Köstlich

The Silas Bats had two practices Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  Wednesdays and Saturdays held games, and Fridays were spent addressing any media questions and injuries.  Sundays were the only days off that they were assigned.  Laura pulled up to their training complex, a state-of-the-art indoor turf field that the city was gracious to build after the team’s championship win five years ago.  Since then, they had won three of the last five championships.  They were heavy favorites to win again this year, pending no major injuries.

Laura stepped out of her car, making sure that she had everything she needed before heading in.  Phone, check.  Keys, check.  Wallet, check.  Notepad and pen, check.  Confident that she wasn’t forgetting anything, she made her way to the front of the building.  A security guard looked up from his post behind a window at the new visitor, curiosity playing on his face.

“May I help you?” he asked.

Laura pulled out her Voice of Silas credentials and held them up so that the guard could see them. “I was told I could speak to Carmilla Karnstein about an interview for the Voice of Silas.”

The guard chuckled. “That so?  So Coach Morgan did lift the ban after all,” he said, pressing a button that unlocked the front door. “Head inside, take the first hallway on your left.  It’ll lead you to the turf field.  They should be in the middle of practice, so just let one of the assistants know that you’re here to speak with Karnstein.”

Laura nodded, thanking the guard as she made her way into the facility.  The hallways themselves were large enough for a group of five or six people to walk comfortably next to each other in one direction.  The look to the hallways made Laura imagine the facility more as a scientific laboratory instead of a sports training complex.  Following the guard’s instruction, she took the first hallway on her left.  It was here that there were more inspirational writings on the wall followed by several pictures.  One of the ribbon cutting ceremony.  One of the team practicing.  One of the team celebrating one of their championships.  This was what Laura was expecting the rest of the complex to look like instead of just one hallway.

At the end of the hallway were two large swing doors.  Laura pushed the one on the right open, taken aback by the size of the turf field.  She had been to several games with her father when she was younger, but the turf field itself was by far the largest she had ever seen.  There was enough room for two full fields and space in between for bystanders to walk in between.  There were two sets of players practicing, one on each field.  The coaches, from what Laura assumed, were standing in the middle watching the two concurrent practices.  Laura began to make her way over to them, hoping that she could catch one that wasn’t too entrenched in observing the practices.

Thankfully, one of them wasn’t as she was the first to notice Laura’s arrival. “Can I help you?” she asked, standing up and meeting Laura halfway.

Laura held up her credentials, a smile on her face.  Or at least the best one I could manage for this type of assignment. “Laura Hollis with the Voice of Silas.  I was told I could conduct an interview with one Carmilla Karnstein.”

The assistant looked at the credentials before checking her watch. “You’ve got about thirty more minutes until she’s free to speak.  You’re free to stay and watch her practice, but I will warn you, she is a tough one to talk to.  Reporters aren’t her…favorite people to speak to.”

Laura nodded. “So I’ve heard.  I promise I’ll make it a quick interview if she speaks with me.”

The assistant nodded, heading back towards the other coaches to inform them of Laura’s arrival.  By the way the other coaches looked at her and snickered, she could already tell that it would be a miracle if Carmilla Karnstein granted her an interview.  She sighed, looking out at the practice.

It wasn’t hard to find Carmilla; she was the one putting the most effort into the practice.  The look of determination, the strength behind each of her shots, made goosebumps appear on Laura’s arms.  Hopefully she doesn’t bite my head off with this interview.  I would hate to be on her bad side at all.  So Laura continued to watch practice, trying to think of ways to ask her questions without offending the star player, but what she wasn’t accounting for was that the star player had already aware of the young reporter’s presence.  She wasn’t happy about it either.

Carmilla clenched her fists as she cut from side to side, dodging each defender on her way to the goal.  One fake move to throw the goalie off balance, and she had an opening.  One quick slam, and the ball found home in the top left corner of the net.  Carmilla huffed as she gathered herself and begun to make her way back towards the middle of the field. 

“Hey, nice shot, Carm!” Mattie said as she jogged over to her.

Carmilla brushed off her friend’s compliment. “There’s a damn reporter here.”

Mattie looked towards the sideline, seeing the new face watching them. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

Carmilla stopped and glared hard at Mattie. “What the hell is a reporter doing here?” she asked in a hushed angry voice.

Mattie shrugged. “Beats me.”

“Maybe it’s to tell the world how angry of a human being you are,” a new voice chimed in as they passed Carmilla.

Carmilla turned and snarled. “Shut the hell up, Mel.  You don’t know shit.”

Mel rolled her eyes as she made her way to the far sideline. “Yeah, yeah, Broody.  You keep telling yourself that.”

Mattie grabbed ahold of Carmilla’s arm before she could move any further towards Mel.  This was Mel’s second season with the team, having been signed as the new starting right wing midfielder.  When she had arrived, she had been a very quiet player.  However, right before the start of the season, something changed in Mel; she had come back an antagonistic player who absolutely loved to press Carmilla’s buttons to no end.  Carmilla knew it too, but she couldn’t help but get angry at the taunts, especially when they were referencing her or Ell.

“Leave it, Carm.  She’s not worth it, and you know that,” Mattie said, holding onto her friend’s bicep.

Carmilla took in a deep breath before releasing it. “I know, I know.  Sorry.”

Mattie nodded, releasing her grip. “Look, I don’t know why the reporter is here, but if Coach did let her in, and I have a feeling she did, just try to keep the anger under control.  I doubt that the reporter is here specifically to bother you about what happened with Ell.”

Carmilla opened her mouth to reply when she heard Coach Morgan shout for her to make her way over to her.  She sighed, the inevitable having arrived. “I guess were about to find out.”

She turned towards her head coach, jogging over to where she was patiently waiting with the reporter.  It was then that Carmilla got a better view of this reporter.  She was her height with light brown hair that fell like a waterfall onto her shoulders.  What got Carmilla’s attention though was the soft brown eyes that stared hopefully at her as she approached the two.  It made Carmilla’s breath catch in her throat, which surprised her.

“Finally.  Carmilla, this is Laura Hollis, a reporter with the Voice of Silas.  She’s here to do an interview with you,” Coach Morgan said with a huff, her arms crossed over her chest.

Carmilla looked at the reporter, mentally noting the nervousness that was emanating off of the girl, before turning her attention back to her coach. “And why should I agree to such a thing?”

Coach narrowed her eyes at Carmilla, the silent threat coming off in waves. “Just do it, and get it done and over with, Carmilla.  It’s one story, that’s it.  Be grateful that I’m allowing this in the first place after what happened.”

Carmilla bit the inside of her cheek to keep her from saying any retort.  She watched as Coach stormed back over to the sidelines, yelling at the second string players to focus more on the drills.  Rubbing her temples, she took a deep breath in before turning her attention to the reporter.  The reporter jumped slightly at the sudden focus Carmilla had given her.  Well, that’s a great first impression to give someone, Karnstein.  She rolled her eyes and began to walk back towards the locker room, motioning for the reporter to follow her.

As they walked into the locker room, Carmilla reached back to pull the rubber band out of her hair, running her hand through her hair.  Though she would rather take a shower first before having this forced interview, she knew better than to keep the press waiting.  She sat down on one of the benches, watching as the reporter elected to take one of the chairs as she opened her notebook.  Carmilla leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin on her interlocked fingers, watching as the reporter adjusted herself as she pulled out a recorder.

There was just something about this woman that Carmilla couldn’t place.  She didn’t have that uptight reporter vibe that she had seen countless times before; it didn’t feel like this one would push for things that were clearly not hers to know.  Of course, Carmilla knew what she was here for in the first place, the one thing Coach had kept other reporters from knowing even months after the incident.  How the hell was I feeling after the team I had given everything to had traded my lover away to another team.  It was the talk of the city, increasing even more after Coach’s ban of reporters at the facility.

“So, I uh…let’s get started shall we,” the reporter said nervously.  She held her pen confidently, but the waver in her voice betrayed her. “Why don’t we start with-“

“Let’s just get to the main point, shall we?  You got sent here to ask me about how I felt after they traded my ex-girlfriend to the Korvae Anglers,” Carmilla said matter-of-factly.

Startled, the reporter looked wide-eyed at her.  Yeah.  Thought so. “I…I uh…”

“Look, it’s done and over with.  She’s there, and I’m here.  We were together, and now we’re not.  It’s been two months.  I don’t care what you put in your little article, but you can be sure to say that I said that it’s no one’s business but my own.  They can leave it at that,” Carmilla announced as she stood up.

Don’t let her see how broken you are.  Don’t let her see how much you still hurt.  Don’t let her see.  Carmilla turned to leave the locker room, already tired of talking about the incident, but was stopped when she felt a hand softly wrap around her wrist.  She paused, turning back to see the reporter standing behind her, her hand the one around her wrist.

“Look.  I know it’s no consolation, but hear me out.  I was sent here to get your feelings on the whole matter, but I don’t want to write about that.  In truth, I’d rather write an article about you.”

Carmilla stood wide-eyed at the reporter, surprised by her honesty. “About me?  What’s there to tell that hasn’t been published already?”

The reporter smiled a gentle smile, one that seemed to melt Carmilla’s cold walls in her chest. “That’s up to you.  You can even help me decide what ends up going into the final version if you’d like, that way it’s what you want other to know.”

Carmilla looked at the woman, this person who seemed to be seeing right through her façade right into her soul. “Why?” she asked softly, so soft that she didn’t know if the reporter had heard her or not.

The reporter smiled softly. “Because, believe it or not, I’m not one of those sleazy reporters who are just looking for a story to put out.  If I’m going to put out an article, then I’m going to get the honest version of it.”

It was then that Carmilla could feel it, every wall she had been building since Ell’s trade and the break up come shattering down.  Every single one she felt crash around her, and it only took this one reporter to ask her for her opinion about the article, one that was going to be just about her.  It wasn’t going to be about the incident unless she said it would be; it wasn’t going to feature Ell unless she asked.  It was going to be about her and only her.

Carmilla nodded. “Ok.”

The reporter smiled. “Awesome, but uh…” She looked around the locker room nervously. “How about we not do the what I’m assuming is going to be a long interview here in the locker room?”

Carmilla couldn’t help but chuckle. “There’s a coffee shop down the road, Köstlich, that we can do the interview at.”

The reporter smiled, closing her notepad and sliding her pen into the notepad’s spiral binding. “Ok.  I’ll meet you there.”

Carmilla returned the smile. “Practice should be ending soon, so I should be there in about thirty minutes.”

The reporter frowned. “Don’t you want to get a shower?”

Carmilla shook her head, leaning back against the wall. “I usually hit the coffee shop after any practice.  I’ll be ok.”

The reporter nodded. “Well, I guess I’ll meet you there then.”

“Looking forward to it, Miss…”

“Hollis, but please, call me Laura.”

Carmilla smiled, holding out her hand. “Carmilla Karnstein, but you can just call me Carmilla.”

Laura smiled, taking Carmilla’s hand and shaking it.  Strong grip too.  She’s full of surprises it seems like. “Nice to formally meet you, Carmilla.  So coffee shop in about thirty minutes?”

Carmilla nodded. “Seems so.”

Laura smiled, pulling her keys out of her pocket. “See you there,” she said over her shoulder as she began to leave.

It was then that Carmilla could’ve sworn that Laura had winked at her.  Wait…did she…at me…or am I…WAIT WHAT?  Carmilla wanted nothing but to slap herself silly when the rest of the team rushed into the locker room, Mattie instantly honing in on her friend.

“So how’d that interview go?” she asked, wrapping her arms around Carmilla’s shoulders.

Carmilla continued to stare off in the direction that Laura had left in. “Didn’t do it here.  Heading to Köstlich to do it.”

Mattie leaned back, staring intensely at her friend’s blank stare. “Carm, you alright?”

Carmilla smiled softly. “Just fine.”