Hidden Secret

Chapter Two: Manya

 Chapter Two: Manya"KEEP YOUR EYES ON YOUR OPPONENT! Damn it Manya how long have you been training.?!" "12 years sir." I set my sword down and Jack does the same. Jack is my trainer. Ever since I was 6 Miss.R has paid him to come and train me in every fighting way possible. "Then why the hell don't you keeps your eyes on your opponent?" He questions me because he knows I'm up to something when I start pacing. "Because I AM watching my opponent Jack just not where you can see me watching." I look up at him with a big smile but before he can grab his sword again I have him pinned against the wall with the blade to his neck. "I win." I flash him a goofy smile because I have been in his spot oh so many times. "Good job." He says laughing. "I know." I smile again then open the cabinet to put the sword up. "Manya you know better than to turn your back on an opponent." I can physically hear the smile in his voice. "I know Jack but I turned around for a reason." I grab a handful of daggers and throw it at him. The daggers all land right by his head. "Okay smarty, if you can make it through the obstacle course I’ll let you be done with lessons for the day." I look over at the course. "Deal." I say in a determined  voice.

"Okay you have 5 minutes to finish everything. No shortcuts either. I walk over to the starting mark and start stretching. On your mark, get set, GO!" I take off running as fast as I can, making sure to pace myself so I don't wear myself out. I make the first jump over the wall and grab a dagger and throw it at the dummy I land in front of. I pull the dagger out of the dummy's head and throw it at the one that popped up next to it. Next I run to the water and dive down to the bottom grab the gun and body and swim back to the top. I toss the body on land and take the gun and shoot the two guys stealing the old ladies purse. Then I run to the finish line and look at Jack. "How long.." I’m struggling for air but I’d never let him know that." Jack just smiles. "3 minutes 30 seconds." I look at him wide eyed. "Manya I need to call Miss.R, you will be leaving soon..." Jack looks down at the ground."What? I can't leave Anna is here. This is my home." "That wasn't the deal sweetheart. But why don't you go take Anna out for ice cream and come back and Miss.R and I will be here to explain everything when you get back.

    "Do you like your ice cream?" I have to laugh at Anna, she had never had ice cream before and her eyes were huge and she was getting it everywhere. "Mmmhmmm" she just kinda nods her head but never stops eating. I don’t know how I'm going to tell her I have to leave. Maybe I won't have to maybe that was just one of Jack's jokes. "Manya?" I look up to see a group of guys walking towards us. Anna quickly slides over next to me and continues eating her ice cream. I search the faces of the guys trying to recognize the face of one of them. One of them is just staring at me and it sends a chill down my spine. "Uh..yeah..?" I wrap an arm protectively around Anna. I know none of these guys would be a match against me in a fight, but that doesn’t mean I want to fight. "It's me, Ace." I look at him. The second biggest of the guys was the one talking. It had only been a year since I had seen this guy and he had changed dramatically. "Oh, yeah. Hi." I look down. "Do you mind if we sit down?" I look at Anna and she seems to be too caught up in eating her ice cream. "Go ahead but we won’t be staying much longer." "Aww why?" "We have to be getting home, me and my uh me and Miss.R have to have a talk." I was hoping Anna wouldn't of been paying attention to what was being said between us, but I was wrong. "What do you mean you and Miss.R have to have a talk?" "It’s nothing Anna." I say and try and change the topic. “So how have you been?” Ace asks “I've been okay, just doing school work.” I say and look down at Anna. The biggest of the guys is still staring at me. “This is Michael, Jackson, and Raven.” Isn't Raven a girl's name? I think to myself? But don't say anything. “Nice to meet you all i'm Manya and this is Anna." The biggest of the guys walks up and stretches his hand out. I shake it and look in his eyes. They look so familiar. He releases my hand and I shake the other's hands. “Are you enjoying your ice cream Anna?” Ace asks her and I smile a little. “Yes, i've never had it before.” My eyes grow big has the guys look at me with questionable eyes. “You know it was nice seeing you all but we need to go.” I say and grab Anna's hand.  We walk to the jeep and climb in. We ride in silence for most the ride but soon Anna looks at me and says, " Why does Miss.R want to talk to you?" "I'm not sure, but I’m sure it’s nothing big, I mean last time she talked to me she gave me a car." I try and smile at her. She just looks down. "It's going to be okay Anna, I’m sure it’s nothing big." 

We walk into the house and I notice my suitcases under the staircase. "Hey." I grab Anna's arm. "Why don't you go upstairs and find a movie for us to watch and after this talk I'll make popcorn and bring it up." "Okay..." She says real weary. I stand and watch Anna run upstairs, then turn to the kitchen where I’m sure Jack and Miss.R are waiting for me. I walk into the kitchen and they both turn and look at me. "Okay, let’s hear it." Miss.R is the first to speak up. "Do you remember the day you came here?" I look at her. She knows I do, I used to have nightmares of the night. My family just walking away from me, leaving me here at this strange place. "Answer me girl." "Yes ma'am I remember the night I came here." "Okay good. Well your mother called me two nights before. You were Russian immigrants, and you're different. Do you follow?" I nod. "Okay, well she called me and said she needed a hiding place for you. Your father made some very powerful people angry, so you needed to be kept safe. She ran away and left your father and brought you here. I tried to talk her into leaving your brother too but she couldn't. She said she needed a man to keep her safe."  Miss.R shook her head, thinking to herself. "I tried so hard to make you my own, but child your mother wasn't lying when she said you was different. I would take you for walks and dogs would growl, and follow us, I was scared." I look at her wide eyed. This can't be true why would dogs follow me and what did my father do? "When your mother left you she said that when you was ready and grown enough to protect yourself that your brother would come and get you. Of course I didn't believe her, she sounded crazy. She had already told me her and your brother were going back to Russia, how would they know when you was grown!" Miss.R was arguing with herself now. I watch as Jack places a hand on her shoulder. Miss R takes a deep breath then says,"I got a phone call about a year ago from a man. He claimed he was your brother. Well of course I didn't believe him, so I went and met him in Russia. That was the meeting I went to when I gave you the jeep." She kind of smiles at herself. "He was being truthful, as soon as I seen him I knew he was your brother you look just alike you and him. He is a big boy." She kind of laughs. I was sitting on the edge of my seat. I had always wondered if Mike would come back for me. "He told me his sources had said that you was more than ready to return home with him. He said that I had one year to finish getting you ready to go home with him." She looks at Jack then back at me. "Jack told me you are ready. I called your brother just before you and Anna got home. He is in town, coming to get you in the morning." Miss.R looked down at the ground. "What?! No! You can't send me away with him! What about Anna?!" "She will be okay..she is young my dear. You can come visit anytime you are allowed. But for tonight, go explain to her. Go spend time with her." 

As I’m walking up the stairs my feet are heavy, and dragging. When I get upstairs she is waiting for me with my PJ’s  laid on the bed because she already had hers on. "I got the popcorn." "Yay! And you're not gone!" She runs over and hugs my legs and I go stiff. How am I going to tell her I'm leaving in the morning. She snatches the popcorn out of my hands and it brings me out of thought. I look at the TV and the Lion King is ready to be played. "Alright let's start this."

After the movie is over I tell Anna we have to talk. "I’m going to be going on vacation." I smile at her. "You are?! Can I go?!" I give a small smile. "No, not this time but I will write all the time." I look down "Anna do you remember me telling you about how I had a brother a loooong time ago?" "Yes!" her eyes brightened as she looks at me. "Well he is the one I’m going on vacation with." She giggles and jumps up and down. "I prayed M. I prayed that you would get to see your brother again!" I stared at her. "Aw Anna!" I hugged her. "I don’t know when I'll be leaving so I might not see you in the morning." "Can I sleep in your room tonight then?" Anna looked up at me with big eyes. "Of course!" She takes off running out of her room and into mine but stops in the doorway. I walk up behind her. "What is it-" I look up and my room isn't empty, but that's not what has me shoving Anna behind me it's that Ace the guy from the ice cream shop and the store is standing in the middle of the room.

"What are you doing here?!" Anna slips her hand in mine."I just came to talk to you about what's happening. I might be able to explain better than those dingbats." I look at him then back at Anna. "What do you mean? How do you know what's going on?" He looks at me and then looks at Anna. "Hi Anna, do you remember me?" Anna tightens her grip on my hand. He squats down and looks at her. "Ye-yes." I can feel her shaking and I squeeze her hand. "Do you trust me?" I look down at her because I'm not even sure if I trust this guy. "I-I-I don't know." "Anna," I turn around and kneel down to talk to her. "Go to your room for a few minutes, okay?" She stands there and stares for a minutes before turning around and walking away. 

"Okay so you're telling me that you’re my brother’s friend and he sent you here to watch over me and tell him when I was ready to go home?" "Yeah pretty much. I had to try and live a normal life and still watch out for you. Which was pretty hard considering that you was only in town once a month." He gave a short laugh. "Yeah Miss.R found out just how different you are so she locked you up." With that he gave a full hearted laugh. "Okay so why are you here now?" "Well your brother asked me to come check on you and see how you was taking the news." "Oh.. we-" We hear a small knock on the door and we both go silent. "You better go." I walk to the door but when I turn around he is gone.