«Gonna cry, filthy xeno? Pfft, it won't do you any good. You have nowhere to escape, we'll chase you wherever you go. I swear we'll make every day of your life hell.»
Calypso remembered those words.
At first, she was afraid of them. No one could blame her, they were bigger and more numerous.
The girl was used to that kind of treatment, so for her, it wasn't that serious.
What was strange were the feelings that began to grow inside her. After her mother abandoned her, Calypso had been left alone.
Surviving was difficult, she had to rummage through trash or beg for alms to eat something.
But there was always a constant; Lloyd. Every day they met, he'd chase her with his group and insult her.
It wasn't pleasant, but she still remembered the words her mother would say every time she hit her.
«This is for your own good, I do it because I love you.»
Back then it seemed like a lie, something stupid... But when her mother abandoned her, the void she left was much more painful than her beatings.
It was an unbearable feeling, but her encounters with Lloyd and his group were starting to fill that hole.
She didn't feel so terrible now, and that's when she understood it.
That pain her mother caused her had always been a show of love, but because she was ungrateful and didn't appreciate it, her mother abandoned her.
Realizing this, Calypso became more docile. She let herself get caught without fleeing, without resisting.
Soon, that pain disappeared, and she even looked forward to her encounters with Lloyd... But today, all of that had ended.
Calypso couldn't understand what she'd done. She'd been good, right? Why were they abandoning her again? Why did she have to be alone again?
She couldn't allow it, she had to do something about it.
She provoked him, threw a stone at him, tried to attack him... But nothing worked. Calypso couldn't bear it and fled from there.
What had she done wrong? Why did she always end up alone?
That loneliness was much worse than the beatings they gave her; it was much more terrifying, too.
He'd broken his promise, in her eyes, Lloyd had promised he'd never abandon her.
She hadn't done anything to deserve his abandonment... Though, she hadn't done anything to stay by his side either.
Lloyd had accompanied her for years, without any reason, without asking for anything in return. He wasn't her mother, he had no obligation to "care" for her.
Maybe that's why he abandoned her... Because she hadn't done anything for him, only received.
Understanding this, Calypso stopped running. She turned around. She'd already been abandoned once; she couldn't be alone again.
She had to go back and do everything possible to make Lloyd accept her again.
Calypso ran back, she had to be quick and arrive before Lloyd left.
"What the fuck are you doing!?" a voice then shouted.
The girl approached, peering into the alley where those screams came from.
The scene froze her blood.
Joan was on the ground, beaten. Though who worried her most was Lloyd.
Looking at him, she relaxed. He was injured, but still standing.
Wasn't he more handsome when he was hurt?
Calypso shook her head while pushing those thoughts away, to focus on Lloyd again.
That's when she noticed the boy's expression, he was staring at a fixed point, eyes wide open.
He seemed to be in shock, as if he'd seen something impossible.
Calypso's eyes searched for what Lloyd was looking at, becoming just as surprised as him when she saw the scene.
A tall man, with cat ears and tail; he looked like a full-fledged gangster. But that wasn't the surprising part.
The man's hand was extended... Piercing through something. A small, chubby body, in the chest area.
Gustavo's gaze was empty, lifeless, while a trickle of blood descended from his mouth.
Calypso had just witnessed... Gustavo's murder.