Gyfted

Part 5 - Whoops, There Goes The Punching Bag!

The next day, 7 more gyfted arrive. I get to know them; there's Nadia, a tall girl who loves unicorns and can smash a brick with her bare fist, there's Jonas who can apparently control water, but he doesn't seem to be doing it very well. He just stands there all silent and edgy. There's Rose, who can heal a person through touch, Lukas, who can turn invisible (and who I think should stay that way) and Jacob, whose gyft is supposed to be able to move super fast but to me just seems super annoying. There's also Eleanor, who can bend her body in all sorts of weird, cool ways, just like ElastiGirl, as well as Michelle. She can teleport, which sounds really cool, but only about twenty metres away at a time. Now that there's more of us, the officials have started murmuring between each other. They seem to be nervous. Maybe it's the idea of so many powerful kids in one building. It's getting pretty boring here so Alliya and I convinced one of the staff to teach us some hand-to-hand combat. It's really fun, and today Michelle and Nadia asked if they could learn with us.
"All right girls." Our instructor, Ms Zhou, tells us. "Today we will be learning how to throw a punch." I cheer under my breath. This is going to be fun. She walks up to a punching bag nestled in the corner, one that I didn't notice before.
"Alright girls, I want you to show me what you've got." She says.
We each take turns punching the air in front of us. Nadia, as expected, almost throws herself forward with the force of her punch. Surprisingly, Alliya has a pretty wicked right hook. Once we are finished beating up invisible opponents, Ms Zhou grabs some boxing gloves and hands them out.
"Normally, I would just bind your hands with boxing tape, but since this is your first time using a punching bag, these gloves will help." She explains. Alliya goes first, and starts beating the fudge out of the bag. Of course, it being super heavy, it only moves a little with each punch. The others follow, but none are as impressive as Alliya. When it's my turn, I start whacking it as hard as I can, but it only sways slightly. But when Nadia steps up to the punching bag, she whacks it and it goes swinging around before coming back and smacking her in the head. She drops to the ground like a stone.
"Nadia, are you okay?" Alliya cries, running over to where she fell. Nadia peels her face off the concrete floor and growls.
She draws back her fist and slams it into the punching bag, which breaks off the chain and flies across the room straight into the boy who just walked in. Jacob.
Michelle screams.
"Jacob!" She cries. "Someone go get a medic, or Rose! We have to help him!" Nadia has gone as white as a sheet and Alliya has her hands clamped over her mouth to stop herself from whimpering. I run out of the training room and into the courtyard.
"Rose!" I scream at the top of my lungs. "We need you, nowww!" A few moments later, Rose comes racing down the stairs from her room, her face ashen.
"What is it Emmi?"
"It's Jacob" I pant. "He got squashed by a punching bag."
We run back into the training hall where Ms Zhou and Nadia have gotten the punching bag off Jacob. Alliya goes and stands outside the door. And I join her.
"I can't stand the sight of blood. Or injuries." She says weakly. I nod my head and cautiously peek through the door. Rose is crouching over Jacob's limp form as she performs her special "heal-y magic". I've never seen it in person before, so I watch, intrigued. After a few minutes of healing, Rose whispers something to Nadia, who picks up Jacob and walks past us, out into the elevator. We follow her to the sickbay where she deposits Jacob, and walk her up to her room. Nadia is almost in tears.
"It was all my fault. I almost killed him. I would have, if not for Rose." She says sadly.
"Don't worry Nadia, it was all an accident" I reassure her. Just then, Tomas skids around the corner.
"Where's Jacob? I heard Nadia threw a punching bag at him!" He exclaims. I shoot him a not-now-you're-making-it-worse death stare as Nadia bursts into a fresh round of tears.