Clouds

Part 2-1 Victoria

Part 2

The Hedges

            Of course I can remember all of it, every single detail.  My life. 

My hair curls on my shoulders, just long enough to reach halfway down my waist, but chooses not to.  It is a rebel, just like my spirit.  I can’t be broken, and neither can it.  It is a part of me, after all, and I intend to take care of it as I would my soul.

            My eyes slant under my sunglasses, my eyesight now green from the night vision part of them.  Colby was smart to include that for the trip, and I am thankful.  My backpack is as light as a feather, and as I run I forget it is there, along with my necklace and bracelet, and full stomach.  However, I do not forget my last moments with my friends.  Instead, I memorize their features: Awesome, with her jet-black hair reaching her waist, her short yet stylish bangs that cover her eyebrows, her small eyes, her pale, orange-colored skin, her bright navy blue eyes, and the height of a normal girl her age, about five and a half feet.  She is courageous, strong, and arrogant, with more guts then me.  And then there is Colby, with his paler skin that burns with the slightest contact with the sun, his short blonde hair and bangs reaching across to the right side of his forehead, his dimples and a few freckles, genius brain, and his pale blue eyes.

            I picture them beside me: Me, with my brown hair that curls halfway down its full length, my grown-out bangs that I curl over to the right side of my face, my weary smile, long eyelashes, an unattractive face, the opposite of Awesome’s, tan skin, and complex attitude: a mixture of dauntlessness, courage, sensitivity, reluctance, and curiosity.  Then they stand beside me; the combination of the three of us perfect.  We make the greatest team, and it saddens me to think that I will never see them again.

            But even more frightening than that, I won’t see anyone again.

            There will be no one in the Hedges, the Coastline, and possibly not even Rainbow Valley.  I highly doubt that, and there certainly will be no one in Cloud.  And I’ll be in Cloud for a very long time, and I may not even see Misty or the organization again, if their side of the plan fails.

            But I have to distract myself from those thoughts.  I can’t let them rule me.  This is my brain, my body, so I decide to distract it with distant memories.

            And, speaking of memories, I think to myself, I can remember the days I met Awesome and Colby.  Maybe a few flashbacks will help put my mind at ease.

And, it does.  I can’t ever forget my friends, so why not think about them and cement them into my memory?

I was nine and my parents had not yet told me what they did for a living.  They hadn’t even met Misty in person; just talked to her through other trustworthy people.  We were still living in Shrouded Glade but took a trip to Crossroads to help teach me to fight.

Since my mother’s knowledge of other people’s skills was limited, she signed me up to take a fighting class with other kids my age.  I was grouped with the nine and ten year olds, and we all started by learning how to punch and knock out dummies, plus basic knife throwing and shooting bows and arrows.  As the training went on, it became more and more intense, with time limits and smaller targets and heavier dummies.  Of course I did well; my mom had taught me everything I knew. 

During that time I made a few friends.  It was a three month class, so it was important to not spend it alone.  I hung out with Mandy, Harry, and Susan most of the time, and we explored the camp together. 

The one thing I remember the most was the poster that hung on the wall, projected from a screen.  It was a list of the top ten statistics.  Every day I would check the list to see how I did.  Harry was always in second place, Mandy was always in fifth, and Susan was always in seventh.  I was always first, but it wasn’t enough.  There was another girl I had to share first place with.  Her name was Victoria.