2 ♠ Chapter 2 : A comfort zone

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO

At an early age of five, Lacian became immune with the slaps and beatings she received from her adopted parents. Sitting on the corner of her room and waits for the night to come. The bruises and the marks on her skin were like small dots like that of a ladybug permanently imprinted every part of her body. Numb and emotionless as a doll.

'I never knew it's too painful not to feel any pain in the end.' Lacian thought while hugging her knees. Her cold back hit the wall, swallowing the small lump inside her throat as if she was not bothered at the slightest.

"Useless kid! We better return you to where you came from!" the lady yelled from outside Lacian's door, that was her adopted mother. The purpose why Lacian got adopted was that the rich couple wanted to have an elite children who could excel in the field of medicine. They were both well known doctors who could never have a child. Rather than undergoing artificial births, they had chosen to adopt a child. But choosing Lacian to be their daughter seemed like a big mistake.

"What an impotent child! What's wrong with her?! Why can't she just go to school and earn good marks?! I don't want a child whose brain is dead! I would never spend my whole life raising a child who's not intelligent! She's not capable enough to be my ideal daughter!" the woman continued yelling. Lacian listened inside her room while slowly banging the back of her head towards the wall. When Lacian first attended school, the silence inside the classroom when they were taking down notes made her ears ached, the sound of the crashing vehicles from the neighboring city caused by an accident echoed through her ears like a broken piece of song, she could never concentrate and always scolded by the teacher for not listening in the class. The loud sirens of the ambulance from a very far would disturb her thoughts again and she would end up shouting in the middle of the class and covers her ears. It repeatedly happens everyday that her teachers and classmates could no longer tolerate her odd behavior. Lacian tried to explain towards her parents but they would never believe 'such' a thing. They were professionals who don't believe in such supernatural tales made by their 'weird' child. They believed that Lacian was being rebellious and seeking for attention.

One time Lacian was asked by her mother what was her problem.

'Believe me, mom! dad!  I can hear things a million times better than any other kids. I can see clearly everything even if I'm closing my eyes! I can identify and differentiate all kinds of tastes and flavors. I can have better smelling ability than our dog. And I can't feel pain when I cut myself accidentally. I'm not lying-" a slap landed on Lacian's small cheek when her mother could no longer bear to hear her heroic and insane alibis. Her mother's palm turned red which meant that the slap was no ordinary slap. Lacian didn't feel the pain but she cried. Her skin turned red as her mother's palm left a mark on her small cheek.

"You're abnormal" the woman said and shooed Lacian towards her room.

"Why am I abnormal?" Lacian once asked herself while crying. The daily beatings and harsh words became an unnecessary part of Lacian's living inside the house.

"Please send me back" Lacian once demanded from her parents with a poker face. The couple immediately took an action like getting rid of the trash from their kitchen and sent Lacian back to the orphanage. When Lacian returned, her guardian's never appreciated her comeback. They thought they got rid of her completely. When new adopters come to the orphanage, the guardians would highly recommend Lacian to them. After so many attempts of sending the poor child away, she would immediately get turned over again.

'Nobody wants me. No one needs me. I better be dead.' Lacian thought when she reached seven. She was assigned to help with the chores in the kitchen and cleaning. Sometimes she would willingly do the laundry just so she could be of some help. She started wearing long sleeves because her skin was becoming more sensitive as she grows older. During the dusk, Lacian developed the habit of cutting her arms using a small cutter. When taking a bath, her crimson blood mixed with the running water from the shower coming from her cuts. She would watch the clear water as the red liquid get drained from the tiles with a poker face.

'Looks painful but feels nothing much.' Lacian thought with a sigh. When she reached ten years old, she decided to run away. She escaped from the orphanage and lived as a stray kid. She learned everything she could use in order to survive alone with the use of her 'abnormalities'.  She learned to navigate and decide where to sleep during nights. She became friends with the cops for giving them informations about syndicates in the city using her hearing senses in exchange for money. Money was never a problem for her until she reached her current age. She learned fighting with the help of joining underground battles. She developed an affection for bandages and treated them as her best friends.

'Suicide Maniac!'

'Freak!'

'Crazy!'

'Abnormal'

'You're better dead'

A single tear escaped from Lacian's eye while sleeping peacefully on the upper portion of the bunk bed.

"Ace, are you okay?" Francis's voice awoken Lacian from her lonely, deep sleep. Lacian immediately wiped the tear away using her bandaged knuckles. She sat up without noticing the thick bandages covering her waist. The wound opened up which caused it to bleed again. She was wearing a very thin sleeveless white shirt.

"Hey! Be careful with your wound!" Francis exclaimed. He offered his hands to support Lacian to get down from the bunk. Lacian told Francis that she hates sleeping in the bottom part so her disciple struggled to follow her wish.

"Oh yeah I forgot!" Lacian said with her usual idiotic grin. Lacian roamed her eyes around the room and frowned. The walls were painted with white and the surroundings smelled like fresh chrysanthemum, something refreshing that tickled Lacian's nostrils. Lacian immediately looked for her headphone which was carefully placed on the side table.

"You can use less of that when you stay or sleep here!" Francis said cheerfully. He offered his hand to take Lacian outside the house. As the door creaked opened, a raging train passed by. Lacian's eyes bulged with the sudden sight.

"A 100 percent dust free room for your sensitive skin, a chrysanthemum as an air freshener, an ideal house located near the railroads so you can always have a noisy surrounding all the time. I can also be a good cook!" Francis said cheerfully while pointing his thumbs towards his chest.

"Welcome to your comfort zone, Ace" The guy grinned and crossed his arms across his chest. Lacian exhaled deeply as if a very heavy stone was lifted away from her shoulders. She laughed like an idiot until her stomach hurt. She couldn't believe that someone as considerate, someone who understands and someone who would spend efforts like Francis exists.

"Why are you laughing?! You don't think this is a good idea?" Francis asked. He started pouting when Lacian continued laughing.

"No! Thanks, man!" Lacian said and hugged herself while feeling her skin exposed for a long time. She could gamble teaching this guy maybe a little longer.

'This fella is funny' Lacian thought and chuckled. She thought intelligently and wisely what this guy's true purpose for taking things that far. The fact that Francis knew about her 'abilities' was questionable since she hid her true identity even from the government.

"Let's get down to business." Lacian said and rubbed the back of her neck in a threatening motion.

"Do you want to train under me to get accepted in the taekwondo club? Or..." Lacian paused and smirked cleverly.

"...train under me while investigating my weaknesses and kill me in the end?"

Francis fidgeted, hands formed into fists while frowning at Lacian.

"You don't really have to answer me. Either way is fine with me. Join the said club or kill me in the end, I'll still train you. I just want to kill some time." Lacian said with an idiotic grin while poking her nose. She caught some dirt under her nose and flicked it on the air.

'I wished to die for a long time ago but I couldn't kill myself because I was always afraid to die alone.' Lacian thought while exhaling dramatically.

'I must at least have someone to kill me, then maybe, I would feel important or a threat for someone.  If someone hates me and want me dead, that means I lived. Then that means someone acknowledged my existence.' Lacian thought and bowed her head.

"I will teach you with everything I learned. In exchange, maybe you can kill me in the most unpainful way in the future." Lacian said with a grin. The raging noise of the running train interrupted their conversation. Lacian saw a peaceful scene with the running train behind her while she looked at Francis.

"I just want to be your friend" Francis whispered softly. Lacian heard it clearly despite the raging sound made by the train. Her eyes widened in awe.

'Man, now I wonder what it feels like to be killed by a friend.' Lacian thought and nodded her head a multiple times. She always dreamed about being killed but she never once dreamed about having a friend. Now, her hopes had gone up as she had this encounter with another odd person.

'I better think of him as my killer and my friend at the same time.' Lacian thought with a chuckle.