Cursed

11

"Eady," I sigh as I sit next to her. She throws her arms around me and I push her away, "What happened?"

"I woke up and you weren't here. Neither was Marie and I was so scared." She whimpers.

I shake my head and whisper, "Eady, I had training today, I didn't have enough training to leave Marie here with you. I'm sorry."

She pouts and tries to fight against my grip while shouting, "No! You have to leave her with me or I won't stay! Or you stay! I don't want to be here alone!"

"Eadlyn Grace Blackwell! No! You do not try to use your hands, we don't hit each other. And you don't yell at me!" I realize I just yelled at her and she cowers away from me.

I pull her into me and rub her head, "I'm sorry baby. I'm sorry. We don't yell, neither of us. We don't like it when we're yelled at, so we won't do it to each other. Yeah? I'm sorry I left, but you're a big girl now. You're 9 now, you have to start acting 9. Big girls don't throw fits when they don't get their way. If you want to be a big girl too, you have to act like a big girl. Maybe it's my fault for coddling you for so long. But you can't always be around me baby. You have to learn how to be by yourself."

She nods against my chest but says, "I wish I was a baby again so I could be with you all the time. I want things to be like they used to."

I pull her away from me as anger flashes through me. I'm sick of her saying that, "Yeah? You want to go home? That's what you want? You want to go back and live with Dad? Is that what you want? This is our life now Eady! Accept it!" I raised my voice again and Eadlyn had fresh tears on her face and I'm pretty sure I did too. Why couldn't she understand this?

I bring my voice back to a normal volume and plead with her, "This is what we wanted. We wanted to get away and now we have. We got away! It's just you and me! This is what we've been saving for Eadlyn!"

"I want to go h-" she starts.

I pull away from her further and slam my hand on the floor, "Don't you say that one more time!" I stand up, "You want to go home? Go! You step inside that house and he'll kill you! Is that what you want? You want to go home so bad, go ahead! Sorry I tired to hard to get you out! I can't deal with you anymore right now." I turn towards the door to see a slightly shocked Zack in the doorframe.

Shit. How long has he been there. From the expression on his face, I'm guessing almost the entire time. I wipe my face quickly and walk toward him.

"We're starting training again," he says softly. I nod and push past him. I hear his footsteps follow behind me. I whip around, "What?"

He staggers back a little. I don't think he's ever been yelled at, "Nothing. We're going to the same place."

I take a breath and say softly, "Right. Sorry."

I keep walking and when we're in the hallway we he stops me, "Are you alright?"

I nod, "Yeah I'm fine."

"That looked pretty intense back there."

"You shouldn't eavesdrop." I say looking away.

"Sorry." He says and keeps walking. I follow him back into the training room. Everyone's lined up around the fighting ring.

Zack says, "Ray and Nelson, you'll be first. You fight until one of you gives up. Got it?"

We all nod. Their fight is intense but short. They're done when Nelson, a nerdy looking boy, gives up quickly. He had only taken a few hits. I'm next, against a mean looking girl named Molly.

She throws the first hit but I quickly dart away from it and swing my leg around, knocking her down from the back. She looks angry that I got the first kick in, and tries to punch me. I catch her arm with one hand and use me foot to kick her hard in the stomach. She stumbles back and slaps me on the arm. I feel a slight sting but it was a weak hit. I grab her arm and hold it behind her head, pushing her into the ground. She grunts in pain.

She tries pulls her other arms over and flings me over her onto my back. I get back up before she can make her hit. She may be experienced, but I'm fast. I've learned to be fast with my dad.

I punch her hard and she squeals, "I give in! I give in!"

I let her go and look at Zack and Ryder. They look impressed. It makes me smile.