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The Beginning

I woke up to the delightful aroma of a freshly baked cake filling the air. 

I smiled as I stretched out of bed, I knew what day it was.

"Happy birthday!!!" 

My older brother, George, came in holding a cake with candles in his hand.

"George, that must have cost so much to make this!"

We didn't have much, so for him to buy a 15-coin cake was a huge expense.

"Look, my 14-year-old sister deserves to have a good birthday, okay? And anyway, I ranked up to a fighter." He smiles, saying that it is as if it were nothing.

"What?!! A fighter?" I looked at him concerned. 

A fighter was the most complex and worst rank there was; You could get killed so easily.

Going out into the woods to fight off the enemies was hard because they had trained for years, and their powers weren't ordinary. They could do things that almost seemed unreal.

He sighs.

"Look, Belle, I don't have a choice. We need the money. I just need to bring them a body part of whatever I kill out there, and I'll get a 100-coin stack. We could get so much from this! I start tomorrow; I'm doing this for us, okay?" 

He placed the cake on the table and walked out of the room.

George knew nothing about fighting; he would be killed immediately. I knew the only reason he was doing this was because of me. He wanted to provide more for me, to give me a better life.

I looked at the cake and blew out the candles, wishing for my brother's return home safely. That was all I cared about. He was the only one I had left.

             The next day slowly passed. I woke up very early, hoping to convince him not to leave, but nothing worked.

"Belle, listen to me. If I don't return, there is money under the floorboards. No one must ever know you're a girl, and the mark on your arm must be hidden at all costs. Do you understand?"

 He strapped the sword around his shoulder waiting for my response.

I had to be strong like him. 

I wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly. "You'll do great; just come back safe." 

Tears stream down my face as he places the key to the house in my hand.

I saw him smile at me one last time before getting up and leaving. It was wrong for me to stop him, but some days, it crosses my mind that maybe if I had, he wouldn't have gone that day.

Every minute I waited for his return, I barely slept or ate. I couldn't help but wonder if he would come back okay.

Soon, minutes became hours, and hours became days, and soon after, they became years.

He never did return.

I suspected the worst, so I had no choice but to live on my own. I told myself that I had to be strong like my brother and that I would get my revenge. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but I would never give up until I found out what happened to him.

I made a cardboard sword and began fighting.I trained every day after breakfast and got a small job at Luny's bar shop. I would be the one picking up the dishes and washing them. I was young, but if I knew anything, it was that I needed money.

I used my brother's old clothes and tied my hair into a bun with his old beanie, which he would make me wear to make me look like a boy. I would smear some dirt on my face to make sure no one would look too long to notice I was lying. 

Every day was hard. I was nagged by customers while working and they treated me horribly.

"Aye, little boy, pick up my cup!" He laughed dropping it onto the ground.

I sighed, grabbing the cloth and the bucket to help clean it; as I knelt down to clean it, I felt something get poured over my head.

They just laughed, as the wretched smell of beer settled into my head.

No one cared to help they always turned a blind eye.

 As years went by, I managed to ignore the people who laughed, and it became easier.

The only one who cared was the old lady who worked at the beer shop.

"Did those pigs do this to you?" She noticed me going to the back, soaked in beer.

I nod.

I never spoke, so no one knew what I sounded like; my brother mentioned that I shouldn't mention I was a girl to anybody, so I did what he asked of me I didn't. 

She grabs a warm cloth with water wiping my face, gently

"I know you're a girl, hun." She smiles looking at me.

I quickly moved away, how did she know?

"Don't worry no one has to know I won't tell anyone." 

She smiled once again, reaching for my beanie and placing it up for dry as my hair carelessly flowed down my body.

She smiled."Don't worry you can stay back here while it drys."

She got back up and exited the back room to attend back at the bar.

She was the only one who knew and never told a soul.