"Why did you lock me up inside the house for eight years?" asked Alisa curiously.
Ronald was a bit nervous to answer that question. He can't answer it without bringing up a troubled time in his life. He looked into his daughter's eyes and noticed that her intense glare. He cleared his throat and decided to answer to question. "I've been avoiding the question long enough. You don't remember what I'm about to tell you. You're a very fortunate girl. Sometimes I have nightmares about you. Nine years ago when you were five years old you did the unspeakable. Because of what you did I thought it was best to lock you up" said Ronald.
Alisa laughed nervously at what he said. She knew she would not do anything to give her father nightmares. "What did I do?" she asked. Ronald pulled out a photo from his pocket. They both knew the face of the photograph. A blonde-haired woman with blue eyes wearing a doctor's uniform. "Mom, she died when I was 5 too. Are you saying I did something to mom?" asked Alisa. "You have a special gift. Every day I ask myself if I should nurture your gift or shut it down. That's why I isolated you for years then changed my mind. Nine years ago you, your mother died in the middle of your awakening" said Alisa. Ronald moved closer to his daughter and touched her head.
On Ronald's touch, Alisa's head felt like it burst open. Memories she never knew existed reached the surface of her mind. On that night, nine years ago Alisa was sleeping soundly in her bed. She had no idea a robbery was taking place in her house and neither did her parents. Two thieves with masks covering their faces broke into Alisa's window. Her room was close to a large tree so it was easy to enter through her window. When they punched the glass window to get inside they saw that a little girl was in the room they stepped in. "The hell! A little girl's here" said one thief surprised. The other one told him to be quiet as they slowly looked around in the girl's room.
CRACK!
The thieves accidentally bumped into a vase and it fell breaking into little pieces. Alisa immediately opened her eyes wide awake. The sound of the vase breaking woke her up. She turned her attention to the thieves walking out of her room. They locked eyes on each other. "HELP! HE-
Alisa screamed out for help after seeing two men in masks close to her door. They stopped her from screaming by taping her mouth with tape. Even with the tape on Alisa's screaming and crying still reached outside the room. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shut up, kid? I don't want to kill you. We're just here for your money. Give it to us and no one gets hurt" said the thief. The thief guided Alisa on taking deep breaths.
"Do you know where money is stashed here?" asked the thieves.
Alisa nodded no in reply. She truly did not know anything about money in her house. The thieves hated her reply. They grabbed her by the hair and brought her around the house searching for money. While they were searching for money around the house Alisa felt like she was going to suffocate. Her heartbeat was racing faster than normal with tears flowing from her eyes nonstop.
"Daddy, please come out. Daddy!"
"I'm scared. What are they going to do with me?"
"Mommy, daddy"
Alisa's thoughts were running wild. She was too scared and all she could think of was her mommy and daddy. They always saved her in the end. Soon enough she stopped thinking altogether. Without a clue, her eyes changed colour. Her eyes were as red as her blood. "Mommy, daddy where? Please help" she cried softly. The tape was slowly coming off so the thieves found it best to knock her out since she was useless. The thief let go of Alisa's hair and touched her arms.
"Ouch!" the thief said. His hand was stung by Alisa's skin.
"This girl is burning up. Is it a fever on steroids?" asked the thief. They looked at Alisa's face and noticed two distinct differences. Her eyes were now red instead of blue and she looked less scared. She glared at the two thieves and told them "Leave this place before you get hurt"
At this point, Alisa has pushed aside in the back of her mind and someone else took over her body. Someone she felt like she could rely on.
"Excuse me, little girl. Watch your mouth" said the thief.
"You feel extremely hot," said the other thief. Alisa charged at the two adults and pushed them to the floor. They tried getting back up but they couldn't move a muscle. They didn't receive any significant injury from Alisa so it was a mystery to them why they couldn't move.
"What the hell!? I can't move"
"Paralysis! But how?"
Alisa saw that the thieves weren't moving. The more she looked at them the more her mind screamed opportunity. Alisa was no longer a regular five year old. Her bloodlust was real and it scared the thieves. They breathed heavily as they shouted at each other to move. Alisa ran into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. She headed back to the living room where the thieves were and saw her mother walking towards them. "Mommy," said Alisa relieved. The urge she had to kill went away. Her eye colour went back to normal and she jumped in her mother's arm and started crying. "Mommy, thank god. I was so scared" cried Alisa.
"Alisa you were awake. I am so sorry for what you have to endure" replied her mother. The thieves realized they could move again. One of them sprinted into action and stabbed Alisa's mother in the back.
.....
It happened so fast Alisa didn't process what happened. She saw blood gushing out of her mother's chest. Everything went blank for Alisa for a split second. Instead of mourning over her mother's injury she quickly got up and paralyzed the two thieves. She showed them no mercy. She stabbed the thieves all over their bodies repeatedly. By the time they were just corpses Alisa still felt like continuing. The last thing Alisa's mother saw before death was her daughter killing two men right in front of her.
"Why?"
Snap!
Ronald removed his hands from his daughter and said "Sorry I had to let you relive that moment. I don't think there's any need for you to remember further. You'd probably kill me. You may find it hard to believe but that's your memory". Alisa touched her chest to see if a hole would be there. Ronald's gift made Alisa remember that tragic night how her mother died. For years she thought it was a heart attack but that was wrong. She was murdered while hugging her daughter. "I don't understand. Those thieves couldn't move so how did they stab my mother," said Alisa confused.
Ronald raised both his hands up and explained "You and I have a special ability called Gifts. I can control people's memory while you have a special ability as well. Not sure what it is yet. Sometimes I speculate that you can create life from nothing, sometimes I think your gift is to tap into your rage and enhance the body. Whatever your gift might be it is a fact that you have a darker side to you who's a completely different person. Whenever she takes over I make sure to erase the memory for you not to remember. I am sorry". All of Ronald's rambles was confusing to her. There was too much new information to accept. "I am sure that what I have is not a split personality disorder. It feels like I am sharing a body with someone else. Honestly I kind of already knew that even when my memories were tampered with. I've been by myself for eight years with no one to talk to. I got more and more aware of her when time flew by. But this gift thing. How come you never told me about this? Is my gift the reason why you isolated me for so long?" asked Alisa. Ronald nodded yes in reply. "After the night your mother died you started to behave unstably. It's like you were a switch that can flick at any moment. The person who's sharing your body punched a hole through a stranger's chest when you were six just because he insulted your dress. At the time it felt right to isolate you. Sorry you were just too dangerous" said Ronald.
Alisa took a deep breath and went to her room. Everything that her father told her. Everything that she remembered the night her mother died was stuck in her head. She wondered if she could communicate with her other-self. "Alisa if you're there you can talk to me you know. Surely you know how lonely I am" said Alisa. Before going to bed she turned on her computer. "Hearing what my father kept secret from me I'm curious about what else the jerk's hiding," Alisa told herself. She checked her father's email and read the message with the subject Golden Circle.
Mr Matar, in four days The Dragon Hunt will begin. We need to know if you're going to participate immediately. Please ensure that if you are partaking, you are expected not to cheat like last time. Alisa read the message and had one big question in her mind. "What's the Dragon Hunt?"
The next day Ronald had another chat with Alisa over breakfast. Ronald never intended on revealing anything to Alisa yesterday but the words decided to jump out. He thought it was best to let Alisa know everything about what's going on in his life for once. "Alisa, yesterday I told you about Gifts. You and I aren't the only ones who possess it. I know a handful of people who have gifts. Soon enough the entire population will attain one at the rate it is spreading" said Ronald.
"Thought as much. They have different abilities right. I guessed that much already. You and I are not that special. My other self has a gift but I don't know what I am capable of" said Alisa.
"You should be able to put the pieces together by now. Your other self has the gift to paralyze people. I don't know-how and the limitations of it. You would have to find out on your own. As for you, I know you have a gift but it puzzles me. Your gift may the strongest yet or it may be disappointing. Find out and let me know" said Ronald. The two suddenly went silent. They gave each other no eye contact while they were eating. Alisa broke the silence by asking "What's the Hunt dad? Even now you're still hiding so much from me. You're a part of this golden circle" said Alisa sadly.
"Seriously, you want to know about that dumb competition," said Ronald.
"It's a competition between members of the Golden Circle to determine who receives a healing potion. The potion can heal anything and everything. It also regenerates lost organs like your eye for example" said Ronald. After all the crazy things Alisa have heard this was by far the craziest. She knew her father is a liar but the thought of such a potion is just unreal. Ronald also added "By the way, the potion is made by a dragon. The last of its kind" said, Ronald.
"Stop it!" Alisa shouted.
She slammed her hands on the table and demanded a picture. "Proof, you can't say something like this without having proof to back it up," said Alisa.
"I can manipulate memories, you can paralyze, people can move at light speed. It's not that hard to believe a dragon exists. You should open your mind. Have some imagination girl" said Ronald. Alisa asked "Are you going to partake in this Dragon Hunt? Would be nice to have a potion like that at home" Ronald pulled out his phone and grinned. He showed Alisa the picture of a blue-haired man with two guns in hand.
"Originally he was supposed to partake in the Dragon's Hunt for me but he bailed out at the last minute. So no I won't be a part of it" said Ronald. "No, no, no we need that potion. Do you think it could give me a new eye? This eye patch is not a good look for me" said Alisa.
"It's very dangerous you know. You sure you want to partake for something so trivial" said Ronald. Alisa disagreed and told her father "You're wrong. If there's a chance for me to restore my eye then I'll gladly take it. Ray needs help too. I'm sick of people calling him an ugly mutt because of his scar. Let me participate in this Dragon Hunt please" requested, Alisa. Alisa took up her fork and threw it directly at her father.
"You've been hiding so many things from me. You should be more like mom once in a while. Permit me, please. This Dragon Hunt competition sounds like a once in a lifetime opportunity. I don't want to miss it. Please" Alisa urged. Ronald sighed and accepted his daughter's wish. "You don't have to make me feel bad. If your eye is that important to you I'll give you the chance to participate. Just make sure not to die" said Ronald. Later on that day Ray returned home with his leg healed. Ronald prepared a private jet for him and Alisa to travel to a faraway island called Apsychos.
Ronald flew the jet while Alisa watched videos with her dog. "The other person inside me, my gift, my past. I accept them all for now"