A normal life

Chapter 9: Charlie

Chapter 9, Charlie

"Dammit, how could we let those Aven scum get the best of us and make us retreat we are stronger then they could ever hope to be and we have more people as well, this is stupid" snarled Joshua in anger once we arrived home after the battle at the collage campus.
"You need to calm down, we were forced to retreat because we underestimated the enemy" I tried only for him to turn and snarl at me baring his fangs about to attack. Some times I wished that this rivalry didn't exist between Joshua and myself but because it did exist we were always fighting over one thing or another.
"Charlie is correct, you need to calm down before you start something that you don't want to and that you will regret" said Samual his voice gruff since he was silent most of the time so that he could study everyone and everything around him no one really noticed how gruff his voice was.
"Don't tell me you are taking his side in this, he has barely done anything for this battle or this clan" snarled Joshua going to grab me but Samual grabbed his hand before he could. Even with the rivalry between me and Samual he still looked out for me but I still really couldn't understand him or what he thought about me.
"I am well aware that he held back in the battle" Samual sharply commented.
"He probably knew about the girl, probably warned her about the attack seeing as he was against the battle from the start, he more than likely ratted us out to the Aven clan that's why we lost to them" said Joshua with a deadly glare.
"That's enough" boomed Father's voice, making not only Joshua go silent but everyone else as well since they were all grumbling agreements to what Joshua was saying.
"While Charlie is useless in most things he would never betray this clan nor his family though seeing as how most of the clan is reacting we shall be putting Charlie through a test to show where his loyalty lies and where it should stay as well" announced Father. It stung a lot that my own Father called me useless but for some reason there wasn't the normal hardness to his words and even though his words suggested that I might one day betray the clan his tone told me that he knew that I would not betray them. The only reason that Father was continuing with the clan test was to make sure that the rest of the clan understood that I wouldn't betray them. What hurt me more than my father calling me useless was the fact that my Mother never even spoke a word in my defence,  she didn't even look at me, it was like she didn't care about what happened to me.
"The trial will be held tomorrow, for now everyone will get some rest and any one that is hurt should get their wounds looked at. We have lost enough people today so if you want to fight then you should challenge me first" ordered Father. Hearing this I went to my room not bothering to look at the people that didn't believe in me or thought I was useless or a traitor.

"Charlie" called Samual and I stopped just about to head into my room.
"Father is only doing this to keep the clan together, don't hold it against him since he is trying to do his best for both you and the clan" Samual tried to explain.
"It's okay I already figured that out after all its not easy being the youngest you know even when your father is the clan head. Everyone always blames you when they believe that you haven't done enough to help but what's even worse than being blamed is that I have gotten used to being blamed and taking the blame. You forget that it's been like this ever since I was born and I already know it won't change" I said heading into my room shutting my door and leaning against it. I knew that this was coming, the test I mean, after all I had only just become a ranking soldier and most of the clan was against it anyway. Already I could tell that they were going to use this as some sort of excuse to show how useless I was but I could also turn this against them. To show them that I deserved being promoted along with hopefully earning some respect just like my parents and brothers. If they weren't going to give me their respect then I would make them realise that I was nothing like they thought and I was stronger then they thought I was. Sighing I head to go for a shower before I laid on my bed staring at the roof trying to get what happened in the battle out of my head. Joshua wasn't wrong when he accused me of knowing exactly who Maylin was and what clan she belonged to but I had hoped I was wrong. Looking back now that I had complete proof that she was an Aven I could connect the dots and see the signs. While she was naturally a quiet loner, deep down there was a large fierceness hidden within much like the other Bird shifters. Just like Maylin showed when she bested Joshua in a fight or even when she was pinned she still tried to fight that Blood pixie. It's also what drew me to her when I first saw her. I shouldn't be thinking like this, she was the enemy now,  the person that stood between my clan and victory, the person I should be focused on killing. I turned to my side hoping that I could drift off to sleep but I knew it would be a long time since just thinking of hurting or being hurt by Maylin made my heart hurt. Luckily even with my heavy thoughts I soon drifted off to sleep only to wake up the next morning still tired. Getting up I got ready for the rest of the day including the test I would be taking by dressing in a black tank top and a pair of green camouflage three quarter pants before heading to breakfast. Since it was still so early I didn't have to worry about seeing very many of the other clansmen since they wouldn't be awake until a more reasonable hour. Once I finished eating I headed to the training hall to stretch and warm up for the test which was where my father found me two hours later.
"It's time to start, the others are all waiting in the forest for the test to begin" said Father and I nodded grabbing my tank top that I had taken off earlier and got ready to follow him.
"Son" said Father placing a hand on my shoulder surprising me a little.
"Prove all of us wrong, myself included, show us your true strength that I know is in there" said Father, giving my shoulder one last squeeze before we headed to the forest.