The Gothic Ballerina Part 3 (standard:science fiction, 917 words) [3/8] show all parts
Author: kissofthehungry	Added: Jun 15 2005	Views/Reads: 2970/2	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Echo's memories resurface unwanted in her dreams, where it is revealed that she had a brother, Jon Jon, who defected to the bad guys when he was 17.

Her mother was crying in the bedroom, she could hear her through the
walls.  She wanted to run to her mommy but she knew that they'd yell at 
her.  They were having one of those discussions. 

“What are we going to do?” she bawled, accentuating the last word with a
loud sniffle. 

“I could become a private detective, but the payroll's not good for a
clean cop out here, you know?  I think our only choice is to find a way 
to bring the department down.  They're supposed to be here to serve and 
protect the innocent, not the murderous scum as long as they pay well,” 
her father growled and she could heard him hit the wall half heartedly. 


There was a gasp, “Bring them down?  How do you plan on doing that? 
Anything we do will bring their attention to us and they don't leave 
any talkers.”  Dianna squeezed her teddy bear tight to her, listening 
to her parents with wide-eyed wonder.  Who didn't leave any talkers?  
Why would daddy become a private detective?  Wasn't he a policeman? 

“I know sweetheart, but I think we're already in that danger.  You and
Dianna could go into hiding.  I'll be the one to draw their attention,” 
he exclaimed. 

“Not a chance, they'd find us and I'd rather be hunted with you by my
side then wondering if you were okay.” 

Three years later, when she was twelve, she stood in the living room
staring at the brick in the middle of the shattered glass from their 
front window.    Her mother was somewhere in the background, sobbing 
again but Dianna just stood stunned.  Never before had she seen broken 
glass or a brick wrapped in paper, and she was intrigued.  Her father 
swept her up into his arms and carried her into her windowless room 
where he told her to stay.  Somehow, she knew it had something to do 
with the years of protest that her parents had been carrying out. 

Six months after the brick made it through their window, her brother who
was five years older than her, disappeared.  His name was Jonathon and 
he had disagreed with their parents war on the corrupt city.  Dianna 
sat in her room, crying hysterically cause she knew Jon Jon was gone 
and her life seemed like it was over.  It was then that her mother told 
her that she wouldn't be going to school anymore and couldn't play 
outside.  It was just too dangerous. 

Later, she sat with her ear to the wall listening to her parents, her
father moaned, “I can't believe he did this.  He's just a boy, not 
ready to make such decisions.  I'm going to try to find him.” 

“No, you're not,” her mother demanded with such determination that even
Dianna was surprised by it, “I'm not loosing you too.  Dianna needs you 
as well, if you disappear trying to find our defective son, we'll be 
vulnerable and have nowhere to run or hide.  We need you.  Jonathon is 
a lost cause, he was from the beginning.  He always loved to play with 
fire, there's nothing we can do.  Come here.”  Dianna closed her eyes, 
leaning her forehead against the wall, feeling very small and lost.  
They weren't going to save Jon Jon, he was gone. 

Five years later, she walked into a silent house and knew something was
wrong.  Her parents blood was everywhere and she was crying but unable 
to cry out, the house turned into a vicious maze.  Her hands were in 
front of her as she stumbled through the hall, trying to remember where 
a phone was.  Tears blurred her vision making her disorientation even 
worse.  Her elbow caught a corner and sharp pain shot through her arm, 
but it didn't even faze her.  It was nothing compared to the pain that 
breathed inside of her. 

Somehow, she found the telephone but was so hysterical that she couldn't
think of what she was supposed to do with it.  When she finally figured 
it out, she had to calm down enough to explain the situation to the 
police operator.  As she waited for the police to arrive, she called 
her Uncle Milo, who had been training her in the art of sword fighting 
since she was six, and told him what she had walked in.  He was there 
with her long before the police arrived, comforting her even as she 
felt her world was going to end. 

“My sister's better than that, I don't want to give up on her,” Mikey's
voice broke into her dream and she was standing beside him in a hazy 
darkness where all she could see was Mikey and clouds.  Then her 
brother was standing before her, his shoulder length black hair hanging 
over the right side of his face as usual, the visible blue eye smiling 
warmly at her.  It was Jon Jon. 

“Why'd you leave me?” she cried out but he didn't respond, instead,
began to walk backwards into the swirling clouds.  Agonized but his 
repeated abandonment, she crumpled to her knees, crying for him to come 
back to her.  That's when she woke up in her apartment,  tears still 
moist on her cheeks.  Mikey was sound asleep on her couch, his snores 
sounding alien and inhuman.  Swallowing back a sob that had threatened 
to break loose of her, she rolled onto her side so that her back was to 
her stranger.  Closing her eyes and blocking her memories, she went 
back to sleep. 


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