RED ASSASSINS ▹ NATASHA ROMANOFF [EDITING]

[14]

All too soon, the physical tests had roller around. They were absolutely more demanding than the mental ones. 

I wiped the sweat off my head for it was a humid and sultry afternoon. I hated these days and wished that the wind favored me. For the mental tests, each of us girls were supposed to violently spar against a man. It sounded wrong for a young girl to fight a grown man but that was what we trained for. Our mission was to assassinate our target, regardless of age or gender. 

Suddenly, thoughts welled up in my mind. What if I fail? What if I don't succeed? With that, I poured out my woes to Madame B and walked towards her.

"Madame B, what if I fail?" I said, with a tinge of sadness and hesitation in my shaky voice. "My dear, you never fail. The unbreakable ones, they are made of marble." She replied in a self-assuring tone. I was kind of convinced by that, but an idea struck my head at that split moment. I could run away from the Graduation Ceremony! If I acted weak, maybe they would just let me pass! 

For the rest of the day, I carried out the tests with that idea in my head. When I sparred the grown man, I seemed to be winning at first, even though I was trying to act like a weakling. Out of nowhere, he grabbed my neck  and wrapped his arms tightly around it. It was an attempt to strangle. I used my weak, timid hands to shove him away but my attempts were futile. 

After a few more minutes of strangling, I was already hyperventilating. I could not take it anymore as I thrashed and kicked around wildly like it was some sort of natural instinct. The man let go and threw me onto the ground. I landed on fours, and breathed in and out heavily. I slowly let the much-needed and precious oxygen flow through my lungs and windpipe.

After that, Madame B strode up to me, her hands behind her back. "Sloppy. Pretending to fail. The ceremony is necessary for you to take your place in the world." She chided, giving an all-mighty look. 

"I have no place in the world..." Before I could finish saying, she cut me off before walking away.  "Exactly."

Next up was the sharp shooting test. There was a target board placed in front each of us, just that they weren't real people this time. I took aim and pulled the trigger. It hit exactly in the middle of the board. Bullseye. There was a sense of satisfaction, even though I failed the first one. 

Throughout the day, they made us practice ballet countless of times, making sure we did the routines over and over again. It was indeed grueling, and little did we know that we were slowly being brainwashed just like what the subliminal images did to us.

After all the tests had been finished, Madame B walked up to me to announce that I had passed round one of the tests. My ballet and sharp shooting scores had made up for the sparring one. I was relieved. All did not go so bad, did it?