A New Kind of ordinary

A New Kind of Ordinary
Chapter 1

By: Mandi Villejoin

[I was helping father plow the field. We were preparing the soil for this years crops. It was day break and we were just getting started on our chores on a typical day with the plain folk. In case you didn’t know, the plain folk are Amish. We live on a farm in Nappanee. It’s a nice modest place. I loved my family and my life suited me, but I had a feeling some thing was missing from my life. I was seventeen and was on my way to becoming a man. Oh, I didn’t introduce my self. Terribly sorry. My name is Nathaniel C. Johnson. I live on the farm with my mother, Josephine, my father John, my sisters Elizabeth and Charity, and my baby brother Matthew. And also my Oma and Opa. My grand parents in case you didn’t know. We have a few neighbors around. The plain folk community is a lot like a big family. But I’ll get to that later. On with the story. As I said John and I were plowing the field. The sun was rising. I stopped to wipe my fore head on my sleeve, when I spotted something on the horizon.]
Nathan; Father. Look.
[I pointed to the horizon.]
John; What is it?
Nathan; I think its person.
[It was, the person was walking very slow and looked as if they were limping. It stopped. It hit its knees and fell face first into the ground. We dropped our tools and ran to the poor soul. As we got closer we saw it was an outsider, a woman outsider.]
John; Come on. Lets get her inside.
Nathan; She looks terrible.
[And indeed she did. She was bleeding from several different wounds on her body. My father grabbed her body and I grabbed her legs and we walked her inside. My mother and sisters stopped their washing and looked.]
Mrs. J; Oh my goodness. What happened?
John; We spotted her on the horizon.
[They set her on the table.]

Mrs. J; Elizabeth get me some thread and a needle. Charity get me some water and a cloth.
[My sisters hurried from the room. My mother brushed the hair from this girls face. She was young and very beautiful, despite her many wounds. She had long black hair, fair golden brown skin, exquisite features, and full, supple........eh hem. Sorry, I think I described her enough. We had no name for this girl so we referred to her as “the girl”. My sisters came back with what was needed. Me and my father left the room as she started to unbutton her shirt.]
Nathan; What do you think happened to her, father?
John; She had a bag and several gun and stab wounds. I’d have to say she’s running from some one. She can’t stay her for long.
Nathan; But you saw how badly she was hurt. She needs rest.
John; That may be, but we can’t risk the lives of our family and people and that’s the end of it.
[It was no use arguing, what my father said was final. We went back to plowing the field. After a long bit of work I went to the back of the house to get another hoe. I passed by the window and saw my mother and sisters putting the girl in a bed. She had nothing on, but bandages so I quickly averted my eyes and went about my business. At lunch time me and my father went inside. I was sitting down.]
Nathan; How’s the girl?
Mrs. J; With rest she will be fine, but she will have to take it easy.
John; She cannot stay long. You saw the kind of wounds she had.
Mrs. J; Yes. But I hate to turn her away. She’s so injured. I fear she might not wake for a few days.
John; All the same we can’t keep her here,
Mrs. J; All right. I won’t say another word. Lets say grace.

[We bowed our heads and said a lengthy prayer. Prayer and religion is a major part of our lives. After lunch me and my father went back to plowing the field. My mother did the wash and Charity was scrubbing the floors. She was the eldest of my sisters. She was fifteen, Elizabeth an adorable five. She ran around my mother and sisters feet trying to help. She mostly took care of the chickens. After we finished our chores we went back inside for supper. We had just sat down when it all started. The windows shattered as we heard several gun shots. My mother grabbed Matthew and my father forced my mother under the table. We all got down on the floor. The girl came flying into the dinning room. She was in nothing, but bandages and a pair of pants. She had her bag and she ran to us and flipped the table so that it blocked the shower of bullets that was flying through the window. She got behind the table with us.]
Hanako; Hi. [A blast took out one of the cabinets.] Short intro. Im Hanako, just call me Hanna. [She thrust her hands into her bag and pulled out two Colt 70's. She looked ta me and gave me the gun.]
Hanna; You know how to use one of these?
Nathan; Im not shooting any one!
Hanna; Your life or theirs. God forgive me!
[She ducked out from under the table. She shot through one of the demolished windows. She shot several times and some of the fires ceased.]
Hanna; Watch it!
[There was man on the side of the house pointing a gun in. I gave him a lead bullet in the shoulder, direct hit. Hanna ran behind the table and grabbed my little sister.]
Hanna; Move.
[We all got out from the table. And not a moment too soon. The table was blasted away, by a blast from a bazooka. She threw her empty gun to the side and took out an Uzi and started hammering away at the people out side. One of the guys popped up from no where and aimed the gun right at Elizabeth. Hanna dove in front of her and took the bullet, while taking out the other guy with the Uzi. Then it all stopped. No more gun fires. She got up. She was bleeding badly, but she stood up and went out side to check it out. Me and my father went after her. Nearly a dozen men lay dead on the ground. She was kneeling in front of all the dead bodies in prayer. I thought it was so obscene yet so nice. Then she collapsed to the side on the spot. Me and my father ran to her. The bullet she took for Elizabeth was some where in her chest. We brought her in. Her eyes were barely open. The kitchen was demolished. My mother took care of Hanna and put her to bed. Me and the rest of the family went around cleaning up the mess. After we had gotten most of it done we sat down. Hanna was in a cot in the corner of the room awake.]
John; Well little lady. You sure have made a right mess of things. Mind giving us an explanation?
Hanna; Yes. Im really sorry about this. I didn’t mean to cause any problems, but they seem to follow me around. I am Hanako Benghal. Im not really from around here, but Im not really from any where.
Charity; What do you mean?
Hanna; Well. I’ve never had a permanent home. I’ve been traveling around since I was five.

Elizabeth; How come you don’t have a home?
Mrs. J; Elizabeth. [She said it in a harsh whisper.]
Hanna; Its ok. That’s pretty much the explanation. There are some bad people after me. I escaped when I was five and have been on the run since.
John; Why are they after you? Have you done some thing wrong? [he spoke in an accusatory voice.]
Hanna; No, I assure you I haven’t, but that’s what they are making it look like. You see they made some fake charges to cover up looking for me.
John; Why are they looking for you?
Hanna; I don’t want to go into detail, but Im different from normal people. They want to do tests on me, put me on display and exploit me like an animal.
[This was the first time her voice had showed hate. It didn’t when my father accused her, but it was seething with hatred and her eyes looked like they had fire in them.]
John; Ok. Do they want to kill you or capture you?
Hanna; They don’t care. If they want to capture me they try it, but they never succeed. And when they try to kill me the same thing.
John; So many deaths.
Hanna; Im afraid that’s how it is. As much as I don’t want it to be its either kill or be killed.
John; An you choose to take dozens of lives to save your own?
Hanna; Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you protect your family at any cost? Even if it meant killing others?
[My father was at a loss for words. It was the first time he had been out witted and by a young girl no less. He took a deep breath.]
John; You make a fair point, but it is still wrong.
Hanna; I agree. Its horrible and nothing can justify it, but its some thing I have to face. Which is why I have to ask you a favor?
[My father sat back and gave her a stern look.]
John; What?
Hanna; I...I need a place to stay for a few days. [She hurried on.] I have to stay here. Some thing is going to happen I can feel it. Please. I can help out. I’ll do any thing I can. Please sir.
[She bowed her head. I thought it strange, but then again she wasn’t from around here. My father stood up and paced. Then he turned to her.]
John; I will let you stay the night, but I will have to think about your further stay.
Hanna; Thank you sir. I promise not to be a burden.

John; Charity. Show her to the guest room.
[Charity got up and Hanna followed her. As they walked she talked to her.]
Charity; Well Hanna. It is the first time I’ve seen my father at a loss for words. My name is Charity. The little girl is my sister Elizabeth and the older young man is my brother Nathan. And the other two are my mother and father. John and Josephine. We are the Johnson’s.
Hanna; You have a nice family.
Charity; Thank you. [They reach the room. Its small and quant, but Im pretty sure she likes it.]
Hanna; It’s nice.
Charity; Thank you. You don’t look American. May I ask what your heritage is?
Hanna; Well. Im sort of a mix between races. My mother was Japanese and my father was African, First name and last name.
Charity; I see. Well have a nice sleep. [She looked kind of concerned as she looked at her many bandaged wounds.]
Hanna; It’s ok. I’ll make use of my night even if I don’t sleep.
Charity; Alright. Good night.
[Mean while in the living room, me, father and mother are talking.]
Nathan; I don’t see why she can’t stay.
John; Its too dangerous. They nearly blasted away the entire kitchen.
Nathan; We didn’t get hurt.
John; But we could the next time.
Nathan; She seems perfectly capable of protecting us.
John; What makes you think she would protect us through the whole thing? She cares more about her own life than the lives of others!
Nathan; Can you honestly say that!? She took a bullet for Elizabeth! If it wasn’t for her she would be dead!
John; Don’t you raise your voice to me!
[I look away and act ashamed even though I am far from it. I meant what I said.]
Mrs. J; He does have a good point.
John; Josephine, she demolished our kitchen.
Mrs. J; Those are things. They can be replaced. She protected our lives, remember?
[I can see him recalling her running in and turning the table over to shelter us. He closes his eyes looking for a good argument, but finds none.]
John; Alright. She can stay, but only for a few nights and any sign of trouble and she’s gone. Now go to bed.

[I go to my room. I smile secretly as I walk there. I don’t know why, but I like this girl. She is nothing like the other plain folk girls and she makes every thing seem so much more exciting. I close the door to my room. I am about to get ready for bed, when I hear a window shut and a small clatter. I look out side and see Hanna sneaking out of the window. I am intrigued, and against my better judgement I follow. I go as quietly as I can. She goes to the tool shed and takes out a hammer, some nails, plenty of wood and a shovel. She goes to the edge of the woods and starts digging after watching her for an hour she has made a dozen good sized holes. She walks back and brings back one of the bodies. I don’t believe it. She is burying the bodies. After she buries them she takes out some small pieces of wood and nails. She makes a dozen crosses and puts them at the heads of each grave. She kneels and prays. Mean while Im thinking she is one of the most good persons I have seen. These men tried to kill her yet she buried them and marked their graves. After a long prayer she gets to work on some thing else with the wood. It is getting late so I go back and get to bed. I lay awake for a while. What kind of girl is this? And what is this feeling I have towards her? I do not have the answers yet so I turn over and go to sleep. I wake up right before dawn the next morning and wash up. After getting dressed I walk into the kitchen. My father and mother are standing looking at the kitchen stunned. Every thing is repaired. There is a new table and a few chairs. The cabinets and windows have been fixed. And the walls no longer have holes in them.]
Mrs. J; Who did this?
John; And how? It must be a miracle.
Mrs. J; Especially to have every thing done so fast.
Nathan; Actually it was Hanna.
Mrs. J; Hanna did all this?
Nathan; Yes. She even buried the bodies and marked their graves.
[They both walk out side to see if its true. I walk by them. You can see the white crosses over the horizon.]
John; My goodness. That girl can really work.
[We go back inside and Mrs. J fixes breakfast. The girls come in and are stunned. We tell them the story as they sit down. Hanna walks in a little while later.]
Hanna; Good morning. [She looks tired, but happy.]
John; Good morning. I must say you did a fine job on every thing. I am very impressed. Thank you very much.
Hanna; It was the least I could do.

Mrs. J; Now eat up.
[She puts eggs, bacon, and toast on the table, with a pitcher of fresh milk.]
Mrs. J; You must be tired after staying up all night.
Hanna; Oh I couldn’t sleep any ways, because of the..... [She just stops talking and shakes her head. I wonder what she is about to say, but I do not ask. We all bow our heads and pray. After break fast, my sisters get the dishes and me and the others go out side.]
Hanna; So what can I do?
[John thinks about this.]
John; Maybe you should stay inside and rest. You must be in a lot of pain from your wounds.
Hanna; I deal with it. But I do want to help.
John; All right. What kind of work have you done?
Hanna; I’ve worked on a farm a couple of times.
John; Ok. Then you and Nathan will take the bails of hay out to the cows and horses to feed. Nathan you show her the ropes. I’ll just finish up the field.
Nathan; Alright. Follow me.
[I keep my head down. Im not sure why, but it just feels like the right thing to do. On the way to the barn Derek Johansson spots us. I fear the worst because he is one of the most arrogant and judgmental people I know.]
Derek; Hey Nathaniel. What you got there? A stray outsider?
[The other people around chuckle at his joke. I shake my head and keep on moving, but Hanna stops.]
Hanna; Outsider?
Nathan; That’s what we call people who aren’t Amish.
Hanna; What a lovely name.
Nathan; Just stay away from him. [I accidently say it like its an order, but I think she over looked it. We go to the barn.]
Nathan; Ok we have to load the buggy with bails of hay.
[I do not make eye contact with her.]
Hanna; Ok.

[We go over to the stack of bails. I lift one with the loading hooks {other wise the strings cut into your hands} and carry it over to the buggy. Take note. Bails of hay are a lot heavier than they look. I turn around and my jaw drops. Hanna has a bail of hay in each hand and is walking to the buggy likes its no big deal. I shake my head and continue like I hadn’t noticed any thing, but I was thinking. Damn this girl is strong. Pardon my language, but it will get more colorful as we go on. Any who. With Hanna helping me it took only half as long. After we loaded it we hooked up Charley to the buggy {that’s our mule} and we drove it over to the fence. We road straight through the pasture as the cows came around. Hanna cut loose the bails and threw them over the side. She really knew what she was doing. After we feed the cows we took the remaining bails and feed the horses. It was about seven thirty when we finished.]
John; Well. You two finished early. Now you can start milking the cows.
[We went to the live stock barn. The cows were in small stalls along each side.]
Nathan; You know how to milk a cow right?
Hanna; Yeah.
Nathan; Ok. Here’s your bucket.
[We both sit down next to a cow. She wasn’t joking. She finished milking Daisy in record time.]
Hanna; Where do I put the milk?
Nathan; Wow. Uh pour it in one of the giant milk cans over in the corner. She pours it into one of the cans and sits next to Bessy. She does about three fourths of the cows, by the time Im finished with a fourth. After we’re done we load these on to a buggy. Once again she uses her great strength and loads them on about four at a time. My father is watching from afar. He is so amazed he just freezes to watch her work. Derek watches us work.]
Derek; Hey Nathaniel. Getting out muscled by a girl now are we?
[I can feel my face redden. I go about my work, but his taunts continue.]
Derek; Honestly Nathaniel you are sad. You can’t out muscle some city girl.
[That’s when Im about to bust, but Hanna steps up first.]
Hanna; Doesn’t matter where Im from. I could out muscle just about any one here.
Derek; Is that so?
Hanna; Yeah it is so. In fact you’re the one Im most eager to beat.
Derek; Please. You aren’t worth my time.
Hanna; If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were afraid.
[He looks around as if she were she was telling the biggest joke.]
Derek; What would I be afraid of?
Hanna; Me kicking your butt.
[They were walking towards each other, every one had stopped to watch. Soon they were really close together.]
Derek; You couldn’t if you tried.
Hanna; I beg to differ.

Derek; Alright. Lets prove it then. Arm wrestle.
[He sits down at a crate.]
Hanna; Alright.
[She sits down on the other side. They lock arms.]
Derek; Ready? Set. Go.
[She keeps his arm in place and starts laughing. I can see what is funny. He is pushing with all his might against her arm. She pushes back and his arm goes down and hits the crate. Every one goes “Oooo.”]
Hanna; Looks like the big man is all talk. After all. He did get beat by a city girl.
[She got up and turned to walk. He was pissed. He got and grabbed her arm.]
Derek; Hey!
[She threw his arm off and kept on walking.]
Derek; Don’t you walk away from me!
[He swung at her head, but she ducked and gave him a sharp gab with her elbow to his stomach. He is bent over and is coughing every now and then.]
Hanna; Don’t mess with me.
[And we continue working. I must say after that I liked her at least ten times better. I still couldn’t look her in the eye though. After dinner my father called her into the living room. I listened in at the door.]
John; I hear you caused a fuss this morning with the Johansson boy.
Hanna; What else did you hear?
John; I heard that you hurt him real bad. He was in bed for the rest of the day!
[He slaps his hand on the table.]
John; One thing we do not tolerate here is violence. Especially unprovoked violence!
Hanna; I was provoked! He swung at me first! I was defending my self.
John; I don’t believe that for a second.
Hanna; Johnson. I am many things, but a liar isn’t one of them.
John; I want you out of here as soon as possible. You hear?
Hanna; Fine. But I have to stay at least one more day. Some thing is going to happen.
John; How do you know some thing is going to happen?
Hanna; It’s a feeling, but please just let me stay one more day. Please.
John; *Sigh! *Fine. [He sounds exasperated.] You get one more day, but if there is any more trouble and I mean any more. You are out of here. Understand?
Hanna; Yes sir.

[She gets up and I hurry to my room. She walks to her room and closes the door. Once again I am about to get ready for bed when she sneaks out again. I still can’t get over my curiosity so I follow again. She goes around the corner of the house and Im about to too. She grabs me and pins me against the wall with a knife to my throat. I almost pissed in my pants. My eyes were wide and I was shaking. But she looks relieved. She closes her knife and lets me go.]
Hanna; Its just you. I thought it might have been one of the men. What are you doing out here?
Nathan; I was just curious. [I still couldn’t look her in the eye. She pulled my face up eye level and forced me to. She had the most beautiful green eyes. A flawless face. Lets get back to the story.]
Hanna; Why can’t you look me in the eye? Is it because Im an outsider? Because Im different? Or...or am I ugly or what?
[I am stunned at all these assumed accusations. I look at her in a plain, but sort of bemused way.]
Nathan; Not at all.
Hanna; Then why?
[I can’t think of a good answer so I stick with the truth.]
Nathan; Honestly. I think you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve met.
[I can feel myself blush. She does slightly too. She smiles.]
Hanna; Thank you. No one has ever said that to me, before.
Nathan; Im surprised. [And I really was. She was so beautiful. How could some one not. I was sure she had another boy some where’s]
Hanna; That’s very sweet. How old are you?
Nathan; Im seventeen.
[I see a smile crack on her face. Is it a good smile?]
Hanna; Good.
Nathan; Why is that good?
Hanna; Your close to my age. Im eighteen.
[I didn’t dare to hope. Why was it good that we were close in age? Did she mean what I think she meant. No there was no way. She walked over to a log on the ground and sat on it. I hesitated.]
Hanna; Come join me.
[I sit next to her. Not too close.]
Hanna; I can tell you are very interested in me and you have many questions. You are some one I can trust. I know it. You can ask me any thing. I’ll answer you.

[It was strange that she wanted to tell me every thing, but no one else. But I took my chance and asked away.]
Nathan; Why do those people want to capture or kill you?
[She sighed deeply. Maybe I asked the wrong question. Would she answer?]
Hanna; It’s because of my ability. I can do things with my mind.
[Ok she lost me there.]
Nathan; With your mind?
Hanna; Yes. I can control objects, I have visions and some times when I come in contact with a person I am casted into their thoughts or memories.
[This made me think this girl is a nut. She needs some sort of professional help. She could tell what I was thinking. She smiled at me and lifted her hand. I heard some thing behind me. I look back and there is a bucket floating in mid air. I look back at Hanna who is directing it and then back at the bucket. She lowered it. I was astonished.]
Nathan; That was amazing.
Hanna; Thanks. You see all humans have a certain ability, but they don’t know how to awaken it.
Nathan; Awaken it?
Hanna; Yes. Buried deep in your soul it a great ability. In order to use it you must bring it to the surface. Like when people find them selves in an impossible situation they find strength they never had.
[This was so awesome. This meant I had some sort of power. But what was it and how could I awaken it?]
Nathan; Can I awaken my powers?
Hanna; Not alone. And it takes a lot to uncover them. It is very time consuming. Although there are some who can uncover it with out those measures.
[That would be a problem. I usually spend all day working so would never have the time.]
Nathan; You know how to do it?
Hanna; Yes. I will not tell any one so that’s why they want to run tests on me to figure out how I did it.
Nathan; But why would they kill you if they need you?
Hanna; There are two reasons for that. One they think that if they kill me they will still be able to test my body. And the other is that every time they attack me they bring out a bit more of my power. All these fights make me stronger. But they are very stupid. If they kill me my brain will be dead and they can’t test me and by making me stronger it makes me harder to deal with.
Nathan; That is very ignorant.

[There is a silence for a while.]
Nathan; Why haven’t you been sleeping?
Hanna; Well I.....[She stopped like last time, but continued.] I couldn’t sleep through the pain. I can work through it because my mind is focused on some thing else, but when I try to sleep it just comes back fully.
[I can see her point. Her arms have bandages on them, her torso is wrapped like a mummy under her shirt, and her legs are very bruised.]
Nathan; How can you live like this?
[It just seemed so stupid that one person should have to go through so much alone.]
Hanna; It is vital that I survive and keep out of their reach. If they capture me then they will find out how to awaken those powers. They can then use them as weapons of destruction. I foresaw this. Hundreds of cities in ruins. Thousands of bodies of the innocent and guilty lying in the streets and the people using their powers for evil instead of good. I mustn’t let them find out about it. At any cost. These mens deaths are bad enough, but I couldn’t live with my self knowing I caused the lives of so many others to be lost.
[She felt very strongly about this. She was on the verge of tears. I could see them glimmering in the moon light. I wasn’t sure what to do. I felt backed into a corner.]
Hanna; You must not tell any one about this. It must be kept a secret from every one. Charity, your father, every one. Got it?
Nathan; I won’t tell.
Hanna; Thank you. You know. You’re the first person I tell about this.
[I was shocked and flattered.]
Hanna; And I know you won’t tell. There is some thing special about you Nathan. Your different from the others and that is a very good thing.
[She touched my shoulder and got up and went back to her window, The heat was rising in my face. She had called me Nathan, not Nathaniel, Nathan. It was like some sort of sign for me. I never wanted her to leave. I liked her far too much. I went back to my room got ready for bed. I as I knelt down to pray, I prayed for her and her safety. The next morning we went about our usual chores. Getting them done faster with Hanna around. Her cloths were in the wash so she was wearing one of my sisters plain dresses. And I must say, even though the dresses weren’t that flattering, she wore it well. She was walking past the barn to put away some tools when out come Derek. He pushes her against the barn wall. She hits it hard. She is about to react when she stops her self.]

Hanna; What do you want?
Derek; I want you out. Outsider. I want your ugly face out of this town.
[I could tell she was stung about this, but she showed no emotion.]
Hanna; You think Im ugly? Some one couldn’t tell the difference between you and a donkey.
[The people around laughed a bit. Except for his gang.]
Derek; Well Im about to make you ugly.
[He pulled out a knife. It was from Hanna’s bag. I could tell he was just trying to show off. He pressed a button and the blade flipped out. He was sort of surprised and pleased. Hanna still showed no emotion. He walked up to her and that’s when every thing went wrong. He tripped and fell right into Hanna. We hear a rip as Hanna’s dress tears from a nail on the barn. But when Derek gets up there is blood on the knife and Hanna is clutching her face and right eye. There is blood dripping from her hand. He drops the knife and scrambles away. Hanna pulls her dress back up with her other hand. She doesn’t look all that shaken, but Derek was trembling like a leaf in a high wind. That’s when his Amish instincts kick in. He goes from big shot to plain folk in a second.]
Derek; Im so sorry. Please forgive me.
[He is looking at the ground and his face showed pain. He was shaking terribly. She walks closer to him and puts her hand on his head. I drape a piece of cloth around her. He flinches when she touches him.]
Hanna; It’s alright. I forgive you.
[Turns and walks back to my house. Derek puts his head in his hand. I can’t help, but feel sorry for the guy, but I feel worse for Hanna. I go after her. As she enters the house she meets my father. She uses her hair to hide her blood streaked face.]
Hanna; I will be out by tomorrow after noon sir.
John; Are you sure?
Hanna; Yes, sir. I just don’t belong here.
[I walk in, my face shows anger. I have never felt so angry in all my life.]
Nathan; Please you don’t have to leave.
Hanna; Yes I do. It’s time I go. It’s very clear now that I don’t belong here.
Nathan; Look, don’t let what he did make up your mind. Please stay.
John; What happened?
[His voice is strong and stern. Neither of us answer.]
John; I want an answer now.
[Hanna turns to him and looks up.]
John; My god. Who did this to you?

[This was the first time I had seen the damage. There was a bloody cross on her face. The vertical went over her right eye to the middle of her cheek and the horizontal cut went from the bridge of her nose to the side of her face. It made a cross on her cheek. Hanna kept silent as a tear rolled down her cheek. He turned to me.]
John; Who?
Nathan; It was Derek.
[He sighed and got up.]
John; Take care of her.
[He left the house. I turned to Hanna. She sat in a chair at the table. I went and got a wet cloth from the sink. I gave it to her and she put it over her eye and cheek.]
Hanna; Im sorry.
[I looked at her incredulously.]
Nathan; About what?
Hanna; I promised not to cause any trouble.
Nathan; It wasn’t your fault. It was Derek.
Hanna; It was both our faults. Derek should not have acted and I should not have risen to his insults. It was a mixture of both our stupidity. But he kept his promise. He made me ugly.
Nathan; You are not ugly.
Hanna; Don’t lie.
Nathan; I never lie. You could never not be beautiful.
[She won’t make eye contact. That’s when I take control for the moment. I push her chin up with my hand, to eye level.]
Nathan; Do you think I am lying?
Hanna; No..... Thank you.
[She puts her hand on my cheek. That’s when I lose it. I just abandon all touch with her and lose eye contact. According to our ways this wasn’t right.]
Nathan; Forgive me.
[She gave a small gentle laugh. And she looked right at me.]
Hanna; You do not need to be forgiven. You did every thing just right.

[She got up and left me very confused. I went back out side to finish my chores. Derek was gone and the others had gone back to their chores. My father then came out of the elders house. Derek was right behind him. Hanna came out of the house. Her dress was repaired and she had a cloth tide over her eye and cheek. It was blood stained, but it kept her wound covered. My father and Derek approached her.]
John; Hanna we need to talk. Lets go inside.
[Derek was still following with his head hung. He was still shaking. After the door shut to the house I went and listened in. I could see into the room from a window.]
John; Derek has some thing to say to you.
Derek; Im really sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I just....Im sorry.
[His head went all the way down. His face showed pain again.]
Hanna; Its ok. Really. I forgive you.
John; Derek. You do understand what will happen now?
Derek; Yes sir.
Hanna; What’s going to happen?
John; He will be tried by the elders and they will deal out his punishment. If you wish to press charges.
Hanna; I think he’s suffered enough. [Derek looked stricken. He looked up at her with wide eyes. She gave him the smallest smile.]
Hanna; I really don’t think he needs to be tried by the elders.
John; Alright, but it’s your decision.
[He got up and left the room.]
Derek; Thank you. Its more than I deserve.
[She didn’t talk she just walked up to him and lifted the side of his shirt. He had a nice sizable gash in his stomach. He winched as she touched it.]
Hanna; You really surprise me, you know that. Sit down.
Derek; But...
Hanna; Sit down!
[He obeyed. Hanna came back with needle thread and bandages.]
Derek; How did you know I was wounded?
[She wiped his cut and he flinched horribly.]
Hanna; Two things. You looked as if you were in pain every time you bent forward and I could smell your blood.
Derek; You could smell my blood! [He sounded horrified.]
Hanna; After being around it so much I can recognize it by smell.
[She takes up the needle and thread and starts to stitch the wound. His face was show even more pain. After she was done she bandaged it up.]
Hanna; There.
Derek; Thank you.
Hanna; Your welcome, now get back to work before we arouse suspicion.

[He thank her again and left the house with a small smile on his face. I was busy watching him when.]
Hanna; Hey!
[I jumped and saw stars as I jammed my head against the window sill.]
Hanna; Pretty crafty. First you follow me when I bury the bodies, you listen at the door when your father is talking to me, you follow me last night and now this.
Nathan; How did you know I was there all those times?
[I got up rubbing my head, facing her through the open window.]
Hanna; Hehe. You just told me.
[I look at her on a dirty way.]
Nathan; Oh your good.
[We go about our chores again. That’s when some one rings the fire bell. We can see smoke over the horizon. We drop what we are doing and run to the scene. There is a house ablaze. The man and wife have escaped, but he has to restrain his wife.]
Woman; My babies! There still inside! Some one save them!
[There was no way any one was getting in. Every thing was blocked by flaming wood.]
Man; Its too late. Im sorry.
[She was hysterical. That’s when Hanna came bolting to the house. Jumped through one of the windows. Every one thought she was crazy.]
Nathan; Hanna! [I turn to Derek] We got to help!
[We both go run to the house. We grab some near by tools and start to hack at the door to give her a way out. I had never been so scared. I was sure she was going to die. Then the roof collapsed.]
Woman; No!
[She was sobbing. I was in shock, she was gone. How could she have been so stupid. I lowered my head. I could see Derek nearly crying in a corner. That’s when the door bursts open. Hanna comes running out, with a child and a baby in her arms. She delivers them to the mother through the flaming door. The frame collapses and she is covered in a pile of blazing wood. Derek and I got and dig her out with our bare hands. She emerges from the pile. She is burned badly, but she looked alright. The woman checks her children and hugs and kisses them. Hanna walks over to me.]
Nathan; Are you crazy!? You could have gotten your self killed!
[I was so pissed at her, but she made all my anger dissipate with that smile of hers.]

Hanna; Aw you were worried about me. How sweet.
[We received praise for the rest of the day for that. She had gone from outsider to hero in half an hour. Later that day I saw her in the back. She had a knife and she was cutting her hair. It had been ruined by the fire. I sat next to her.]
Nathan; That was the feeling.
Hanna; Huh?
Nathan; You said you had the feeling that some thing was going to happen. That was it. You foresaw this.
Hanna; Hm. You figured me out.
[She cut off several more locks of hair and it was now collar length. She walked over to the brook and looked in the water.]
Hanna; What do you think?
Nathan; Looks nice. Really I like it.
[I had to add that last part. She looked skeptical. ]
Hanna; Thank you. Well I’d better get ready.
Nathan; For what?
Hanna; Im leaving in the morning.
Nathan; What?
[I didn’t think she would leave after things had been settled. I couldn’t let her go. I just couldn’t be with out her.]
Nathan; But...but you can’t leave.
Hanna; Why not?
Nathan; I...I,...don’t ...want you to go.
Hanna; I need a better reason than that. Not every one wants me to stay.
Derek; I don’t want you to go.
Hanna; Hmm. Another spy. [He came out from behind a tree.]
I thought you didn’t like me.
Derek; That was before I knew you.
Hanna; You can’t judge a book by its cover.
Derek; Definitely. So are you going to stay?
Hanna; Well. That all depends.
Nathan; I’ll talk to my father.
Hanna; You do know I can’t stay forever?
Nathan; Yes, but...
Hanna; When I leave.... you guys want to come with?

[Me and Derek looked at each other. We both had been different from our people. We always had felt their was more for us out there. But what she was asking was almost unthinkable. And yet I wanted to do it more than any thing else.]
Nathan; Yeah.
Derek; We do.
Hanna; [She smiled in a sort of cool challenging way.] Give it some thought first. You’ll have to fight, shoot, run, kill. You will get hurt and you will have to do more work than ever. You will leave your families. But its not all bad. I will have to prepare you for the world. It’s a lot more dirty than you know.
Derek; Are you trying to get us into the army or are we following you?
Hanna; You’ll need to be a lot stronger than any army man to survive. You have a while to think, but not too long to make a decision.
[We looked at each other again. She was serious. Her life was a lot more complicated than just running. She was fingering her blade.]
Derek; How good do we have to be?
[Hanna took her knife by the handle and threw it and inch away from his head. It stuck the tree and sunk in an inch deep. Derek nearly jumped out of his skin.]
Hanna; That good.
[He grabbed the handle and tried to pull it out. It wouldn’t come loose. He grabbed with both hands and put a foot on the tree and it still didn’t come loose. He looked at her panting from the effort.]
Nathan; Are you sure its just your mind that’s different? Your muscles might just be as strong.
Hanna; No that’s from working out. So what do you say boys?
Both; Yes.
[We were both excited.]
Hanna; Good. Don’t tell your parents just yet if you tell them at all. We have to do some secret training. I’ll help you with your chores tomorrow so we can have some time. Sound good.
Derek; Yeah.
Nathan; Yes.
Hanna; Ok. We got a few hours of day light. I’ll familiarize you with your equipment.
[She walks to the house. I follow her and Derek stays. I wait by her door. She comes out with her bag. She looks at me.]
Hanna; You always follow me. Like a dog. Maybe I should call you Nate-dog.
Nathan; Haha. Very funny.
Hanna; Seriously. It’s a nick name. Nate-dog.

Nathan; Not very flattering.
Hanna; There not supposed to be. There mainly just for fun. Watch I’ll come up with one for Derek.
[We start walking back.]
Nathan; What’s yours?
Hanna; Well you see..... I’ll explain that later.
[I am confused again. We make it back to the spot where Derek is waiting for us.]
Hanna; Ok. Follow me. Derek. Nate-dog.
[She chuckles as we follow her. I just sigh.]
Derek; Nate-dog?
Nathan; Its my new nick name.
Derek; Im gonna have fun with that.
Hanna; Until I give you one.
[He shut his mouth. We walked to the edge of the forest far from the village. She sits down on a stump that is next to two more.]
Derek; Where did the trees go?
Hanna; Well. I needed more wood to fix up their kitchen.
Nathan; You mean you made boards out of trees?
Hanna; Yeah.
Derek; Awesome. I can’t even do that.
[We each take a stump. She pulls her bag around to the front. She unzips it and takes out a small black hand gun.]
Hanna; Ok this is a Glock. Its kind of old, but very reliable. It has a magazine that holds the bullets. It holds seventeen shots.
[She takes out the magazine and shows us. She puts it back and then takes out a six shooter.]
Hanna; This is a Colt 93. It is very nice and packs a powerful shot. It really kicks. Just like this one. [She pulls out another six shooter.] This is a 45 magnum. If you don’t know how to use this you just shoot and walk back twenty feet cuz that’s where its gonna land after it kicks.
[We both laugh. She pulls out another black hand gun.]
Hanna; This is a Berreta Compact. Very nice and a great shot. [She pulls out a small automatic gun. She used this one at our house.]
Hanna; Can you tell me what this is?
Derek; An Uzi.
[Im thinking this guy’s stupid, but she looks surprised.]

Hanna; That’s right. It fires four rounds per second. So you can take out a line of guys in a very short amount of time.
[She pulls out a nice looking rifle.]
Hanna; Now this is my favorite big gun. This is a sniper rifle. You can shoot from a mile away and still make a dead shot. It is very accurate and very powerful.
[She takes out a grenade next.]
Hanna; You got to know what this is.
Nathan; Hand grenade.
Hanna; Correct. You pull the pin wait three seconds then throw.
[She took out a rolled up pouch. She unrolled it and I saw the biggest selection of knives ever. The biggest one had a clip on the top and was sort of curved,]
Hanna; This is a Bowy knife. Its great for hand to hand combat. It can stab, slice, hack and chop. [She takes up the next one it looks like a small sword.] This is a standard dagger. Basically for stabbing, but can cut just as well. [She shows us several more daggers and then moves on to smaller ones.] This is a buck knife. Its best for slicing and stabbing. And boy is it sharp, but not as sharp as this.
[She takes out a long very thin looking knife.] This is a Ginsu knife. So sharp it could split a hair. After the knives she puts them up and shows us how to load the guns. How we have to push against the springs to load the magazines. How to just reload the cartridges on the Uzi and how to slide in the bullets for the six shooters.]
Derek; This is amazing. When do we learn how to shoot them?
Hanna; Your eager. I’ll show you how to use them tomorrow. [The sun was going down.] Not a word to your parents. They find out and they’ll be running me out with torches and pitch forks.
[We all laugh.]
Hanna; There is one more thing. I work for a place where people have awakened their powers. I will have to awaken yours too, if you wish. This organization tries to find others who’s powers have awakened and recruit them. There are very few of us. We are like the elite, we protect people with our powers. And we all have code names. Im Agent Mental. [We snickered.] I told you they weren’t very flattering, but once you have a nick name its sticks. Derek after seeing you work, I’d like to call you Dull Blade.
Derek; Why?
Hanna; After seeing you work, your as lethal and strong as a good knife, but not as sharp.
[I laugh. He throws me a dirty look.]

Derek; I wouldn’t be laughing Nate- dog. [I shut my mouth, but still snickered.]
Dull Blade. I can live with that.
[ We make our way back. She is limping. I can see why. Her leg looks really screwed up. She looks exhausted.]
Derek; So how many injuries have you sustained while staying in our village?
Hanna; Two gun shot wounds, seven burns, two cuts and a sprained ankle.
Nathan; That’s rough.
Hanna; Im used to it.
Derek; Sucks to have to get used to that.
Hanna; You know slang a lot better than I would have thought.
Derek; I’ve been to the city a few times. We’ve always felt we didn’t belong here. Right?
Nathan; Right. I’ve always wanted to go out into the world.
Derek; Yeah. I wanted go out into the city more.
Hanna; I thought you hated outsiders.
Derek; I don’t I was.... Just jealous I guess. You had the life I wanted.
Hanna; Well. My life is a lot worse than you think, but I see what your getting at.
[We get back to the village. Derek says good by to us. We go inside. Every one is waiting for us.]
John; Welcome back. Well. I must say after today you’ve shown me what kind of person you really are. I miss judged you. You may stay as long as you like here in this house.
[She smiles.]
Hanna; Thank you sir. You all have been so kind to me since I’ve been her. I really appreciate it.
Mrs. J; It was our pleasure. I just wish I could have done some thing about that hair of yours.
Charity; Compared to the rest of her. Hair is the least of her problems.
[We all laugh at this little joke. After dinner we all go to bed. I stop by Hanna’s room. She was changing her bandages and I was about to look away when I saw her body. It was covered in large deep scars. Her body had been mutilated over the years and it had left its mark on her body. It was so horrible. I felt so bad for her.]
Hanna; You know. I wasn’t going to show you my scars until you had gotten used to the idea of going with me.

[She knew I was there. Im not sure why, but I found my self shaking. I turned away from her.]
Hanna; Its ok. You will have to get used to revealing woman. They are all over the place in the world. You will see more human flesh in a day than you have your entire life.
[Now that was shocking. I turned back toward her. She was trying to wrap her torso and was having a hard time. She winced and dropped the bandage roll. She sighed and picked it up.]
Hanna; Come in and shut the door.
[I didn’t know what to do. I shouldn’t be looking at her. I shouldn’t go into her room. My face was so hot and I was shaking worse. I walked in and closed the door.]
Hanna; Come over here and help me.
[Now this was almost too much, but I couldn’t leave her hanging. So I approached slowly. She brought the bandage around front and I grabbed it from her side and brought it around her back to the other side.]
Hanna; You are shaking.
Nathan; Huh?
[I had jumped when she spoke. I nearly dropped the bandage.]
Hanna; You don’t have to be so nervous.
Nathan; If my father found me in here, I’d be six feet under tomorrow morning.
[She chuckled. She tide the bandage around front and turned to me. I looked away. ]
Hanna; Your face is redder than a strawberry. Look, in the city its ok to look at a girl as long as her breasts are covered up.
[Oh that word. I felt so out of place and so dirty, like I needed to bath or some thing.]
Hanna; You will have to get used to it.
[Oh god she was walking closer. I was backing away. I hit the door and I was cornered. She looked like she was enjoying her self. She was so evil. She continued to get closer. I was sweating and my heart was pounding. She finally got close enough to point my face in her direction. I was still shaking. She was undoubtably cruel.]
Hanna; What is so wrong about this?
Nathan; I...I...I don’t know it just is. [I was spasing.]
Hanna; Your into religion. Adam and Eve, were brought onto this earth naked. Then there was nothing wrong with the human body.

[She had a point , but still this wasn’t the time to be right or, wrong. I just needed to get out, but I also didn’t want to leave at the same time.]
Hanna; Good night.
[She opened the door and I left. I went straight to my room and splashed some cold water in my face. I looked at my face. I was redder than a strawberry. As far as I was concerned she had crossed the line. I took a deep breath and went to bed. I said an extra long prayer that night. I got into bed. I heard her sneak out again. I wonder if this girl ever sleeps. I am too curious to sleep. I open my window. She had climbed up a tree like a squirrel and was resting on one of the branches. She was singing a lovely melody. She had such a beautiful voice. It was captivating and enchanting. I rested my head on the window sill listening to her beautiful music. I kept my window open and went to bed. Her music floated into my room like drifting snow. I fell asleep to her enrapturing hymn. I woke in the morning. I was at peace with the world. That’s when I remembered it was Sunday. There was no work and we had to go to evening mass. I got up. Man it was still dark outside. Not even a sign of dawn yet. I looked up and Hanna was asleep on the ground against the tree. She looked uncomfortable. I don’t know why and probably never will, but I went through my window and walked to her. She looked very peaceful. There was an ominous beauty about her as I remembered her beautiful song the night before. I slipped my arms under neath her and gently lifted her. I walked to her window. Her head leaned against my chest and she made a warm smile in her sleep. I carefully climbed through her window and placed her in her bed. I covered her up. I gazed upon her. So beautiful, so peaceful and yet so sad. Her face covered in burns and a cross shaped cut. Her arms scared and burned. I reached out, recoiled and then gently touched her cheek with the back of my hand. Her skin was a soft as silk. Her eyes remained closed. She subconsciously put her hand on mine. I could tell because her hand was limp. Then she smiled that smile. It could light up any room with its charm and grace. I gave her hand a small squeeze and released it. I walked slowly from her bed and went back to mine. I could get another 2 hours sleep before dawn. I lay back my head and close my eyes. The first thing I see is her smile. I can’t get it out of my mind. What a lovely thing to fall asleep to. When I got up I dressed and washed. I went to breakfast. Hanna wasn’t at the table.]
Nathan; Where’s Hanna?
Mrs. J; Poor thing looked so exhausted yesterday. I let her sleep in.
[After breakfast I go out side. There are no chores to do today. I start thinking, to see if I can remember every thing she said yesterday about the guns and knives. Derek comes by a little while later.]

Nathan; Hey D.B.
Derek; Hey Nate-dog. Where’s Mental?
Nathan; We let her sleep in. The poor girl hasn’t slept the last two days and was still doing all that work.
Derek; [he took a seat next to mine.] Man I wouldn’t be surprised if she slept til noon. On top of it all she’s got all those wounds.
[Around I guess seven thirty she comes out to meet us. She has her bag. She still looks very tired, but acts energetic.]
Hanna; You guys ready?
Nathan; Yep.
[We walk to the edge of the forest.]
Derek; Won’t some one hear us fire a gun?
Hanna; Not if I put on a silencer. Look.
[She took out one of the six shooters and a short metal pipe. She screws it on and shoots it makes a small ping noise, but nothing else.]
Nathan; Great.
[She puts up a paper target on the tree. She tells Derek to shoot at the middle. To use the sights. He grips the gun with both hands and shoots. It doesn’t even make a mark on the target and his arms kick back so hard the gun hits the ground behind him. I am laughing so hard, and Hanna is trying not to laugh.]
Derek; You come and do it if your so good?
Nathan; All right.
[I pick up the gun and aim. I shoot. My hands bounce, but I keep hold of the gun and it makes a hole on the target only an inch off.]
Hanna; I get the feeling you’ve done this before.
Nathan; No. I haven’t.
Derek; Oh come on.
Nathan; Seriously.
Hanna; I know what it is. Its your power. Its beginning to awaken. Let me try some thing.
[She pulls a knife from her boot and gives it to me.]
Hanna; Throw this right at the target as hard and as accurately as you can.
Nathan; I throw it like this?
[I feel like Im throwing a base ball.]
Hanna; No. Watch me.

[She takes the knife and she throws it at the tree. It hits dead center. She retrieves it and gives it to me. I shrug and throw it. It hits dead center. Both me and Derek are shocked.]
Hanna; Just as I thought. One of your powers is accuracy.
Nathan; But I thought my powers had to be awakened.
Hanna; Not always. When you awaken your powers. You do it by do things your body and mind isn’t used to. Like shooting guns. Its not awakened yet its just sort of giving you a glimpse of your power. I think you might be one of the ones who can find his power with out the extreme stress.
Derek; Do I have a power?
Hanna; Every human has a power. It’s just a matter of pushing it to the surface.
Derek; What’s yours?
Hanna; Oh ya I never told you.
[She lifted her hand and picked up a rock with her mind. It shot across the brook and skipped three times.]
Derek; Oh wow.
[We did more target practice. After a few runs Derek could hold onto the gun and hit the target. Not dead on, but close enough. I liked throwing knives. She gave me these really small ones with out handles. They could fit in the palm of my hand.]
Hanna; These are from my Japanese culture. Their called Shuriben. They come like this or in star form. [She shows us a throwing star.] Hanna you throw them like this instead of one at a time. [She puts a star in between each finger of both hands. She crosses her arms and flings them forward one arm at a time. They fly and stick the tree in a straight line.]
Nathan; Awesome. [I was just getting used to slang.]
Hanna; Often these are treated with poison so steer clear of them. Now the knives you do the same way except you throw them like this.
[She loads them into her finger and makes a swift flicking motion with her hands and they all stick to the tree in a straight line. She gives me a fist full of the small daggers. I set them up which was harder than I thought. And I mimicked her. Not a single one hit the tree.]
Hanna; You have to throw harder. And release them when you get half way and stop quickly.
[I retrieve the knives and try again. One hits the tree, but it bounces off. She is being patent I can see. I pick up the knives. I throw them with all my might. Three of them stick the tree out of the four. She smiles and nods.]
Hanna; Much better. Derek.

[He gets the knives. Now I get the feeling he’s done this before. They all stick the tree in a straight line. She looks at him.]
Derek; I sort of used to throw knives when I was bored.
[He sort of shrugged. She is smiling and shaking her head.]
Hanna; Nice hobby D.B.
[All we did for the rest of the day was shoot guns and throw knives, getting more accurate and swift. By noon we went in for lunch.]
John; What were you two doing all day?
Nathan; Just hanging out, by the forest.
[That was my first mistake. I had used slang in front of my father. He looked confused.]
John; Hanging out?
Hanna; We were just talking and stuff.
[he nods his head. After lunch we head back to the edge of the forest. She takes out the sniper rifle. I have been wanting to try this one out. Derek goes first. He is knocked flat on his butt. We can’t help it we both laugh. He’s a good sport and he laughs too. He still can’t seem to get the aim right though. Hanna went behind him and guided his arms with hers from behind. I don’t know why, but this made my blood boil. After showing him she pulled the trigger and it hit dead center. She moved away and let him try it. It hit right in the middle. After a few more rounds it was my turn. I braced my self for the kick and aimed as accurately as I could. It hit about half an inch to the right and I stayed standing.]
Hanna; Alright. You getting the hang of it.
[As it was getting late we went in. We had to get ready for mass. I had to ask her.]
Nathan; Hanna.
Hanna; Yeah.
Nathan; Are you a Christian?
Hanna; Oh yes. I find while running I need God the most.
[I was happy about this. God was a big part of our life style. We were very religious. But then I noticed she wasn’t getting ready.]
Nathan; Aren’t you coming to church?
Hanna; No. I was kicked out of the church after I killed my first person. You see the people after me are from the government and they made all the deaths out to be murders. I am at the top of the most wanted list. In fact they have a bounty out on me. All the priests know who I am and never let me into church.
Nathan; I doubt our priest will ask you to leave. Come on. Come with us.
[She smiles.]

Hanna; Alright.
[We walk to mass a few minutes later. Our church is big it needs to be to fit our village in it. We have around three hundred people. We kneel in the pew. The priest walks in from behind. He stops right next to our pew. He looks straight at Hanna and waits. She sighs and gets up.]
Hanna; Im going. Im going.
[She leaves and he continues to the alter. I am stunned. Our priest wouldn’t let her stay in church. I look at my father and he nods. I get up and go out side. Hanna is waiting patently by the door. She looks at me as if to say I told you so.]
Nathan; I know. Im sorry. I really didn’t think he would ask you to leave.
Hanna; I know. Its ok. You’d better go back inside......[she stops and her face goes blank and her eye lids droop. ]
Nathan; Hanna? Hanna?
[I snap my fingers in front of her face. She does nothing. Her lip quivers and her body shakes. She looks like she’s having a seizure. I grab her shoulders.]
Nathan; Hanna!
[She wakes.]
Nathan; What was that?
Hanna; I just had a premonition. This might get me hell, but oh well.
[She pulls out a Glock from behind her.]
Nathan; What are you doing? [I was so friggen confused.]
Hana; Some one in there has got an Uzi. And their about to make your population none.
Nathan; You saw this. Your sure?
Hanna; Of corse Im sure.
[We walk into the small room before you enter the church. I see some one in the front row stand up.]
Hanna; Every one down!
[She brandishes the gun and every one hits the floor, just as the guy in the front pulls out an Uzi and starts shooting at us. Hanna shoots twice at him. He directs his gun at me. She pushes me out of the way and takes the shot. She falls to the ground and she doesn’t move. I pick up the gun and shoot the guy in the shoulder. He is stunned for second. Derek clips him from behind and he hits the wall unconscious. I get down beside Hanna and tilt her up gently. There is a hole right in her chest. Blood is coming from her mouth. She looks at me and gives me that warm smile. I feel a tear roll down my cheek. Derek comes running to us. He kneels on the other side.]

Hanna; Well guys. Its been fun.
Derek; Don’t talk. We’ll get you help, you’ll be fine.
[He was crying too. He put his hand over the wound to stop the bleeding. Her face tensed up and then her head fell side ways. Derek’s head fell forward. But then there was a light coming from his hands. We both looked up. Her eyes they opened. She picked up Derek’s hand. It was blood stained, but the wound was gone. She smiled at him.]
Hanna; Your power.
[We all get up to not arouse suspicion. Two of the men had restrained the man with the gun. My father had taken the gun. He brought it to Hanna.]
John; You have a funny way of showing up at just the right time.
[He handed over the gun.]
Hanna; Just lucky I guess. [She looked at both of us. She smiled. After mass it was dark. Derek, me and Hanna walked back together.]
Derek; So that was my hidden power. I can heal people.
Hanna; That would be my guess.
[Discovering our powers was one of the greatest things about training. After finishing chores each day we spent our time, learning how to fight. It was painful. She had to fight back to teach us how to dodge and duck. We spent another week in training. By that time we could throw, shoot and punch like we had done it all our lives. On Friday we were just fooling around. That’s when it all fell apart and things would change. Hanna had stayed behind to pick up the stuff while Derek and I went back to the village. She was picking up the stuff when several men and woman with torches and tools showed up. Derek’s father was in the lead. She turned around and backed against the tree. She had the bag on her shoulder.]
Mr. Johansson; Well you little witch. We all thought you were harmless at first, we let you stay in our village. And how do you repay us? You teach my boy how to shoot and kill, how to fight and injure.
Woman; You are corrupting our children to be like you.
Mr. Johansson; They aren’t outsiders and never will be. So stop teaching them such horrific things and leave our village.
Hanna; And what if I refuse?
[They all raised their weapons.]
Mr. Johansson; You leave tonight. Or we will force you out.
Hanna; Hypocrites. Very well. I’ll leave. Just remember. My ways have saved your lives.

[She walks back to our house. She comes in. I am sitting in the corner. My father knows and is beside him self. I was just screamed at for nearly half an hour. Hanna looked at him.]
Hanna; No need to say any thing. I am leaving at request of the village. Thank you for your hospitality and your help.
[I looked at her for any sign that I was going with her. She didn’t look at me once. She walked to her room. I went to mine and packed a bag. I was leaving wether or not any one else wanted me too. I didn’t belong here. We both came back with a bag.]
John; And where the hell do you think your going?
Nathan; Im leaving. I don’t belong here. This is not the kind of life I want.
John; You put down that bag. You aren’t going any where.
Nathan; I am.
[He looked at Hanna.]
John; Look at what you’ve done you little witch.
Hanna; I know what Im doing. You will understand some day. I asked him to come with me. I need his help. Im not trying to hurt you or the village.
John; Then why don’t you ask some of your outsider friends!?
Hanna; I have no outsider friends!
[My father takes a deep breath.]
John; Nathaniel. You are a man. You make the decision.
Nathan; I am leaving.
John; Then so be it.
[It was the worst feeling I had in my life. I said good bye to my mother and sisters, my father didn’t even look at me. We walked out the door. The village was waiting out side with torches and pitch forks.]
Hanna; What did I tell you?
Nathan; When your right your right.
[Derek was waiting in the crowed. He had with him a gunny sac. He walked up to us. We walked to the dirt road and were on our way out of the village.]
Derek; I don’t believe it.
Nathan; We finally did it. We left the village.
Hanna; Seems strange doesn’t it? Leaving your home after so long.
Derek; Yeah. All most like....like....
Hanna; Your starting over and leaving every thing behind.
Derek; Yeah.
Nathan; You said you never had a real home. What happened to your parents?
Hanna; It’s a long story.

Derek; Like we don’t have the time.
[I could tell she was about to relive some thing horrible. She didn’t have to tell us, but she did.]
Hanna; When I was five years old, my mother and father lived in Japan with me. We lived in a small village very remote and meager. The American government was looking for test subjects. Young an impressionable ones. So they came to our village. They killed the adults and took the children as well as from many other places. There was me, Maria, Ryosei, Nina, and Kenya. They packed us up and shipped us up to America. They did tests broke our genetic code and did experiments. None of us made results. So they took one of us and nearly killed him to surface his powers. It was Ryosei. They pushed his body to the limit. When he came back to us, he was so damaged he collapsed when he walked into the door. It changed him from that day on. He didn’t want us to go through the same so he taught us how to resurface our powers. After we got our different powers under control we made our plan to escape. We all made it out but we were separated a couple of years ago. We made a pact that we would meet again. I am going around now trying to find them.
Derek; So all of them. Their all part of the organization.
Hanna; They are the organization in the northeast. We have two older ones who run a base in a secret location. That’s Mr. T and Ms. Flex. They all have powers too. They are the oldest so they put every thing into motion. I was the first they found. I joined and they gave me the instruction to find the others.
Nathan; Where are they?
Hanna; Im not sure. I follow leads to where they might be.
Derek; What kind of powers do they have?
Hanna; Kenya can phase through solid objects. His code name Sink. Nina can camouflage her self to any back round. Her code name Belie. Maria can control electricity. Her code name is Jolt. And Ryosei he is a master of magic. His is the most powerful of them all. His code name is Mystic.
[We were about seven miles away from the village when we stopped to make camp. All we had was a fire and stars.]
Derek; How long will it take us to uncover our powers?
Hanna; A couple of weeks. All you have to do is push your body. Im willing to bet you have more than just what I’ve seen. Ok guys. I know that being Amish means material possessions don’t mean that much. But money, is the key to surviving in my world. You will have to work for it and you need lots of it.
Nathan; Great. What do we do tomorrow?

Hanna; We need to get some wheels. It’s a lot easier to cover ground when your driving. Another thing. You guys are gonna have to get some new cloths and a hair cut.
[We were startled by this.]
Derek; Why?
Hanna; You walk into the hood like that and some one will jump you or kill you. You have to adapt to survive. So we will start with a hair cut.
[She takes out her buck knife. We get up and she walks at us.]
Nathan; There is no way I’m letting you cut my hair.
Derek; Not a chance.
[She smiles at us and if to say you want to bet. Five minutes later my head is throbbing and Im sitting in front of her having my hair cut. She had walloped us over the head for being such babies about it. That didn’t stop me from being mad at her. After she was done with me, I found I liked it. It was much cooler and it looked good. She left me a bit length that was parted down the middle. Next she did Derek. She gave him a buzz which suited him. He kept on running his hand over his head.]
Nathan; You know rubbing it isn’t going to make it grow back.
[He threw me a dirty look. Hanna was sharpening her knife. After she was done she opened her bag. She threw me and Derek a buck knife.]
Hanna; These are yours. Keep them sharp and treat them with care.
[She dig out two six shooters and gave them to us.]
Hanna; Same goes for your guns. Keep them clean and take care of them. And they’ll take care of you.
[Then she gave us some ammunition and a leather pouch to keep it in.]
Nathan; Sweet.
Derek; Thanks.
[We tucked the guns into our belts and put the knives in our pockets and tide the pouches to our belt loops. We laid back and looked at the stars. I looked over at Hanna, she was fast asleep. We soon fell asleep. We slept until dawn. Hanna got us up. We put out the fire and were on our way again. We walked a long way. I had never walked so much in my life. By sun down we made it to a small town. We stopped by a cloths shop and she bought us some new cloths. They were very comfortable. She bought us each a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt. This was the first time we got to see our hair cuts in a mirror. I was amazed. I looked good. Derek was looking at his from every angle.]
Hanna; You guys like it?

Nathan; Yeah.
[We walked out of the store. We may have blended now, but I still felt out of place. We stopped at a restaurant and had the most unhealthy meal I’ve had since Elizabeth cook breakfast for the first time. After that we stopped at this old garage. There was an old man working on a vehicle.]
Hanna; Hey old man!
[He jumped and hit his head on the car.]
Jay; God damn it! What the.... [He spotted Hanna.] Well if it isn’t Hanako Benghal! How the hell have you been?!
Hanna; I’ve been better. Listen up. I need a favor. I need some wheels at a cheep price.
Jay; Ok. How about this?
[He uncovers an old pick up truck.]
Jay; It ain’t much of a looker, but it runs pretty damn well. It’s at a price of 3,500.
Hanna; Oh come on Jay! 35 hundred for that.
Jay; Alright I’ll make you a deal if you make me one. I’ll give it to you for 2,000 and one of your hand made scimitars.
Hanna; What the hell do you want with one of those?
Jay; I got a friend whose a collector.
Hanna; Alright. You got your self a deal.
[She digs in her bag and comes up with a fist full of money. There is a hidden zipper in the side and she takes out a huge sword. It looks like a giant Bowie knife. She hands it over and he gives her the keys.]
Hanna; Pleasure doing business with you.
[She climbs in the front and starts the engine. It runs. I get in the passenger seat and Derek gets in the truck bed. We drive out. We drive until we run out of gas. He neglected to mention that the gas meter was broken.]
Hanna; That no good, cheatin’ son of a bitch!
[She bangs against the steering wheel. I had never heard such language and am shocked to hear it from her. She takes a deep breath.]
Hanna; Ok guys. We have to push the car to the next town and get gas.
Derek; How the hell are we supposed to push some thing like this?
Hanna; Its not that hard.

[ So we push it. She was right it wasn’t that hard at least not until we had been doing it for an hour. Then it was exhausting. There was a gas station up ahead. We pulled into it and she filled it up. Me and Derek went inside to use the bathroom. There was a woman in a plaid shirt reading a magazine at the counter. She had a shot gun leaning against the window. Hanna came in and paid for the gas. She bought us each something for the road. I got a soda and Derek got some chips. It was funny. I opened it in the car and it exploded. My lap was soaked. They both laughed at me. It was pretty good. I had never tasted any thing like it. It made me cough the first time. It got dark and she just kept driving. Me and Derek switched places. I laid down in the truck bed. It wasn’t very comfortable, but I soon fell asleep. By dawn we were still driving. Derek was asleep in the passenger seat. I lean in through the broken window.]
Hanna; Morrrrnnnning. [She tried to stifle a yawn.] We’re stopping in the next city.
Nathan; Where would that be?
Hanna; Aurora.
[We got there half an hour later. We stopped at a gas station. I was washing my face in the bathroom. This life wasn’t what I thought it would be. I thought her life was exciting and adventurous. I wiped my face and met them back at the truck.]
Hanna; I got a friend here who owns a hotel. Maybe he can give us a room tonight.

To be continued...

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RosettaMoon: Ok people I know this one is kind of...ok it sucks compared tom my other stuff, but this is one of the first screan plays i had every written and the squeal...is awesome. It's full of action, sex, blood, angst, humor and all of that good stuff you guys love. So just read this one. Get it over with and we con move onto the squeal. 'Kay?