Come In

Chapter Fifteen

I walk along a deserted road, wandering aimlessly. I've no clue where I am going, or where I've come from. I'm just walking. A thick, morose feeling clouds the air that I breathe, but I walk on, as if my destination is of the utmost importance.

Suddenly, a building appears in the distance. It's tall and grey- very industrial. As I near it, I notice that rusted black gates surround the building, with no way in. It's closed off from everything, and the lack of a door makes it seem like it isn't an accident. However, I know that whatever is in that building, is important.

Silently, I climb over the gates, surprised by my grace and agility. I walk up a long pathway to the entrance, and notice two men with black batons, guarding the entrance.

I run to the shadows of a cluster of trees, and stick to the edge of the grounds until I am able to touch the cold, crumbling stone of the bricks that make this building. I walk stealthily toward the guard closest to me, and grab his baton from his hand, and deliver a strong kick to his face. I don't know where these fighting skills come from, but I don't stop to dwell on it. The second guard runs up to attack me with his baton. I duck away from the blow, crouching to the ground and spinning my leg out, tripping him. He falls to the ground with a muted thud! as I rise from my crouched position, and hit the side of his head with the baton that I took from the first guard, effectively knocking him out cold.

I walk into the building, and I'm immediately met by a beautiful face. Pale as paper, with an angular face, a strong jawline, dark lips and beautifully blue eyes. He looks back at me with no expression.

Cam.

I run up to him to throw my arms around him, but he pushes me to the ground. I stare up at him, tears pooling in my eyes

"Cam! D-don't you remember me? It's Anna!" I say, hysteria evident in my voice. He gives me a look full of malice.

"I don't know an 'Anna'." He spits the words out with disgust.

I jolted awake, my breathing erratic, my heart beating a mile a minute. What a dream! I could feel buckets of sweat drying on my skin as I waited for my breathing to calm, and my heart rate to get back to normal. I looked at my clock and noticed that it was five thirty in the morning. I only had half an hour until my alarm would go off, so I decided to turn it off.

I tried to mentally prepare myself for the training that Victor had in store for me, but I had nothing to go on, and I didn't know what I should be preparing for. Were we learning to fight today? I remembered how well I fought in my dream, and wondered whether it would be like that- completely instinctual.

Deciding that procrastinating wasn't a very fruitful activity, I rose from my bed, and got ready for the day.

It was six in the morning when I walked down the stairs in a pair of joggers and a loose plain white t-shirt. Victor was nowhere to be seen, so I expected that he was probably still in bed. I walked to the kitchen and made myself some coffee, then poured myself a bowl of cereal. I ate it quickly, and washed my bowl and spoon up. After that, I leant against the counter and waited for Victor to come downstairs. Five minutes passes before I noticed him outside, dressed in a black tracksuit. He looked even younger now. I was glad; the thought of training to fight with him in the condition I first saw of him, was slightly uncomfortable.

I watched as he leapt from the ground, performed a somersault, then landed gracefully. I stood for a while, staring in awe as he performed countless other gymnastics effortlessly. I wondered if any of this was actually possible for the human body to do- I couldn't even imagine myself doing a cartwheel effectively, let alone a somersault!

I shook my head to break myself out of my reverie. I was excited to train today- it brought me one step closer to getting Cam back. He was the only reason for me to even accept this... job.

After giving myself a short pep talk, I walked out into the bright sunlight. It was a rare sunny day, and all of the colours seemed to meld together into a beautiful dance. The grass seemed a shade greener, the flowers seemed more vivid. Even the air had a soft luminescence to it.

Victor paused his workout as he noticed me walking towards him. He smiled at me, a smile that I returned with a bit more enthusiasm as I would have if the day wasn't so nice.

"Right, shall we begin?" Victor said, bending down to grab a pair of leather fingerless glove. He passed them to me and I slid them on. I smiled as I nodded.

"To begin, I will teach you the basic stance that you should employ in a fight." He explained, as he bent his front leg in front of him, and stretched the other one out behind him. He sunk into the stance, and bounced slightly. I frowned, trying to mirror his stance. I guess I did pretty well, because he soon moved on.

"Now, what I wanna teach you first, is how to punch." He said. He stretched his left arm out in front of him, making a fist, and rested his right fist on his hip. He seemed to grab the air with his left hand, and pulled it back so that it was in the same position as his right arm, which had moved out in front of him like his left hand was. His fists moved simultaneously. It seemed easy enough, so I attempted it, again and again. He gave me reassuring looks whenever I looked at him. I felt like I was picking this up really easily- perhaps my dream was right; maybe this was all instinctual.