Endless nightmare

'Looking into the sunset, gave me peace, something that I had not felt in a very long time. The air kissing my cheek tenderly and wind whispering their secrets in my ears brought me to life once more. The softness of the sand on the bottom of my feet made me lightly tremble. Sounds of the raging waves made each of my hairs on my body stand up as uneasiness slowly crawled back up. As stars started to appear the coldness of the air arrived, unexpectedly hitting my bare skin without warning sending shivers down my arms and legs.

Walking towards the raging water, thoughts about times where I was once truly happy rushed back into my empty mind. Tears crept down staining my fair cheeks leaving the good memories behind with them. They would not stop falling as I stood in the freezing cold water. My breathing getting quieter to the point were I could only hear the furious waves and the screeching air around me.

Glancing out into the sea, I notice a small white boat being cradled across the enraged sea, as if it was something so precious. I've never felt like I was precious to anyone for a very long time, no one cared enough about me. I mean who would! After all I'm not smart. I'm not pretty or beautiful. I'm just a useless piece of shit. All my life I've been just used by people for their own benefits and because of that I don't know what love is or what family means. I don't know how to love. I don't know what love feels like!

Pain. Well you could say that's all I've felt since my mother's death, emotionally and physically. Pain is what I grew up with. Pain is all I know. Everything fell apart that day, the day my mother was murdered. My world came crashing down when father told me the news. I felt like my heart was being ripped out, I felt I couldn't breath properly. It felt like all my oxygen was being sucked out of my body. Tears never appeared on her funeral day as numbness had filled me.

Now here I stand, barefoot in the cooling water tasting freedom for the very first and last time. Sudden pain shoots through my arm as blood drips from my wrists. The oceans surface slowly began to be tainted by my blood making the colour turn from pearl blue into a dark violet almost like if the water was bleeding itself. As blood comes gashing out, my body finally gives up and comes crashing down into the water.'

XXX

Amber jolts awake. The blood pounds in her ears. Her heart thudded in her chest. Her hands shook. Her feet tingled. Her vision distorted as if she were looking through a fish-eye lens. It took a good couple of minutes for her to get a grip of herself. She tries to steady her breath by counting up to 5 before falling back onto her pillow. Waking up for her was no longer a pleasure. There's a fleeting moment when she feels whole again but it evaporates faster than summer rain off the burnt earth.

Giving out a sigh, Amber gets up and heads for the bathroom. She stares at her reflection with a black expression, thousands of thoughts rush through her mind. Amber shakes her head and runs her hands through the purple streaks in her hair before washing her face. Once she was done, Amber walks out to get dressed. As she's selecting her clothes, she hears shuffling of feet near her.

"Morning" Amber turns her head towards the groggy voice, There stands Talia, half asleep still with messy hair.

"Morning" Talia walks to the bathroom, while Amber changes into her clothes; She puts on a black off the shoulder crop top, which exposes the tattoo of a phoenix on her right shoulder. Along with the top she puts on black jeans and heel boots. Amber then ties up her hair into a ponytail before double-checking in front of the mirror. Talia comes out dressed in a flower-patterned playsuit. Amber noticed she had put on some golden brown eye shadow with eyeliner and a light shade of red lipstick on, drawing her eyes out more than usual.

Both girls headed out of their room. They walked in silence until Talia decided to break it.

"So Amber tell me about yourself"

"Um there's nothing really to say about myself"

"Oh come on there must be"

Amber sighs, "Nope. There isn't,"

Talia starts to get the hint that maybe Amber was someone who wasn't very talkative. They carried on walking in silence towards the sports hall. Once they arrived they are met with the Zack, Leon and Professor Cronin waiting for the girls patiently.

"Alright so today your first, I'm going to pair you up. Amber and Leon, Talia with Zack. Now as your all starting as a fighter, today's lesson will be about looking at each other strengths strength through physical combat. You will pick your weapon of choice from the weapon shelf and for the first half, you will fight with your partner. The second half in today's lesson you will fight along with your partner against the other team."

Amber heads to the weapon shelf and stares at them. There were swords in different sizes, bow and arrows, crossbows, whips, and spears, there were even Bōjutsu (wooden staffs) that were usually used in a martial arts class. Amber looks towards her partner Leon and with a nod, they both pick up a Bōjutsu each due to not knowing each other strengths. They stand opposite each other and get in position waiting for professor Cronin to give the next instruction.

"We'll start with Leon and Amber, now let's start!"

The air around Amber shifts, taking everyone in surprise. There's no longer the quiet girl but a girl with determination.

Leon lunges forward, quickly sprinting towards Amber and coming closer, then jabbing out his Bōjutsu in an attempt to stab her, but reflex kicks in and Amber ducks forward, trying to sever his legs. Leon noticed this at the last second and only got away with a small, bruise. He sprints at her again, but this time She just raises her Bōjutsu and the two wooden staff clanged together, creating a rumbling echo through the sports hall. The weight of Amber's Bōjutsu was dragging him down, but he soon recovered and pushed back hard. Leon was very strong, he jumped back and dashed forward with his staff straight out in front of Amber. She attempted to stab his arm, but he tucked his shoulders and impaled Amber's stomach. "Shit!" she snarled, jumping back to recover. As they both catch their breath, Amber adjusts her grip on the staff before moving swiftly forward attacking Leon, Surprising him. A groan comes out of Leon as he stumbles back trying to stable himself. Amber attacks again from behind, letting her Bōjutsu hit Leon's back hard enough for him to fall flat on his face.

"I yield" Leon shouts, turning around and laying on his back while catching his breath. Amber walks towards him and extends her arm out and Leon takes it.

"Damn who would have thought a girl could fight like that" someone scoffs. Amber swirls her head around towards where the husky voice came from. Sitting on the edge of the stage is a boy with crossed arms and a smirk on his face. Amber Stares at him with a blank face, however not missing the mischievous glint in his eyes. Neither Amber or the boy take their eyes off, from the outside it was clear they were having a stare off. The Air around them was kinder suffocating however no one in the room dared to interrupt. The boy clears his throat before getting up and walks towards her.