Hatred

Chapter-16

I turn the pen drive over in my hand, calculating the risks and benefits of putting it in my laptop.

There is a high chance it may contain a virus that can steal or corrupt the data in it. Very sensitive data.

The program Harley built into the system should protect it from every malware and hacker in existence. But the risks still outweigh the benefits. If the information on this device fell in the wrong hands, it could end nations.

I sigh and reach over for my phone on the nightstand. Opening Blaire's chat, I type

'I need a new laptop, fully calibrated with no data. Make it quick. '

Her reply came within seconds.

'Yes Boss.'

Closing my laptop and hiding the pen drive securely, I get out of bed take a shower. But first I walk to the balcony and throw open the glass door. Walking out, I rest my forearms on the railing and observe the garden where I use to spend the majority of my time in the cold months of the year, in fact, this is the first winter in this house I am taking baths in a bathroom and sleeping in a warm bed instead of the most sun heated slab of stone I could find.

The dew on the grass blades sparkled in the early morning sunlight. A thin layer of fog hung above the garden. I could see the black figures moving on the wall in the distance, keeping a watchfull eye around the mansion. Looking up at the grey clouded steadily approaching from the west, I know its going to snow heavily, accompanied by a thunderstorm. Judging by the intensity of the wind and slowly increasing temperature, it will cause a blizzard. As a pilot, you need to be better at reading the signs around you and the changes it will bring in the weather than your meteroinstuments and climate readings provided by ground control. The sky is as unpredictable as its beautiful. That is one of the many reason I love it and yearn to return there whenever my feet are touching the ground.

I ignore the hollow ache in my chest as I think of being in the air and remind myself I won't even be able to fly in such conditions and that a blizzard is not the best time to go for an IFR flight.

I walk back into the room, rubbing my palms together to create friction. Not bothering to close the door behind me, I walk to the coffee machine Blaire made sure was put in my room and start making a huge steaming mug. Once I am done with the delicious drink, I grab some cloths and walk into the bathroom.

Since its Sunday and I am not exercising today, I take my time under the hot water.

I look down to see cream color mixed in the water. The makeup I keep applied on any scars that become visible in my cloths. I gently scrub it all away and look down at the multiple jagged white lines adorning my body.

I raise my forearms and slightly and look down at the neat thin scars criss crossing the skin from the inner elbow to the top of my wrist. On my left wrist, where the vein is right under my skin, is the biggest and deepest of them all.

I had promised myself that I would never leave my friends, that I would only live to protect them. But the incident that led me to inflicting this wound still haunts me every step of the way. Its still makes me question my existence. It still makes we want to take one of my knifes and finish what I started.

Tears sting the back of my eyes as I think about that fateful day. The day the little world of lies, power and blackmail I had erected around me came crumbling down.

Even as tears gather in my eyes, I don't let them flow. I just stand under the warm spray, hoping in vain that it will wash away all the memories I keep under lock and key, that threaten to spill out and drag me down into its dark endless pit.