[IMG]http://i57.tinypic.com/2choxtd.jpg[/IMG] [h2][b]Jessamine[/b][/h2] ________________________________________________________________________________ [i]You're so beautiful. I've never seen anyone as perfect as you. How does someone look like you? Do boys chase after you everywhere you go? Your life must be perfect. You belong with me. I love you. A Goddess. You are perfect. Everyone loves you.[/i] [right][i]You're so useless. I've never seen anyone as weak as you. How does someone end up as stupid as you? Did your family really hate you so much they sent you here hoping you'd die? Your life will be over soon. You don't belong here. You don't belong anywhere. A walking corpse. You're already dead. It's too fucking exhausting loving you. [/i][/right] The ticking of the clock was the only friend that greeted the curly-haired blonde to a new day each morning. She'd open her hazel eyes to the dim bed room, slightly lit by the christmas lights that hung along perimeter of the room. She stared up at the ceiling as sadness crashed through her body in waves. This was happening way too often now. This was the second time this month. Her hair was neatly laid out over the pillow like thin locks of gold. From a bird's eye view, she truly looked like a beautiful, perfect doll laid in a dollhouse bed. She could be mistaken for sleeping beauty herself, awaiting her prince's kiss in a radiant castle tower. However this princess wasn't in a pretty little dollhouse or a big castle. One could say she was laying in her grave. [i]Why have you come here? [right]I'm here to die.[/right][/i] Her name was Jessamine and she had been genetically enhanced by her father before birth to be the perfect child. The mother was unfortunately sick and fated to die thanks to an unknown stranger whose identity remained a mystery until this day. She was to be beautiful, to be smart and to be strong. When she was born, her father was so sure that he had done it. He had never seen a child so perfect in appearance. She looked just like her mother. He knew without a doubt that without the genetic modifications she would have turned out this way regardless. However, her appearance wasn't the important factor. He was looking for strength and intelligence like no other. He grew close to the child as she grew older and the child grew close to him. When Jessamine turned eight years old, he knew something had not gone according to plan. It was clear he forgot a few characteristics in the process of making her into his ideal child. She had become passionate about useless hobbies like dancing and fashion. She would speak nonstop about becoming a ballerina and ask for nail polish and for a bunny rabbit. Jessamine had little interest in practicing her powers or in martial arts. The man's idea of a perfect child had not been a sweet little girl with aspirations. It had been a loyal soldier. A weapon. He wanted to make use of her appearance to manipulate others. He wanted to use her intelligence to further do so and to uncover the deepest secrets and her strength to destroy enemies. He had not loved this child. He had loved the idea of what child was supposed to be. The more time he spent with her, the more he wanted to wring her neck. He absolutely hated her. She was a failed experiment that made him a joke amongst everyone he talked to. His reputation meant everything as a superior. "Wow what a soldier!" They'd laugh mockingly as they watched her sit by the fireplace, playing merrily with some dolls. "Definitely a killer more merciless than the devil himself!" She was going to ruin him. Her striking resemblance to her mother stopped him from straight out ridding her from the world. Instead, he sat the nine year old girl down to play a "game" and tried to use equipment to mind control her and use her body as a puppet. However, he had been his own worst enemy in this situation. She had been given immunity to mind-tampering powers. It did not work. His only option was to break her down into nothing and build her up from scratch. He started playing with her emotions. He'd tell her how much he loved her and buy her whatever she wanted on some days. Then on others, he'd murder her childhood best friend in front of her and force her to kill wild animals even though she'd cry and beg not to. He even hit her sometimes. He had to make her stop smiling all the time and giggling like an idiot. He'd make her run back and forth until she passed out sometimes too. The abuse got worse the older she became. Jessamine was obviously traumatized from these acts of cruelty. She was confused, sad and scared. However, she would not break. He had created her to be strong and strong she was. She'd find reasons to smile and even continue to dance around when her father wasn't around. When each birthday came around and he didn't race in to tell her happy birthday and give her cake, she knew for sure now that something was wrong but she was too afraid to ask. Finally when she was round thirteen years old, she mustered up the courage, tired of the abuse and confused to why her loving father would only turn up randomly for a few days and turn into a demon the next. She walked into her father's bedroom to find him sitting on his bed, holding a picture of a blonde woman. He was staring at the picture so intently he hadn't heard her walk in. [i]"Daddy?"[/i] She had whispered ever so softly in the eerie silence. Her heart was beating so fast against her little ribcage that she was afraid it might burst out of her chest at any moment. Jessamine was so afraid to finally ask why her daddy had all of a sudden changed. He looked up with a face she didn't recognize. His brows were furrowed more than they'd had ever been. Pure hatred danced in his eyes as they locked on the little girl standing in front of him, trembling in fear. She had never seen such malice and fury. He crushed the picture in his fist, physically trembling due to the anger swelling inside him. "You turned daddy into a joke. "He finally managed to say calmly. "No one is ever going to take daddy seriously ever again. Your mommy died so you could be alive and all you've ever done is bring misery to me... God Jessamine you're so useless. "His voice choked up, tears swelling in his eyes. "I've never seen anyone as weak as you, Jessamine. The only thing you were supposed to be was strong and you couldn't even be that." Jessamine shifted her feet, lowering her eyes to the floor. She had never meant to disappoint him. Was this why he was so mean to her? She had stopped talking to him for months after he had killed her friend and made her kill squirrels and birds but the cruelty had begun before she had ignored him. What did he mean? "Daddy do you love me?"She finally asked quietly. "You know Jessamine... I've tried. "He began lowly, "I've tried as hard as someone can try to love another person to love you but I just can't. It's so fucking exhausting loving you." She felt her heart drop into her stomach and she stared at the floor with wide eyes." It takes every cell in my body to try to do it and I can't do it anymore.. I just can't!" His voice rose to a shout and he punched over his night table. It fell to the floor along with the table lamp, the bulb shattering against the wooden floor loudly. The room was dark now. It was moments later he felt a big, rough hand around her throat and breathing had become impossible. Gasping for air and kicking blindly, she thrashed as hard as she could, fighting to live. She wasn't sure why she had wanted to live so badly. Clearly, she was just a waste of space. Maybe it had been because a small part of her thought this was a horrible, long nightmare. Or maybe she still had hopes her dreams were alive. She tried screaming. She tried begging. None of it worked. Her lungs had burned so bad she thought they were on fire. Unfortunately, she was well out of strength. Jessamine shut her eyes, accepting death as it opened its gates for her. That's when someone flicked the light switch and she felt the hand around her neck disappear. She hit the floor rapidly and slumped there, disoriented. She wheezed loudly, trying to collect enough air to sustain her small body. Though her vision was blurry and she could barely pick up her head, she managed to catch sight of another little girl with long black hair and olive skin standing in the doorway. She watched her father's feet move toward the girl. His big hand gently patted her on the head and he kissed her forehead. "Not now darling, daddy's busy." He ushered her out and his black shoes turned to point back toward Jessamine's vision. "Daddy has a new daughter now Jessamine. " With that, he left the room and left her to cry herself to sleep in the dark. That was the last time she ever saw her father. She found herself at a later point with a small pink suitcase inside a strange building, dressed in her pink footie pajamas. She couldn't quite remember how she had gotten there or how. Whatever happened in between crying alone in her father's room and ending up here was unknown to her. These details always escaped her mind upon revisiting these memories. A man in armor and a strange helmet was standing beside her, his hand on her shoulder. "General Gale, this girl was offered as a recruit by Garrett Calloway as a peace offering. He said she's been genetically modified to be able to withstand mental manipulation and harsh conditions. She is supposed to be the perfect soldier." "Garrett Calloway huh?" The tall man with the red hair at the desk in front of them asked. The inside of this building reminded Jessamine of an alien spaceship. There was high-tech equipment everywhere and everyone wore the strangest outfits. He stood up and eyed her up and down. "He's not really the type for peace offerings. My first gut thought was that he had sent a spy but now looking at her this is for sure his daughter." "I don't know sir. She was brought to the door by some of his men and they swore she was ours to keep. Garrett never wants to see her again." The man sighed, not happy with this answer. He came around the desk and stood in front of Jessamine. He bent down to her height. "She can't be more than fourteen. She's young to be a soldier here but I'm sure we could start her with some training." "Sir with all due respect-" "We're so low on recruits. We're going to have to take what we can get."The red-haired man interrupted the helmet-guy. He looked Jessamine in the eye, "Why have you come here?" Jessamine felt the answer come out her mouth before she could process. She knew why she was here. It was crystal clear. "I'm here to die." Four years later and Jessamine was one of the strongest soldiers the superior hunters ever had. She knew she was there to die but she had decided secretly that if she was going to die, she wasn't going to be the weak, useless person her father told her she was. She was going to die strong and being of use to people. She had got off to a horrible start in her first year but that's a whole other story to venture into. Having to enter an army with the knowledge that this is how she was going to die was tough to deal with. Jessamine had to watch her dreams die as she finally accepted she was never going to be anything else other than a girl with an expiration date. She wasn't trained as well as the other soldiers were. She wasn't handpicked from a selection of guardians to be here. There had been no harsh testing for her to get into the superior hunters like others had to endure. She was just here and she was the weakest and youngest out of everyone. Jessamine Calloway was a mistake. General Gale couldn't work with such a traumatized, saddened child even after pairing her with some of his strongest soldiers for training. He made the decision to put her on special pills that made her forget every horrible memory she ever had and change her feelings of misery and confusion to happiness and hope. However, it would only last for a month. She would have to take another pill at that point. The more pills she took with each month, the smaller the gap between taking another pill would take. People started to respect Jessamine more as she started to train hard. She seemed to truly have motivation and even a great personality. She cheered others on and helped people. She acted like the person she had been before her father turned on her. Jessamine became known as a goddess to many of the superior hunters because she was so kind, warm and encouraging. Jessamine knew the person everyone thought she was didn't exist as she laid there that morning. She had never felt so alone. Most people in the superior hunters didn't have a family but at least they had each other. She had many friends of course. Her best friends were Scarlett, Toby and Xavier. However, the last one wasn't a superior hunter. He was the prince of the superior and she just happened to be dating him. The few who knew this was happening liked to call her and Xavier Romeo and Juliet. None of them knew the sad, lonely girl that lived inside her mind. As she sat up and took a glass of water and a small pink pill out of an orange bottle from her side table, she made a promise to herself that she would never let them know such a useless person. She shut her eyes as she placed the pill on her tongue. She then gulped down the glass of water. Within moments, happiness swept over her and she forgot what she had been last thinking about. Her recent online purchase from Macy's came to mind and she excitedly jumped out of bed, curls bouncing behind her and ran out of her room toward Scarlett's to wake her up and tell her that her package was coming today.