Conflicted (Brothers Conflict)

Chapter Three

The sound of car horns threw me into a panic, there were flashes of light followed by a massive impact and the sound of breaking glass and crunching metal. I felt myself getting jostled around, a baby was crying nearby and I heard people screaming in the distance.

"Ema! Evie!" A woman's voice cried weakly, "Please be okay-...."

I woke with a start. There was a film of cold sweat lining my body and tears in my eyes as I shakily sat up.

"Evie-nee?" Ema's voice called to me quietly in the darkness, "Are you okay?"

I saw her outline in the darkness as she sat up in her bed across the room. "Yeah, I'm sorry it was just a bad dream. I didn't mean to disturb you."

"You were crying." Ema said softly, she sounded upset.

"I'm okay, go back to bed, it's a school night." I scolded her gently as I crept from my bed and made my way to the bathroom for a relaxing hot shower. The dream was much more vivid this time, and I found that I'd woken with a pounding headache.

Once I'd finished up with my shower and wrapped myself in a fluffy towel I looked into the mirror studying my reflection. When I used to look at myself in the mirror I'd always thought the girl looking back at me looked strong, fearless and a little mean, but the girl staring back at me looked scared and meek. Her emerald eyes were filled with fear and uncertainty.

Hurriedly I changed into a pair of shorts, a sports bra and an oversized hoodie before heading out into the cool crisp night air. A glance down at my phone revealed that it was three in the morning, far too early for any early risers to be out and about, but I needed a run to clear my head. It had been a few weeks since Natsume and I started running together, we met every day, sometimes we didn't talk at all other times we spent the whole run chit chatting about everything and nothing, he was so easy to talk to and I felt comfortable around him. He'd told me to call him anytime I wanted to go for a run outside of our normal scheduled runs, but I had a feeling he'd said it to be nice. It didn't feel right calling him at this ungodly hour.

I'd talked to my dad about accepting his offer to send me away to a culinary institute in Europe, deciding that I still wanted to pursue my dream of fighting, even if it meant deceiving him. Perhaps I was just stressed about the upcoming move to Europe. I still hadn't figured out what I was going to tell Natsume. My dad also informed Ema and I that he'd recently started seeing someone and thing seemed to be getting serious. Ever since I could remember, dad never had anyone in his life and we never really talked about our mother, he didn't bring her up and Ema and I were too afraid of what kind of response we'd get to question him.

There were a lot of changes happening. Change always made me anxious. Running always cleared my mind, but now I always ran with Natsume and thinking of telling him I'd be moving to Europe for a few months twisted my stomach into knots. He wanted me to pursue my dream and encouraged me to keep doing what I loved, but I noticed he was really opening up to me lately and seemed so at ease in my presence. He made jokes more often and seemed to relax and I had a feeling that wasn't something he was used to.

Deciding it would be better to clear my mind with some free running, I took off running, flipping over fences, benches, hydrants and scaling trees and monuments as I went. Free running always gave me a thrill that seemed to calm my nerves when I was restless or anxious. Dad wasn't a fan of my free running either, but it never stopped me.

After running through the park flipping off of and onto every object in sight for nearly an hour the city around me slowly started coming to life. The early risers had finally started their day. The coffee cart guy wheeled out his coffee cart, cars started to bustle past beginning the early morning commute. I paced from the park entrance to the bridge a few times at a dead run still trying to shake the dream. Anytime I slowed down I'd start hearing the baby's cries and the screams again.