Living With The Assassin

Her precious room

Elina slipped out of her bed, glancing at the time on her mobile.

4:17 am

She internally groaned, realising that she had overslept by seventeen minutes. Slowly, creeping out of her room, she went to the storage room. Unlocking the door, she looked around nervously, before closing the door behind her. Taking off her night robe, she hung it on an old wooden coat holder. Her revealing night gown seductively displayed her long, deep scar on her back and thigh.

She walked up to the closet and opened it. It was a huge closet and a deep one. Stepping into it, she reached the end and tapped the base of the closet.

Knock, knock, knock.

Bingo.

Sliding the base from it's place, she opened the trap door on the ground. She shivered as she lowered herself into the room, the cold loneliness greeting her. She flicked on the lights, when her feet reached the ground and then walked over to the tiny shelf on which her tunic was folded. Slipping out of her nightgown, she put on the tunic and a tight belt on it, to keep it from interfering.

She then pulled her hair back to tie it into a tight braid. Tucking the tiny hairs behind her ears, she looked around her room, sparkle in her eyes. Her precious room.

Hanging from the ceilings, on the left side, were her favourite nunchucks. There were wooden, metal, stone and one's with nails protruding from them. On a corner in the shelves, were her different boxing gloves and pads or kumite items. In the middle of the room, hung a huge red and black punching bag from the thick metal chain.

There were a few mats here and there, rolled up. There was a speed ball punching stand next to the shelf that consisted of the kumite items. One of the walls was empty in between, in which there was a pull up bar embedded.

On the right side, were different shapes, sizes and qualities of knives, daggers, swords, blades and sickles. On the shelf where she kept her tunic, there was a first aid kit.

There was a small pit filled with glass to the corner, some of them covered in dry blood.

A small bar held many similar black outfits. Under these coats, there was a boombox, coated with a layer of dust. Her eyes wandered the room and stopped at the boombox, and her heart clenched for a second, before she turned away and smacked her hand on the wooden dummy.

Smack, smack, smack.

Pant, pant, pant.

Grunt, grunt, grunt.

The ground under her calloused feet groaned as she slid her weight and stabbed a dummy, which she created herself using bandages and wood, with a needle point and clip point knife. Sweat dripped from her face and onto her heaving chest and arched back.

Breathing heavily, but remaining in the same stance, her eyes darted to the ticking circle.

6:54 am

She groaned as she stood at ease and got changed. Switching off the lights and appearing into the store room again, she placed the boards back into their place and closed the closet. She grabbed her night robe and locked the storage door, then headed straight to the bathroom.

She filled the bathtub with warm water and gracefully entered it. Sighing loudly, she lay her back against the bathtub and closed her eyes, as Antony The Johnsons - Knocking on Heaven's Door played. She listened as the soft music played, relaxing her every muscle and thought, making her drift off into sleep.

Elina stumbled as she heard a knock on the door. Subconciously, she had grabbed the razor in defence.

"Elina? Are you in there?" she heard.

"Daniel?" she asked, lowering her weapon.

"Yeah, who else?"

Getting up from the bathtub, drenched, she took a towel and wrapped herself with it. Her hands and feet were wrinkled from all the time in the water.

"Um. I kind of forgot to get my clothes. Mind going to your room for a minute?" she asked, without opening the door.

There was a pause before he replied:

"Oh yeah. Yeah. Sure. Sorry."

She knew Daniel was embarassed on hearing that statement, but she couldn't let him see her scars - although her long hair covered most of it.

She slipped out of the bathroom once she was sure he left, and entered her room. Quickly putting on a grey V - cut top and a pair of black jeans, she told Daniel the bathroom was free.

"Are you okay? You were in there for quite some time," he said, after he got out of the shower.

"Really?" she asked, suprised. "I kind of fell asleep. How long was I in there?"

"About an hour or so. I'm surprised you're not dizzy or anything," he said.

That explained why she felt so light headed and weak. Plus waking up early and doing all the practice didn't help either. She knew she was dizzy, but couldn't let anyone else know. Her ego was bigger than that.

"Yeah," she said, taking out two bowls, milk and some cereal.

They made small talk over breakfast, hurrying up, so that they could make it in time for their classes.

Before leaving the house, they grabbed their keys and checked the stove, although they cooked nothing.

Getting into Elina's car, Elina gave him a nervous smile. It was going to be her first time in a University away from India. Everything would be so new and different. Daniel looked at her eyes, understandingly. He then placed a hand on hers, gripping it lightly.

"It'll be fine," he reassured.

Elina gripped it back. "Thanks. And if I'm a loner, I'm just going to join you."

Laughing, the two headed off.