Chapter 50

It had been two hours since Marie and May's unexpected encounter with Mingxia, and night had once again cast its shadow over the small community of Kingsberg, GA. This particular night happened to be the final one for the Kanker family in Georgia, as they planned to leave for their next destination in the morning.

The three Kanker sisters and Lindsay had currently taken up post in the den of the Williams residence, having showered and changed into their pajamas a few minutes prior. After laying their personal sleeping bag on the floor of square shaped room, the girls decided to heat up a few helpings of left over Chinese food, eating their small snack as they went about their own individual activities.

Lee had taken a relaxed position on her sleeping bag, laying backwards with her legs crossed. She held her arms in a vertical position, cradling her smart phone which she had been using to text Eddy for the last ten minutes. Adjacent to her sat Lindsay, who had decided to spend her time repainting all twenty of her nails in a meticulous fashion.

In contrast to the relaxed demeanor of their sister and friend, Marie and May were in the midst of a competitive battle. Rodeeia's sons had graciously allowed them to borrow one of their old video game consoles, a famous 3D cartridge era system. The girls had decided to plug in a wrestling game titled WCW/nWO revenge, and were engaged in a heated 40 man, ring out battle royal. The two girls mashed the buttons on the controllers at a rapid pace, nudging each other occasionally as they argued over the state of the on screen fight.

Although the girls each took part in their own individual activities, they had decided to mutually participate in a fun-filled conversation; specifically, a rather interesting variant of the game "never-had-I-ever"; a game in which someone provides a situation, and the remainder have to indicate if they had ever been in said situation.

The girls had just finished up a small giggle after answering a proposed situation from Lindsay, prompting Marie to continue the game.

"Alright May," said Marie, keeping her eyes on the video game as she did so, "Your turn!"

"Hmm," said May, sticking her tongue out slightly as she too concentrated on the television, "How about this one...never have I never said a bad word in front of Mommy or Daddy."

Each girl rolled their eyes.

"Awww come on May," said Marie, "That's stupid, you gotta come up with some thin' better than that Ms. Innocent."

"Alright" asked May, "Since you want to play that way, how about this...never have I ever... been caught with my boyfriend...in that way."

May giggled slightly as she gazed towards Marie with a smirking expression. Marie simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine, whatever," said Marie as she raised her hand, "I ain't ashamed to admit it. It's not like anything crazy was happening anyway, just the typical make out session in the janitors closet."

"Some make out session," said Lee, "You had your hand down Double Dee's pants so deep I thought it was gonna disappear. You're lucky it was me and Eddy that opened the door and not the janitor, poor Double Dee's head would have exploded...and not the one you were working on."

Lee giggled at her sisters expense, at which point Marie decided to retort, adopting a slight smirk as she did so.

"Look who's talking," said Marie, "I seem to remember a certain night a few weeks after Christmas. Mom and Dad weren't home, I was at Double Dee's and May was at adds, and you had Eddy over for ballet practice..."

"Oh geez, you had to go there," said Lee.

"LeeLee you bad girl," said Lindsay, "You never told me this story."

"Me neither," said May with an amorous smile, "Tell us the rest Marie! It's not often we hear about Lee being embarrassed."

Lee rolled her eyes, lifting herself to a seated position as she did so

"Geez, if ya's want to hear about it so bad I'll tell ya's myself," said Lee, pointing to Marie as she did so, "Nimrod over here apparently wanted to borrow some stupid cat movie, and came back to the house to look for it. Long story short, she barged into my room and caught Eddy playing lickety split, if ya catch my drift."

"O.M.G," said Lindsay as she blushed.

"Oh no!" said May, "Daddy says there's no food allowed in the bedrooms, especially ice cream! I hope they didn't make a mess when you startled them!"

The remaining three girls stared at the absentminded and innocent May with blank expressions. After a few moments, Marie and Lee burst into laughter, falling over and grabbing their stomachs as they did so. Lindsay placed her hand over her mouth, attempting to hold in a giggle in a lady-like manner.

"I don't get it?" asked May, "What's so funny?"

After a few moments, the girls managed to regain control of themselves. Marie, almost in tears from laughing so hard, decided to reply.

"We'll tell ya later May," said Marie, "We wouldn't wouldn't want to corrupt your innocent little mind with things you wouldn't understand!"

The girls continued laughing for a few moments, prompting May to adopt a slight scowl.

"Stop it!" said May, "I can so understand things like that, I just need time to think about it."

"Yeah, sure," said Marie, "Just like you can't remember how you got that weird pole thingy you had over your shoulder after we fell asleep in the woods."

Marie giggled, prompting another retort from May.

"Who cares?" said May, "I was probably sleepwalking, like I always do when I fall asleep without eating first."

May reached inside her sleeping bag, and proceeded to remove the long gray sheave containing the staff that had been given to her earlier that night; an event that, along with those immediately proceeded by it, seemed to be lost in time due to some form of induced amnesia. She excitedly opened the top of the sheath, and removed the long weapon, briefly admiring it's black polished, wooden surface, and the ornate silver Chinese style dragon statue adorning the end, engraved with two distinct Chinese characters: 明 (Ming) 霞 (Sha).

After briefly examining the item, May stood up, turning towards her sisters while grasping the staff with both hands.

"I think it's so cool!" said May, "Ed loves old stuff from medieval times and ancient China too. Imagine the look on his face when I bring this home to him!"

May remained still, smiling as she imagined her beloved Ed's reaction to her brand new accessory. However, her feelings of bliss were quickly interrupted by Lee, who suddenly yanked the staff from her hands.

"Hey, how rude!" yelled May, "You didn't have to take it like that, I would have let you see it if you asked me you know!"

Lee remained silent as she took hold of the staff, carefully examining the silver adornments with a combined expression of curiosity and stress. Wasting no time, Lindsay rose from her seated position, appearing quite nervous as she approached Lee's position, examining the staff in a manner similar to Lee.

"Wow," said May, "I had no idea you guys would like it so much! Too bad, finders keepers losers weepers."

"May...", said Lee in a concerned manner, turning her eyes towards her little sister as she did so, "Where did you get this?"

"I told you before, I don't remember," said May as she snatched the staff back from Lee, "Though come to think of it, it was part of the crazy dream I was trying to tell you guys about back in the woods but..."

May could not complete her sentence, for she was suddenly interrupted as Tabby opened the door leading to the den, clutching a small electronic tablet in her right hand.

"Girls," said Tabby, "Daddy and Chuckie Stat are on the phone, come on out and say hi!"

At the conclusion of Tabby's announcement, all of the attention surrounding the staff seemed to disappear; Lee, Marie and Lindsay immediately obliged, following Tabby's lead out into the living room.

Prior to following her sisters lead, May kneeled downward in an attempt to re-sheath the staff; however, upon doing so, she took notice of something she had previously missed. A few words had been inscribed on the cloth of the sheath. They were silver in color, and written in small, neat, cursive letters; a mark of great penmanship.

Annamae,

This should certainly jog your memory of our first meeting.

You have done well as a fighter, and are no doubt perfect to suit the cause. But now is the time for a different sort of test. Please allow this staff to guide you towards your destiny, just as it did for me. I cannot tell you how or when to use it, as that is up to your judgement and fate to decide.

This staff means a lot to me, and I place my trust in you to take care of it. I am also counting on you to put your trust and faith in me. Remember the little things we talked about, and use them in good judgement.

Let's keep this out little secret, for now.

Good luck,

明 (Ming) 霞 (Sha)

May stared at the words for a few moments, pondering over them with an expression of curiosity. Suddenly, as if a light switch had turned on, May suddenly recalled her encounter with Mingxia in the forest, similar in manner to a person recalling a forgotten dream upon exposure to certain stimuli. Several quick flashbacks ran through her head, including Mingxia knocking Marie out, Mingxia explaining that the staff belonged to her grandfather, and Mingxia escaping the bear trap and performing the butterfly kick.

"It wasn't a dream..." said May to herself, her hands shaking slightly as she did so.

After a few moments of deep thinking, May placed the staff down with an expression of determination.

"Let my heart and fate decide what feels right..." said May as she zipped up her sleeping bag. She then rose to a standing position, and darted out the door into the living room, joining her sisters with a smile.