The Three Enigmas: The Diamond of Strength

Chapter 9

"A rock of anxiety was planted in rbeckah's stomach during breakfast the next morning. It was growing larger and more distatseful as her mind came to expect the worst. Rebeckah shoved the plate of hashbrowns, an omlet and a muffin away from her, feeling as if the fumes from the food drifted into her nose, slipped into her stomach and made the rock of anxiety swell. "You have to eat ,Rebeckah," Rupert told her. She only shook her head slowly as if she was in a distant world, her eyes flit away.

"Really, Rebeckah, we'll be doing lots of physically challenging things in this class. You'll need the energy," James urged her on, slowly moving the plate towards her.

"I can't," was all that could manage to excape her lips. "Makes me sick," she mumbled indistinctly. James reached over and out the back o his hand on her forehead, pressing it forcefully down,  pushing Rebeckah bacwards a little bit. "You don't feel warm at all. Cold even," James said. "Do you feel sick?"

Rebeckah nodded. "My head, it feels light and my stomach is so twisting itself 'round and 'round again."

Rupert a James looked at her, concern in thier eyes, as if her Mortal body might had come in contact with some foreign, unidentifiable Regnumese disease. but Rebeckah knew the truth. every bit of it was anxiety. 

She had always gotten the similar feeling, except watered down quite a bit, before gym class at West Webster High School in minnesota. Admittedly, rebeckah knew one of her principal defects was being a perfectionist and always trying to be correct, or good at everything. She made a point of trying to prove it to evertone and by doing this failed only provoking everyone's laughter and her unreputable behavior. 

Particularly in athletics this hapened time and time again. Convincing herslef and everyone around her that she was ecent enough at whatever sport she was about to do, be it hockey, basketball, or football. Not only did she fail, but she failed pathetically, and even trgically in some instances. 

Hurtful laughs and remarks from peers, passerby, and the biggest offender, James, only increased the deprivity of the nasty comments she said to herself. It killed her on the insie to think that she was imperfect by anymeans at all. So at a time like this, when she was setting herslef up to fail ,willingly, the anxious feelings and reactions only rose up more, and this time increased with more bereavity.

She'd never, not in a million years, confess to Rupert and James. Epecially now, when they could tell by the puffiness and redness of her swelled halfway shut eyes, that she had been cryingmost of the morning. She'd appear weak, not only to them but to herself, which was more shame then she might be able ot handle. 

"Do you need to lie down? Do you need to skip the training for today?" asked Rupert.

As much as she'd like to, she couldn't. the trainign was necesary for attle and it's eb no use delaying aomething she'd inevitably have to some to terms with. "No, I have to go," she said, forcing herself to spit out the words fiercely.Upon seeing Rupert's and James's worried faces, she spit out, "really, I'm fine. Just a touch of something. That's all." But James and Rupert knew she was trying to convince them of a lie. 

Tp prove it (here we go with trying to prove things again) she took a gulp of omlet, swallowing it down before her tongue could master the taste and cause her to grow even more sick. A few mor e tries of this, and her belly had just enough food in it for her to get through the training session.

After, Rebeckah and James retreated to their rooms to put on the training session outfits that had been laid out for them by the maids. They were black with blue stripes and made out of the same material  Mortal swim suits were made of (this was presumably to soak up sweat). They also wore army boots that clunked an empty hollow noise when you walked. Carefully, Rebeckah tied her hair back and left the room.