Spin Cycle

Her mother was a prostitute and her father, a heartless wanderer. Her mother taught her few things but survival before she herself was sent away. Among those things, she learned never underestimate a foe.

Her life took a turn for the better. She was taken in by a kind man and his "friend" who happened to be a lunatic of a woman. Nevertheless, her life was already improved. Given a few years and the man's "friends" came and went until she met her adoptive mom.

She spent long hours with her mom, talking about photoshop actions and techniques, celebrity gossip and advances in movie editing software technology - usual mother / daughter repartee. They often went shopping together, even at a young age she loved high heels. Her dad worked long hours by this time and was rarely home, but when he was he delighted her with affection.

While her relationship with her parents went smoothly, her step brother was raving psychotic. He, too, was adopted and like her he came from a rough background. His mother committed suicide right in front of him by leaping into traffic which left a coldness in his heart that never quite healed.

He was always unkempt. He had a swagger that suggested his feeling of entitlement. He bullied her constantly but when it came to punishment, he put on airs of angelic innocence. On many occasions she tried to convince him that he could transcend his tough beginnings. She told him that he was given a new life with opportunities he could have never dreamed before; privilege, luxury, education. This never seemed to sink in with him, or he never cared. He did what he did with little no or consideration of others.

Two more brothers arrived, and a sister. She mostly enjoyed the raucous of a large family and when she tired of the noise she would simply escape to peaceful solitude then emerge again with a restored spirit.

Her problems with the step brother didn't end there. If anything, they increased. He became more and more sullen with each new sibling, as if his parents had no right to bring anymore children into the family. One day he had enough. He snapped.

One afternoon, she was alone in her room, reading her favorite photo restoration blog when he sauntered in with such dark energy she felt his presence before she saw or heard him. She glanced up from the monitor. He approached her from behind, without wasting time, he immediately attacked.

Sweet and feminine as she was, she had a streak, perhaps leftover from her own awful past, that lent her to unflinching defense- in fact, it could often be said of her that she was exceedingly defensive of her space and herself. For such an occasion as this, she trained in mixed martial arts with her mother on Monday and Wednesday nights, and studied yogic meditation on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Her hero was Quintan Tarantino's character "the bride" from the Kill Bill movies.

As she glanced up from the monitor on that fateful day, she took one long, cleansing breath, released her fear and hesitation with the exhale and as soon as he struck she leapt up from her seat, with all of her agility and in one seamless move, turned on him and executed a perfect butterfly kick to his chest. His arrogance was his biggest weakness. The force of this kick sent him to the ground. He jumped up and immediately and he continued the fight rather than accepting his formidable sister's skill. This shocking scene of brother against sister would leave many with a broken heart and perhaps in tears. However, this particular day, left her with a broken ear but even worse, left his character more damaged then ever before.

Their parents returned home that night to find her sitting on the stairs. Her right ear swollen and flopped away from head by the weight of the blood pooled in her ear. Her dad took her immediately to the doctor where they learned that it wasn't too serious. She only had a cauliflower ear. She could hear just fine but it would remain disfigured for the rest of her life. Meanwhile, her mother grounded her step brother.

There he sat, on the bathroom floor, alone and angry while his sister was being pampered and celebrated as if she were some kind of hero and this infuriated him. He ran away. Left home, without a trace. He was never heard from again.

She however, is living happily and peacefully ever after. She now belongs to the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and has had many articles about photo editing published in various industry journals.
Ok, I might have making a mountain out of a mole hill. My two cats got in a big fight and one of them ran away soon after.

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