Reflection

10

Adam, I learned very quickly, is not one for good sportsmanship. He was grumpier than usual throughout the rest of my training, which I spent "testing my strength," as Elizabeth called it. Basically she wanted me to punch one of the three dangling punching bags.

Nothing happened the first time. I punched it again and again, but it barely moved. "I thought you said I had super strength," I said to Elizabeth, exasperated. She just smiled and responded, "Try again. But this time, believe in yourself."

I rolled my eyes when my back was turned to her, but did as I was told.

I can do this, I thought, over and over again until it was burned into my skull. Then I punched the bag as hard as I could. Nothing happened. "It's not working," I complained, exasperated. She huffed. "Telling yourself something is not believing. Think about it, Scarlett. You can run at the speed of sound. Your a vampire, for goodness sake. All you need to do is accept it."

I realized that she was right. I had been in denial this whole time; had never believed that I was actually inhuman. Despite everything, I had still somehow thought in the back of my mind that this was all a dream, that after this, I would go back to my normal life.

But after what? How long was I going to stay here? How long would it take to get used to my abilities, my weaknesses? If I went home, would I drain my own father of his blood? If I went to school, would I eat my own classmates? What was I supposed to do next?

It slowly came to realization that everyone was watching me. Well, everyone except Adam, who was leaning against the wall, picking at the skin around his nails with apparent disinterest. I turned back to the bag. It seemed smaller now, less intimidating next to everything else that had happened in the past few days.

I took all the emotions that had come flooding in with the expulsion of my denial: anger, loneliness, regret, fear, sadness, and gathered them, focusing them on the bean bag. This punching bag is the reason for all my problems, I told myself. Of course it wasn't true, but it made it much easier when I raised my arm, curled it into a fist, and drove it home with as much force as I could find.

To my great surprise, it flew from it's hook and hit the wall across from us with a dull thud, then flopped back onto the ground. Clouds of dust exploded around it. I stared, shock striking me into silence.

Elizabeth smiled, James laughed at my expression, and Adam stood off to the side with a clenched jaw.

Elizabeth looped her arm through mine and congratulated me. "I—I did that?" I stuttered. She nodded. Untangling my arm from hers, I shook off my surprise, stepped up to the next one and did the same thing. It was much, much easier the second time around. The bag flew off the wall similarly to the last one.

When I had knocked them all down, I was barely even sweating. It got easier and easier with every bag, until I hardly had to think about it. "Do you have anything else to punch?" I asked James, whirling on him. He laughed, but Adam grabbed my arm before he could answer. "No more games. You have to go get your Mark now."

"Why right now?" I questioned. Behind my I heard Elizabeth mutter something that sounded suspiciously like "buzzkill."

"School starts next week," he replied smoothly. "We wouldn't want you to miss it."

I raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

"I told you," he responded, pulling me to the door. "I did my research."