MOTHER'S PRIDE

“Crystal!” I heard Hazel whine. 

“Whaat?” I moaned in irritation refusing to open my eyes.

”Your alarm!”

“Huh?”

“Your alarm is ruining my beauty sleep!” Hazel screamed.

 I shot up from my make shift bed on the floor of Hazel’s way too yellow room.

Of course, my alarm!

Because apparently now, I had to be at school four whole hours before everyone else. 

Life sucks.

”Sorry, Haze.” I mumbled as I scrambled off the yellow couch in her room. It was small but even if I wasn’t the tallest human, I still had to fold my legs. And not to mention it wasn’t the most comfortable place to spend your night.

 I could have shared Hazel’s bed but I wasn’t about to get bitten or clawed in the middle of the night by an adolescent wolf.

”You know you could just tell mummy what Kat did.” Hazel spoke with a yawn. A yellow bonnet covered her head.

The theme of her room(and life) was quite literally, sunshine, much like her personality really.

“And make Kat madder than she already is? No thank you.” I responded as I folded up the blanket I had been using and carefully placed it back into Hazel’s closet.

”Not everything is about Kat, you know.” Hazel spoke with a roll of her eyes.

”You’re too young to understand, Hazel but promise me, not a word to your mum and dad.”

She huffed. “Fine. My lips are sealed.”

I smiled and placed a quick kiss on her cheek before rushing out of her room. I made my way back to Kat’s and my room.

Sneaking in was easy, Kat could sleep through a tornado so waking her up wasn’t something I was worried about as I rushed to take a shower in our bathroom. 

When I got out, all I had to do was get dressed. I had already pressed my uniform the night before so all I had to do was put it on.

According to the handbook, the appropriate attire for whatever training session was in store for us would be provided so I didn’t have to worry about that.

 I heard Kat let out a mighty snore as she turned over in bed.

 I wondered if I would have woken up early with her to get ready if she had been in my position. I probably would have because I know she would have been too excited to function. 

Kat gets like that. After she handed in her application, she spent the entire night going over the what ifs and the things she might have missed. As irritated as I was to have my sleep disturbed, I stayed up with her and listened to her rant because I knew how much it meant to her.

If I could somehow switch places with her, I would do it in a heartbeat.

I took my backpack and left the room. Better get going. Wouldn’t want to make the grumpy twin mad on the first day.

The worst part about all this was having to go through it alone. I bet if Roman was here, he’d already be outside the house with that stupid grin on his face. He would tease me about how something this absurd could only happen to me of all people then he would formulate a game plan with me.

Roman had been more or less my ‘halfling’ coach around here so everything I knew about surviving as a halfling had come from him.

Just as I was about to sneak out through the kitchen door, I heard someone clear their throat.

 I turned and almost jumped out of my skin at the sight of a woman in a silk robe standing in the dark behind the island.

 I placed my hand on my chest. “Aunt Sarah! What are you doing?”

Aunt Sarah rushed to me with a huge smile on her face. “Sorry for scaring you sweetie. But I knew this would be a huge day for you and I couldn’t let you just leave.”

I gave her a smile.

Among everyone in the house, she had been the most supportive about all this. Last night, she even prepared this special celebratory supper for us with all my favourite foods.

It was awkward to say the least, Kat didn’t want to join us but hell will freeze over before Aunt Sarah lets one of her children miss one of her meals. That or you have to be really sick.

Conversation was kept at a minimum, no one could really say anything without offending Kat so Parker just kept us entertained the whole time as he recounted his day which involved a lot of stories about how cut throat the playground had become in kindergarten.

The kid made his life sound like a gangster movie.

”Thank you, Aunt Sarah.” I told her.

She gave me a soft smile.

”How are you feeling?”

“Nervous.” I replied instantly. “Afraid.”

”And what do we say when we’re afraid in this house?” Aunt Sarah asked and I felt like I was the same age as Parker with the tone she had used.

“God didn’t give us the spirit of fear but of power, love and self control.” I repeated one of the mantras she had been instilling in her children since they could talk.

”Exactly.” She beamed. “Don’t be afraid, baby. You’re as capable as any of those other candidates.”

”Thank you, Aunt S.” I spoke before wrapping my arms around her in a hug.

I guess it was unfair to claim that I had no one rooting for me.

”Oh, and here you go.” She reached over to the counter and handed me a khaki bag. “I made hash browns. There’s no way you’re going to kick butt on an empty stomach.

I laughed. “Of course not. Thank you again, Aunt Sarah.”

”Don’t mention it, sweetie.” She rubbed my hand gently.

I turned to leave, I’d like to say that with Aunt Sarah’s reassuring words and her hash browns, I had a renewed vigour and what not but the truth is, I was still scared.

“And Crystal?” She called before I walked out the door.

”Your mother would be proud.”

I fingered my necklace but said nothing. There was nothing to say after all.