760. Behind You - Raezyr

Sorah Kavel looked at the woman in the mirror without recognition. Short hair was just something that she had never seen herself with before and she felt like a completely different woman. She knew it wouldn't take her long to get used to, though.

The real change was the life she had left behind, a life of crime dealing with underworld gangs and thugs. It was something she wouldn't miss.

She hadn't chosen that life on purpose, rather it had been sort of handed to her, and little by little she had been sucked into it until she had awakened one day wondering how it had all happened.

A large part of the reason had been her boyfriend. He had slid down the path of crime, and for love, she had followed until everything had fallen apart and she had realized she couldn't go that path any longer. Once that had been decided, she had made a clean break, severing all ties to the past.

She hadn't run from her old life alone. A fellow gang member, her closest friend and the person primarily responsible for helping her to see where her life was headed, had escaped with her. They knew the gang wouldn't let them go willingly, and for each other's safety, they had split up also. Sorah knew her friend was living on the same planet, but not where. She didn't even know if she'd recognize her friend if she came across her on the street, as they had both altered their looks and taken assumed names.

It was killing her, not being able to see her friend, but what was even worse was not seeing her boyfriend. She still loved him fiercely, but she knew it was for the best. He'd pull her right back into her old lifestyle if  he ever found her, and she didn't know if she'd have the courage to break free again.

She didn't have much time to think about it at the moment. Right now, she had to get to her new job. It was her first day and it wouldn't do to be late. She gave one last look around her tiny living quarters, surveying the small kitchen area, the bed and the door to the tiny refresher, then punched the door controls.

The door whisked to the side with a whoosh and she stepped out into the hallway as it whooshed closed again behind her. She moved quickly toward the lift and took it to the ground floor.

The lift doors opened to the throng of people scurrying about their daily lives. The ground floor of her domicile building was made up of various shops and stores, and the building itself was so big that if one wanted, they never really ever had to go outside. Still her job required her to leave as it was a couple kilometers away from where she lived.

She stepped outside into the heat of midday and a throng of even more people, only this time mixed with various speeders, swoops, gravsleds and ground cars. Sorah pulled a small cloth from her small waist pouch and mopped her forehead. This city was in a little bit warmer than the climate she was normally used to, but adapting to her new life was a challenge she welcomed with open arms, and the warmer weather was just a part of that.

Part of the reason she had chosen this city was because she had family here. Granted, it was family she hadn't seen in many, many years, but they were family still. At first, she had hesitated to contact them, but she had always told her cohorts that her family was dead any time she was asked, so she felt relatively confident that it was safe to go to them.

At first, they had been reluctant to accept her. They had thought she was dead and weren't sure if it was some sort of scam, but when they had seen her, they said she looked so much like her mother that it had erased all doubt. Of course, they had her DNA tested anyway, 'just in case,' they told her.

As happy as they had been to see her, she still held them at a distance, and despite their invitations into their lives they had extended, she tried to see them as little as possible.

Even though she figured things were safe, she still couldn't help but look behind her.