Backstage Pass to Mortal Kombat

Chapter 8 - Early Arrival

Chapter Eight - Early Arrival

“Are you sure it’s Keanu, though?” Johnny sighed. He was getting tired of me jumping up and down and all around acting like an idiot at the very mention of this ‘visitor’. I didn’t care, though; I missed Keanu and I would show it.

“Let’s see, the man at Bo’s party said it was going to be a new fighter, a boy who was only eighteen and came from America. Who else do you think it could be?” We were sitting in my hut, folding clothes. Today was the last day before Keanu arrived; while I was relaxed and at ease, knowing he wouldn’t care how his clothes were folded, or how shiny the floors were, everyone else panicked though, and ran around like chickens with their heads cut off.

“It could be someone else, you know that right?” He pressed, helplessly folding a pair of silk robes. They slipped around in his hands, making it hard to press them in any way, shape, or form. “Keanu couldn’t have been the only eighteen year old boy from America that joined. Look at me; they could be talking about me for Pete’s sake.”

“But they weren’t.” I snapped.

“I know they weren’t talking about me, but you do realize how many other people would be first in line to sign up? And didn’t you say Shao’s rules were only eighteen year olds? That’s a very slim chance, Zak.”

His words chipped at my heart with a thin finger nail; taking a piece with it each time. Why did he have to ruin my happiness? The only thing I had to look forward to be seeing Keanu tomorrow and he wanted to take that away? Sure, his words held a lot of truth, but they were also naïve and selfish. “I know it was him. You don’t know Keanu like I do; he would give anything to be the visitor, so I know it must be him.”

Johnny’s eyebrows rose in doubt, but he tried to hide it from me as he looked down and continued to tangle the robes in his hands. “I can’t figure out this damn thing. You truly amaze me, Zak; only you could put up with this and not kill someone.”

“That’s probably why they won’t teach me how to fight like you.” I chuckled. Together, we began laughing as we folded the stupid training uniforms. I was thankful I was here with Johnny if I couldn’t have Keanu; before Johnny annoyed me, and I wanted nothing more than for him to go back home, but now? Now I can’t understand why he annoyed me so much in the first place. “Have you heard anything about your training? Like, what the goals are or anything? When will you start fighting against someone?”

“Oh, I’m already fighting against someone.” The grin on his face didn’t seem to fit that sentence. I could only guess who he was talking about. “Sonya is pretty tough; I’m easing into this relationship.”

“I don’t think there’s much of a relationship to think of, Johnny.” I smirked.

“Not yet, but one day she’ll admit that she loves me. Every time she looks at me in disgust, or tells me to get lost, I see the look of lust in her eyes…” He sighed.

“Wow, you’re breathing in way too much fabric softener.”

He threw a pair of training shorts at me, and I threw them back; we both laughed.

Leia looked down at the bathroom floors, slowly beginning to shake her head. I knew I’d have to sit through an hour long lecture about how the floors have to be clean enough to eat off of. Wanting to avoid that, I picked up the scrubbing brush again and began scraping the tile floors again. Keanu would be getting his own bathroom, about the size of a trailer, and I had to scrub the floor. Because apparently, he would be eating his dinners off of it!

“This will never do; you must scrub this way, not that way!” She showed me by flailing her arms wildly how I should be scrubbing back and forth, not side to side, when really; I was doing it the way she showed me to begin with.