Lust: The deadliest sin

When I left Kishinev I didn’t know what I was looking for. A home? A new start? Change of scenery perhaps? Well whatever my reason was, it doesn’t matter anymore. It never really did. I needed to leave, had to leave. You see, at birth I was different, different even from the other outcasts that lined my city. In my family they had never been an outcast, as far back in history as we could go, and the year my mother, Silvera, got pregnant they knew I was wrong. Our whole ancestry would be in jeopardy according to my father. When I was born, I came out at five months, but I was as healthy and strong as a full-term baby. You see outcast babies grow at almost twice the rate of a normal baby. I was normal in weight and height. The only thing that defined me as an outcast was my red hair. Most normal babies come out blonde or light brown, even strawberry blonde, but not pure fire red. It was like a river of fire as my mother later told me. She was happy for her first baby, but my father just wanted me gone. His city pride was at stake. We were a prominent family in East Kishinev, although growing up I was not treated that way. As I got older, my father’s hatred became more and more obvious. Although the older I got, the lighter my hair became. It was still as fiery as a sunset. Most kids on the streets were thrown out outcasts whose parents threw them out after they got their powers. Powers came around the time you were ten. That was another reason my father hated me. My powers came at an early age of six. I was being picked on at school. My hair being pulled and other kids pushing me down. Another young girl, Mia, was being bullied too. I decided to stand up for her and myself. I was being bullied at home and I wasn’t going to let myself get bullied at school either. A boy a grade higher than us pushed me back down. I felt my nerves breaking. I got angry. At that moment, my powers burst through the layers of my body, one by one. I could feel the energy, the power and I felt invincible. The next thing I know, I’m on top of him and the other kids are screaming and running as the teachers pull me off. Mia told me she had never seen someone move so fast in her life. I was sent home with a letter of expulsion, and from then on my mother taught me all she knew. Until I turned 18. It was after our classes I heard my parents yelling. I rushed downstairs to listen. They were in the kitchen, so I crept up and put my ear to the door. “…Normal kids don’t have red hair silvera! Stop pretending she is!” my father yelled. “She’s not normal, that’s why she so prefect cant you see that? She needs us.” “No, she needs to go or I’m taking care of her myself.” Scrambling to my feet, I ran faster than I ever could have imagined. I ran into my room and slammed the door gasping from shock. My father, my dad, would actually kill me if I didn’t leave. I rushed through my room searching for a bag. I found one and started packing. I never really had any personal items my dad forbade me. I wasn’t worthy of such things. So all I had was a notebook, some clothes and some soap. I had little money, whatever my mom gave me or left over change from errands. I changed out of my dress and into trousers and a shirt. I was almost done when I heard knocking at my door. I was frozen. Please don’t be dad. Please don’t be dad. Please don’t be dad. I repeated to myself over and over. Thankfully it wasn’t. It was Silvera. She slowly entered my room and saw my bag. Looking into her eyes, I saw how devastated she was. I ran to her and hugged her, never wanting to let go. She knew I had heard and that I was leaving for good. “Oh bianca.” was all she said before letting me go. Tears stained her beautiful porcelain skin and I wanted nothing more than to stay. I loved her, she had let me live and fed me when no one else wanted me around. She was my mom and I guess that’s what mothers do. When I had left the house I wandered for a bit. I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going. I wasn’t in Kishinev anymore, which was for certain, I had made sure of it. I would never go back, I told myself. Every night I wrote in my journal writing about where I had been and what I had seen. I sketched the landscape and people that went by happily oblivious to the world around them. By the time I had run out of money, it had only been two weeks since my departure. I knew I had to find a place to stay for a while. I hadn’t been into a town since Kishinev. I bought or stole everything I needed from traveling carts. I just kept walking on the road and sleeping in the woods. One night when I was getting settled down looking for a place to rest, I heard water. Following the sound, it became a roaring river that I later found out was the Dnestr. I walked along the river till I saw a light in the distance. That night I drew pictures of rivers in my notebook, and I dreamt of tall buildings full of red-haired children playing. I woke up wishing such a place really existed, a place I could be me. Getting up, I marched toward the city, determined to find my place in the world. The streets were filled with many people. Some welcomed me, the newcomer, to the wonderful city of Bendery. I saw a few outcasts so I wore my hooded coat to shield my hair, and hid in an alleyway till dark. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now chained to this cold, slimy cement wall, all I can do is look back and think. When I was standing in that low light alleyway, digging through weeks of other people’s garbage. That was the day I met Dimitri and his gang of powered friends. Would I still be here if I had walked away right then and there? Did I even want to walk away?