Chapter 16 - Training

Geez, what am I going to do for the next week and a half?

Mikayla found herself wandering around the house aimlessly, looking for something to grab her attention and pull her out of her pit of boredom.  She got tired of drawing and she did all the schoolwork she could, and it was only noon.

With nothing to do, she turned on the television and scrolled through the stations aimlessly.  Man, the Wrights had a lot of channels.  What in the world could be shown on so many channels?  She paused on a few, but everything seemed stupid.  There was dramatic background music playing, and stupid women chasing after brooding men.  She switched to a children’s station, but didn’t stick around for long on that one because it made her want to smash her head into the screen.  There were sports playing with annoying broadcasters, infomercials selling useless garbage that only morons would buy, more stupid dramas, news programs, weather reports, yet more stupid dramas.  She turned it off after half an hour of scrolling through the channels and finding nothing interesting in the slightest.

I wonder if anyone has any decent books to read in this house?

There was a small bookshelf in the kids’ room, but nothing looked interesting to her there.  Likewise, Anna-Marie and James had a bookshelf in their room, but she didn’t want to go in there.  She didn’t feel welcome in there, and respecting other peoples’ privacy was something she valued, not only for herself.

Still, she needed something to occupy her mind.

She held her breath as she crept inside and peered at the titles on the spines.  There were lots of romances, Christian books, and some mystery and suspense thrillers.  These must be James’, she thought as she looked over the thrillers.  She pulled one off the shelf and read the summary on the back.  It sounded a little interesting.

She took the book to her room and sat down to read.

Soon it was time to pick Aiden up.  She called James beforehand, like he requested, and she left the house.

Glad to be out of the house and on the road again, with the wind in her hair, she rode her motorcycle down the block to the school.  The sky was clear again, but there was more sand everywhere than there had been yesterday.  The sandstorm must have blew in while she was napping yesterday and she was too exhausted to have noticed.

She pulled up in front of the school and waited for Aiden.  The same guy that harassed her last time was about to approach her and tell her to move, but she gave him the middle finger and he slunk back.  He recognized her, she could tell, but she still wouldn’t move from the no-parking zone.

When Aiden came out, he looked relieved to see her waiting for him like she said she would be.  His bullies looked discouraged too, like their favourite sporting event was cancelled because of rain.

Aiden climbed on and hugged her waist.

“Hey,” she called back as she revved the engine. “Not so tight.”

“Sorry,” he said as she slowly turned the bike around.  “I had a rough day.”

She pulled out onto the road and before she knew it, they were home again.

More like prison, she thought with a heavy sigh.  Instead of sharing her unhappiness at returning back to the Wrights’ house just to be locked up again, she turned her attention to Aiden as she pushed her motorcycle into the garage.

“So what happened at school today?”

Aiden frowned and looked down at his feet as she parked her motorcycle and looked over it briefly for any sign of weakness in the frame or structure.

“They were teasing me again.  Calling me a bible-thumper, Jesus freak, Christ crusader…” he trailed off.  “It sucks being a Christian.  Mom and Dad had it so much easier when they were kids.”

Mikayla stepped up to him and waited for him to step aside so she could step into the house.  He didn’t move.  She sighed.  “What makes you think they had it any easier than you?”

“They always tell me to just ignore the bullies.  Maybe it worked for them when they were kids, but it doesn’t work on kids anymore.”

“Do I need to toughen you up?” Mikayla said with her arms crossed.

Aiden didn’t answer, but instead wrung his hands together, thus earning him an eye-roll from Mikayla.

“Alright, come here kid,” she said, taking a step back into the open space of the garage.

“What?” Aiden looked confused, and fear super-glued his feet to the cement floor.

“Come here, I’ll teach you how to defend yourself.”

“Mom and Dad said fighting was bad!”

“I’m not telling you to fight others, I’m tell you to defend yourself,” she said.

“The Bible teaches us to never use violence,” he argued, finally ungluing his feet and taking a step back from her.

She rolled her eyes at him.  “And what did Jesus do to the money changers in the temple?”

Aiden hesitated, afraid to answer even though he knew the answer.  “He threw them out.”

“Exactly.  Think about it.  Do you honestly think they would have moved if he just used his words?”

Aiden was silent as he mentally chewed on her words. 

“No,” she continued, “They would have laughed in his face and demanded to know what right he had in telling them to leave.  Instead, he used violence to drive them out.”

Aiden was still quiet.

To illustrate her point, she threw her hands up in the air.  “It even says somewhere in there that he used a whip!  There would have been a huge commotion with innocent people running around for cover, animals to be sold as sacrifices being restrained from their owners and some running loose, tables upturned and coins flying in the air and rolling around the floors.  People would have gotten pushed and shoved—trampled on even.  It would have been utter chaos!”

She relaxed her stance as he continued to stare at her.

“It wouldn’t have been a place you’d want to be when it happened.  But when you think about how he would have driven them out, you can get pretty creative with your imagination, and things could have gotten very dangerous even,” she said.

He looked away, chewing on his bottom lip.

“So which will it be, huh?” She opened one hand, her palm up.  “Allow people to desecrate your temple?  Or,” she opened up her other hand next to the first, “You stop them?”

He looked nervous, but he nodded his head, set his jaw, and took her second hand.  “I stop them.  But how?”

“First,” she said, giving his hand a shake to seal the deal before pulling away, “You have to train your mind and body.  If your mind isn’t ready, you can’t mentally and emotionally handle it.  And if your body is weak, well, then you won’t be effective and just get beaten up anyway.”

“Okay.”

“So, since I’m grounded,” she grumbled, “I’m going to call your dad and let him know that we’re home.  While I’m doing that, I want you to run around the house five times.”

“What?  No way!”

“Do it, or I’m not helping you,” she growled.

He grimaced, but nodded and went to the back door while Mikayla went into the house to call James.

As soon as she started speaking to James on the cordless phone, the doorbell rang.

“Was that the front door?” James asked.

She could hear the puzzlement in his voiced.  It matched her own thoughts twisting the fibres of her mind.  She went to the door and peered out through the window at the side.  A groan escaped her lips.

“Who’s there?” he asked.

She pulled open the door, the phone still pressed to her ear as she stared back into those russet brown eyes that followed her around school.

She narrowed her eyes at him, particularly the large envelope he carried under one arm.  She noticed the car parked on the curb in front of the house with a guy sitting in the driver’s seat.  She recognized him, but couldn’t remember his name, if she had ever heard it before anyway.  “Hey,” she said to Isaac, and then to James she added, “It’s a guy from school.”

“Someone had to bring you your homework,” he said tartly.

“Well thank you ever so much for graciously bringing it over.  How can I ever repay you,” she jeered.

“Mikay, that is no way to talk to your classmate.  Now apologize to him.”

Isaac was glaring at her as she gritted her teeth.  Before she could say anything, he said, “You’re welcome princess.  Shall I shine your tiara for you too?”

She scowled.  “Later Jay,” she said before she pulled the phone away from her face and hung up. 

Just then, Aiden ran by, and stopped to stare at the stranger at the front door.  “What’s going on?”

Isaac looked at the tween, trying to figure out where he had come from and what he had to do with anything.

“Keep running, Aiden!” Mikayla barked, sending him a warning look.

Aiden pursed his lips, but was hesitant to leave in case the boy at the door was a threat.

Isaac turned back to her with a look of incredulity.  “What the fuck?  Are you bullying kids around here too?”

Mikayla rolled her eyes.  So predictable.

“She’s not bullying me,” Aiden declared, taking a brave step toward Isaac.  “She’s going to teach me to defend myself from bullies.”

“Aiden, I said keep running!” she yelled.  “This doesn’t concern you!”

Aiden looked from Mikayla to Isaac, and hesitated momentarily before picking up his feet and beginning to run again.

Mikayla was glaring as she watched him disappear around the corner of the house, but didn’t know what to make of the confused, pensive expression on Isaac’s face.  His eyes were still scrutinizing her as if he wasn’t sure whether he should take her seriously or not.

“You’re going to teach him to defend himself?”

“Yeah, so what if I am?” she demanded, lifting her chin slightly.

As if unsure of what to make of her words, he yielded no response and instead held out the envelope.  “I’ll come back on Friday with the rest of the week’s homework.”

She snatched the envelope from him without a word.  Aiden came around again and looked at her.  She just nodded her head to signal him to keep running.  When he disappeared around the house again, she said, “Fine.  I’ll see you Friday then.”

She turned and went back into the house, slamming the door in Isaac’s face, and leaving him alone on the front step.