She Who Lived: Queen ( By G Brinda )

98. 99. 100... And I am done for today. More according to my late father. A hundred crunches for the day. I don't know for what he was preparing me by training me vigorously. It's not as if I would become the country's next best dictator and rule everyone or that I would turn out to be the one who saves everyone. Still he said, my father "Aisha, you are unique and not everyone has what you are. One day you will realize your true potential and that day you will come to know the reason you were made." I didn't understand what he was trying to say. How could I, I was barely 8. He always said that I was destined for great things. Again I was a kid and for me great things were to fight in the open without any fear of the law or the government. He said that he would always be with me no matter what choice I would make. But a year later he succumbed to injuries during the Sisea riots in 2210. And now that I have grown into a woman, he isn't there to see me. Even after he died I trained myself with the knowledge that he gave me and the information he wrote for me. No one in the town, Gemina, actually new about this side of me. It was a secret between my father and me, even my mother didn't. After my father died, it was like I had suddenly become an issue, which in our country meant an orphan. How amazing that my own mother forgot she had a daughter. But my elder brother, Alois, still was the sparkle of her eye. All boys in the country were. My mother didn't even acknowledge me when I came of the age. She actually shrugged it off, saying that it was nothing. I then came to take care of myself through my friends. Now if you are actually wondering what actually is happening, then I must tell you that I myself didn't have a clue. But I knew this that being a girl in our country, Cipura, meant a trouble. And I was the face of this trouble. Always getting on the bad side of my school teachers, messing with the boys in the class and what not. For God's sake, I was a 17 year old for crying out loud. But I still was a rule breaker and breaking rules meant a night in the town cells. Almost half of my teenage years was spent there because of two reasons, one that I always got into some or other problems and the second, I just didn't want to go home, hence I voluntarily got into trouble just not to see my family's face, to look at their dislike for me. Anyways I was a disappointment for them. I got up early in the mornings just to avoid my awesome mother's face and her criticisms. According to her, I was the reason why my father died. I knew I was responsible for that, but she doesn't have to remind me that everytime. I was the reason why he went to Sisea even when he knew there were riots happening there and he had become a victim just to save me from the mob. And my mother loved to see my guilt ridden face every time she blamed me. And what does my brother do? He keeps quiet, just because he doesn't want to get on her bad side. Even in school he never acknowledged me as his sister. I was a weird outcast and he was one of the popular guys. Many loved picking on me and he never stopped them because it would then ruin his reputation and get related to a murderer. In the early morning before the sun came up, I am finished with my kick boxing. And by doing this over the years, brought me amazing abs and muscles. After I returned to my house, I finished the routine work, failing which I could be cut off from my monthly allowance. Then I started for the school which I didn't hate but had a repulsion for. I was one of the most intelligent but no one knew that I could score good because years ago I had stopped trying. There was just no one for whom I wanted to do something. The school tune brings me back to the present. It is a very melodic sound which most people hate as old school, of the 2000 era. But I love these type of music, it reminds me of someone close to my heart. I had heard them when I was a baby but I most probably didn't remember the person. All students were running here and there meeting there friends after the winter break. It is cold in Cipura for most parts of the year and without proper protection one cannot survive. " Aisha. " I turn my head to see Rosie, my best friend, more like one of the few people who talk to me without any sass. She tries to catch up with me by running but then that would be a lot unladylike. Believe me when I say this but we, especially girls, have classes on social etiquette and I never once have passed that exam. She stops and greets me. I raise my eyebrow asking what the problem was. " Nothing just felt like saying hello after the break. " I smiled at her in reply. "Besides what happened to your face and oh my God, your hair, what did you do to it, Aisha. You do know how much make efforts for you to make you look like a girl for once and just 20 days, you have started to look like you haven't washed your hair in ages and you cut your long beautiful hair. Why did you do that, AISHA." I shaked my head at her complaints. Rosie never knew about my kick boxing lifestyle and I never even told her. It was something I cherished and she had no business in that. Rosie would spend hours trying to fix the bird nest on my head but the very next day they would come back to their original place. During one of my kick boxing sessions, my trainer Matt suspected me to be a girl due my long hair locks. I told him that I was not a girl because kick boxing was my life and I couldn't afford to lose it, and it was the only way I could cope up with my anger issues. In Cipura, girl did no manly things, if they did the consequences could be grave because according to the leaders men were enough to protect the women. So to prove myself, Matt told me to cut off my hair locks since girls preferred to have long hair and take good care of them. But I wasn't of those kind of girls. If continuing kick boxing meant the sacrifice of my hair, then I would gladly do it. And so I did it, after which Matt didn't question me again. I turned a deaf to Rosie's rantings and walked to my locker to put my bag and collect my books for the day. While putting away my things, a paper bag caught my eye. It was the money I had with me, 2000 fams in total, which would barely last 6 days if I left my house today. I put the paper bag bag and took my notebooks out. An envelope fell down. I picked it up. To Aisha Levine. Levine. But my surname is Dale not Levine. Curious about the envelope, I opened it. Dear Aisha, My darling, how are you? I think that you must have grown into a beautiful woman and a tough lady. Ailen must have done a good job. Now my dear this letter was supposed to be delivered to you the day you turn 18. But if you are delivered before that then know that my dear, your time has come. The government has taken a drastic step to destroy all the things we stood for. Ask Ailen what happened. He will tell you everything, but in any case if he didn't survive find Kayden Miracle. He will tell you. And one more thing, trust once broken cannot be made again. Know the people properly on whom you place your trust because it is as equivalent to losing your life once broken. You are the one of the Burn Golds, dear. I hope you realize how dangerous this is for you to even breathe the same air as others. Now what you have to do is seek us, then you will come to know what to do next. Adeline.