Sinister Kid

Play With Fire

"You threw a knife at me." 

The words came out of me more as a growl than actual human sounds.He seemed genuinely surprised by my words.

"I...don't know what you're talking about." 

Denial.Of course.It was expected.My blood boiled in my veins and I tried to control the primal insticts that told me to punch him in the face.Instead my voice lowered into an alarming whisper.

"Let me rephrase that:You threw a fucking knife at me."

I watched his eyes widen,his lips forming an 'o' and I thought he was actually alarmed for a moment,but that impression passed when I saw an arrogant smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.

"Well,for a pretty little girl you have a terrible vocabulary." he laughed.

"Pretty little girl?That's all you think of me?",my voice came out so shrill that I was certain bats could understand what I was talking about.In fact,I didn't know where my shock derived;whether it was from the fact that he found me pretty or that he underestimated me,I still sat there dumbfounded,clenching my spoon so hard the inside of my palm was starting to hurt..

"Well,you haven't proved that you're skilled in anything else." 

"I...I don't need to prove myself to you.I know what I'm capable of and my trainer does too-"

"Yeah,yeah,alright" he cut me in the middle of my sentence, "I don't really see what so special about you,so..."

I rolled my eyes.There goes the "you're ordinary" crap again I have tolerated my whole life from my classmates back in Verum.

"I just hope I don't get picked to team up with you." was the only thing I bothered to say.

"What?"

"Do you also have a hearing problem,among your other obvious flaws?All of us that are currently training",I gestured at the rest of trainees in the dining hall, "are gonna be split into teams of two.Then we will be sent into the wild."

"Why?" 

From his expression,I assumed he wasn't informed on the matter and I felt intensely joyful just because I knew something he didn't.

"Just to tear some mutants apart and then make lamps out of their skin or something",I explained as irony was dripping from each one of my words.

We remained silent for a while,staring at each other.After a while I cleared my throat.

"I want Leon." was my announcement.

"I'm not obligated to hear about your sexual life,you know." he replied completely terrified.

"I want him to team up with me,you idiot." I explained. "He seems nice.Also,an axe is pretty lethal.And learning how to handle it doesn't need that much training,as Aidan and his bow."

 "Oh,so that's how it works?You get the best and I get the "just okay" guy?"

"Aidan is a a nice fellow.Also,I've seen you with a sword,I don't think you'll have any problems.And in addition ",I continued ,"I know that you ripped those mutants back in Verum apart with your bare hands."

His face turned ashen as he took in the last sentence.Finally,he was the scared one.Quite the change,if you ask me.

"Yeah,guess what,I know stuff about you too." I smiled innocently.

He let out an exasperated sigh.

"Okay then,I get Aidan,you get Leon.If they agree to team with us."

"Oh,they will."

"How are you so sure?"

"Well,they want to survive.And we can help them with that,can't we?"

"I guess I can help Aidan." He emphasised that second I too much.Again underestimating me.I let it pass.

"So,we just have to spend time with them during training.Then our trainers are going to see how well we cooperate with them,and in one month,I am gonna be out with Leon and you with Aidan.And I won't see you ever again."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"Are you sure both of us are going to come back?" I asked,reveling in his naiveness. "This is kill or be killed.Only the best will survive."

His eyes remained fixed on mine,as he took in the underlying meaning of what I have just said.

"You think I won't come back." he spoke,his voice so low I could barely make out the words.

"I never said that-" I started but he interrupted me again.

"Why me?What about you?"

"I have something to fight for",was my statement and then the sounds that my mother made as the mutant tore her apart sounded so clear that for a moment I thought they were coming out of the speakers in the corners of the room.They would haunt for as long as I lived,that was sure.

"Your life." he concluded. "That's what I'm fighting for too,for my own life."

"You fight for survival,I fight for revenge."

His gaze moved from my eyes to the silver chain dangling from my right wrist.

"What happened to you?"

"Like you care." I said and stood up,ready to leave.This conversation had drained me.

"Someone has to."

"No one cares." was the last thing I said to him,my voice all shaky from the realisation that I didn't have anyone to care for me anymore.

Gregory,Alex,Aidan,Leon,my physician,my therapist...No one really cares.It is better this way.

The more people care about you,the more you care about them too.And caring means you get hurt.And getting hurt means being left with emotional scars.

The only scars I can focus on right now,are the ones the mutants will be left with after I'm finished with them.