Prologue

You know when you get to that position where it’s life or death and you can’t pick? Well, I’m pretty much in that position. I’m posing as a bodyguard to this high school student for a million dollars from his mom and the assassin was hired by his dad so go figure that they’re fighting. It’s really funny, in fact. Life would be to abandon him; death to stay and protect him. Haha. I’m so pathetic. He’s the twenty-fifth that I’ll hopefully save. Then that’ll equal the twenty-five that I’ve killed. This business is hard.
Chapter One: Pick to fight and you’re asking to die!

“Hey Elicia! Come here for a sec!” I shouted to my nine year old sister. I was fifteen at the time. Not too bright.

“Yeah!”

“Can you stay in this store until I get back?”

“Okay.”

“Remember,” I warned her seriously, “don’t go with anyone until I get back.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied already starting off to her favorite spot.

She didn’t look like she had even heard me but I really wanted to go to Maria-Antoinette. My friend, Marie, and I left the store chatting. Maria-Antoinette was having a sale and there were some must have items. After buying and then wishing we had more money we left. It had been a total of ten minutes but had seemed shorter. As we neared giggle bears, I saw a little girl leaving with a man. I only saw the back but something seemed vaguely familiar about her golden curls and pink jacket.

“That looks like Elicia,” I said to Marie.

A slight panic started to rising in my stomach as we turned into the store. I looked around carefully looking for a pink jacket. When I spotted one I felt relief and walked over to fetch my sister. The only problem was that when she spoke to a lady next to her her voice sounded nothing like Elicia’s. Also, when she turned around I noticed her hair wasn’t nearly as curly as my sisters.

Then I started to panic. Elicia was gone! I ran through the store asking the workers if they had seen a little girl with a pink jacket and really curly hair. When they kept answering no or pointing out the little girl I had seen earlier I really started to panic. Not only was she gone but no one had seen her leave. I finally thought to look outside the store near the exit the man and little girl were heading. Just before I reached I fell to my knees all feeling lost. It hit me then and there. Elicia was kidnapped.

The events that followed were a blur. The security guard came up to ask if everything was fine but Marie was the one who answered him. Then the cops showed up and started to question me and Marie both about what the man had looked like, where we had gone, what store she had been in. I answered as best I could but for the most part I was frozen. I felt frozen, scared, and above all else that it was my fault. I had let this happen because I couldn’t think. Someone asked if I wanted them to call and inform my parents of what had happened but I didn’t want them to do that. They deserved to know what happened from the person who had let it happen.

The phone rang a couple times before it was picked up.

“Hello?” the lady said on the other end.

“Mom,” I got out before the tears hit. I couldn’t stop crying long enough to explain to her what had happened but somehow she knew something was wrong.

“Alex, what happened?” she asked softly, concerned. Why’d she have to care?

“It’s Elicia, Mom. Elicia was kidnapped,” I choked out. It sounded like gurgling to me but it got the point around to her.

“Robby! Robby we’re going to the mall!” I heard Mom shout to my father. “Stay where you are. We’ll be there in a second.”

I hung up and could only let the tears flow. They had trusted me to go to the mall of Elicia and what had I done? I had shoved that trust back at them, hurting them more than anything I’d ever done. When they arrived my dad talked to the cops while my mom rushed to where I was. I hadn’t known that I’d fallen to the ground hunched over but when she put her arms around me I could only lean into her for support and cry.

She was gone and it was all my fault.