Clepsydra [ON HOLD]

Chapter 7: The Ghost

"Keep your arms straight," I push her triceps up, making her arms bend slightly at the elbow, barely any bend, "Feet shoulder length apart!" I kick her ankle, watching her leg buckle a bit before she moves her foot sideways a little. I've been drilling her everyday for a week; making her hunt wild game; trying to hide from me; helping her find ways to keep as quiet as possible while in the worst part of the woods; scouting the area while tracking.

She's exhausted, I know this. It's been a few hours of her just standing, holding the gun up. But, it's useful training. Muscle memory. How to hold, how to shoot. If she burns it into her body, she can do it asleep, which she will need to do, "Another hour. Do it perfectly, you get more sleep. Fuck up once, and do more training,"

I watch as determination sets on her features as I lean against the tree, sharpening my knife with a stone. Or maybe, it's hatred. Whichever one it is, it's keeping her arms steady and her stance firm. She's a determined little one. Besides that first day incident, she's been obedient. Observant. She had great basics but she needed refining, polishing. Once I'm done training her, she will be ruthless. Merciless. Soon enough, she will be able to join me on my hunts. On my kills.

In a few weeks, she will be my official mentee. And nobody would be able to challenge her thrown. She will sit next to me for years to come. I will have her back, and she mine. She will learn to love the screams, the adrenaline and the blood. She will learn to love it all.

I look at her shoulders, waiting for one of them to sag, but she's still doing good. It's been fifteen minutes, maybe she can make it to forty-five before she gives up. It would be a new record for her, not that she would ever have to hold a gun for that long.

My watch ticks down the minutes, the seconds and I see it. The will to go on is still there, but the exhaustion, the physical challenge is taking its toll and she's about to sag.

You can do this!

I cheer for her in my head. I know she can. She knows she can too, somewhere deep inside of her, but she hasn't found it yet. Not yet. But, I'm a patient man. She will find it, and I will be right there with her when she does.

"Deimos, what's for dinner,"

She has less than twenty minutes left. She's trying to distract herself so she can succeed. I don't blame her. But, she needs to focus on everything. She can't give up right now.

"What's for dinner?" She is calm about this. Normally, she is loud, unruly when she dares to speak up. She's coming out of her shell and it's as wonderful as it is annoying to watch. Wonderful, because she is growing and learning to be herself. Annoying, because now, she won't focus on anything for long. She always has to be doing something. Like now, "Deimos, what's for dinner?!"

"I'm not sure," I look at her again, my hand stops moving the knife as she stares off into space, "You know I haven't hunted today," I resume slow movements of the knife as the clock ticks down. Less than three minutes.

Bang!

The sound reverberates around us as the smell of gunpowder invades my nose. Zoi is still standing there, in a perfect position, but there's light smoke coming from the gun and her eyes are trained on mine, "Zoi!"

She looks towards the woods once more, eyeing a specific place. I trail my eyes towards it. There's a deer, easily a hundred metres away, dead on the floor with a wound to its lower stomach. Hit in the heart, it seems.

"Venison okay for dinner?" Zoi says sarcastically as my watch goes off, beeping to let us know that the hour is up. She lowers her hands, wiping the sweat off of her face as I push off of the tree, throwing the knife and stone into my back pockets. I grab her arms, tightening my grip as she twitches.

"Do that shit again, and you won't be able to walk," I slap her face, letting the pain sink in before letting go, "Do you know how stupid that was?" I kick her knee, forcing her to the ground, the gun clattering out of the way. I grab her hair for her to stand up. She needs to learn her place. I need her to learn it. In this world, everything is planned. A plan is needed for everything, and she refuses to learn that. Fucking stupid.

"Not as stupid as this," Her light grey eyes stare into my brown ones before she backhands me. I let go of her hair, shocked. How dare she hit me? I'm trying to teach her, and she won't listen.

I snap out of it as she raises her hand once more. I take hold of her face and push her into the tree. She yelps as I push deeper, moving my hand down to her neck, closing around it as I lower my voice, "We plan things, Zoi. So nothing goes wrong. Remember that," I let her go just as her face went red. She keels over and gasps, hands on her knees. I watch for a second, noting the way she pushes her shoulders together to make more room for her lungs. How her curly hair frames her face and falls everywhere. All the twigs and leaves stick in her hair and clothes, to her skin with the sweat.

I look away and go to get the deer. At least I don't have to hunt tonight. And besides, she will have more training to do for that.

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