Revenge

Training

It had already been a month since Madeline was killed and school was letting out in 2 weeks. I had put my heart into helping James with his searching, everyday after school I would rush out to get newspapers and spend hours listening to the radio to catch even the faintest chance of finding who did this to Madeline. James was spending his time either searching for clues at the station or asking his peers.

Today was different though, he came over early and dropped wooden planks and different weapons of sorts in front of me "I had been waiting until you got out of school... but the end of it is close enough. It's time for you to learn how to fight."

"What? Why?" I stand up and grab a practice sword. It was heavier than expected but it felt right in my hands as I bounced it from hand to hand

"We can't catch this guy by the law, so we may have to go out of the way of the law to get him"

"You mean kill?!" I could feel my eyes widening in surprise.

"Well, yes. You do want to get revenge for what happened to Madeline don't you? Or was I mistaken?" Those words sparked a fire in me as I grabbed the sword tightly in my hands, my knuckles growing white.

"Yes." My voice surprised me as it came out low and dark, he nodded approvingly.

"Then let's get started, I will warn you I don't plan on going easy" He then led me outside into my overgrown back yard "Beat down the grass and make a large circle" He pointed to the foot tall grass.

I automatically listened to him and without a second thought I started pulling, whacking, and beating grass until I had made a large enough circle. I could feel the sweat tickling my skin as it was rolling down my back, my muscles screaming for a break as my eyes stung. I stood up as my back opposed me, I had been bent over for too long. I stepped gingerly as my calf muscles were whining for me to sit down. I was finished with the circle after a good 2 hours of nonstop work.

"Hey! Come in and take a break, you need to rehydrate" I heard James and went inside quickly to be treated with cold water he had gone out to get from the store. "Change into something breathable and flexible, then we will get started with the training" I did as told and found a loose t-shirt and shorts, I pulled those on with my busted up, mud caked sneakers and hurried back out. James was already outside, twirling his own practice sword in one hand while walking around.

I walked out "Okay, I am ready to start" At this point it was like James was a different person, sternly speaking he was like a slightly quieter version of a drill sergeant. Though he didn't need to yell, his voice cut through the clearing easily, as if all the bugs had gone quiet just for this. He pushed my feet into the right fighting stance and guided my arms, he poked and prodded with the fake sword hard enough so that I would pay attention. After about an hour of the basic forms and positions he started getting serious.

"Kick!" his voice cut through the clearing and I kicked my foot out like he showed me, and 'WHACK' I got hit in the other leg by the fake sword, falling to the ground with a heavy thump as sticky dirty water seeped into my clothing. "You must move quicker than that to avoid getting hit. If this was a real sword you would've lost your leg." The pain in my leg dulled as I felt my adrenaline pumping, I was getting furious as I jumped back up he snickered "You want to come at me? C'mon, give it your best shot little girl" At that my fist shot out at him and 'CRACK' I could feel the wood slam against my wrist, over and over barely moving he would shoot down any and all advances. Soon I was on the ground bruised with warm sticky blood rolling down from my nose, my clothes dusty and my skin dirty. I could even feel the dirt from the ground caked under my finger nails. I looked up and saw him looking down at me "Be prepared for tomorrow." He then kneeled down and held his hand out to me and smiled "You did pretty well for a rookie" I took his hand and he lifted me up "Now, I got soap and a towel; and you need to use them" He then did something that surprised me, he brushed my hair from my face softly "You are going to get just as dirty the next day and the day after that, but it's best to stay clean" so I did as told and went up and cleaned myself up with the freezing cold water from the shower. I got dressed and then I went back down to find him sitting on the couch listening to the radio. I hadn't even realized that during our training the moon had risen, now the soft silver light from it flooded the room. He noticed me and sat up "We will continue to practice until you are close to perfect, then we will go after the killer."

Day after day we would continue with the same routine and until school let out I would struggle through the school day of boredom to arrive home just in time to prepare for his arrival. He wouldn't arrive until 5, and then we would train until close to midnight. Each time I would achieve new bruises and marks, skinned knees and elbows, bloody noses, dirt covered clothes and skin. I kept continuously falling forward and backwards, I would be slammed, flipped, thrown, and kicked to the ground. Each day would result in painful aches and bruises, bruises upon bruises. I would not cry though, this was for Madeline. For her I could stand anything. Once I thought of this I would get back up and fight again.

We trained for weeks and sometimes he would fight me; other times he would have me punch a tree or work on blocking his hits. Once my school let out I would spend the earlier part of my day scrounging the newspaper for anything about mysterious murders and every day it would be a struggle to get up, I knew this.

After about 5 weeks of non-stop training was when I realized I had made some progress, there were less bruises, less pain. I moved quicker, I could avoid his hits. When I fell down I could jump back up quicker.

He looked at me approvingly now "You're improving at an impeccable rate." He said before leaving. Soon enough I was fighting and holding my own against him, yes the training would still end up with me on the ground, but they would last longer and longer.

At the 10th week we trained late into the night, and before we knew it the sun had started shining its rays along the dark sky as the night receded. He was breathing heavily and I was still standing. I attacked him once more and swung the practice sword at him, and he fell to the ground and with my pole at his neck.

I had finally won.

He smiled up at me with a dirty face "I think you're ready" I reached out and lifted him up. "It's time to do some real searching." Once we were both clean we sat on the couch talking and giving first aid to each other.

"You know, your fighting stance is flawless" he looked over at me and smiled "and your eyes while fighting, being so serious. You are quite incredible, that's hard to come by in girls these days."