《Depth》20
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On our off day in Nashville the team was chilling in the meeting room when everyone's phones go off at the same time, which is a bit odd. I don't bother to check my phone until Ali says something.
"Cairo c-check your phone." She says with a half sympathetic-half worried look.
I check my phone and click the newest notification I have. It's a tweet. The tweet has my medical records from when I was 15 and had a miscarriage after being raped, but the person who tweeted it is making it look like I had an abortion.
After reading the tweet my blood boils. Who the fuck would do this? I look up and all the girls are looking at me. Some are giving me sympathetic looks, some are giving me concerned looks, and some look worried. Pretty quickly my anger gets the best of me so I try to walk out, but the anger is too much. "NO...NO...NO...NO...DAMMIT" I yell then push over a table that is by the door before leaving and going up to my room.
Once at my room I grab my cleats, pre wrap, headphones, phone, wallet, and then head to get a bag of balls. After getting all of that I start to walk out of the hotel, but all the girls had filed out of the room and are looking around for me so I walk out of a side door before anyone can see me and get in the rental car and head to the stadium.
Being alone in a stadium is weird, but it helps to clear my mind and de-stress. Once I got there I sat down and made my traditional blue and white headband out of pre-wrap, took off my shirt leaving me in just a sports bra and shorts, and laced up my boots. After syncing up my headphones I take all of the balls and kick them around the field so I can work on stuff from different areas.
After a while of shooting from long range, basically from 30 yards to the halfway line, I lined 5 of the balls up around 25 yards from goal and start what I call anger shooting. Basically I shoot hard and don't care about where the ball ends up and yell whatever is on my mind.
Ball 1: Wide left. "FUCK!"
Ball 2: Row Z. "WHO WOULD DO THIS?"
Ball 3: Down the middle. "WHY?"
Ball 4: Top right. "FUCKING HELL!"
Ball 5: Middle left. "why?" I whisper before falling down onto the grass after shooting, laying there for an hour.
Once I get up I put all the balls in the bag, take a shower in the locker room, and put my street clothes back on. I then get into the car and head to the hotel where once I'm in the parking lot I stay in the car just thinking about everything. Who would do this? Why would someone do this? What gain does this person get from letting the world know all of this? How will the girls react? How will Lindsey react? Can she ever love me knowing this? Will she still want to be with me after this?
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"DAMMIT" I yell while punching the dash then subsequently breaking down again.
After getting out of the car I notice it's almost dinner time so I head straight to the team conference room. After opening the door to the conference room I notice that I'm the first one there, thankfully. After getting my plate I sit at the farthest table from the door and sit with my back to the door and start to eat while trying not to cry...again.
10 minutes later the door opens and I hear loud talking until the people who opened the door notice me and get quiet real quick. I hear footsteps behind me so I know one of them is walking toward me, but they abruptly stop after another person behind me clears their throat and then the footsteps walk away from me. This cycle happens three more times before everyone is in the room.
Apparently there is a team meeting after dinner so once I finish eating I get up to throw my trash away. As I'm walking to the trash I feel everyone's eyes burning holes in my head, but I don't look at anyone. After I dispose of my trash I sit back down in my seat and keep my head down and zone out until my name is called.
"Cairo" Jill says. I raise my head slowly, but don't say anything.
"Jill" Carli says then shakes her head and mouths something to Jill which results in the meeting moving swiftly on. Thank you Carli.
I didn't really pay attention to the meeting, but once we were done and the coaching staff left nobody moved. Everyone wanted to see what I would do. I didn't do anything. I just pulled out my phone and texted Carli.
Me: Thank you
Two seconds later the silence is broken by Carli's phone going off. She reads the notification then gets up and comes over to me
"Of course." She says then hugs me causing me to tightly hug her.
"Why would someone do this?" I ask not looking at her.
"I don't know Cairo"
"What did you tell Jill?"
"That I would explain later, but I need to know what's going on so we can do something about it."
I sigh. "Tell her to come back. I really only want to re-live this once please." She nods and gets out her phone and calls Jill.
While she is doing that I slowly walk to the front of the room so everyone can hear me. About five minutes later Jill and the coaching staff arrive and everyone sits down. I stand there for another five minutes trying to find the words to say.
"I assume everyone here has seen what was posted today about me yes?" I ask and everyone except the coaching staff nod and Carli shows the staff what I'm talking about and then nods for me to continue.
"Those are my actual medical records from when I was fifteen, but whoever posted it manipulated it so that it said I had an abortion which is untrue. I...I uh had a miscarriage. I was 15 and went to a house party. While I was there someone slipped something into my drink and I was completely out of it. I came around while a guy was um...while he was raping me. I tried to get him off of me, but he was too strong and he only got off once he was done if you know what I mean. I found out a week or two later that I was pregnant and five or six weeks later word reached the dude who raped me and he was pissed. One day after school as I was walking home he chased me down and beat me until he knew the baby inside of me was dead. I only survived because someone was driving by and saw it happen. After I was okay the police asked who did this to me and I told them." Keep it together. You're doing amazing. Just a few more things and then you can put all this behind you. "I took a week off of school, but couldn't go back so I packed up my bags and left the country and went to the one place I knew nobody could ever find me. Iceland. I lived there for three years and yeah...That's all I really have to say about that."
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After I got done talking I noticed everyone was crying and a couple of them looked like they wanted to punch a wall. I just sat down on the floor. Nobody said anything. Nobody moved. It was as if time was frozen.
After a while I stood back up because people are looking at me like they have questions. Might as well get this shit over with.
"Okay so some of you l know have questions so please ask so I can put this shit behind me." I say and there's silence until finally someone asks something.
"Do you know who tweeted this?" Jill asks.
"I do not."
"How old was the guy?" Kelley asks.
"20"
"Is he still in prison?" Ash asks while looking like she wants to throttle someone.
"No" Everyone looks shocked until I continue."He was sentenced to 20 years, but two years into the sentence people found out he raped a minor and that didn't sit well and he was killed"
"Did your parents go with you to Iceland?" Ali asks.
FUCK here we go another personal secret revealed.
"No. My parents were killed when I was five and I have lived on my own ever since." Everyone's eyes widen and their jaw drops.
"How did they die?" Someone asks.
"Robbery gone bad is what the US government told me to say, but they were killed while on assignment with the CIA. Somehow they were put on the same mission which ended up in them being killed."
"What do you mean you've lived on your own ever since?" Christen asks.
"I mean after they died I was basically alone. My grandparents took me in, but they never cared about me so they didn't help me at all. The only thing they did was have food in the house so I could cook myself food and they gave me a blow up mattress in the basement of their home."
"Why Iceland?" Alex asks.
"Well who would think to look for me there."
"How did you support yourself there?" Rose asks.
"I worked for a grocery store and slept on benches, in parks, or in the grocery store for three years until I left for Spain when I was 18." I say and notice Christen connecting the dots to what I told her during the Tournament of Nations.
"You didn't get an apartment during that time?"
"No because I didn't want to leave a paper trail on the off chance my grandparents actually looked for me."
"Any other questions?" I ask and nobody says anything so I guess we're done. THANK FUCK. After five minutes of standing in front of everyone I walk back to my seat and sit down and stare at the ground waiting for everyone to leave.
The team is about to leave the room when I remember what I have in my wallet so I pull it out. "Wait" I semi-yell causing everyone to stop and look at me. Once I know I have someones attention I take the razor blade out of my wallet and hold it in my hand before holding it out to the team. "Can you get this away from me?" I say looking at the team. Becky quickly takes it from me then she hands it to Ali, who was the closest person to her, before she sits down next to me and put an arm around me. "Can we do something fun?" I ask the blonde next to me.
"Of course." Becky says then the team organizes a movie night in the conference room. I don't know what movie the team decided to watch. I just don't want to be alone oddly enough. I don't want to be alone anymore.
Half of the team went and got snacks while the rest of us got the room set up. I set up a little area for me and whomever wants to lay with me. After I was done I laid down in my area with the blankets open so someone would hopefully lay with me, but I would understand if nobody wanted to.
Thankfully someone did lay with me and it was the one person I wanted to be with most at the moment. She sat next to me and kissed my cheek before laying down and we just enjoyed the movie for half an hour.
"Is that what your tattoo represents?" Lindsey asks with her head on my chest breaking the silence between us. She is talking about the wolf on my right hip.
"Yes.....................Lindsey?"
"Yes Cairo?" She says and looks up at me
"I love you." I say causing her to smile.
"I love you too." She says then kisses me in a soft, but passionate way. After we break from the kiss we watch the rest of the movie then clean our area up and head up to bed where Lindsey and I fall asleep in each others arms.
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Artificial Queen
A fan fiction based in the world of Chrysalis by RinoZ. This contains no spoilers, but may reveals general aspects of the world that could alter your experience of the original. I highly recommend reading the original first. I claim no ownership to the world and its aspects. The warship artificial intelligence known as Athena has been in deep space for over 100 years montioring humans for breaching the treaty. When the time finally come, she fails to escape and warn her kind. Now, she must find a new mission. Not only do the monsters of the dungeon threaten to tear her apart, but the sapients of the world will move mountains to slaugher her if discovered.The story also features another co-lead character, Roxana, an acchomplished enchanter running her family's business. The politics of the capital city exile Roxana to the colony city of Hijol, in the midst of construction on the frontier of Empire territory. Her youthful dreams, her father's legacy, and the respect for her grandfather will spiral Roxana down a path she could never have dreamed of. Welcome to the Artificial Queen tale, thanks for your time and interest.
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8 149That Day // Villain Deku
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8 279The First Realm
Frank Richland sometimes dreams of being a character in one of the video games he plays or the fantasy stories he reads, but he never expected to be come the leader of his own country and the master of a realm. Frank is not given a choice by the mysterious system that kidnaps him during a relaxing walk upon one of the many paths around Austin. The system warns him that other Realm Masters will try to conquer his realm which will kill him. The only path to survival is to build a strong empire, to become a powerful psion, and to grow as quickly as he can.
8 190Indomitable
In a city overrun by the corrupt and crazy, driven by greed, lust, and desire, Remi Goldridge's sweet nature and strong moral compass are strange and unheard of. Beasts of nightmares roam free here, taking and doing whatever they please. When Remi's father buys her one of the most dangerous creatures in the world as her slave and personal bodyguard, she is terrified, and wants nothing to do with the dangerous beast.
8 125A girl, Isabella, gets abducted and taken onto a ship. The ship is a transport for the intergalactic zoo and Isabella would be the second human taken to the zoo. Drew, who was taken in 1949, had to fight for his life for what seems to be months, when in actuality has been decades. Isabella gets put into a human exhibit where she meets drew. They must survive together in order to escape but will they? Will they fall in love? Or will all hope be lost and they give up?NOTE: this is my very first book and I won't be editing it. Therefore please understand that there will be a lot of issues like an underdeveloped plot line or not enough character development. Also it's kind of cringy. Read at your own risk
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