The Fishbones Memorandum
It was a day just like any other day. But, to her, it was more than just a day. It seemed like an eternity. The two bodies of her loving parents were lowered into the ground. As if they were going somewhere like usual. She didn't want to tell herself that they weren't coming back. She couldn't tell herself that. If she did, the tears would start running down her face again. She tried to hold it in, but couldn't. "Don't you dare cry." said her sister with a stern look on her face. "The world won't bat an eye if you do." She looked at her older sister. Her sister looked back. "The best thing to do is smile and roll with the punches. If you keep a grin on your face, the world can't help but notice you." She didn't feel the pain anymore. She didn't know why, but it wasn't there. She quickly wiped the residue of the past tears from her face and gave her sister the biggest smile she could. "There you go." Her sister said. "If you keep on like that, the world won't ever ignore you."
3 months later
The girl sat crying in an alley. She was cold and she was alone. The sound caught the attention of one particular passer-by. A wealthy looking man. One that was shrouded in a fine suit with a near priceless watch that glimmered in the dancing lights of the midnight town. "What's the matter, little lady? Are you hurt?" The man cautiously inched his way towards the girl only for his advances to be scorned by her slight retreat. The man reached his arm out to put his hand on her shoulder. A warm and comforting touch. Maybe that's what she needed. The hand would lay calmly on the little girl's shoulder before he noticed what was happening.
The little girl's older sister lept from the shadows. She was but armed with a steak knife that she found in the garbage can only a few feet away. The sister quickly grabbed the man by the vest of the suit. She proceeded to push him against the wall of the opposite building and position the blade just below his neck. "Don't yell. Don't struggle." The older sister commanded. "If you move, I will not hesitate. Do I make myself clear?" The man nodded nervously. "Sis, take his watch and check his pockets. I bet he's got some goodies for us." The girl that was previously crying lept to her feet and did as she was ordered. She quickly unlatched the man's watch and pocketed it. She then reached both hands into each of his pockets and pulled out wads of cash. "Bingo!" The elder sister proclaimed. "I hope you know what you're doing girls." The man interjected threateningly. "Because I know a few guys who wouldn't take kindly to what you're doing to me." The young girl took a step back fearfully with money in hand. "Aw, shut it, Gramps." The elder sister proclaimed as she kneed the victim in the groin. The older sister quickly grabbed her sibling and made a run for it. Leaving the downed man as the only sight to be had for miles.
3 hours later
The girl turned on her side to confront her older sister that was asleep beside her. "Sis." She spoke with a whimper. "Yeah?" Her older sibling said with a grumble. "Do you think what we did to that man was the right thing to do?" Her older sister quickly turned on the mattress to face the girl. "There isn't a 'right' or 'wrong' in this world. There's only alive or dead. Either you fight to survive or you die." The little girl shifted her eyes from her sister in fear. "Just get some sleep. It'll be a new day tomorrow and that means we get to spend that money."
Just as the siblings seemed to drift off to sleep, there was a violent knock on the door of the motel room. The girl quickly sprang up and turned to her sister. "Sis!" she whispered loudly while shaking her. "There's someone at the door!" The older sister quickly woke up to hear a second session of violent knocking on the door. "Alright.... Remember what I said when we got here?" The elder sister said urgently to the young girl. "Yeah." She responded hesitantly. "Alright, I'll answer the door, you hide in the bathroom." The girl quickly got out of bed and ran to the bathroom. She kept the light off and shut the door slightly so that she could peer out of the crack. The elder sibling quickly got out of bed and walked up to the door. The little girl's nerves were starting to shiver as she watched her older sister approach the door.
Her big sister gripped the door knob and pulled it open. It was the man they had mugged. He was holding a pipe and was accompanied by three more men. Each, of which, was holding a weapon of their choosing. "Didn't I tell you that you would pay for what you did?" The man with the pipe said with a smug look. Two of them quickly grabbed the elder sister and threw her onto the motel parking lot. They started approaching her with their weapons. Each one totting a Cheshire smile. As they were going to attack the young woman, they were interrupted. "Noooooo!" The younger sibling exclaimed as she swung the bathroom door open. "Get that one, too!" One of the men exclaimed. The elder sibling lept to her feet and attacked the man with the pipe while his back was turned. She knocked the pipe from his hand, tackled him to the ground and proceeded to brutalize his face with her fists. The two men sent after the younger girl grabbed her and yanked her from the room. "Let her go!" The elder sister yelled as she was pulled off of the beaten man.
The two men dragged the younger girl by the arms to an alley far from the motel and threw her against the garbage cans that were sitting there. The first man walked forward and wrapped both of his hands around her neck and began to apply pressure. "Your sister won't ever find you and you know why?" The man asked. "Because you're gonna die in this alley and be just a distant memory in this world." The young girl felt her consciousness starting to leave her. Just then, she was visited by her memories. "There isn't a 'right' or 'wrong' in this world." It was her sister's words. "There is only alive or dead." The young girl noticed the handgun at the man's side and reached for it. "Either you fight to survive..." The girl gripped the man's handgun and tore it from it's holster. "or you die."
** BANG **
The girl had shot the man in the head without either of them noticing in time. The girl stood up with tears running down her face. "Don't you dare cry." Her sisters' words spoke to her through her memories. The second man stood there, shocked by what just happened. "The world won't bat an eye if you do." The girl wiped the tears from her face. The man stood there in awe of what he was looking at. "The best thing to do is smile and roll with the punches." What the man saw was the girl, covered in blood, smiling at him. Excited. Exhilarated. She was almost inhuman. "If you keep a grin on your face, the world can't help but notice you." Without losing her smile, the girl raised the handgun and took aim at the man before her. "There you go." The man knelt on the ground and pleaded for his life. "Please don't. I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" "If you keep on like that, the world won't ever ignore you."
** BANG **
The bodies of the men that she had just killed lay before her. Motionless. Motionless, but most of all, sad. "Perk up, won't you?" The girl said with a chuckle. "The world won't bat an eye if you just cry all the time." The girl burst out into a laughing fit that echoed through the night skies. She made her way back to where her sister was fighting the two men. When she arrived, she found nothing but blood stains on the pavement. "Don't worry, Sister." The girl said to herself. "I won't ever let this world forget. Not even for a second." Nevermore would that girl cry. Her laughter shall be one that will echo through history. For any and all to hear.
