Shorter Than Me

3 Ecyn

I can't find him. He's nowhere. He left me. HE LEFT ME.

What can I do? Where is back? I don't remember which direction is back to headquarters.

I'm lost. I can't get back. This forest has to end somewhere. Right? How many years would it take to get out of here? Maybe I should just build a hut and hunt wild animals.

Smoke signals. I could start a fire and give off smoke signals.

Would he really leave me? Is he allowed to do that? Probably not. Of course he's going to come back. He doesn't hate me that much. I just have to wait. For something.

I'm shaking involuntarily and my stomach is hurting like it's in a knot.

He won't leave me. He'll find me. Eventually.

What do I do until then?

Curl into a ball and cry. Panic. Stay in one place so I don't get any more lost.

Or I could practice. It would distract me.

With another glance around that will probably not be my last, I cross my arms and fit the blades into the handles.

I pull them out and start moving. I don't know what to do at first, but I find a titan and pretend his moves. I kill him. I find more titans and kill them.

I try another flip and succeed in giving myself a heart attack because I forgot to look for a tree to grab onto.

I practice pretty much everything the Captain has taught me so far.

I pause every twenty minutes or so, whenever I get too tired to continue.

I try to do some of the moves without using the gas but they're harder to do.

"It's time to go back." I turn around quickly at the sound of the Captain's voice. He's standing there on a branch like he owns the forest, like he's been there the whole time.

I glance up to the sky. "But it's not even past midday, sir."

"It's time to go back," he just repeats.

"Yes, sir."

"Can you whistle?'

His question surprises me. "Yes, sir."

"Whistle for the horses."

I do. They come from different directions with about thirty seconds between their arrivals. We drop onto them and he hands me my lunch. We eat as we ride back.

I feel even more relieved when I finally see the Scouting Legion's headquarters.

We put the horses in their stalls and walk back outside.

"Do you want to clean the stables, the girls' dormitory, or the building with the maneuver gear?"

Oh, great. I get to clean. I don't mind cleaning, but I've heard Captain Levi is really strict. I might be cleaning until tomorrow.

I know I don't want to clean the stables, so that's an obvious no. I don't want to clean the girls' dormitory either.

"Maneuver gear, sir."

"Alright. There are cleaning supplies inside. I'll be back in an hour to tell you what to fix." He starts to walk away.

"Sir," I say. He turns back to me. "How thorough do you want me to be?"

"Very." He continues walking.

I sigh and walk to the building. I locate a broom off to the side and decide to start with that.

I open the windows to let air get in so I won't suffocate on any dust and start at the corner furthest from the door. I sweep a lot of invisible dust out and look where I found the broom. There are other cleaning supplies and I start cleaning.

***

"Are you done?" Captain Levi asks. He stands in the doorway.

"Almost. Maybe. I don't know, sir. Am I?"

He walks inside and looks around. "These are dirty." He points to a stack of gas cylinders. He points out a few other things I could swear were spotless. Then he leaves and I look at what he pointed out. I see some tiny specs of dirt or dust. He really is super strict. I finish cleaning whatever he pointed out. Then I inspect them. I double-check, triple-check, and quadruple-check for any kind of dirt anywhere.

When he comes back, I'm confident he won't find anything dirty, but he does. He had to move a whole bunch of the scabbards to do it, but he found something. I clean it up quickly and he looks around one more time. Once he deems it clean, I am allowed to do what I want.

It exhausted me, so I go to my bed to sleep.