The Queen Of Spades

Chapter 2, Continued, Again

I went to the training room in the basement and strapped my glove on. At the rack I grabbed a baton and walked to the mat. Usually I use two batons when I train but this time I couldn't for obvious reasons, and it kind of threw me off. A noise on the stairs made me take the knife from my waistband and threw it at where the noise came from. I missed and instead it hit about a foot to the left.
"You missed." Nada said from the stairs.
"Lucky you." I said.
"Why aren't you asleep yet Love?"
"I could ask you the same thing." I said, then at her raised eyebrow, I shrugged. "Wasn't tired. I decided to come down here instead."
"You have a big day tomorrow, you need to sleep."
"No." I said, walking back to the mat, "I don't."
"Well, if you are not gonna sleep, why don't we spar? You are not going to get anywhere swinging at air."
"Let's go then." Nada grabbed a baton and walked over to the mat across from me. "Fight!" Nada Shouted. Metal hit metal and I came alive, everything that had been ingrained in me since I could walk replayed in my mind. Again and again our batons hit, time passed so quickly that before we knew it it was three AM and Nada said I had to go to bed. After about fifteen minutes of protesting it I put my baton away and went back to the living room. I closed my eyes just for a minute and woke up to someone screaming, but I couldn't tell if I was still sleeping. Why was I in the kitchen? I felt something warm on my stomach and looked down to see a dark stain forming on my shirt. I looked at my hand and saw a bloody knife in it. Was it my blood or the person screaming? Who was screaming anyways?

Lizzy. Oh no, no no no no no. Putting the knife in the sink and walking over to her, I looked her up and down to see if there was any blood on her. There, on her arm. I cut her? No, this isn't real, I'm just dreaming. When I wake up in the morning this will just be a memory. Won't it? I put my shoes on and ran out the door. It's just a dream I told myself, trying to believe it. Turn there, keep running. Don't stop until you're there. Run away. Wake up, I'm just dreaming. There, the clubhouse. I jumped off the bridge and onto the train car below me. Tuck and roll I reminded myself.

After brushing the dust off my pants, I car-hopped about six graffiti-covered train cars and climbed down into the one I called mine. Taking a match from one of the baskets in the corner, I struck it against the box but as soon as it lit I put it out. I couldn't bring myself to light another match so I just sat there in the darkness listening to the sounds of the night. An owl here, leaves rustling in the wind there. Then I  remembered all the times Nova and I would come down here late at night. We would talk about life and school and who we had a crush on at the moment. When we were here we weren't covert operatives or super spies, we were just kids and we loved it. My heart was beating a mile a minute and my hand was shaking again.