Little Krieger

Chapter One

Taking a deep breath I step off the plane. It's weird to be back in America. After my time serving I went to play for Man City. It feels good to be back on American soil. I get my luggage and walk over to Jill. " Hello Ms. Ellis," I greet her with a smile. "Hi Mercy. Are you ready to see your sister after ten years?" What the fuck kind of question is that? "No ma'am, I'm afraid not," I tell her truthfully. She gives me reassuring smile with a pat on the back. The ride was fairly quick and quiet. "Okay so here is your room key. You're roomed with Kelley O'Hara. Put everything in your room and come down to the conference room. I'll text you when to come in." I nod my head in understanding. Reaching my room — room 403 — I open it and set my bags in my room. Making my way to the conference room I get more nervous. It seems as if heart is going to jump out of my chest. As soon as I reach the door, Jill texts me to come in. Here goes nothing. Walking all eyes fall on me but mine are on my sister. Next things I know I was tackled to the ground by her fiancée, Ashlyn. She punches me over and over again until she is pulled off of me. Once up, Ali comes over to me and smacks me. I expected this but what I didn't expect is her to hug me. I hug her back— which is surprising since I don't like physical contact that much. "Mer-mer I thought you was dead," her voice cracking. That made me hold her tighter. She pulled back and looked up at me since I'm 6'2". I wiped her tears away with a sigh. "I'm so sorry Ali. I know what I did was wrong, and I'll have to live with it all my life," i say trying not to break down. "So who is she?" A freckled, brunette asked. "Gals, this is my little sister, Mercy Krieger,"Ali exclaims smiling. I wave to the ladies. "Okay ladies, get to know Mercy and please be respectful," Jill says. Choruses of yes coach goes around the room. Ali drags me over to a seat next to her and forces me to sit. She ends up sitting on my lap. "Sis not that I don't love and missed you, but this is too much physical contact for me," I say to her. "Oh yeah forgot that your not a huge fan of physical contact," she says getting up and sitting in her seat. "Hi I'm Kelley," the brunette beauty from earlier said. Once she said that the others introduced themselves— Lindsey Horan, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath, Carli Lloyd, Julie Ertz or Johnson, Christen Press, Mallory Pugh, Crystal Dunn, Rose Lavelle, Morgan Brian, Becky Sauerbrunn, Sam Mewis, Abby Dahlkemper, Allie Long, Alyssa Naeher, Emily Sonnett, Tierna Davidson, Adrianna Franch, and Jessica McDonalds.
"So what did Ali mean by ' I thought you was dead '?" Questioned Emily. "I was in the Marines and so the first year we would stay in contact. Then after I cut off all contact with my whole family," I reply looking at my hands in my laps. Ali asked the question I've waiting for since I arrived," Why did you cut all contact?" Looking in her eyes, I say, "When I saw how sad y'all was, it killed me. It killed me to know that I caused that pain. I could barely focus over there cause all I could think of was y'all. I thought it would help if cut connection with you guys, but it wasn't the case and made it worse. I couldn't bring myself to see or talk with ya cause of it. And it tormented me everyday. I pushed it deep down and I kept adding to the years of service to keep me from facing you." There was a long silence until she spoke up. " I'm not gonna lie, we were heartbroken when you left for the military but we supported you no matter what. It only added to the pain when you cut all contact for nine years but we love you and always will." "It was eight years with no contact. I was in the Marines for nine years," I say looking down. "Wait what did you do for the tenth year you was gone?" "Played for Man City."  There was another silence. "Okay so how old are you Mercy?" Carli asked. "28 years old." "Not that I'm assuming but your gay right?" That was Allie. "Yeah, what gave it away?" I chuckled. "I believe it was the hair," Mal piped up, what haircut is it?" "Sort of a long pompadour style." "So I see that you have tattoos. Can we see all of them?" Megan asked excitedly. Shrugging I said, "I'll have to take off some clothing." "That's fine." I removed my shirt and hear them gasp. I forgot the scar that ran from under my left boob to my left hip bone. Not to mention the occasional bullet wound. Looking at their eyes to see them filled with tears. "Is this why you only served nine years?" Of course it was Ali with that question. I nod my head trying to push the memories down. All of sudden I'm brought into a group huge with the team and even the coaching staff. When they pull away I ask for the question to be left for another time. They agree and dismiss us from the conference room. Me and Kelley made our way to the room. As soon as the door shut, Kelley had my in a tight hug. Not gonna lie I really enjoyed being hugged by her. "So your bed is closes to the door and I apologize in advance," she says. Confused I asked, "what do mean by apologizing in advance?" " I like to cuddle," she said looking at her feet with a slight blush. I found the sight extremely cute. "It's chill." I grab some workout clothes and go to the bathroom to change. Once changed I come to find the room empty, so I left a note that I'll be back and headed to the gym.
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Its 10:25pm at the moment and I started at 4pm. I've been at the punching bag for around six hours. All I can think about is releasing the memories into the bag. Normally I would drink but I don't need anyone to find out I'm an alcoholic. Especially my sister doesn't need to know. So here I am standing in front of the bag without a shirt and sweat pouring down my body.