The Insurgence: Bleeding Silver

The Food Chain

Well- I woke up alive! That's something.

My head was already throbbing early this morning, the detailed contents of yesterday's rollercoaster of events were slowly coming back to me. I felt physically sick and nauseous- probably from yesterday's chaos. But I still woke up determined. I'm starting training today.

I'm beyond nervous for whatever Mavis has planned for me today but more than that I was excited. I've watched plenty of action movies in my alone time and I could picture the dramatic sequences already- I'm going to be a hero.

Except for the fact that the base is compromised- who knows what's going to happen with that. Whether the base is being threatened or just me... or both... Whoever it is won't expect me to fight back.

If I can just get past the clothes I'm wearing and force myself out the door that is.

Mavis loaned me a pair of leggings and a shirt that left little to no room to breathe. I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, turning to see angles of my body, worried about every inch and corner.

Jack definitely didn't mean what he said the other day. There's no way he could feel that way about me when there's people like Jasmine strutting around.

And now I'm sad. Perfect.

Mavis strolled into the bathroom, holding the door open for me. "You're taking way too long, mija."

"Sorry." I tore my eyes away from the mirror and faced her. She wore the same leggings and a black sports bra, her pink hair in a small ponytail with spiky tendrils standing right up. I didn't know how she felt comfortable walking around the way she does in such little clothing.

"Mavis... Do you think the training will make me..." I gulped, "I don't know..."

She furrowed her brows, "Smaller?" She scoffed and grabbed my hand, "Miss Ayla, when Jack told me you broke down over a tank top I thought something else had you flustered. Get yourself together girl! The world still spins and it always will no matter what you look like."

I nodded, "Right. Bigger problems to deal with."

"Sometimes it's the smaller problems that are harder to fix," She put her hands on my cheeks, offering me a wide smile. "You are beautiful, inside and outside."

I took a deep breath and offered a smile back. "I'm not pretty in the way Jasmine is though," I whispered.

She rolled her eyes, "Jasmine is beautiful, doesn't mean you aren't. There are people who might find you both hot, or neither of you, or one or the other. I'm telling you right now, it's only your own opinion of yourself that matters."

I felt my heartbeat quicken in pace and I nodded. "I guess you're right."

That was a conversation a mother and daughter should have.

She shoved me out the bathroom and followed me out of the hallway, wrapping her arm around my own.

"Besides," she snickered. "Let's be real, it's Jack's opinion that you're concerned about."

A warmth slowly spread through my cheeks and rippled down my neck. I launched my elbow into her ribs as she cackled and sped her way down the hallway.

~

Mavis opened a pair of heavy wooden doors to a room I had never seen before. The walls were a shade of pale gray, a full mirror lining the back wall. The middle of the floor was elevated and covered in a stained and scuffed white mat while the floors were a black cushioned mat. Equipment and machines surrounded the rest of the room.