Claudia Thorne
As the oldest daughter of the royal family I expected to be given more responsibility. However, that wasn't the case. When my mother and father were busy or not present here to attend to any business Sanjay was put in charge. It did make me feel slightly less confident in myself, because I felt rejected by my parents. They never need me for anything important. All I do is help Polly keep the manor in high-maintenance. I spent most of my time with Polly. She was the only person who really seemed like they wanted me around.
"Claudia you look gorgeous as usual," Polly complimented me as I entered the dinning room. She was still cleaning dishes.
"Still cleaning?... You really need a break," I told Polly.
"Haha yeah that would be nice. Wouldn't it? But sometimes that's just not an option... if I took a break around this place it would fall apart... literally and figuratively;" Polly had wise words once again.
"Polly... do you ever think that the duke or duchess is using you?" The room became completely silent after I asked her that.
"Claudia..." Polly ended the silence and then continued; "I've been working for the duchess my whole life. She's very friendly and magnanimous. There's so many times in my life when I should've been punished... but she didn't punish me. I keep the house nice and tidy, and in return I get to live a comfortable life with my own room in the manor without a fee. I get all the perks you and your sisters get. The same rules apply to me. I am just like you. We are privileged, Claudia. Remember that. You have a marvelous life. And so do I."
"Yeah... you're right," I nodded my head in agreement with Polly. Then I started helping her finish washing the dishes.
The day went by fast, and it was sunset already. I stood outside in my balcony, and gazed at the sunset. The scenery was vivid. It was rare to see such a radiant sunset. There was so much pollution in the air, that most of the time all you could see was a nasty, grey, hazy, turbid smoke, gliding through the sky. I knew tomorrow was gonna be a busy day with the new recruit members having their first day of military training. Jay had asked me to supervise over the facility to make sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing. They're all up for a tedious task, but like very year, only a few survive training camp.
It was that time of day already. Jay was giving the recruit members a pep talk when I walked into the facility. "Today is a new day. Today you will be challenged. Today you will be pushed to your limits; you will be more exhausted than you've ever been before. Day one of training starts today. So give me two hundred pushups, and whoever comes short will be cleaning this pile of dirty material," Jay told the recruit members. Someone rolled a cart of random dirty items in front of the recruit members. "Thank you for you assistance," Jay thanked the troop.
"Don't you think you're being a little tough on these folks their first day?" I asked Jay.
"Claudia! Haha, I thought you were ditching me today."
"No, I just slept in a little late this morning. What can I help you with?"
"Actually I haven't got the fighting ring ready yet. Do you want to get it setup?"
"I'd love to Jay," I said, then walked towards the fighting ring, to get it setup.
After I finished setting up the fighting ring Sanjay randomly nominated two people to participate in the first fighting battle. The one guy was a; thin, tall, blonde boy, he looked too young to be a troop. The other guy was slightly more buff, and he looked more intimidating. The blonde boy looked petrified by the man's batty face. The man took his shirt off, and threw it at the blonde boy's face. "Ready to die? I'm not stopping until you're dead, boy."
Sanjay interrupted their unfriendly conversation; "when I say fight, you may begin." Sanjay took a moment to breathe. "1... 2... 3..." There was an awkward moment of silence before Sanjay yelled fight... "Fight!"
The blonde boy was shaking in fear. The other man was laughing hysterically at the blonde boy. "Are you gonna fight, or am I gonna have to take you out in one punch?" The man threatened the boy. The man bulldozed himself towards the blonde boy, but the boy was brisk enough to roll to his right. The boy rolled to the steel bars of the ring's margin. The man fell clumsily onto the floor; without knowing the boy just had juked him out.
The man was sluggish after one strike; he appeared to be done before the fight den started. However, the man got back onto his feet, and he was even more enraged than before. I saw the trepidation in his eyes grow more palpable by the second. The man darted at the boy throwing the first three punches. The first punch the boy dodged. The second punch the boy barely dodged. The third punch, the man hit the boy in the center of his forehead. The blonde boy fell against the steel bars. The room became silent. Was he boy dead? Alive? There were many questions going through everyone's head right now.
The man turned around throwing his arms in the air, expecting an applause for celebration. The boy slowly opened his eyes, and pushed himself off of the steel bars. The boy flung himself into the man, clinching onto the man's legs with all of the strength he had left in him. "What the hell? How did you survive that punch? You pesky mishap!" The man hollered at the boy. The man flicked his leg up, the boy's grip was too weak, he flew back into the steel bars.
"Show mercy, you've already won this fight," Sanjay told the man.
The man didn't listen, and he was cocking his arm back to give the boy the most powerful punch he could give. Sanjay flew into the fighting ring like a hawk, and grabbed the man's arm. "You will not be disobedient. I will not tolerate your impulsiveness. This is what happens when you disobey authority!" Sanjay spoke with austere. Sanjay twisted the man's arm with vehemence. I felt pity for the man, watching him scream for forgiveness. Sanjay didn't stop until the man's arm was completely backwards. "Bring him to the dungeon," Sanjay said, and then elbowed the man in the back of the head, causing him to black out.
Sanjay walked up to he blonde boy; "I am sorry for that, what's your name?"
"I... I am... Craig," the boy told Sanjay.
