The Elements of Rage | ✔

• F I F T E E N •

"After Tuesday, the calendar goes W T F."

• • •

"Oh, my goodness," I mutter. "First she's all badass and beating a guy half to death, now, five seconds later, she's fluttering her eyelashes, blushing, and cooing at some guy! What?! She beat up some guy and is now all, 'Oh, no! Don't hurt him! I hate violence! I'm some innocent damsel in distress that can't handle your fighting!'"

My eyes are glued to the awful book. It's one of those books that are terrible but you can't help but continue read it merely because you want to see what is going to happen. Where the book is going. I suppose it is like a car wreck that you can't help but inspect and see if there are any bodies at. Or a train wreck that you can't tear your eyes from.

"What?!" I exclaim.

I read the words on the page: "As a child, I was obviously bullied because this book wouldn't be cliche without the childhood bullying. Because of the bullying, I decided to take martial arts so I could beat up my bullies next time I saw them.

"Hey, Princess/Bunny/Baby/Honey/Cupcake/Every other stupid name the idiot boy comes up with, I just finished up with the school slut. Wanna get into my pants?" The bad boy asked, his voice husky.

I blushed at his proximity even though he's five feet away, it's still close enough to make a nun like me blush.

But then my bullies came up and started pounding on me. The bad boy merely looked at me. This gave me the energy and determination to start beating the shit out of my bullies even though I've only had a week of training. What can I say? I'm a natural or something else that's cliche like that."

Okay, it didn't say exactly that, but you get the gist.

Awful. Pure awful.

I shake my head and turn the page.

Eventually, I toss the book to the side and head to the gym for some training. I mean, dishing out revenge to Amadeus was fun and a good way to get out anger, but it isn't the same as training. I quickly change into my Raven getup and sneak out of my own house. If people are watching, I don't want them to connect the dots between me and Raven.

I stretch and jog to the gym and immediately get started lifting weights. I add more weight once I've done a few sets and spend the next couple of hours in an intense workout session.

I hate working out.

Seriously, I only work out because I know I need to. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to fight in the ring and then where would I be? Besides, I need to be able to protect myself. For a long time, I have been alone. Just me, myself, and I. I need to be able to take care of myself.

"Will you be fighting tonight?" Flynn asks me eagerly as I am dying on the treadmill.

"No," I reply shortly. "Not tonight."

I focus on my running and ignore Flynn. Eventually, he gives up and leaves. I wasn't the nicest about it, but I need some time off. Some time away from fighting. I feel like a monster and I don't need crowds of people cheering for me as I beat up somebody. That would just make everything worse.

I slow down on the treadmill until I am at a jog. I maintain it for about ten minutes before slowing even further to a walk. Grabbing, my water bottle, I drink greedily as I finally step off the treadmill. Setting it down, I stretch so I don't stiffen up.

Finally, I sit down on one of the wooden benches and drink the rest of my water bottle.

Once I am finished with my water, I head to the bathroom to make sure my makeup isn't smeared with sweat. Normally, I wouldn't wear makeup at all and absolutely never to the gym, but the makeup is part of the disguise. Think what you want of makeup, but it really does change the way someone looks. And that is exactly what I need.