"Wake up!"
I sit up to find that I'm now sitting on the grass outside. I put my hands above my eyes to block the blinding sun and see Sylvia standing in front of me.
"We were deciding who would train you," She sighs, "and I pulled the short straw." She looks at me as if it's my fault, but even after a whole night of sleep I am too tired to deal with it. With her.
"Why are we outside?" I ask as I get up off the ground, my bare feet tickled by the soft grass.
She answers, "Training. Apparently whether either of us like it or not. Now I guess we start with the basics." She smiles at me and I have a feeling I'm not going to like what she has in store for me. "You're going to run until I say we're done. Through the woods if you run straight, you should see a tree fallen over in your path, turn right there and take a left at the hill. Keep going straight and then stop at the lake."
"Wait-"
"Go!" She shouts, and I feel like it would end up being worse if I don't run, so I start running through the woods.
Even though it's a warm morning, in the woods, the trees cast shadows on the ground and I shiver from the sudden cold in the cover of the trees before my body temperature returns to normal. I focus on the steady beat of my feet hitting the leaves that are littered on the ground, instead of the darkness around me, I've never been quite fond of the dark. I am so lost in thought, just listening to the crunch under my feet that I run into a branch and fall back.
I get up and brush the leaves off my pants, and start to run again. I'm almost out of breath when I finally see the fallen tree, but I turn a little too quickly and fall into a bunch of mud.
I finally manage to get up without slipping and falling back in the mud, but before I can start running again, Sylvia land crouched down in front of me. I look up and realize she must have been watching from a tree branch above. "That was very amusing, high level stuff, I don't know anyone who could fall on their butt like that and look so stupid at the same time." Her mocking smile fades. "I want you to go back, and start again, until you get it right. I don't care if it takes all day and night." Her smile returns. "And I'm half hoping it does. I can't lie, you falling on your butt is amusing."
I went back and restarted, tripping and getting smacked in the face just as many times as I did the first try. I didn't seem to be getting any better. Every try was the same. The first, and the second. The third, the fourth, I keep running until I lost count of how many times, I had finally barely made it past that first turn without slipping, but only to be stopped by Sylvia shortly after. My entire body aches, I feel like I'm about to collapse, but I keep running, I can't let Sylvia beat me. I can't let her win.
Not this time.
Yet she does.
Before I even realize it, It's dark outside. Sylvia says that we're done and I finally go inside. I know I'm probably going to have to do it all over again the next day and the next. Over and over, until I get it right. Until Sylvia deems it "good enough."
I take a shower, Get new clothes and go to bed. I don't even bother to eat dinner. I honestly don't think I would be able to stop myself from vomiting it all if I ate anything.
I am asleep before my head even hits the pillow.
It seems like only a few seconds before I am awake again, and I start the entire day over again. It's the same routine every day.
I get up. I run. I'm never fast enough, and I go back to bed to start it all over again.
I lost count of the days after a week.
I run as fast as I can but it's never fast enough. Even though I've been running all my life, I've been getting nowhere. I tried running from my past, I've tried running from my pain, from fear, and now this is where I am. In the middle of the woods, trying to prove myself to someone who probably doesn't even care.
I stop, not even surprised when she appears in front of me. "Why did you stop?"
I ignore her and start to walk back. "How stupid do you think I am? When are you going to stop hating me, and making my life hell?" I don't even turn to look at her as I keep walking. She is silent for a while until she says, "when I finally get the better life, because however you feel right now is how I've felt for as long as I can remember. Broken. Hurt. I'm just digging myself deeper into a hole until I can't get out. I don't wish that on anyone. So you need to learn that people aren't always going to be there for you. You need to learn to depend on no one but yourself. Because even your shadow leaves you in darkness."
I turn around only to find that she's gone.
I sigh and keep walking, thinking about what Sylvia said, as my shadow trails behind me as I head inside.
* * *
The next day Sylvia is still gone.
Aspen and Trent both claim to have not seen her, but I head outside anyway. I stare at the path into the woods, it's not straight or completely cleared out, there are branches, leaves and small bushes growing on it, but it's easy to tell where it begins and ends. I take a deep breath and start to run.
I go down that path that I had ran down for weeks, ready for all the things that were unexpected the first try. I focus on what's right in front of me and push myself harder until the trees are a blur beside me. I turn I make it to the hill for the first time and turn left. The path becomes less overgrown and more tame as if it had been cleared more recently. I keep running and in the distance I see a lake.
The water is clear and it sparkles like diamonds as the light reflects off the surface. As I get closer I see a figure kneeling at the water, but I don't stop. As I run farther, the forest gets less dense and sunlight shines through the trees, I finally reach the lake and see that the figure near the lake is Sylvia. Her eyes are closed and she seems calm. She must have gotten into the lake, because her long blond hair is dripping with water and her face looks wet, but she still looks perfect sitting there, so beautiful and calm. "That was better, you were much faster."
I turn around, half expecting to see someone else there, but when I turn back she's looking at me. "Yes, I'm talking to you. I wondered how long it would take you to find me. It took you about three minutes to run the two miles to get here. That's faster than I can run, but you should eventually be able to eventually beat me flying."
is she actually complimenting me? "So you can actually fly?" I ask in awe.
"Kind of," she stares at her reflection in the water. "It's more like I use the air to lift me up. It's not that big of a deal."
Is she being modest? Who is this, and what did she do with Sylvia? "You can fly and you think 'it's not that big of a deal'? I wish I could fly!" I imagine myself flying through the sky, I would be able to go anywhere and no one could stop me.
"I..." She sighs, "Nevermind."
I sit down next to her and look out at the lake and we are both quiet for a while and it's way too peaceful, I realize. I reach out my hand into the lake and splash Sylvia in the face.
"Emily!!!" At first she looks angry, but then she smiles, and then she starts to laugh, and it's different than when I heard her laugh before. She sounds happier now. "You are gonna regret that." She says playfully as she splashes me. It reminds me of when we were younger, always trying to beat each other, making everything into a competition. I remember one time when we were competing over who could yell louder. Sylvia had won, as she did most of the time, but I didn't care, not then, when everything was perfect.
She pushes me into the water and I pull her down with me. We are both soaking wet, and we look at each other and are silent for a second. Then, at the same time, we both burst out laughing. We both get out of the water, when suddenly the temperature drops. I shiver, and am glad I'm wearing a hoodie, even if it is soaking wet. But then, a few seconds later I am warm again. I look Sylvia and she is shivering. "What is it?" I ask her.
"It's freezing," she looks at me, "You probably don't notice it because your a vuur." She pauses and looks at the lake just as it freezes over. "Something is wrong."
