Love Torment

37

The ringing of the alarm blared painfully. I carefully opened my eyes as I turned to stretch out my arm to end the ringing. My eyes were barely open when I saw a figure standing before my nightstand, glaring down at me. The room was dark, reflecting my mood.

Every single day.

I was woken up long before the rise of the sun.

''You waste time with sleep. Although you need time to stop resembling weakness.'' My mother would say to me as she roughly stripped away the blanket covering me.

The cold of the air sent instant chills through my body. I could feel the shock wake me up.

*****

''Is that supposed to make me feel sorry for you?'' Jess questioned me with an expression that screamed 'salty'. She was making things personal when they didn't need to be personal.

We were standing in the middle of the general school field. The night sky hanging above us. In the far distance, in front of me, was the school building. Behind me, was the school fence with threes scattered before it.

We were alone.

Jess was dressed in all back. Black jeans, a black long-sleeved shirt along with a black coat. Her hair was pinned up in a neat bun and she had nothing but seriousness coming from her vibe.

''I wasn't born with abilities so my parents were a little hard on me. Trained me morning, day, and night. I was just explaining that.'' I explained to her as I gave her a look of question.

''Don't give me that look. We were trained morning, day, and night all our lives too.'' Jess said to me as her expression grew irritated.

''Did you enjoy it? Did you do it because you wanted to?'' I asked her in a tone of concern.

''We were born to protect our kind from your kind.'' She replied firmly, her eyes darted away from mine for a moment. She shoved her hands into her pockets. She glanced back at me and stared at me as if she was willing me to continue speaking.

******
''Mama, I can't do it! It's too far and my tummy hurts.'' I cried out to my mother. I looked down to calculate the distance of the rooftop to the floor. I felt a bit dizzy as I realised I'd break a few more bones if I didn't make the jump. The building I was supposed to land on seemed far. My father stood at the edge of the other building with his arms wrapped around his back expectantly.

My mother stood behind me. I didn't need to see her know that she was scowling. I was whining, as per usual.

Dinner didn't go down well that day. Not that it ever did. They didn't want to accept that I needed my food fully cooked.

I didn't mention how I sprained my ankle during combat training. I could swear a rib was broken from the metal rod I fail to dodge from my father. The training was brutal. They were pushing me past my limits. I wondered how long it would take for them to kill me.

''Stop being so weak.'' My mother whined back. She was agitated, I knew what was going to come next. She was going to push me if I took too long.

I took in a deep breath and mentally prepared myself for the worst.

Just as I was about to jump I felt a force push me over the edge of the building. I took too long, my mother pushed me. I had no time to react as I let myself plummet to the ground.

*****

''Oh shit, I remember how painful that was. I landed on cement. I was in casts for weeks.'' I spoke out loud as I reminisced. I wrapped my arms around myself as I shuddered at the memory.