DAY 2:

  The sun blasted its heat at Sunshine’s skin, her sweat-drenched body bearing the marks of her struggle—purple bruises gleaming like amethysts caught in the light. You’d think with a name like hers, she’d be more adjusted in the heat, but Sunshine actually preferred the cold. Too bad it would take another five months to get that weather again. Although, she was pretty sure a wintery wonderland wouldn’t decrease the difficulty of what she was doing… forced to be doing.

  One month. Sunshine had one month to destroy half of a mountain that had collapsed onto the desolate Lexington City. With her current strength, that would require 10,000 punches a day. If she didn’t complete that, then Jesus would quit training her permanently.

  That was the last thing she wanted, and yet a nine year old destroying half of what was already a huge structure was impossible. There wasn’t a single future she could see of her completing such a daunting task. It didn’t help that Jesus was right behind her, watching with a metal baseball bat in his hand.

  However, that was no reason to give up. Jerome wouldn’t, so why should she?

  She readied her sore muscles, exhaling through her gritted teeth. Aura exploded out of her body, surrounding her with a feeling that was almost rejuvenating. Then, she focused that energy into her fist, muttered gibberish under breath, and punched the mountain with extreme force. Shards of rock flew out from where she punched, leaving a small crater beneath her hand. Her knuckles ached with agony, blood slowly dripping from her training scars.

  That sequence took Sunshine ten seconds to do. Five hours had passed and that was the 500th punch. If that wasn’t bad enough, that tiny crater she made in the mountain was only the third one she accomplished in that time.

  Again, again, and again. I have to keep going…

  Sunshine prepared for another grueling sequence when she was stopped by a horribly familiar pain in her back. The girl fell to her knees, forcefully stopping herself from crying out. She was afraid doing so would give the man another reason to hit her. Then again, what was even the first reason she took a strike to the back?

  Sunshine spat on the concrete in frustration. “What the heck is your problem!? I did all the steps in the right order you told me to, Jesus. There was nothing wrong with that.”

  Jesus rested his head on a dirty pillow he took from a zombie infested bedroom. “You didn’t say a prayer before your punch. The prayer is the most important part of the sequence. That’s how you show your gratitude.”

  She furrowed her brows, panting. “Oh… Well, I don’t even see why that’s important. The sequence would go faster if I skipped that part.”

  “No,” he said bluntly. “Do the prayer and show your gratitude.”

  “To what? I don’t even believe in God!”

  “Don’t be so small-minded, Luz Solar,” he snarled, quickly sitting up. “The purpose of a prayer doesn’t have to be just about God.” He clasped his hands. “Showing gratitude means you’re showing gratitude to anyone or anything you’re thankful for. Your individual strength has to come from you, but the you standing here today exists because someone or something allowed you to. So tell me, Luz Solar, who will you show your gratitude to?”

  Sunshine pondered that question as she felt the weight of the whole world slam into her. The answer would have to be her dad, right? After all, she wouldn’t be born if he and her mom never got together.

  No… it can’t be that basic or obvious. There has to be a bigger reason for me to show gratitude to him.

  Jerome chopped off his own arm just to drive those Radions away from her three years ago, fought a giant, bloodthirsty bird, and opposed a group of super powered individuals who all wanted her dead. He did all those things for her, and Sunshine was positive he was the only dad in the world who could not only do those things, but succeed in them too.

  Jerome was very…

  “I got it,” Sunshine said under her breath. She went through the series of movements again, except this time she clasped her hands together and muttered, “Thank you for being yourself, Jerome.” Once that was said, she struck the rock. That was when she noticed a difference upon reeling her fist back. The damage on the mountain was… bigger, the crater reaching a size greater than Sunshine’s body.

  “Amazing,” she exclaimed quietly, staring at her fist brimming with energy.

  Jesus placed the bat on the ground. “You felt that increase in power, right? Any idea where that came from?”

  Sunshine turned to the horse man. “Well, thinking about Jerome made me feel happy and that happiness made me stronger. So… strong emotions?”

  He gave her a thumbs up which made her smile a bit. That was the nicest thing Jesus did today. “Any strong emotions can work like anger or sadness. If you can tap into that regularly, then you’ll be a strong kid. Trust me. There will be times where you’ll be pushed to that limit, and those strong emotions are the only way you’ll get out of it.”

  “So that’s why you wanted me to do a prayer before hitting.” She turned back to the big hunk of rock and prepared her body. “Guess I won’t need those 10000 punches anymore.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Getting back to my training. What’s wrong? You’re not gonna tell me I’m doing something wrong again, are you?”

  Jesus stood up, airing out his pants. “Nope, but it’s starting to get dark. You should stop now before you fuck your body up.”

  “Huh? I’m not doing that! Not when things were just getting good. Besides, I have to fill my quota for the day.”

  “Hey, you said it yourself, Luz Solar. You hit this mountain how you just did, and you won’t even need those ‘10000’ punches a day.” He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Lo hiciste bien hoy. C’mon, you surpassed your limits enough today. Rest is a lot more important than you think. Especially for a nine year old like you.”

  Sunshine sighed and nodded. “I don’t think I’ll be getting any sleep with all these bruises on-” She stopped talking the moment she noticed all of her bruises and pain were gone. “Oh, you healed me. I forgot you could do that after…”

  “After what?” he asked, letting her shoulder go.

  “Oh, uh, it’s nothing,” she laughed awkwardly, removing the rubber band off her hair.

  “Alright, then.” Jesus raised his hand to her, gesturing for a handshake. “Good job today. Let’s hope you keep it up tomorrow.”

  Sunshine stared at his hand for a bit, unsure on if she wanted to or not. She gripped her shoulder and said, “Uh, I don’t know if I should shake your hand right now. You’ve probably been scratching your dirty butt all day.” She laughed right after she noticed she sounded a little too serious saying that.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Luz Solar, are you afraid of me?”

  A bead of sweat rolled down her face. “N-No.” She chuckled awkwardly again. “I just never went to sleep with anyone besides my dad. And even when he wasn’t there, I just slept alone.”

  “Ah, that makes sense then.” He walked towards the mountain. “But remember, there are enemies out there even scarier than me. Don’t let me breaking your arm sway you from that fact.”

  Sunshine looked down. “Yeah…”

  “Good, now let’s get some shut eye already. I don’t think you realize how tiring watching someone hit a rock five hundred times is.”

  “Actually, it was five hundred and one. Aaand, I’m the only one here that should be eager to get some sleep. Speaking of sleep, where are we sleeping?”

  Jesus pointed up to the top of the mountain. “We’re sleeping there.”

  Sunshine’s eyes glowed in excitement. “Yes, yes, yes! I always wanted to sleep on something very dangerous and unsafe for kids. Oh, but I’m not climbing that thing though.”

  “Who said you were going to climb?”

  Sunshine blinked. Jesus towered over her. She blinked again—and suddenly, she was soaring upward, landing on the mountain before she could process the movement. “Holy crap!”

  Jesus jumped as well, landing on his feet behind her. “That was pretty fun, right? We can do it again if you want.”

  Upon hearing that offer, Sunshine sprang to her feet and said, “Of course I wanna do it again.”

  Jesus stepped back a couple inches, seemingly disturbed. “Geez, ni?a, you're a crazy little one, you know that? I'm too tired for all that shit, so just lay down and go to sleep.”

  “Ok,” Sunshine said somberly. She walked to the other half of the mountain and slowly collapsed to the ground. “Uh, good night, horse man! Try not to neigh in your sleep, ok?”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  ******

  A demon was chasing her in a red forest, and all Sunshine could do was run. The girl’s always wondered what a real life spawn of hell would look like. Maybe it would have two horns sticking out of its head, eyes bleeding profusely, and blinding crimson skin.

  However, the one chasing her now looked a lot more like… Jerome. Why the heck would her father be trying to kill her!? There wasn't enough time for Sunshine to ponder that question as Jerome finally caught her, lifting the girl up and slamming her to the ground by her neck. The force of the impact forced a cough out of her, which seemed to cause the Radion discomfort.

  His grip became tighter. “I've had enough of your coughing!”

  She gritted her teeth, squinting her eyes. “Well, if you don't want me to cough, then don't slam my back to the-”

  Jerome hissed, ooze seeping from his mouth and onto her face. “Does it look like I want to engage in your friendly banter, you filthy anomaly!?”

  “Who even are you? And why do you look like my dad? I know you’re not him, so just spill it.”

  “It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is what you need to hear!”

  Sunshine grabbed his wrist. “Then tell me what I need to hear!”

  “You’re. A. Mistake!” His words were like a knife to Sunshine’s heart. “You weren’t the one who was supposed to live! Your mother was! You took her from me!”

  She thrashed around, but his hand wouldn’t budge. “That’s not true! Shut the… fuck up!”

  “Yes it is! I was out there in the world trying to find a cure after that zombie bit her, and yet it wasn’t the zombie bite that killed her… It was you! You just had to selfishly force yourself out prematurely. She died to let you live…”

  “I said shut up!”

  “Now look at me. I’m a man with no wife. Oh wait! I’m not even a man anymore ‘cause I also died to save your ass after you had the audacity to disobey my specific orders! Sunshine… I should’ve devoured you that day. Perhaps my constant hunger would finally be-”

  Sunshine shrieked as loud as she could, blocking out the words from entering her ears and tainting her soul, tainting the memories of Jerome. He wouldn’t say this… ever!

  He wouldn’t even think this… would he?

  After what felt like hours, the hold on her neck finally disappeared. Sunshine immediately crawled away on the crimson grass. She tried to find an exit. Anywhere that would get her out of this dang nightmare. That was until the sound of crying caught her attention.

  Her eyes shifted to her left, and the sight of a baby horse caused a lot of confusion for her. Its legs were shaking as though it was afraid of something, glaring at her with disdainful eyes.

  Then, it spoke.

  “Diego…”

  Sunshine awoke yelling, quickly sitting up. After she surveyed her surroundings, her voice grew quieter and quieter til she finally stopped screaming. She felt this sharp pain in her chest as she wiped the blood off her mouth with her hoodie.

  Not again…

  Despite the darkness outside, she could still spot Jesus sitting down on a rock. It looked like he was using the time he could've been sleeping to watch the stars instead.

  She rubbed her eyes. Are the stars really that interesting? She decided to find out for herself, cautiously approaching Jesus. Maybe he was the kind of guy who slept sitting down and watching the sky. No, that's too unnatural. Well, it could be possible for someone like him.

  “Um,” muttered Sunshine. “Jerome and I never watched the stars together before. He said being out of our cave at night would be dangerous for me. So it's my first time seeing them this late.” It was like someone had opened an otherworldly sized jewelry box and allowed the entire galaxy to see what was inside.

  “Mmm. It’s good you can experience stuff like this, Luz Solar,” he said, his tone melancholic. “Some people don't get the chance to see stars like this ever in our life. Some people also don't get the chance to sleep without any dangers around, so what are you doing up?”

  Sunshine laughed softly, taking a seat a couple feet from him. “I just had a bad dream, that's all. I would tell you what it was, but even I don't wanna say all the things that bother me out loud. Plus, I always wake up earlier than my dad ‘cause of this disease I have. It's hard for me to sleep.”

  Jesus’ head turned to her. “I'm sorry to hear that. I hope your… problem can be fixed one day.”

  “Thanks. So, why’d you wake up?”

  “I wasn't sleeping in the first place. It’s not something I bother doing nowadays.”

  “Seriously? That's kinda cool. Although, for someone who was saying he was so tired before, I thought you'd be passed out snoring.”

  Jesus chuckled. “Yeah, well, there are things that I see in my sleep that I don't want to see anymore. They’re… painful.”

  Painful dreams? So he’s like me.

  “Sooo, I’m gonna assume you don’t want to talk about them. I’m only assuming since I’m the same way.”

  Jesus didn’t respond, wiping something off his face under his horse head.

  “You know, sometimes I feel like my nightmares should make me more sad. It doesn’t though. It just makes me really scared of my future.” Sunshine stood up and walked towards him. “That’s probably normal for someone with nightmares, but for me it just makes me feel selfish or something like that.”

  She hesitated for a little, though she was able to bring herself to touch Jesus’ shoulder. There was this wet sensation on it. “Was it raining when I was sleeping?”

  Jesus removed Sunshine’s hand. “Yeah, it was.”

  “Isn’t it dangerous to sleep in the rain? I don’t really feel like getting a cold or something worse. Although, it looks like the rain st-”

  The horse man looked down at Lexington City. “Luz Solar, have you ever felt a strong regret for something?”

  Sunshine thought about that question for a while, stuffing her hands into her hoodie pockets. “Yeah, I do. Someone I liked died in front of me. But, I… my brain doesn't allow me to care about it a lot. I know that's a bad thing, but I don't know how to fix it.”

  “Wait? So you didn't feel a thing when someone you cared about died right before your eyes?”

  Sunshine’s eyes widened. “Well, I-”

  Suddenly, Jesus grabbed her shoulders and laughed. “Fascinating! Perhaps you're actually stronger than I thought you were, ni?a.”

  “Huh?”

  “How would you like to help me with a small task?”