Reeves

by Serena Valentine

  "Is there anything else you might have forgotten?" Reeves asked.

  “I'm sure you sucked all the fun out of my house.” Seraphina gestured around herself, “Food, television, radio, snacks, yeah, they’re all gone.”

  “You will be happier at the end of this, I promise you.” Reeves said, "I promise."

  “Yeah well, maybe.” Seraphina pursed her lips in once then back out. “If this does work, I might be able to keep a boyfriend.”

  “Why? They are too energetic for you?” Reeves teased. "Maybe that's why you settled."

  “No, but guys like energetic activities,” Seraphina said casually. “Timothy’s cute, like a giant kid. I didn't settle at all.” She couldn’t help as a small smile blossomed on her face. “Haven’t had any problems in the energetic department yet.”

  Reeves coughed. He didn’t want to hear anymore. "If you say so."

  “Oh, you’re okay too,” Seraphina said, “you’re more annoying though.”

  “I am not annoying,” Reeves looked offended. “I simply want what’s best for you, that’s all.”

  “Sure you do, Paladin.” Seraphina couldn’t believe herself. Reeves brought out the worst in her. Something about not being on her medication, watching all her food being tossed out like garbage, and watching him smile a smile that well, frankly, made her want to slap him. She felt violent without her pills, he'd better pray her feelings adjusted soon. PMS didn't have shit on her today.

  “It is Reeves, Champion or Paladin Champion or Champion Paladin. Just, not Paladin,” Reeves corrected her once again. “Okay Seraphina Medina, I think it’s time to start. Welcome to your first day of training. Now, let’s start off small. How about push-ups?”

  Rebecca and Jackson watched as Reeves came jogging around the corner.

  “Hi Reeves,” Rebecca smiled. “What are you doing?”

  “Training.” Reeves watched from behind the corner. He had been going slow for Seraphina knowing that many years of no exercise would make her a slow runner. But it was worse than that, even any child in Hidden Secret could win a race against her. Five minutes later, Seraphina appeared around the corner. She had already looked spent as she bent over grabbing her back.

  “Hi, Seraphina!” Rebecca said trying to cheer her on. “Are you playing? Isn’t it fun?” Seraphina glared at her with icy coldness. She uttered no words, letting her feelings surge through her expression. Even Reeves felt the chill. Every one of the children in the surrounding area instinctively backed up one step. Seraphina had not been herself and that look didn’t seem to reassure them.

  “Come on Seraphina, buck up.” Reeves hit her back gently. “You are doing great for your first day.”

  Seraphina looked over at Reeves with an unchanged expression. Her voice was grim, dry and dangerous. “I want to kill you.”

  “Not appropriate in front of the children,” Reeves corrected, gesturing to the kids. “You should think next time before you speak. Run to the stop sign as fast as you can.”

  “Why don’t you!” Seraphina complained. Her voice sounded hoarse and sweat could be seen all over her temple and cheeks. She appeared as if she had run a marathon. “I. Can. Barely. Walk.” Seraphina said in sharp, raspy breaths.

  “Then do what you can,” Reeves told her as he pointed toward it even firmer.

  Seraphina hobbled over awkwardly and touched the stop sign. “There. Happy?”

  “Being tired is no excuse for being impolite,” Reeves said. “Now, why not take a break with running?”

  “Finally,” Seraphina sunk to the ground.

  “Push-ups.” Reeves got down next to her. “How about twenty to start? Then forty?”

  Seraphina looked at him with disbelief but got down on the ground and tried to do a pushup. It had probably been years since she had even bothered with a pushup. Everyone gathered around to watch Seraphina struggle to achieve one. Getting her to do ten let alone twenty would be as easy as making a pig sing.

  “Reeves,” Rebecca said as she tapped on his shoulder. “You’ve always warned us about the dangers of over exercising.” She pointed at Seraphina. “That is over exercising. I know we aren’t supposed to question, but are you sure about this? Can't we all play instead?”

  Reeves stood back up. “Seraphina must exercise right now, or she’ll die. In fact, she’s going to have to exercise without a break until seven tomorrow.”

  “Seven tomorrow?” Seraphina dropped to the ground in the middle of her second sit-up. “I can’t stop exercising until seven in the afternoon tomorrow?”

  “No, don’t be silly.” Reeves laughed. “Seven is nighttime, when you go to bed.”

  “She has to exercise two whole days?” Simps had to ask. It didn’t even look as if she could exercise a whole minute more.

  “It’s not cruelty.” Reeves pulled Seraphina back up. “We will try to take it a bit easier on the exercise, but we’ll have to pick up the pace soon again,” Reeves told her as he realized she could not speak. Her throat must have become so hoarse that she couldn’t utter anything anymore. He looked over at Rebecca. “Rebecca, could you get her some water?” Once Rebecca returned, everyone watched the unladylike way Seraphina finished off the whole glass of water. They could have sworn with the sheer primitiveness that she had been trapped in a desert for two days. “Could you please go and get some more?” Reeves asked Rebecca as he jiggled the glass. “Bring two glasses of water this time.”

  Rebecca nodded and ran quickly to the house and back, fulfilling the task. Seraphina took one of the glasses and tried to woof it down again, but Reeves took it away. “No, that’s not good for you to drink that fast.” Reeves placed one of the glasses on the ground. “Every ten pushups, you can have a quarter to drink.” For once, no one stared at Reeves with admiration.

  “Ummm? I think I want to play somewhere else today.” Simps decided.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Jackson agreed as he backed up.

  “We’re gonna go, Reeves.” Rebecca pointed behind them. “We’ll play somewhere else for awhile.”

  Reeves nodded. “I will see you around.” He didn’t blame them; it wasn’t easy to watch Seraphina suffer through the abuse. He didn’t wish anything upon her, but it was part of the process. With the conditions Timothy set on him, there wasn’t any other choice. “Come on, five more and you can have more water, Seraphina.”

  “Seraphina . . . Medina . . . ” Seraphina finally spoke, although it was extremely coarse. “Don’t. Call. Me. Seraphina.”

  Reeves couldn’t smile much. “Seraphina Medina. Five more and you can have more water.” Poor girl, but he knew that this would not be her most difficult time. No, she hadn’t experienced anything yet.

  Reeves looked at his watch as he stopped skipping down the road with Seraphina. Seven O' eight glowed back at him. He had done some gentle exercises like skipping, waving arms, and tapping feet so she would have a short break before the horror of the night. He stopped below his tower and ran to the right side; there was no time for stairs. He grabbed the ladder hanging from his tower and gestured toward Seraphina. As she grabbed on, Reeves climbed up. As he got into his tower, he quickly got apples and an orange as Seraphina finished climbing up. He went over to her and handed her them. “Snack.” Seraphina took the apple out of the group, with a definite grudge. Reeves went over to the front of his tower and looked out, watching his new visitor arrive. His night was now over, but hers was only beginning.

  Seraphina couldn’t help but wonder what was next. Reeves always went to bed at seven, before the lights went out in the colony. Everyone knew that, but he had said she would not be able to go to sleep tonight. What was he going to do and why did he drag her to his tower?

  Reeves looked back at her with no readable expression. “I go to bed in one hour, but tonight you can’t,” he reminded her. “I know someone that is going to keep your training up for the night until I wake up and come get you.”

  “Extra help? Who?” Seraphina asked. They had never discu
ssed that.

  “Someone I knew in my past,” Reeves insisted. “It'll be fine; he understands that you mustn’t stop. He’s quite good at exercise and keeping people on their toes.” Reeves smiled awkwardly. “He might not be as easy as me, but you'll be okay.”

  “Ten hut!” A man in a military uniform came from the stairs and appeared in front of both of them. “Ah, so this is the recruit.”

  Oh no, I'm so dead, Seraphina thought as she looked at the man. He had a white tough beard that looked like a steel wool pad and beady brown eyes that believed her to be prey.

  “He’s retired, but the Sergeant is still quick.” Reeves shook the man’s hand. “Take care of her and don’t let her sleep whatever you do. She has ten pieces of fruits and vegetables, make sure she eats no more than one an hour. She has to keep her strength up but must learn to endure.” He nodded at Seraphina. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Good luck.”

  Seraphina watched as Reeves went over to his home, probably straight to his bed, neglecting her as if she no longer existed. What level of hell had she been dropped in? “Can’t we talk about this?”

  "Ten hut maggot!” The man in uniform demanded. “Down the stairs!” Seraphina marched down the stairs, the Sergeant calling out to her from behind. By the time she reached the bottom, she had collapsed on the ground. Not being allowed to eat much all day, and its juiciness would help her situation. Not as much as a rich chocolate cookie but it’d work. “Not yet!” The Sergeant took her pear. “You will give me all your food. I will distribute these out when you need them, and not a minute before. Now, head to the car.” Seraphina marched to the car in front of the tower and was about to get in when she was stopped.

  “I drive, you run.” The Sergeant informed her.

  I hate him, Seraphina thought as she ran beside the car. She genuinely hated Reeves. Seraphina continued to run as the car picked up a faster speed. She continued to run, using the adrenaline of hatred to keep her fueled. Man, how she hated that guy!

  Reeves got up and after breakfast, quickly got dressed and headed on his way to the former Sergeant Charles’ house. It was a long distance, but no one else could keep Seraphina exercising through the night like him. After he reached his home, he looked around for the two. “Sergeant Charles?”

  Sergeant Charles appeared around the corner of his house. “Ah, Reeves. Your soldier is down there.” Sergeant Charles pointed behind himself. “I have her running on one of my old obstacle courses.”

  “Oh good,” Reeves nodded. “Well, I’m here to pick her up. How'd she do?”

  “She was slow,” Sergeant Charles complained. "Too slow, I've never seen any soldier as slow as her."

  “Slow or not, she has to keep it up.” Reeves proceeded to go down the hill behind Sergeant Charles’ house. “Seraphina,” Reeves shouted for her, but Seraphina did not answer back. As Reeves continued downhill, she had been jumping through tires. “Seraphina, let’s go.”

  “I told you, you bastard, you call me Seraphina Medina from now on.” She added coldly as she hopped over to him. “Paladin.”

  Reeves was stunned with her words. Cussing? Aggressive cussing too. “There is no need to use such an extremely vulgar term.” He didn’t bother correcting her on ‘Paladin’ anymore, she knew what he preferred by now. “Hard night I assume?”

  Seraphina’s lip twitched up putting a couple wrinkles in her top cheek. “I will take great delight when I can share a chocolate roll with your lazy ass.”

  “No sleep is affecting your attitude,” Reeves brushed her comments off. “Please stop the vulgarity, now come on, Seraphina Medina, let’s go back to Hidden Secret.”

  “Make me.” Seraphina growled.

  “Seraphina.”

  “Seraphina Medina, Paladin.”

  “Seraphina Medina,” Reeves corrected himself. “Today will be easier for you, you’ll see.” He looked at the obstacle course. “You’ve been doing some harder exercises for awhile. Let’s try skipping for a bit.”

  “Harder? I’ve been doing harder exercises?” Seraphina muttered. “What you made me do was a cakewalk to what I’ve been doing.” Seraphina kerplunked to the ground, “I want Timothy.” She held her shoulders tight to keep out the cold. “He never treated me like shit.”

  Reeves didn’t know what to say. He knew it was hard, but he couldn’t be soft. He ignored his inclination to correct her language again; she was an outsider and tired. “You can go see Timothy, okay? Just stay there and I will have a small talk with Sergeant Charles.”

  A prisoner feeling freedom for the first time. That’s what it must have looked like to Rebecca, Jackson and Simps as they watched Seraphina scramble out of the car, almost falling in her haste and wearisome condition, being helped by Reeves, shoving his efforts away and continuing to run at high speed towards the most disliked guy in Hidden Secret.

  Timothy Varmen.

  “Timothy,” Seraphina yelled as she literally jumped into the comfort of his arms with tears streaming down her face.

  “Seraphina?” Timothy’s happy grin at seeing her faded quickly as he looked at the condition she was in. No doubt he saw that her legs were bruised, her face was scratched, and her eyes were red from both exhaustion and tears. “Seraphina? What happened?” Timothy demanded as he switched his attention to Reeves, "Where was she last night? I’ve been worried.”

  “I could not let her sleep, rest can be fatal at this early stage,” Reeves explained. “She must continue to exercise until seven tonight.” Reeves looked over at Seraphina, wishing he didn’t have to say what he had. He probably seemed like a total jerk. What he wouldn’t give to teach her the way he wanted to, but Timothy had conditions he had to follow. “I’m afraid you can’t stay in one place like that for long, Seraphina Medina. You have to keep exercising.” He held out an orange to her. “You can have two if you want since you think you had a hard night last night.”

  “You can never make up for last night,” Seraphina said, her voice icy cold as she penetrated his eyes straight on.

  Reeves took a deep breath, finding resolve in himself. This is one side, an angry side. There was no turning back, even though it was hard. He had to get her off those pills for good, and he had to play by the rules. “This is enough downtime; you need to start exercising. Twenty push-ups.”

  “I hate you!” Seraphina screamed at him, gathering a small crowd in her wake.

  “Hate me all you want, twenty push-ups.” Reeves repeated as he turned his attention to Timothy. “If you are sticking around Timmers, I suggest you get on the ground and follow her lead,” Reeves all but demanded. “This is not a spectator sport.” Timothy backed away, as did the kids. Twenty pushups weren’t exactly their idea of fun either.

  Chapter 7

  “So, Adventurer wannabe,” Seraphina asked as she jogged next to Reeves. “Which would you rather have? Some vanilla ice cream cake with sprinkles, nuts, syrup, cookie crumbles and a cherry with me? Or a massive cake with extra sugar and frosting with Timothy? I am positive he would be pleased to accommodate your fat ass when you lose.”

  Reeves looked away. Seraphina’s attitude was changing dramatically, but what did he expect of almost two days with no sleep and continuous exercise? “You will thank me before the bet is over, Seraphina Medina.”

  “Let me think about that for a moment.” Seraphina turned the corner slower, drained of energy by now. “Yes, I probably will thank you. Timothy and I will have another person to hang out with, could be fun. He’ll have to get a bigger couch, fit for three. I'll make sure we have plenty of frozen fish sticks too.”

  “Your bad attitude will improve,” Reeves answered her back. “It’s getting a lot closer for you to rest. “

  “Rest I will, and so will you when this is over,” Seraphina muttered. “I will be tickled with pleasure as I watch you yell at the kids for the first time. Timothy and I will laugh with glee as we see the look on their faces from the Paladin turned into us.”

  Ignore, ignore, ignore. />
  “I can’t believe you took this stupid bet!” Seraphina yelled. “It’s like a mouse betting another mouse that they won’t get chased by a cat if they wag their butt in front of one. It’s like making sure peanut butter and jelly don’t touch on a sandwich. Why even waste the time, I am telling you right now, Paladin, that I am going back on those pills.”

  Ignore, ignore, ignore.

  “You know, I originally didn’t give a damn whether you actually stopped taking those pills. I only wanted to see if you honestly cared enough about your dumb cause to put yourself on the line,” Seraphina continued. “Yes, after you lost, I was going to convince Timothy to forget the bet, but no more. By the end of the month, you’ll be picking up your own prescription in Hidden Secret’s pharmacy.”

  Ignore, ignore, ignore. It’s all Reeves could do. Seraphina bugged him constantly, her way of getting out her frustration. Reeves understood her anger, but it didn’t make it any easier. He watched the time constantly, also eager for her to get some rest.

  Reeves ran beneath his tower with delight as he checked his watch again. 6:48. He didn’t even bother climbing the stairs again, going instead for his ladder. “Come on, Seraphina Medina.”

  “There is no way I am sleeping in your little tower,” Seraphina complained, “like it or not, I want to sleep at Timothy’s.”

  “Don’t worry, I don’t want you sleeping here either. I’m getting you a few snacks, so you don’t go to bed hungry. Or do you want to go hungry?” Even Reeves’ behavior was running thin at that point. He couldn’t believe it but so far? The best thing that ever happened to him was Timothy meeting her first. As they climbed in, Reeves pointed to the floor. “Sit down cross legged and take deep breaths, Seraphina Medina. With so much exercise, your body should not just hit a bed.”

  "What should my body hit then?" Seraphina turned her hands into fists. “I can think of something I’d really like to hit.”