Pain Awaits [Mylee]

The morning sun is not a welcome site, and neither are the brothers stomping noisily into my room. They’re full of excitement, which considering the time, didn’t make sense to me. If the sun is not high in the sky, you should not be content. I am not one for morning walks or fresh air; I am content with the blankets that surround and encompass me with their warmth. If I could tell you why they were so insistent on watching the sun rise, I would tell you. However, that remains unrevealed to me, and it will most likely stay that way for the rest of my life.

As I pulled the covers away, the chills of winter hit, causing an annoyance to settle deep within my bones and stay for the rest of the day. His words were incoherent and blurred, a slang of mixed letters and choppy syllables. I squinted at him for a moment, the sunlight marring my vision and causing the annoyance to heighten. I blow off his questions and requests with a nod. Whatever it takes to shut them up.

The jacket I pull over my simple shirt blocks what seems to be little of the cold. Wherever we’re going better not be far. I follow a few paces behind my two brothers, as apparently they are not capable of leaving me space to squeeze in beside them. Standing on my tiptoes, I try to peer over their heads to see where we’re headed, but it was futile. They tower above me, which isn’t that strange considering they’re older and well-built. Even when the building does come into my line of sight, I still do not know where our final destination lies, and that should have been my first clue. My second should have been the tight shirts they were so proudly wearing, but of course, it’s early, and early in the morning is not the time to pick up on clues.

The linoleum floor beneath our feet is well polished, showing reflections of people and weapons that I do not know how to use. I follow my brothers aimlessly, my uninterested gaze shifting from people to object, not one thing catching my line of sight for more than just a few seconds. My brothers offer to teach me a beginner’s thing or two, but I blow them off with a wave of my hand. I’m more than content to just watch. It was nice of them to bring me with them, instead of leaving me at home to do the tasks I so despised, even though it was early. They begin to toss their weapons around, whirling flashes of metal creating a dance in the lingering air. There was little noise to be heard besides the clashes of metal and grunts of arrogant teenagers.

People were coming and going, picking up one thing only to set down another. Everyone seemed so disinterested in each other, with the ability to only focus on the item in front of their face. My brothers were still absorbed in their task, and so I figured I could easily walk off without catching much of their attention. It wasn’t like I was leaving the room or anything, and I planned on being back well before they noticed my absence. Walking the border of the room led me to a station that seemed to be filled with nothing but swords. Swords and one boy for that matter. His back was to me, and like every other person I had seen this morning, was absorbed on the task at hand. He was powerful with a sense of calm, the motions of his arm swiftly sending a knife into the dummy. It wasn’t until his sharp voice rang out and resounded off the floor that I realized I had been seen. “Hey there. I noticed you watching me. Would you like to learn a few things? Decapitating the dummies here is a lot of fun.” His words seemed simple enough, but when the outward appearance of things seems to be simple, the inner is more likely than not to be complex.

“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t know enough to even pick up a sword, much less swing one. I think I’ll just keep watching for now. If that’s okay with you of course.” The last thing I wanted to do was anger this boy, this storm of one part calm and two parts rage. Was this the calm before the storm, or the storm before the calm?