Eden Martinez.
Much more than your ordinary eighteen year old girl.
At the end of her sophomore year she dropped out of college to join the army, and it was the best decision of her life.
Yes it meant that she had to mature quickly, yes that meant...
It's currently half four am and I'm running through a park, it's a small park about fifteen minutes away from my moms house. I've just been running round and round for the last half hour.
I did sleep but it takes me a while to get used to a proper bed, it can feel quite suffocating.
It usually takes me weeks before I can relax and get my head back to normal mode, but I'm on high alert al the time and the moment and it's really starting to get to me.
I got six hours of sleep, which is actually quite good so I'm not mad about it.
I woke up at four and couldn't sleep so I thought I might as well go on my normal morning run.
I watch as tired adults walk out of their front doors with a coffee in their hands as they get into their cars half asleep to go to work.
It's quite nice going on a run this early... somewhere that's not quite... dusty.
Or dangerous.
Somewhere that's nice to be.
I've got to say though, some parts of Afghanistan are lovely, for example the mountains.
But it's far too corrupt to live there and it's been wrecked by war.
My eyes travel to hour brightly lit up by little lights. I look in a window of a house and see a familiar, haunting reflection behind me.
It's azizi.
What?
No.
A car drives behind me and I snap myself around he's not there.
Fuck.
I'm imagining it.
What's wrong with me?
I feel the unsettling feeling inside of me grow and I stare at the road in front of me before running away.
Soon enough I find myself back at home, not even in a sweat yet.
I need to go again, if I'm not sweaty I didn't work hard enough.
I'm about to turn around but the front door opens with Oliver with rubbish in his hands.
"Oh hi Eden" he says
"Hey" i say before I go inside and I sit down in the living room
I hear him walk inside and I look at him, "is there like nickname I can give you? Oliver is a bit too long, what about Olly?"
"Olly is good" he says with a chuckle
"Listen Eden" he says and I look up at him, "I know your protective of your family, and I know that your upset about the wedding and how you've never met me before. But I want you to know that I love your mom so much and I wouldn't do anything to hurt her" Olly tells me
"I know, I see the way you look at each other" i tell him and he smiles
"You better get ready for school" he tells me and i nod
"Oh and Eden?" He asks and I walk a few steps up the stairs
"Don't take shit from nobody" he says and i smile at him
"Yes sir" I say and he laughs as I walk upstairs
•
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I sigh looking in the mirror.
My dark brown hair is rested on my shoulders, I'm in desperate need for a haircut.
It's going to annoy me so much because it just gets in the way.
I grab a hair tie and brush my hair up into a high ponytail and smile.
Much better.
I own one pair is jeans and the rest are like cargo pants because I've got so used to wearing them they are like the comfiest things for me to wear ever.
I grab my bag and head downstairs.
"Hey, do you want to come with me in my car?" Mia asks me throwing me an apple and I catch it
"Yeah why not" i say before taking a bite out of it
"I'm picking a friend up if that's alright?" She asks me and i nod
"Go ahead" I say
"Cool, well let's set off in five minutes" she says before disappearing upstairs and I eat my apple
"You ready to go?" She asks me and i nod
"Have fun at school! Oh you need to be there early the headteacher wants to talk to you" my mom says and I nod
Great.
"Have fun at school Casey" I tell her
"I won't!" She shouts back at me as I walk out of the door and I laugh
"She's so much like you" Mia tells me
"Really?" I ask and she nods
"Your all she would talk about when your gone" she tells me and i smile
"Casey and I are close, always have been. But I bet it was difficult growing up with two brothers" I tell her
"You have no idea" she says as we get into her car
"I'm just glad I have a girl my age in the house" she says and i smile
"I get that, there was only one girl in my section on deployment. The lads are great though" i say and she smiles
"What's it like?" She asks me
"Honestly I love my job so much. The memories I've made, the people I've met. You can never forget it. It's just disappointing that I have to stay here for a year. Not like I don't love my family but it's just the transitioning back to civilian life" I tell her and she nods
"It much be difficult coming back here" she says and i nod
"Yeah, it's so different than what I'm used to" i tell her and she nods
"I bet it's a shock to the system cause your so used to life out there" she says and i nod
"Pretty much" I say as we stop outside of a house
Right on queue a girls rushes out, "don't drive off again!"
We laugh as she drops her bag and Mia curses.
"I love her but god she's a mess" Mia says and I laugh
"We all have those friends" i say
"I know" she says with a laugh
"Daisy" Mia says as she gets in the back, "this is Eden, my step sister"
"Hi I'm Daisy! Are you coming shopping tonight?" She asks me and i nod
"Yeah I am" i say and she smiles moving her ginger hair behind her ears.
She suits her hair colour, like really suits it.
"I like your hair" I tell her and she smiles
"Thanks! Sometimes I'm not too sure about it because well it's ginger but sometimes I like it" she rambles and I chuckle
"It suits you" i say as Mia drives to school
"So how come I've never met you before?" Daisy asks me
"I've been living with my dad in California" I lie and she nods
We talked about it last night and I said we might as well keep it going about living with my dad because people ask a lot of questions and I get impatient because they are the same questions over and over and over and over again.
