"Eden!" I heard from the other room. It was my father, probably calling me to clean the home again, or do an inventory of all his weapons he has hidden in the room below.
"Yes, father!" I call back, still practicing some combat moves like kicks and punches. Being the rebel against the Empire he is, he makes me practice combat moves everyday, just incase I 'ever need to defend myself'. Defend myself from what? He never lets me out of our home, I haven't seen the outside world for years. What could possibly hurt me here? Except for my father.
"Come here, now!" He replies, obvious anger in his tone.
...I better move before he gets really angry... I straighten up and brush my clothes down before walking into the room next door. My father is standing at the opposite side of the room. He points down at an Imperial Stormtrooper helmet sitting on our table.
"Yes?" I ask patiently, not wanting to anger him further. His eyes narrow.
"Don't 'yes' me, girl! Get this helmet connected to the frequency four-three-six. And be quick about it! I don't have all day!" I step towards the table and grab the helmet, but it slips from my hand, and the sound of impact between the helmet and the ground echoes across the room. My father looks at the helmet on the floor before looking back up at me, shaking his head.
"Stupid, clumsy girl! Just as useless as your mother was!" At the mention of my mother, my mother who fought so hard to keep me safe from my father, who helped me deal with the regular attacks he brought down on us, something inside me snaps. She died protecting me and my father couldn't care less. I pick up the helmet and place it on the table, before turning to my father and punching him dead centre in the neck. He staggers to the side, his face red, nose flaring. As quick as a flash he lifts his hand and slaps me across the face. I spin around and fall to the floor from the impact of the blow. He starts laughing.
"That'll teach you a lesson." He says, looking down on me, holding his neck with one hand. "You better have that helmet finished by the time I get back!"
"Yes, father." I reply, holding my cheek in my hands. My father pulls a keycard from his utility belt and opens the door by sliding it through a panel. I look down at the ground before looking up again after I hear the door slam shut. I've been locked in, just like every other day. I'm used to it, just like I am used to his attacks and insults. I pick up the helmet again and start to access the frequency module. After a few minute I realise that I'm staring right at the door, unmoving, hands on the each side of the helmet.
I haven't been outside for years, and all of a sudden that bothers me. I am one hundred percent sure that my father would go crazy if he found out I left home and explored the outside world. I have a few memories of the outside of our planet, Lothal, though half of them are probably dreams and fantasies I came up with. It would be truly beautiful to see it again.
...Should I go?.... I think to myself. After a few minutes of contemplation and thoughts, weighing the risks and consequences with the experience I would earn, I make the decision. I am going. The door is locked and I don't have a keycard to open it. I can't sneak my way out, but I do have a lot of weapons down in the room below to blast my way out of here. Even one shot from a handgun at the control panel on the door is enough to blast it open. I turn around and place the Stormtrooper helmet onto the couch behind me and push the table away to reveal a ladder down to my fathers' secret weapons room. Climbing down I skip the last step and jump to the floor carefully and turn around. I admire all of the weapons for a moment, how the are all so neatly organised by me. It's funny. They look so beautiful and neat like this, though they are weapons of extreme brutality.
There are detonators, blasters, a rocket launcher and even a disruptor rifle, which were strictly banned by the Imperial Senate. If my father was caught with one of these by the Senate he would be in great trouble, though if he was caught full stop, disruptor or not, he would be in huge trouble too. I grab one of the blasters that I have taken a favour to all those times I have done an inventory of the weapons and clip it onto my belt. I then take a minute to climb back up the ladder, conceal the hole with the table again and pick up a few possessions that I think I will find useful out there. I slip a torch into my belt as well as put a very small ration of food and two gold credits into a small pouch connected to my belt. Last of all I pick up my jacket and head toward the door.
Taking a deep breath, I unclip the blaster and aim it at the control panel on the side of the door. As I pull the trigger, a loud bang erupts from the blaster. The control panel is destroyed in an explosion of sparks and small pieces of metal as the door slightly hisses before sliding open.
YOU ARE READING
A New Life
Science FictionExtreme rebel father. Dead mother. A girl who has hardly seen the outside world. She takes a chance and runs out, though she gets caught up in the Empire, where she is given the choice to either live with another Imperial, or serve as an ISB Agent...
