One Bright Spot -- The Revisions

10

∞Christal∞

If Kota was upset to wake and find Ethan and I gone from the coop, he was doubly so to see us bring back a third party. "What were you thinking?" he yells at us.

"That it was easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission", I answer honestly.

"Very funny."

"I wasn't aware that I was making a joke."

Kota and I are almost nose to nose now. He is seething, just like on the first day of training. I don't break eye contact with him. "You don't get to leave without running it by me first. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah. Clear as mud", I retort. "Just who do you think you are, keeping us locked in here?"

"I'm not keeping you locked in here. I'm keeping all of them locked out there", he yells. The redness of his face might have been humorous if I wasn't so angry myself.

"Well excuse me for trying not to bother you after the day's earlier events. I just went up to get a few things of mine and Carmila's. Ethan was in the apartment, too, so it was perfectly safe."

"Have you forgotten so quickly everything that's happened to you?" He could blow a gasket at any moment, but I step closer to him anyways.

"Have you forgotten how I flipped Drake and beat every opponent you threw at me in class?"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. "You almost drowned! She almost killed you with that stupid serum of hers! And you're ready to go back out there and let it happen all over again!" He turns to the rest of the group, "No one goes out that door again until it's time to go. And by 'no one', I mean 'everyone'", he looks pointedly at Ethan and I.

Josh pipes up, "I'd like to take a moment to say that Theo and I had nothing to do with this. In fact, we told them not to do it..."

"Oh, shut up!" Kota and I yell at the same time.

"Okay."

"Now", Kota says in an unnervingly calm manner, "I am going to go run some scalding hot water over my head to, hopefully, ease my headache. When I return, I will decide what to do with the guest you invited into MY apartment and then we will make the plans for our quest, to put it lightly. Get it?"

"Got it", we each answer grudgingly.

"Good." With that, he turns and stalks into his bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

I cross my eyes and stick my tongue out at it.

Teddy snickers, "No way am I missing out on this."

I fold my arms and plop down on Kota's couch, listening to the water start up.

***

∞Kota∞

The water burns and makes my skin feel as if it is on fire. I am standing outside of my bathtub, leaning over the side so the water runs over my head. I can feel the collar of my shirt getting soaked, but I don't care. I can't believe she went back out there, even with my mother no longer around to harm her.

A tightness forms in my chest. I may as well be an orphan now, even though I am considered an adult. Tears even hotter than the water well up in my eyes. All of the hurt and pain my mother had inflicted over the last decade hits me at once. My wet hair falls straight down around my face, creating a sort of dome filled only with steam from the heat, cutting off my fresh air.