WILDFIRE ► COBRA KAI

Chapter 10

The first two days Flynn didn't do anything.

She didn't go to school. She didn't skate or go to karate. She remained in her bed all day, ignoring the gray sunlight trying to peek through her blinds and ignoring everything else too.

She cried until she had nothing left, no tears or energy. She tumbled around in her world of self-hatred, self-blaming, even the nastier things. Whispers that she should just die, leave the world and let everything stop.

She didn't eat. She laid until the room became thick with her own stench. Her phone persistently rang and dinged with notifications. Some good from concerned friends, a lot from strangers filled with hatred.

She had texted her friends that late afternoon it had happened, telling them she was okay and just needed space to sort it out. They obviously drilled her with millions of questions, but she had nothing more to give.

She couldn't. She wanted to drown and rot away under her bedsheets.

A few of her friends came to her house. Jaden had the good sense to turn them away, craft some lie to make them leave with tails tucked.

It was one thing she deeply appreciated about her little brother. Though his mind was too young and too small to grasp what kind of shadows had imprinted themselves in her brain, he knew that when she got like this, it was best to give her the space to wade through it alone.

He didn't ask questions. He just brought her snacks and dinner, even if he knew she probably wouldn't eat it. She wished she could though, because every time he came into her room with ramen or mac and cheese—taking care of her as though that wasn't her job—she felt the self-hatred double in intensity. Until it consumed her.

Then, after two days, she woke up at noon.

She could feel the beginnings of the fog clearing. She sat up, welcoming it, wondering how quickly she would forget this episode and how quickly the next would come. And how it would devastate her all over again, as though she's never felt this before.

Flynn drew herself out of bed, opening the blinds a little before taking her stringy, greasy hair to the shower. As she stood under the shower head, hot water singing her skin and cascading off her bony shoulders, she thought long and hard.

She transported herself back to months ago. Meeting Jamie and Kaia, the volleyball practices, the hangouts, the party. The incident. Jamie's response to everything.

And she could feel it.

Anger crept up on her slowly and then all at once, taking hold of every limb in her body. Fury engulfed her thoughts, horrid images of what she'd do to Jamie and twisted pleasures filling her mind.

She emerged from the shower thirty minutes later, the mirror covered in a thick coat of steam and her body burned red from the water.

Now, she was pissed.

She couldn't go to karate or skating. Not yet. She clambered into her car, driving bleakly through the warm California landscape.

The boxing gym logo was still as tattered and worn as she remembered. Her father owned a membership here, even though she was sure he didn't come as often as he used to.