Sun Child |✔|

|53|

I don't want to look back in five years time and think, 

"we could have been magnificent, 

but I was afraid."

In five years I want to tell of how fear tried to cheat me

out of the best thing in life, 

and I didn't let it.

***

"Faster Lexie!"

I puff out my cheeks, desperate to get more air within my lungs.

Jay's cries only make me angry, as a slew of curses flows from my mouth.
"That a girl!"

I glare at the ground as Jay shouts, "Final sprint! You can run faster than that!"

I groan and pump my arms harder, willing myself to believe Jay's impossible words.

Upon passing him I collapse but am quickly pulled back up as Jay scolds me, "No no. You know you'll get cramps if you lay down."

"I already have cramps," I gasp.

Jay smiles and slowly walks me around.

After my nose had been reset and healed, Jay suggested my training to resume.

I found out then, what a few weeks of rest could do to my body.

It felt like I was back to square one.

Jay laughs and shakes his head, "You are not a warrior Lexie."

The comment rubs me the wrong way.

I pull back from Jay and cross my arms, glaring into the ground.

"Do I need to be a warrior?"

Jay stares at me in confusion. 

"Why do I have to train? Is it because..." I hardly want to say the words out loud after everything we've been through but the nagging thought lies in me as I blurt out, "Is it because Atlas doesn't like the way I am?"

Jay's eyes narrow, "How can you say that after everything you two have been through?"

I sigh and hang my head, ashamed.

Daisy's voice though reaches my ears, "I think that's a reasonable question."

She stands on the porch, two bottles of water in her hands and a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Why do you and Atlas make her train so much? You didn't make me train this much when I first arrived at Alba Rosa?"

Jay sighs and takes a water from Daisy, opening the cap and passing it along to me before reaching for his own.

"You knew how to defend yourself. And you knew how to shift. Lexie is defenseless."

Daisy shakes her head and smiles, "Bad things will come whether you want them to or not. You can't stop a tornado- you can only embrace it."

I sputter my water up, "Why would you embrace a tornado?"

Daisy glares at me, "It's just an expression."

"A strange one," I whisper under my breath.

"Well you could learn how to defend yourself against a tornado," Jay argues.

"Really Jay? Defend yourself against a tornado?"

I helplessly hold up my hands, "Uh...Jay, Daisy, It's not that big a deal, we don't-,"