the dad sprinted across the burning living room, jumping over fallen chairs and lamps and then out into the cold night. Gunfire roared around them as they leapt through the night. Hanaka felt the wind run through her hair as her dad jumped down from the deck and knelt behind it, shielding himself from the onslaught of gunfire.
          “Hanaka… No matter what… look after yourself.” He said, whispering to her as bullets pounded on the wood and splattered into the mud. “And look after your little brother; always look after your brother.”
          He pushed off from the ground, his feet hammering into the ground, kicking up grass and dirt. Through all the silence of the now quiet night, Hanaka heard a single gun shot. She felt her Dad jump; felt him being suddenly pushed forward by an unseen force. Felt the two of them fall together… falling into the mud.
          “Hanaka… Look after you’re baby brother…” His eyes were pleading, but also, so loving… Hanaka saw the love within them overcoming the pain. She gulped and nodded; promising.
          The sound of gunfire filled the night once more. Still forever smiling his loving smile, the dad closed his eyes as another bullet slammed into his chest and Hanaka could only watch with frightened eyes as her dad joined his wife.
          Hanaka made to move forward but someone grabbed her from behind, a cloth was wrapped around her mouth. She couldn’t breathe. Hanaka collapsed onto the floor, but she didn’t stop when she hit the ground, she kept on falling. Tumbling down through spiralling images of her parents’ soulless bodies, and of her brother vanishing in a field of smoke.

          Hanaka screamed once again, sitting straight up in bed. She scrambled out from underneath the suffocating duvet and fell out of bed. Her heat hit carpet.
          Dazed and confused, Hanaka looked up at her room. It had been a whole year since she had started living here. Never knowing why, or how she got here.
***
          Hanaka is now six; she keeps herself to herself and never bothers anyone, or wants to be bothered by anyone. She is strong willed and stubborn. Her favourite two meals are Ramen and Fish and Chips. She likes to walk around the building on her own, thinking to herself, rarely speaking except when spoken to.
          Senshi groaned, this description of Hanaka was so boring; if she was really what she was meant to be, couldn’t this little biography of her that Jameson wrote have had at least a little more spice? How about the reason why she got here? What the plans that involved her were? Why they even had her?
          But… Senshi thought, it’s probably just to make her look inconspicuous in case the bio fell into the wrong hands. Also, is it really necessary to have every tiny little detail about Hanaka? Why not add the length of her frigging fingernails while you’re at it!
          Senshi yawned and leaned back in his chair. Life was so tedious when he didn’t have any missions; all he ever did was work out and read. Sometimes he drew, but they were never really of anything. Usually just emotionally driven splashes of colour that reflected his mood at that time.
          “Senshi?” he turned round in his chair and saw Yariman walking towards him down the corridor. Ever since Hanaka had first arrived at The Building, Senshi had been seeing Yariman wandering around the corridors much more often. It had been a sudden and shocking contrast to the Yariman who he had heard of but had never seen.
          “Yes, sir?” Senshi asked in a slightly breathless voice.
          “How is Hanaka coping?” Yariman looked at the door that Senshi was leaning against. His voice didn’t sound at all caring or worried, more intrigued, or excited.
          “She’s… OK…” Senshi said, looking away, “Not very sociable though… doesn’t seem to want to make any friends at all…”
          “Ah,” Yariman said, his eyes gleaming with interest, “Good, good.”
          “Pardon?” Senshi looked up at Yariman whose wide mouth was split open in a large and crooked grin. Yariman didn’t answer but proceeded to look down at his watch, before making eye contact with Senshi again.
          “Has she stopped having those nightmares?” He asked, his grin broadened expectantly, his eyes widening in an ugly way. Senshi frowned and looked at Yariman with a blank expression.
          “No.” he said shortly, “I heard her wake up from one just a few minutes ago.” Senshi poked a thumb at the door behind him. “But she’s taking less time to recover now, which I think is a sure sign of her getting over the nightmares. I heard her fall back to sleep just before you arrived.”
          “Ah, yes,” Yariman said, “That’s good. Can’t have her being disturbed by those dreams anymore.”
          “Those dreams wouldn’t have been so disturbing if someone hadn’t got out of control.” Senshi glared at Yariman, “Bringing a sword with him… do you have any idea what that nutter did right in front of Hanaka? The things he did…”
          “Yes. That was a little out of control.” Yariman said, sounding rather amused, “But it was nonetheless effective, wasn’t it?”
          “You mean in mentally scarring that little girl in there? Then yeah, I suppose it was pretty damn effective.” Senshi said, a growl growing his voice. He was overriding his authority big time, but he didn’t care. He hated what they had done to the girl. She had been five! Five!
          “I suppose it depends on what you call necessary…” Yariman said, coolly. “True, his actions were rather, shall we say, overly colourful, but if someone takes joy in their work, then all the better for it.”
          “What about the other group?” Senshi asked, “There were members of the other group! In the time it took for Jameson to take joy in his work, someone from the White Skulls could have taken her!”
          “Yes, I suppose they could. However, I had faith in my organisation, in their abilities.” He turned a cold eye towards Senshi’s. “I’m sorry if you didn’t have faith in the abilities of your own men. Sorry if you’re not a … team player…”
          “Sir.” Senshi said quietly, glaring at his feet, “Not my place…”
          “No, you’re right,” Yariman said coldly, “It wasn’t. Now,” his raspy voice was suddenly authoritive. “Her attitude during the day hasn’t become affected by these nightmares?”
          “I’m afraid I can’t give that information, sir.” Senshi said, “She’s had those nightmares every single night she’s been here. I have no other times to compare her with.
          “However, she has become a lot more active recently, and even a little bit more talkative.” Senshi didn’t tell Yariman that this might very well have been because Senshi had been acting uncharacteristically kind towards her recently, almost fatherly. Angered by everyone else’s attitudes; Senshi had taken a much softer approach when talking to Hanaka, and ever since then she seemed to have become a lot more happier.
          “Ah, well that is good.” Yariman said, “It would be a shame for her nightmares to seriously affect her concentration during the day.” He looked at his watch again, “Right, well I had better be off to bed now. And so should you, Senshi,” He added as an afterthought, “Can’t have your concentration being affected tomorrow because of staying up so late tonight.”
          “Yes, sir.” Senshi said, nodding, Yariman nodded back before beginning to walk away. “Oh, sir!” Senshi called out, “I was wondering…” Yariman turned to look at Senshi, “Who’s looking after Hanaka while I’m away?” Yariman gave Senshi a very quizzical look.
          “Why do you care?” He asked.
          “Well – er – I dunno, I just do, I guess…” Senshi looked back at Yariman, “So, who does?”
          “No one.” Yariman said, “No one has been assigned to look after it.”
          “Well… if you see No one, could you tell him to be nice to Hanaka for me?” Yariman was not amused.
          “Why does it even matter to you who looks after that girl? Why are you even at all interested?” he had fully turned round, and the hand that had been holding onto his mug of coffee was fisted around the handle.
          “Because she is my apprentice.” Senshi said, annoyed at Yariman’s rudeness, “I have a responsibility over her, to ensure that she is safe at all times.” That was a complete and utter lie. Well, it wasn’t, Senshi did indeed have a responsibility over Hanaka, and it was his job to make sure that she was safe, but that wasn’t why Senshi cared. Ashamed as he was to admit it, even to himself, Senshi had developed a rather soft spot for the girl.
          “Hmm…” Yariman said, squinting at Senshi, evidently not believing him. “Well, I shall ensure that she is safe at all times.” He said in mockery of Senshi. “I see that you are taking this apprenticeship a little bit too seriously, Senshi. You mustn’t get too attached to the girl.”
          Through gritted teeth, Senshi smiled and nodded. Pleased with his work, Yariman turned to continue on his way. The moment his footsteps had vanished down the stairs and through a door, Senshi stood up and opened the door to Hanaka’s bedroom.
          Just as he had suspected, she was not asleep at all, thankfully, from inside this room, it was very difficult to hear what was going on outside. He could see Hanaka looking at him with her deep black eyes from the light of the fish tank.
          “Hey,” he said softly, “Are you OK?” she nodded but didn’t smile. “Did you have a bad dream?” Senshi asked, again, Hanaka nodded but refused to smile. She looked troubled, Senshi knelt down beside her bed and looked down at Hanaka; her eyes were glistening.
          “Was it that dream again?” She nodded slowly, pulling a very frightened face. “Aww, well, I wouldn’t worry.” Senshi said, stroking her hair, “It’s OK now, that was just a bad dream after all, it’s not real.” But she still looked incredibly upset. “Look,” Senshi said, “Punch me, here, go on.”
          Little Hanaka lifted her fist and smacked Senshi’s open palm with her fist. “Owww!” He groaned, “That really hurt! You’re getting strong, aint’cha?” She giggled happily, her eyes alight, “Well, that punch was real, wasn’t it?” Hanaka nodded, “And I’m real, aren’t I?” She nodded again, “Well, can you punch a dream, like you punched me?”
          Hanaka thought for a moment, then shook her head vehemently, biting her bottom lip. “Nope, that’s right. That’s ‘cause dreams aren’t real. You can punch me, ‘cause I’m real, but you can’t punch a dream. But…” he added, grinning at Hanaka, “If that dream ever does come back, try and give it a super big punch, yeah?” she smiled at him, “Yeah, give it a super hard punch, just like you gave me! And that dream will be running away with its tail between its legs! Like a lil sissy!”
          Hanaka laughed her adorable little baby laugh. “Dreams have tails?” she piped up. Senshi frowned, pretending to concentrate, “No… I don’t think they do…”
          “Dreams are sissies?” Hanaka asked.
          “Yep!” Senshi said, grinning, “All dreams can do is scare you! They can’t do anything else. But you can, you can punch and punch and punch that dream away! And then it will know you’re too strong for it and run away!” he tickled her and she laughed hysterically. “You better now?” he asked her once the laughing had subsided (Issuing, from both mouths). Hanaka grinned and nodded. “Good” Senshi grinned back, “And if you do see that dream, remember to give it one big punch for me!”
          Hanaka nodded, “OK.” She chirruped happily. Senshi smiled, and walked towards the door, “Sleep tight.” He said, before turning out the light and leaving the room.