Earth Heart - Part 11

Earth Heart

The man nodded. As if sensing my hesitation to believe that he was real, not a thing made of wires and metal, he took a small pocket knife from his pouch hanging from his feedskin and slashed it across the back of his hand. The wound dripped blood, making me feel faint. I concentrated on his features, not his hand weeping blood on the floor. Strong nose with high cheekbones, this was the man my mother fell in love with, his hair, dark and sweeping down in waves past his ears, I remembered my tiny, chubby fingers curling in his hair, how soft it felt against my baby skin then. The same fingers grown long and slim in the past thirteen years were the fingers now curled in anger. “You did this to us didn’t you?” my accusation rang out, loud in the almost quiet room. He hung his head as if ashamed but his voice held none of the regret I expected or hoped for. ‘Yes, daughter.” came the neutral reply. No remorse, no anger, nothing at all in his voice. I couldn’t believe it. “You almost killed us, Father. You almost killed me, your own daughter. How could you do this?” I demanded. Leo’s signal was fading in my head. I had to hurry. He looked up at a screen and told me, in a matter-of-fact way, “Your boyfriend is fading away.” My anger exploded to life beneath my skin, cold icy anger, like a blizzard and like hail. I leaped forward and fired the gun, the metal warm in my hands. The bullet sank into his shoulder right above his heart. Blood spurted out but he still stood erect. Missed. I did a midair loop and whipped around again, aiming the gun at his chest. Quick as lightning his left hand shot out and threw something at me. I dodged, but the knife nicked my thigh, drawing blood and cutting through my feedskin. The pain was intense but short lived as I gave all my energy and focus to killing him. This had become a death match between father and daughter. “I want to live!!!” I screamed at him as I fired another shot. It didn’t miss. Not this time. The blood spurted out against my face, warm and metallic as he finally sank to his knees. The green eyes closed. Forever. I felt no regret. What father could stand to see his own daughter and many others like her killed. A sharp pain sliced through my ribs. I looked down to see the same knife he threw at me, whizzing past. “Oh, crap. Automatic too, huh?” I said to myself as the knife readied itself for another cut. It came close to my head, slicing off a lock of hair. The silky black strands fell like feathers to the ground. I gritted my teeth against the pain in my side and lunged for it. The knife rebounded against my hand and lodged deep into a switchboard a few feet above my head. A switchboard! 

~Rei Shiori