Shooting Star

Chapter 8

(Disclaimer: Chapter Eight discusses disturbing elements that affect people in real life, such as interpersonal/dating violence and abuse, sexual assault/rape, abortion due to rape, and suicide attempts. No graphic detail of the assaults will be included to protect survivors. Please exercise caution when reading this chapter. If you have struggled with these subjects, you are not alone. Help is always available and hope still remains. What happened to you or someone you love is never the victims' fault. Take care. Thank you.)

Bonnie Umali prepared for a "deserved" night's rest. So far, the night went exactly the way she expected: she could not find Pharaoh anywhere, having only found his shirt and badge, she had to report his alleged death to the already highly irritated and violent General Wolverine, she made up an even less likely excuse as to why she didn't capture Star immediately– "You only instructed me to drop Pharaoh off, my lord, so I was not authorized to capture her"– and she became the target of Gregory's physical abuse while Raincloud, being the only Elite left, silently watched. Ever since Subject 0900 had escaped, the doctor was subjected to more beatings due to her failure to prevent it from happening... The one time a subject escapes, she suffers greatly from it.

As soon as she reached her dorm and shut the door, she went on with her night as usual. Her nightly routine included working on the last of her reports, a 30-minute Pilates exercise and some stretches, a shower, and going to bed. It was disgusting how relatively normal this routine was despite the horrors she experiences every day, but there was one special thing she always did before falling asleep: spending a few moments to curse the Gods for making her life so miserable.

Bonnie could not even look at her face without makeup anymore. All she saw looking in a mirror was a battered, broken woman who had to hide her bruises with foundation. Tonight, when she saw the uncovered bruises on her face, she shed tears of distress and agony. Bonnie couldn't even see herself as "beautiful" anymore. She couldn't understand it. Gregory considers her his favorite in the Hyena Labs, as well as his right-hand woman, but he treats her the worst out of all of his close soldiers.

The worst part was that, over the years, she realized that the day she met him, she was doomed from the start.

Ten years prior, Bonnie was 25 and very accomplished. She had received her Master's of Science degree and was working on her Doctorate, and was ready to put her skills to the test in the workforce. Her knowledge in the field of science made her seem extremely gifted and intelligent in the eyes of her peers. She wanted to be a scientist and researcher, above all else, and worked hard for it. And Bonnie, just as she is now, had the bonus of being a beautiful woman. She was the type of woman that could potentially cause drivers to crash because they were too busy admiring her from a distance instead of watching the road.

But Bonnie never openly acknowledged or gloated about her good looks or genius intellect– she knew those were her "strongest" points, but didn't want that to be all she was known for. And despite the attention she got, she was never satisfied with any of her pursuers. It seemed they all wanted her because she was gorgeous and highly intelligent compared to the other women her age, and they didn't seem to care about the person behind the beauty and brains: the real her. Despite her professional and scientific air, in her free time, Bonnie enjoys the simpler things in life: reading the news, coffee and lattes, acoustic guitar, chess, cats, Pilates, and walks in the park when the sun is setting. She was mature and opinionated, but spoke softly a lot of the time, and always wanted a logical reason to do something, or at least a plan. Bonnie never liked parties and outings like a lot of younger women at the time, and preferred her simple life of work and leisure time at home. Some people thought that she was an old soul in a youthful body, but they also believed that she was so boring, and that's what made it so easy for Bonnie to spot the people who only had a superficial interest in her– the kind of person she doesn't want– so people assumed that she wasn't interested in dating.