Chapter 8 I'm sorry

I shivered on the cold concrete. My whole body was aching. My eyes fluttered open as my eyes started to adjust to the darkness. I started coughing. I looked down to see my burgundy hair all on the floor as a breeze came in through the window sending a chill from my bald head down to my spine. Today was my 6th birthday and mommy was really angry at me.

She said I was trying to show her up with my beautiful hair saying I did not deserve it if she could not have hair just like mine. I dragged my battered body up the basement stairs. Luckily nothing broke when I was thrown down here to think about my actions and how I have been tearing this family apart financially and emotionally.

Hunger started to consume all my thoughts so I snuck my way through the house to the kitchen hoping to find the fridge unlocked so I could have a small bit of food. Sadly luck was not on my side in this household. I went back to my room and opened the door. It was more like a cupboard really. My bed was some old newspapers luckily I am very short and can lay flat on the floor. I moved a small panel in the wall to the side before taking out a pair of clothes.

I put on my brand new pink hello kitty shirt. Well new to me it was faded half the face was missing and there were a lot of brown stains and dirt on it. I managed to get the smell out of it and I pulled out some ripped jeans. The left leg had holes on the knee and near the top where my thigh would poke out of it. The right leg was missing almost completely. If it was any shorter on that side you would be able to see my underwear. But at least one of my legs would stay warm out in the cold.

Sneaking out of the villa I waited for the guards to pass by before running to a small hole I hid in the rose bushes. I crawled through the thorns and got cuts on my arms, leg, and face. I'm used to the stinging pain and it helps keep the hole hidden. Our villa was not that big and was only worth about 3 million since my dad's business took off when I was born. He was not the richest but he was within the top 20 for the longest time. But over the years bad business deals and his gambling have moved him down to the top 100.

I made my way up the road jogging knowing I needed to make it a few miles to get home before my parents realized I was not there and took their frustrations out on me even worse. After jogging for about 30 minutes I made it to the food district and started searching the trashcans in the alleys looking for something hot maybe a bit more fresh.

After searching one by one I finally found a trashcan filled with deformed bread from a bakery. It looked like there was not enough yeast so it didn't look good enough to buy but it was good enough for me to fill my tummy! I started eating loaf after loaf for once my stomach started to bulge from eating.

My stomach started to ache since it was not used to processing this much food at once but I ignored that feeling of getting lost in my meal not wanting to let one piece go to waste. I only stopped after I felt like I was going to vomit.

Suddenly I heard footsteps approaching me and I panicked and started to run but I was grabbed by the back of my neck and thrown against the ally wall. "How many times have I told you street rats to stay out of my trash!" The tall man started to kick me as I was down. I curled up to try and protect my organs as best as I could. Occasionally I would let out a low grunt of pain when he would hit one of my bruises left by my parents.

"Hey! Leave her alone. I already called the police they will be here any moment." I heard a sweet voice from a girl that looked slightly older than me by a couple of years. She was daring to try and stop the beating. Her eyes were bright and she had a cocky attitude like she was ready to fight to the death.

The man clicked his tongue before giving me one last kick." I will let you off this once. You better not come back or there will be one less brat running around" With that her turned his back and took off back to his store.

"Are you okay? My name is Becky. You need to be careful around here. Do you have any money?" She kept on firing off questions and she seemed concerned. I never liked talking much so I just nodded my head and shaked it. I did not like how raspy my voice was.

She took my hand and helped me up." Here I will show you some stuff to help you out. Just call me big sister, okay?" She smiled at me and waited for a few seconds before she realized she would not get a response. Shaking her head gently she smiled and took my hand before leading me into the crowded streets.

We spent hours together. She taught me how to pickpocket and I got very good at it. I would never take too much from one person so they would not realize they had been robbed. I would take a few dollars from a person. But if they were drunk I could take more since they would only believe they drank more than they thought.

After I got it down Becky started to leave and I whispered softly "Thank you big sister." with that I jogged back home. It became a habit for me to sneak out daily and keep on honing my pickpocket skills. But I never ran into Becky again. I doubt I will ever see her again.

My parents started losing their hair. It happened slowly from my 6 birthday and finally after a few weeks there worth both completely bald. My dad started drinking more and going out to gamble like there was no tomorrow.

It was finally time for me to start school. My parents could not get away with keeping me home so they bought me some cheap clothes and sent me off to first grade. I was also to get small meals for lunch. So like that I started feeling more and more like a normal child.

I never stopped looking for Becky and kept on honing my skills further. I kept training my body, working on cardio, and getting a bit more meat on my bones…

[Ding Ding Ding mana core awakened injecting adrenaline into host temporary skill draconic hellfire unlocked 5 minutes remaining.]

I let out an animalistic roar it sounded as if a dragon descended upon the mortal world as the walls started to tremble from the sound waves my blood eyes opening. As my vision returned, I was covered in violent blue flames, a demonic chuckle escaping my lips. This is going to be fun!