The Fight by Haneefa Muhammad (rosie project .txt) 📕

top of her head. Is she the same as me, or did she just dye her hair. See I was born with the red stripe it’s a mark for my species, we all have colored stripes at the top our head. You can try to wash it out or even dye your hair but the stripe won’t ever go away.
“Where am I?” I manage to say through my clenched teeth.
“You my friend are in a deep load of trouble, but physically you are in a room. Do I know where we are geographically located? No.” Her voice is soft and sounds very melodic, like a song.
“Oh ok.”
“Hey I'm sorry about those guards kicking you, if yah wanna cry you’re going to have to do it when they are not around.” I just nod my head and lean back against the wall, maybe I could go to sleep and when I wake up none of this is real.
“Oh! My name is Liz by the way!” The girl says excitedly, she seems eager for company. I was just going to ignore her but I guess I could use a friend seeing I might be here for a while.
“My names Raven.”
“Oohh you have a nice name!”
“Yeah back atcha, look how long is it before I get a fight? I really need to get out of here.” I ask hoping she has some information. She squints and looks at me like I’ve grown three heads.
“Did you just ask when you are going to have a fight?” She says in disbelief.
“Well I know you can't be specific but yeah, around what time frame do you get a fight?”
“Umm it varies you could be fighting today or you could be fighting next year, when I came in I fought six months after I was captured.” I give her a look of sympathy when she said the word captured, no one should have to go through what people like me have to go through, talking about people like me.
“So this might be an odd question, but what exactly are we? Where I came from, my folks didn't like talking to me about who I really am. I'm assuming you're a warrior too because of your stripe.” She returns the look of sympathy I gave her just a few seconds ago, and leans on the wall beside me.
“Well it's good you know that we're warriors,” She sighs and pauses for a second as if in thought then she continues “Ok so you already know warriors are born with a colored stripe that determines what group you belong to. There are three group colors red, blue, and yellow. Ones with red stripe like you are basically almost extinct; they’re the strongest out of the three. You guys develop your unique powers around the age of 15 I’m guessing you already developed.” I nod my head to show I have, besides the incredible strength I have animal powers! Yeah how cool is that! I can change into any animal I like or just combine a few parts of an animal to my liking. I didn’t use my full powers earlier because my dad always told me to never reveal my power to them. So I took his advice even though it cost me my family’s life. “Blue which is me are the second strongest we develop at age 16, and last but not least the weakest the yellow stripes which develop their unique powers at the age of 13. As you know every warrior is very athletic it just depends on which stripe you belong to that determines your potential. And that’s basically it, so what’s your specific power?’

I don’t know if I should tell her or not, but I guess I should. If I want to start trusting her I’m gonna have to tell her things. “I have animal powers; I can turn into any animal I want or any animal part. You?”

“Wow that’s awesome! I have ice powers!” She said the last part in a loud, whispered, excited, tone. I laugh and give her the first sincere smile since we met each other. For the next few days or maybe weeks I don’t have a way of telling we talked about our life and dreams of escape. I never went out of the room they bring our food to us and there was a small bathroom that is connected to the cell that included a tub, sink, and toilet. Actually the only time I went out of the room was once when they blindfolded me and took me to see my sister for a few minutes, she was still wearing the same cloths and she cried the whole time. I don’t think I’ve felt guiltier in my life. We lay on two small bed mattresses that were laid down on the dirty floor. It seems like the floor is made of dirt while the rest of the room is made of cement.
Over the next few weeks we talked a lot and grew a close bond, there wasn’t much to do so we would share different stories of how our lives were before being captured. Other days we would just lay around in comfortable silence, and other times we would make up games to play. Luckily the kept their promise and I got to see my sister sometimes, she would always cry and tell me how much he hated living here, but over time she started accepting the situation she’s in and started smiling again.
One day close in the morning, for us that is, the guards came in at an irregular hour to which I assume to bring us breakfast. Mark, one of the guards, who had short shaggy blond hair and wore the usual guard uniform that consisted of a button up black jacket, black suit pants, and black shades, came in. You know for humans I thought they would have more protection just in case we tried something risky but I guess they keep it hidden. It wouldn’t matter anyways, I’ve heard tales of prisoners trying to escape and nobody ever sees them again or they’re never the same when they get back.
“Raven we have found you a fight in which you will engage in in two weeks up until then you will go under vigorous amounts of training starting from today, now come with me I will take you to Doc to run tests on you.” Mark says his deep voice chilled my bones when he said the words “run tests on you”, I certainly do not like the sound of that. I look back to Liz who puts a supportive hand on my shoulder and gives me a sympathetic look, she told me about the tests they run. The tests are designed to see how much pain you can endure how strong you are how fast you are your unique gifts, but ultimately it is designed to test your breaking point.
Anyways so now here I am blindfolded with Mark hand on my arm guiding me so I know where to go after a not so long walk we stop and I hear keys jingling then I hear the key slide into the keyhole of the door and I hear the locks give way. Soon I am pulled by the arm again into the room ahead of me, the door behind me is shut and the blindfold is pulled off. Right when the covering comes off my eyes I nearly lose balance, the room is dangerously bright compared to the dark dim room I have called my home since living here. I shield my eyes with my hands squinting to look at my surroundings, I catch sight of an operating table and my fears overwhelm me as I slide to the floor. I can’t do this, they’re going to go too far and kill me! It’s happened plenty of times before here according to Liz.
I heard a few people snicker and chuckle in the back ground, but I don’t care I just wanna go back to my room. I close my eyes and think of Saliyah’s face her voice her laugh her smile, I have to do this for her. So as I make up my mind I feel a hand on my left arm pulling me up a rather bit too roughly.
“So Raven we meet again.” No! It’s him again! As my eyes readjust from just being closed, I see the man who almost took Saliyah’s life. He’s very pale with a small beard and what I like to call a reverse Mohawk, he looks to be in his mid-50s, and he’s about 5 ft. 6. The blood leaves my face as I stare into his cold blue eyes; I feel a shiver run down my back as his lips pull apart to show a blood curling smile. God how I want to rip that smile off his face and shove it in his-
“I hope you’re ready to fight one of the best fighters in the world, I heard he’s pretty hard to beat.” He chuckles and shakes his head, he’s wearing a black v neck cotton shirt and blue slacks with prescription glasses. I don’t say anything; I just look at him with utter disgust.
“My names Doc if you don’t know by now.” Doc says unfazed by the looks I’m giving him. “Now today will be full of tests to see how much you can handle, so we know your strengths and weaknesses.” He turns around and begins to walk to a treadmill, ok a simple normal looking black treadmill, this could be easy. The room is a big white room filled with different type of exercise machinery, while others look like machines used for torture, and don’t forget the operating table. They take me to a bathroom that’s located in the room and have me change out of my pajamas into a white cotton shirt and pants. I look at myself in the mirror and see my brown skin is oily my face is sunk it and my eyes have purplish bags under them, yeah I look like crap, maybe I should-
“Doc says hurry up.” Mark interrupts my thinking as he opens the bathroom door, can’t a girl get a little privacy in here! Good thing I’m dressed, anyways I head out the door to find a woman in a lab coat with a clip board. The middle aged brunette with glasses is talking to Doc, as I head towards them their attention turns to me. The lady smiles sweetly but you can see under that smile disgust, but you can also see something else; hunger. She looked at me like I was a piece of