I was given a cast, crutches, and a wheelchair and was told I wouldn’t heal for a couple of months. My leg was fractured so luckily it was going to heal on its own. While I was at the clinic, the doctor took her chance to give me a physical. She mentioned I came here once before when Claire first found me to get a DNA test to see if I had any relatives. If only it was that easy. She took a drawing of my blood, this time per Claire’s request to compare to the one Bellas did.

“What now?” I asked Claire when the Doctor left the room to examine my blood. “I can’t fight anymore, are you taking me back home?”

“You’re going to stay with Denzel until you’re healed.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Are you going to look for the bad guy?”

“I don’t know.”

“What about the monsters?”

“I don’t know. Enough with the questions.”

I stayed silent until the doctor returned. She pulled Claire to the corner and showed her the results on her clipboard. “Nothing is adnormal, see? I’m not sure what you expected Claire, but Rae’s just a regular girl.”

“She was born inside the Garden, how could she be?”

“Are you a hundred percent positive she was? I can send the blood for a deeper analysis but I doubt we’ll see anything different. Honestly, I’m more concerned about how you’re raising her. She should be at school, not running around with you. She’s lucky that only her leg was fractured. What if the next time is too much for her and she dies? Could you live with that?”

“Just send the damn blood.”

“Claire.”

“It’s not like I’m forcing her. This is what she wants.”

The doctor sighed and left the room again.

“Why did you get annoyed when the doctor told you there wasn’t anything wrong with me? Am I supposed to be different?”

Claire took a moment to answer. “Everyone says you’re not. I want to believe them. If you aren’t, why am I even raising you?”

“Do you not want to?”

There was a long silence before Claire responded. “You’re here, aren't you?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Can I speak to Rae alone, Claire?” The doctor asked as soon as she came back.

Claire complied and said, “Don’t tell her anything unnecessary.”

The doctor, whom I only knew by her last name, June, grabbed a seat so she could be at eye level with me. “How are you feeling, Rae?”

“Good. I don’t really feel my leg anymore.”

“That’s great. It sucks to be in pain, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Is this the first time this happened?”

“Kind of. Back home I got hurt when I was practicing fighting with my friend, but this hurt much more.”

“Is your mom good to you? I know she’s not the easiest to get along with. Does she yell at you or hit you?”

“She’s never hit me and only yells when I do stuff that’ll get me hurt.”

“What is Claire like around you? Is she kind?”

“Sometimes. Most of the time she doesn’t pay attention to me and lets me do whatever I want. She treats me more like a pet. At first I thought she want me but I learned she just doesn’t want to get attached to me.”

“Why?”

“So she doesn’t get hurt when I die.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little unfair to you? She’s your mom, she’s supposed to love you.

“We’re not related so she’s not really my mom.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

“Lonely.”

“This path you're walking is only going to continue to make you feel more alone. Chasing Claire’s approval is only going to hurt you in the only place where it won’t heal. You deserve to live a normal life and be a normal girl. You don’t have to stay with Claire.”

“But then I won’t be able to travel the world and have adventures.”

“You can do that without putting your life in danger. Wasn’t today scary? You’re still too young for this job. You could die at any moment.”

“Yeah…it was scary.”

I was reminded of how hopeless I felt. The only reason I survived was because of Claire’s sword. Without it I was powerless. I saw how fragile I was. Even the bear could have easily killed me if it landed a clean hit. I remembered that there was no way that I didn’t want to fight these creatures anymore. I was scared to die.

“What else can I do?”

“Well for starters, go to school and make friends. You can learn and have fun there and have a childhood. And while you grow up you can find and do things you like and maybe even make money doing them. You can become a doctor like me, or a firefighter, caretaker, or even a teacher if helping people is what you want. Maybe you’ll fall in love, and start a family. Or you can do none of that and do what makes you happy, but you just have to find what first.”

“That old man Bellas said the same thing.”

“My grandpa was a wise man.”

“Why can’t I stay with Claire?”

“She’s…different. She doesn’t see the world like the rest of us do. It’s not that you can’t stay with her, it’s just you’ll end up hating her if you do. She won’t ever be able to love you the way you want her to.”

“But she’s all I know…”

“Just think about it, okay?” June stood and opened the door. Claire was leaning on the other side of the wall. “The point of leaving the room was for you not to eavesdrop.”

Claire flicked June’s cheek as she walked it. “I’m not against your idea. Rae can do what she wants.”

“Have you even bothered to learn what she likes, or give her hobbies to try? Have you ever taken her out to a park? To go shopping or to dine? Have you even told her what the difference between boys and girls? Or what to expect when she hits puberty? Stop treating her like she isn’t a human being.”

“She’s content where she is.”

June frantically writes on her clipboard and rips off a piece of paper, slapping it on Claire’s chest. “Doctor’s order. Take Rae out on a date, show her what a normal life looks like.”

“Not giving me much of a choice, huh?”

“It’s never too late to have a little empathy, Claire.”