Lucy lay on the couch watching Morpheus, her dog. She had almost dozed off when his ears flicked to the side and he lifted his head. It was probably nothing, but Lucy couldn’t take any chances. She slid her hand under the couch cushion and pulled out the butcher knife she’d hidden before she she lay down for the night .

She knew the time was rapidly approaching when one of these false alarms would be the real thing. When Morpheus didn’t settle back down, she slid off the couch and onto the floor, laying beside the alert German Shepherd.

What little light there was in the room was coming from a single candle flame flickering on the coffee table and the dull light from the streets outside that managed to weave their way through the curtained window. Shadows fell about the room and she could feel her heart racing. She slithered around the couch and pulled herself behind it so that she was between it and the wall, the knife held threateningly, if not a little shaky, in front of her..

Morpheus emitted a low growl, his claws scratching against the hardwood as he scrambled to his feet. Seconds later she heard smashing glass as someone broke in through the back door.

So much her laying low and sneaking in without the owners knowing anyone had been in the house. Heavy boots crunched against the broken glass strewn across the floor, the footsteps getting louder as the intruder came closer.

Lucy was one of the privileged; the few who had discovered how to tap into their abilities and learned how to use them. Experts believed that everyone had this capability, but no one knew how the few who could, were able to do it.

But Lucy’s skill would not help her tonight. She could erase another’s abilities, or rather, their memory of how to use them. This tended to make them a little mad. And while she should feel somewhat reassured that those coming after her wouldn’t have any abilities, not only because she’d already taken them, but because those with abilities were terrified to come anywhere near her, this intruder was still dangerous. And strong.

Morpheus growled deep and low in his throat, then whimpered before a loud thud hit the floor. Lucy trembled behind the couch praying her dog wasn’t dead.

Smashing glass came from the kitchen. “What are they doing?” a voice groaned. “We’re already inside.” Footsteps moved to the kitchen, more quickly than they had when they entered the living, glass crunching underfoot.

Lucy slowly edged towards the end of the couch and started to peer around it when a voice above her said, “I don’t think that’s how couches work my dear.”

Lucy looked up with dread. Above her was Mark, the Magician, or at least, he was once upon a time. Before she stole his ability to telepathically control his victims. Before she came around he was maliciously wreaking havoc wherever he could. The worst, that she knew about, was when he took over a couple of air traffic controllers and caused two 747 to crash head on into each other. Fire and debris had rained down on the victims below.

“You got her?” the voice said from behind him. He glanced away from Lucy for a second. In that second there was a pop, followed quickly by another and then she was standing in an open field feeling like her body had just been stretched out like silly putty then squished back together again. Her limbs felt wobbly and she flopped back to the ground, her legs unable to support her.

She looked up to see a face silhouetted by the sun. His puffy, curly blond hair framed a face she couldn’t see. An arm reached down to help her back up.

“I’m Tommy,” he said, pulling her back up.

“Hi,” she said, feeling uncertain and confused as why she was being blinded by the sun in the middle of the night.

As soon as she was standing he quickly dropped her hand and took two large steps backwards. “Now don’t get any ideas. You are being closely watched and if you take my ability, you’ll be immediately surrounded and taken out.”

She blinked at him and slowly looked around. They were standing in a field not to far from the edge of cliff. In other direction she could see mountains stretching up past the forest of trees in front of her. “I-I wasn’t going to take your skills. You s-saved, you saved me,” she stumbled over her words. “How did you know I-I was in trouble?” she asked.

“We’ve been watching you for some time.” He said.

“You have,” she frowned. “Why?”

“You’re kidding right?” He looks around. “You’re the only one who can stop the organization.”

Lucy knew about the organization. She had worked for them. “How do you know about the organization,” she asked, squinting at him, her eyes still adjusting to the sunlight.

“The ones who sent your attackers back at the house. You didn’t think they found you all on their own, did you?” he scoffed.

Lucy began to walk away, but suddenly realized she had no idea where she was. They appeared to be in middle of no where and she had no idea which way would take her to civilization, and, more importantly, how far away it would.

She whirled around suddenly terrified. She tried masking her fear with anger, but her voice shook as she demanded: “Where are we?” she asked. Her eyes flicked to the nearby trees trying to see where people might be hidden.

He held up his hands in front of him and to her surprise, he looked just as frightened as she was. “Calm down,” he said. “I can take you wherever you need to go. This isn’t a trick. I just like to come here to think and I thought it would be the safest place since so many people are after you.”

She crossed her arms across her chest to hide the fact that her hands here shaking. But then it dawned her. He was scared of her. She took a couple of steps towards him and sure enough, he immediately backed away. She took a couple more steps and he tripped over a rock and tumbled on his back and threw his arms up over his head to protect himself just before he disappeared.

There was more than just her hunting the organization. That was very interesting. She sat down on a rock and waited for him to return.

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­­­­­­­­This story was inspired by another writing prompt I found in Complete the Story:

“The dog heard him coming before I did. She woke out of a deep sleep on the rug and was completely alert and whining at the door. I knew this day was coming, but I hoped____________.”

If you’re wondering what happened to the original sentence, after many edits and rewrites, the original prompt is no longer there. I use it more as a jumping off point 🙂