The next morning, I got up for my exercise, and to my surprise, Thalia was waiting outside my room. Her hair was tied in a bun, and she was wearing a baggy t-shirt and black leggings.
"Can I come with you?" she asked, a slight blush on her cheeks. She looked nervous about asking. "I would like to get in shape too."
I patted her on the head, which quickly turned her smile into a frown.
"Sure," I responded. "Just make sure you can keep up."
Her face became serious at my remark, as if she took it as a challenge.
"Of course I can," she pouted, folding her arms.
It was only 4 a.m. The morning air was freezing as the cold wind brushed against my face, a feeling I had grown used to. Thalia, on the other hand, was trembling slightly from the cold.
The sun was rising on the horizon, but it didn't offer much visibility. The streets were quiet as we stepped out of our house since all our neighbors were still sleeping.
Strangely, there was a black car parked right outside our house. It was an SUV, with all the windows tinted black. I didn't give it much thought, assuming it must have belonged to one of the neighbors.
I normally ran 10 miles every morning, which took me an hour and a half to complete. Within the first 10 minutes of our run, Thalia began to fall behind.
"Ahh… umph… wait up!" she shouted, breathing raggedly.
I glanced back to see a zombie-like figure behind me. Her black leggings were drenched in sweat, and her baggy t-shirt was clinging to her body like a second skin.
How unathletic do you have to be to sweat so much after just 10 minutes of running?
She was barely dragging her feet until she finally collapsed in exhaustion.
"I'll see you at home," I shouted, giving her a wave without stopping.
I continued to finish the rest of the workout the system had assigned me. This time it required me to learn different punches, and whenever I executed them incorrectly, a sharp pain would erupt at the base of my stomach.
It felt as if someone were jamming a knife into my gut and slowly twisting it. It lasted only a few seconds, but experiencing it once was enough for me to master every punch I practiced without fail.
My mind began to associate failure with punishment and so I had no choice but to perform everything perfectly.
After two hours, I finished my workout and decided to go home. As I exited the park where I did my workout, I noticed something that completely stopped me in my tracks.
There was a black SUV parked across the street. It was eerily similar to the one outside my house. Looking at it, a bad feeling welled up in my stomach, but I brushed it off as just coincidence. After all, multiple people could own the same car.
When I got home, Thalia was there waiting for me with a pouty expression on her face.
"I told you to wait up," she grumbled.
"Well, you told me you could keep up."
"Whatever, I made breakfast for both of us. I also thought maybe we could walk to school together."
She fiddled with her phone as she spoke, trying her best not to make eye contact, but the redness of her face already revealed how nervous she was about asking. It surprised me a bit that she had gone out of her way to make breakfast for me.
"What did you make?" I asked, curious.
"Oh, I did some research and read that eggs are really important because they have nutrients and stuff, so I decided to make an omelet."
I smiled and patted her on the head.
"It means a lot that you put in so much effort just for me. Thank you"
A smile bloomed on her face. The two of us ate breakfast together, and when we were done, we exited the house to head to school.
As we stepped outside, I noticed the black SUV had returned. This time it was further down the street. I couldn't help but feel suspicious about it. Thalia traced my gaze and realized I was looking at the SUV.
"Friends of yours?" she asked.
"No, come on, let's go."
I gave her a reassuring smile and prompted for us to continue on our way to school, but just as I was about to leave, I noticed our mailbox was open. There was something inside. I stealthily took out whatever was left and shoved it into my pocket before Thalia could notice.
Thalia's middle school was relatively close to my high school. Just a five-minute walk away, to be exact.
"What's that on your hand?" Thalia suddenly asked, pointing at my wrist with an amused expression on her face.
I guessed it would look unusual. I was wearing a pink bracelet with flowery patterns on my wrist; it was a gift from Ivy's sister.
"It was a gift from your friend, Kei."
As soon as she heard that her amusement faded and instead she studied my face without uttering a word. She had a threatening look about her for some reason.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
She sighed and slumped her shoulders.
"I guess it's fine if it's hers," she finally mumbled under her breath.
"What do you mean?"
"Just forget it," she said, brushing me off with a flick of her hand.
When we arrived at her middle school, I waved goodbye and told her I would see her at home.
As soon as she left, I took out the item I had stuffed in my pocket. It was a crumpled piece of paper with red stains on it. The more I examined the paper, the more I was convinced that the red stains might have been blood.
I slowly opened the crumpled paper, dreading what it might contain. Scribbled on the paper was a note with a single question:
'Do you love your sister?'
A knot settled in my stomach as I read the message. I instinctively knew that the question was more or less a threat. I crushed the paper beneath my fist feeling a sense of wash over me. It took a while before I calmed down than think about things properly.
"Who would threaten Thalia?!" I pondered, wracking my brain to figure out who would pull this stunt.
Part of me thought it was a joke, that maybe someone was pulling a prank. But another part of me didn't want to take the chance. If there is even the slightest possibility of danger then it was my job to protect her from it.
Though, the only way I could think of to protect her was by picking her up after school, just to make sure everything was fine. That would mean missing club practice, but that was the least of my worries. My little sister was more important.
When I got to class, I greeted Ken and Cassian, then took my seat. Cassian looked like he wanted to say something but then changed his mind.
That was when I realized I had forgotten him at the boxing match last night. The whole incident with Thalia and Ivy's sister had completely pushed him from my mind.
Just as I thought that, a message lit up on my phone. It was from Cassian.
'What happened last night? Why did you leave?'
'I'm sorry. I had a family emergency and forgot to call you.'
'It's alright, man. I hope everything is fine. Last night's matches were epic! You should have seen them!'
We continued to message back and forth about the matches that took place last night while I was gone.
Soon, Ms. Dalton stepped into the classroom with her usual radiance, forcing us to cut the conversation short.