‘Why?’ Waves crashed on the beach, lapping at the sand. ‘She was innocent. Why her? Why not me? Why not him?’ A larger wave bashed upon the rocks. ‘It’s his fault that she died.’ A wave slammed into a crouching figure, the cold rivulets of water ran down her bare arms. ‘It’s not fair. I was the one who did the wrong thing. It was me not her! WHY? WHY HER?! She did nothing wrong...’
The crouching figure huddled over the prone and broken form of a child, a little girl no more than eight years old. It was heartbreaking to see such a young and vibrant life of a child cut short because of circumstances beyond the control of her or her mother. Looking up from the body of her child she looked to the sky, her raven locks wet and plastered to her face, her once joyful and bright blue eyes now dull and filled with a haze from the burning fires of anger, hate and pain.
“They're all evil. Those fighting for ‘justice,’ and those fighting against.” She looked at her clenched fist. “It was all their fault. They couldn’t save her, and him, he is by far the worst of them all. They will all pay, but him especially. He will pay the highest of prices.”
Gently she cradled her daughter in her arms. “Come little one. I will hold you one last time, and I am sorry I could not fulfill the promise I made while you yet breathed. But this I swear. I will make this city a better place, a place where you would have been safe.” She kissed her daughters head and walked into the ocean till she was waist deep. She held her to her chest, tears burned down her face. She was desperate to cling to her baby girl. She wept as she looked into her cold dead eyes, that once had held so much life. Then she gently placed her daughter in the water and watched as the ocean swept her away in the receding tide.
She stayed there and looked into the sky as the heat of the sun dried the salty sea water that covered her upper body. She listened to the sharp and desperate cries of the seagulls, as they searched for food, family, and a place to call home. She knew that feeling, in fact she had lived it until she had her beautiful little girl. But now all she felt was empty.
“The senselessness of these people and this city must stop. I will allow this no more. Too many innocent lives have been lost, too much pain has been caused. The laws have not helped those that uphold them haven’t helped, and those who have been ‘above’ that law haven’t helped, in fact they have made it worse by far.” She looked at her hands that were hard and calloused. Clenching them she felt her rage build as she looked back through the years and saw the wrongs made by both sides.
“Now it is time for one that has broken the laws to fix the problems that have been made. It’s time this city be cleansed, and it can never be done in the way it has before. It’s time I stop letting others clean up the mess they made. It’s time to get to work, and this will not end until this city is spotless.” With that she turned and waded through the waves to the shore.
