Ana: Incipience

Chapter 9

Her head ached and her eyes struggled to open.

"Ana?" Her voice was sweet, filled with worried.

Ana opened her eyes to see Melody's face standing over her. She felt a light touch to her face.

"Are you okay?" The sun burned her eyes and Ana groaned in pain. Melody passed Ana some pain killers and water as she sat up.

"Hey." Ana's voice was coarse. Her eyes wouldn't open up all the way. "How did I get here?" She quickly gulped down the medications.

"A guy dropped you here earlier, said you would be fine. I nearly killed him, but he was adamant that he was the one who saved you. Did he hurt you? If he did, I'll go find him and kill her." Her voice grew stern with anger.

"No he was telling the truth. Jonathan saved me." Ana saw her arms speckled with purple and blue bruises and winced at the memories they stirred.

"He left you this. I didn't read it. Who did this to you?" Melody passed a small perfectly folded white piece of paper to Ana.

"I don't know." Ana lied. Melody nodded and checked her watch. She swore.

"I have to go to training, but I'll bring you food at lunch time. Rest up. I'm glad you're okay." She rushed out the door.

Ana was alone.

She opened the note from Jonathon.

Ana,

You are excused from training for the next two days. Your absence will not affect your standing.

Your roommate is a good friend.

Jon

She tucked the note away and shuffled to the shower. She avoided the mirror but couldn't help but view the deep purple bruises forming a small line along her neck. She gentle ran her hands down her body to check for any extreme tenderness and couldn't find any. She was relieved as she stood under the stream of hot water. She gentle rinsed the blood from her hair before shuffling back to bed. The next two days went by very slowly.

On the third day Ana awoke early, ecstatic to be feeling better. She grabbed out her makeup bag and sat gently down in front of the mirror. She painstakingly covered the greening bruises on her face and the one across her neck. Her face was still swollen but with the make up on it looked like she had just had some serious Botox in her cheeks. She could do little about the ones on her arms and back, makeup would just make her slippery. She settled with a jumper over her singlet. Melody awake at around 7am and seeing that Ana was up smiled widely. Once she was ready the girls went to the food hall for breakfast before gong to the combat hall.

James stood in front of a few long stretches of sprung gymnastic floor.

"Good morning students. I trust that your muscles are sore. Today we will continue on our strength and agility training. Just as I said yesterday the testing for this portion will be in 3 weeks. This is your first chance from orientation to upgrade your group level. However, if you fail to impress you will be downgraded or expelled from the academy." His lips were upturned and he looked as though he was enjoying the student's nervousness. Ana looked around for Boris anxiously, she could not see him or his thugs.

"Let's begin." He threw out his arms. The students followed James's lead and spread out on the mat to stretch. They then lined up on the end of the mat and alternated between running and jumping down the mat. Before long they were all out of breath. James showed them some other exercises and equipment and let them go on their own. He exclaimed that they would have 3 hours of guided training and then after lunch there would be open training. The students could train on their own what they believed they lacked in but that they were not being forced to attend.

After grabbing lunch Ana and Melody returned to the combat hall and started a strength work out. They started with pull-ups. Neither of them could do any unassisted but they did as many as they could while helping each other. After doing a few sets they moved on to push ups. Ana's arms burned and she could feel her makeup being sweat off. Her head ached but still she pushed on as Melody took her through a variety of exercises.

Ana collapsed down onto her bed, exhausted and in a considerable amount of pain.

The next three weeks were the same. Ana and Melody awoke early in order to be able to eat breakfast and arrive in the hall an hour before the others. They stretched and did a few light exercises. James's and the other arrived at approximately 10am and they trained as a group till midday. After eating lunch, Melody and Ana returned to the combat hall first to do strength exercises and then they raced each other in various sprints and climbs. After slowly shuffling back to their dorm rooms they both collapsed asleep. Ana did not see Jonathon of Boris those few weeks but still she looked. She longed to say thank you to the mysterious Jonathon. It was the night before the testing and Melody and Ana were in bed early, they spoke in hushed anxious voices.

"Good luck tomorrow Ana" Melody had turned on her side and was facing Ana hugging her pillow.

"Good luck to you too Melody." Ana said as she smiled at her new friend. They had both improved exponentially from when they begun training. Ana was nervous for the next day as was Melody, but they would get through it together. They closed their eyes and fell asleep quickly, the next day couldn't come fast enough.

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