1 Chapter 1- Worries And Sorrows

She stood 10 feet from her target, her bow loaded with a wooden arrow aimed for the little red circle at the center of her homemade target. The wind kept on ruffling her dark brown hair, stray strands of hair blocking her peripheral view. But she couldn't care less. Her entire self was devoted on getting that arrow on to the bulls eye. She considered the bulls eye as all her problems and worries and she liked to keep on eliminating each one of them by shooting an arrow at it.

She let the arrow fly, watching it zip through the air.

THUNK.

The arrow found homage in the vivid red circle. As the arrow hit the target, she saw her mother lying dead in a freezer; her face devoid of any sparkle that it used to be brimmed with. She's used to that vision now, it haunts her every night in her dreams.

She let out another arrow.

THUNK.

She forgot her mother, now it was replaced by the sneering face of her grandma telling her to do something 'ladylike'.

Another arrow. Her dad hugging her, eyes filled with tears outside the airport, right before he left her to these monsters he called relatives. This memory almost distracted her, making her hands shiver so badly that she dropped her next arrow. Focus, she told herself, see only the target, nothing else....

She her arrow zip through the breeze. It hit the center with exact precision. She remembered Her teacher pointing an ugly finger at her, telling her to get over the past and to get back to her studies.

She reached back into her quiver for another arrow. Empty. She had way more troubles to kill, but not enough ammunition. Sad.

She consulted her wristwatch that had been her mother's. It had a black chain strap and a grey dial. Looks boring, but she would never part with it. Removing it would mean she was removing her past out of her heart. Removing her mother.

It was 5 pm. Going to be sundown soon. She decided to head back to that asylum she was forced to call home. She didn't want to leave her sanctuary, the only place where she could finally be at peace. But she had to.

She looked around. She was standing in a little clearing, surrounded by dense trees. It could almost be a jungle considering the fact that it was home to many kinds of birds and even snakes. She practiced her passion here; archery, even though her guardians were against it. A couple of hundred feet to the north of the clearing stood her mother's grave. Her family insisted on burying her 'properly' in a cemetery, but she , her dad and her brother wouldn't allow it. Mother liked this place the most as she practically grew up playing within these trees. She had spent a lifetime cooped up in four walls, looking after her family, while she wanted to be one with the nature. So, her father and she decided to bury her mom right in the place where she used to be carefree and cheerful.

She snapped from her thoughts. How long had she been standing there? She badly wanted to visit her mother's grave again, but it was getting insanely late. And being late means that her family would start getting suspicious and melodramatic. Which was the last thing she wanted in her life: more drama.

She went to the target, pulled out all the arrows and stuffed them into her quiver. Then she climbed the nearby tree until she reached almost the top and settled into a v-shaped crook formed by the trunk and a branch. She looked at the view. A vast expanse of green trees thinning out until the urban life took over; wide highways, tall buildings and huge mansions. Not far from here, about 5 miles to the east, she would somewhere find her father's tiny white house. She couldn't call it a home; she used to once, but not anymore. She realized long back that home wasn't a place, it was a person or people. And once those people are gone, the home turns into an empty shell; devoid of any love or joy. That was what the little white house was for her; just an empty shell to hold in her anger and sorrow. She shook her head, trying to concentrate. "No time for feeling sorry for yourself, Sarah", she said to herself.

She stuffed her bow and quiver into a hollow where the tree's trunk and branch met and began climbing down the tree carefully.

She started walking out of the clearing, and into the little jungle. Started increasing her pace steadily till she was running. It was pleasing to run, the mango-scented breeze hitting in her face, trying to pull her back while she kept running...running...and running....

SQUELCH.

She stopped abruptly. She knew that sound.Someone was watching her closely.