Chapter 4

Scotland

Another peaceful day of chores and lessons – lessons in sewing, cooking, and many other domestic skills. I don't tend to exceed in many of these, except perhaps cooking; I know I can't sew to save my life and I'm not a very adept cleaner either, but I can deal with it. I'd like the day to remain peaceful, just the usual routine with no differences to how a usual day goes.

Of course, luck isn't on my side today.

I turn the corner to a completely empty corridor, bar the Scottish girl from the dorms when I first announced my nationality. She's tapping her foot on the ground like she's expecting someone, and I try to walk past unnoticed. But then two more people step in front of me, blocking my pathway. Her friends, a Welsh girl and another Scottish girl. I know this from spending time in the dorm rooms with them, and their accents give it all away.

Only now they don't look too friendly, as if they want another conversation with me like we used to converse in the dorm rooms before they discovered that I am Norwegian. They look like they're ready for trouble, and I'm caught in the middle of it all. I take a step back, and find some more girls behind me. My eyes widen, terrified. I've never been in such a situation anymore, except for-

The rain pattered against the windows, water sliding down the glass and gathering on the window ledge. It was another calm night in the house, with the fire lit and children huddled in blankets. They ate their meal in silence, until they heard footsteps outside, then a loud knocking – the kids turned around in shock. Nobody ever visited their house…was it possibly one of the nearby Canadians, asking for some shelter, perhaps? Or a traveller?

One of the carers, the Canadians, made their way over to the door and opened it slightly; however, there was no need to open it fully as the door was forcefully shoved open and in ran a bunch of soldiers from the Russian military. Screams spread across and plates of food were dropped, some into the fire, burning away like the last of their hope. They had been discovered. They were going to die-

A gunshot, and a scream. The eldest child's lifeless body crumpled to the ground. There were gunshots and yells and the adults were telling the children to hide, and there was another gunshot and a little girl screamed, clutching her leg in agony as her twin sister tried to get her to hide with her. The soldiers were merciless, and almost all the adults were killed trying to protect the children.

Luckily, the children escaped within an inch of their lives, out the door and trying to run as far and as fast as they could.

But then they heard the heavy footsteps behind them, far faster than theirs, and knew that all hope was lost…

I'm surrounded like I was then. Only instead of soldiers, there are girls my age, some even shorter than me, dressed in the same drab uniform as me. The soldiers were tall and fully equipped, whereas these girls only have their fists, nails and words to hurt me. I don't know why I'm so scared, or why my heart is pounding so hard under my chest.

"Aye, Norwegian girl," the Scottish girl says – I think her name is Ainsley – and she walks towards me, stepping closer. I want to step back, but there's someone behind me. I want to cry out, but that's a weak thing to do. I want to run but there's nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. I don't know what I'm going to do when I'm cornered and surrounded like this.

Her friends are laughing and I don't know why. Why would someone laugh over someone else's misfortune? It's a cruel and disgraceful thing to do. I hold back the scowl that threatens to make its way over my face. She's very close now, my eyes level with her neck, but I look up and meet her eyes defiantly. She reaches her hand up and in one quick motion, slaps me across the right cheek. I stumble to the left, not expecting the hit, and clutch my now red cheek. They laugh again. Cowards.

"God, I would've thought you could at least handle a slap. That's a shame, there's a lot more comin' to ya." Her knee makes contact between my legs and I flinch backwards at the sudden contact. I'm against the wall now, vulnerable to their attacks.

"Oh, so you are a girl? It's difficult to tell with the weird new haircut." She cackles like some kind of witch from a fairy-tale and I flinch again. She spots that and giggles, now sounding like some little girl. "That face is so funny. What happened to the look of defiance from before? Gone?" She kicks me again and I grit my teeth in pain.

I don't know why this is happening to me. Why me? The others join in, surrounding me and kicking and slapping and punching. I just want to escape all this and fly away somewhere-

Then there's a shot of something. Not a gunshot, but something within me. It's a feeling coursing through my veins – I remember the word for it. Adrenaline. It shoots up and goes right to my head, feeding power to my whole body. I grab an incoming wrist and throw the person backwards, then I shake someone's hand off my leg and kick them in the chest, sending them back onto the floor, gasping for air from the assault on their lungs. I punch Ainsley in the face and she sprawls back onto the ground, joining her two other friends. I begin to make my way over to the last few, who exchange looks then run off, abandoning their friends.

I stare down at the girls and Ainsley looks up, her green eyes wide with alarm and horror. "Y-You…" She looks halfway between angry and amazed. If she wasn't in so much pain, she would have probably appreciated me. Admired me for once. I don't want to be admired by her kind, though. I turn and walk off, leaving them in pain on the ground.

The adrenaline calms, and I return to the dorm room. What just happened doesn't process through my mind until I'm actually in bed and trying to get to sleep. Then my eyes snap open from my half-conscious state and a shot of energy rushes through my heart, making me jump and sending my thoughts into a whirlwind of emotions and regrets.

I've made them my enemy. I have brought this upon myself – I could have let them beat me up, let them attack me, but instead I had to show my true fighting spirit. The self-defence I learned as a child. All those lessons I took where I learned how to fend people off – I never had the strength or courage to do anything of the sort to a real human, not even when it was merely sparring. Unless I had the new-found adrenaline rush.

The bed creaks as I roll onto my side and I hear the girl in the bed next to me groan and stir slightly. I close my eyes again, even when the thoughts carry on plaguing my mind. I'm going to be hated in the morning. I'm going to be targeted again, or avoided – what if Tino and Berwald are afraid of me after this? What if I'm blackmailed or hurt?

Forget it. Just go to sleep.

Sleeping will be hard, but I know that in the morning I'll have to suffer even more hardships. Within moments, I am asleep, and I'm oblivious to someone stirring and getting up from the same bed that belongs to the Scottish girl Ainsley.

My mistake, and my downfall.

This chapter is pretty short, but whatever!

Thank you if you've reviewed, followed or favourited, it means a lot and I update quicker when I see that someone has taken the time to do one of those things 3 Reviews are highly appreciated because I need constructive criticism for this story! I often accidentally place a ton of errors in my stories and there are a ton of loopholes and idk, I don't read over stuff often so yeah, reviews would be highly helpful, and thanks for reading!