Jake

Chapter 34 - Alive

Aldrek seemed to move in front of the boys, his eyes vigilant as the others watched him.

"Come, let me show you what I can do" Imelda sighed as she linked her arm in to mine pulling me away just in time for chaos to sound behind me. I tried to turn my head, but it was impossible to see once Imelda pulled me around the side of the house.

"What are they doing?" I asked, wanting to stay and watch the boys.

"Practicing" Imelda answered bored as she led me towards the back of the house where my eyes began to catch sight of a long track, a large target board at the very end with numerous holes in the middle.

"Wait here" Imelda smiled as she let go of my arm and ran in the back door of the house into the kitchen.

I shuffled my feet and stood at the start of the white line in direct view of the target squinting my eyes. I closed one eye and pretended to shoot as if I would be any good as I heard the back door open and close again.

"I'll show you" Imelda smiled as she stood beside me, her bow and arrows in hand.

"Really?" I asked, glancing towards her with my eyebrows raised

"Really" She laughed as she pulled her arm back and took aim

"It's easy, it's just about patience and concentration. Breath in" She instructed as she inhaled deeply before letting it go "Then breath out" She spoke before releasing her hard grip, the arrow darting rapidly out of her handle straight into the board's middle.

"Wow" I breathed as I stared at the perfect arrow hanging from the middle of the board "I can't do that" I grumbled, knowing I'd end up sending the arrow through someone's head.

"You can" Imelda rolled her eyes as she held the bow out towards me

"Seriously Imelda, I can't..." I told her, my eyes wide.

"You can, you say I can't a lot, and look at what you've already discovered about yourself" Imelda persuaded.

"I suppose" I mumbled as I slowly took the bow.

"I'll go slowly" She said more confident in me than I was in myself. Imelda stood beside me and directed me on how to hold the bow, it was hard, but I managed surprisingly.

Imelda began to explain to me how to aim, how to concentrate, what to concentrate on and how to create the perfect line. She adjusted my elbow countless times telling me it wasn't supposed to be held quite so high.

It took her a good fifteen minutes to explain to me the simple logistics of bow holding before she pulled an arrow from her bag on the ground.

"This is a normal arrow, a plastic with a wooden tip, not as strong as mine, but it does the job" Imelda proudly explained her hobby as she began to show me how to place the arrow in correctly.

Altogether it took Imelda about an hour to explain fully how to control my movements with the bow and arrows. My first dozen tries were useless, flailing the arrow straight towards the ground or snapping it out of its place onto our feet. Imelda and I laughed, enjoying my horrible attempt before what would be the most serious situation of my life, it was nice and I couldn't have asked for a closer friend than her. I needed a friend right now, a real friend, and that's exactly what Imelda was.

Eventually, I shot the arrow straight ahead, easily missing the target altogether, but none the less, shooting it correctly. Imelda praised me like a small child, frustrating me, but I admired her guidance.

I continued to listen to the noise towards the front of the house, the boys wrestling their moves to top condition. I wanted to see what was going on, how they moved and who was the strongest, but Imelda seemed eager to keep me away from it, distracting me whenever my head would turn towards a yelp or snarl.