Chasing Chaos

Chapter 10

10.

The next day I woke up at 6 and was ready to face the mechanical fighting dummy.

"This will test your strength and swiftness. It will find your weak spots and push you through them." Danny spoke as he walked around me in a circle, "this dummy also had weak spots and it's up to you to find them."

"Alright." I was ready to fight this dummy, how hard could it be?

Danny stepped away and pressed a button. Across the room a door that I hadn't seen before slid out and the mechanical dummy walked towards me.

I was surprised how much it actually looked like a human, but its movements were very mechanical and robot-like.

I opened my stance and positioned my arms like I had seen people do on TV in real fights or movie fights. I bent my knees and stayed on my toes, like Austin had told me to.

When the dummy got a few feet away its eyes lite up red and it came sprinting towards me.

With a gasp I jumped out of the way just before it hit me. I sighed, adrenaline high.

But I had wasted too much time standing there. The dummy turned around and took a swing, its metal fist came in contact with my jaw. For a few seconds a saw stars.

"Weakness is not a thing, it's all in your head." My mothers voice came to me; comforting and smooth.

I shook my head to clear the stars and charged at the dummy. My fist met it's face but did no damage. It only made the dummy angrier. I saw it swing its arm towards my side and jumped out of the way just in time.

"Don't waste time." I told myself, this time I swung my arm right into its side. The dummy looked stunned for a second. Then it kicked with its leg full force and hit me in both shins. I fell to the floor on my knees, gasping for air. It swung its leg again, hitting me in the side and sending me sprawling across the floor. I jumped up shakily, ready to face it again. When it ran at me I swung into its side again with all the force I had. Without seeing the reaction of the dummy I did it again and again. Finally the dummy turned and grabbed my arm, I screamed as it grasped me and flung me at the wall.

My head and back hit hard, filling my vision with stars. I struggled to get back up but the pain was pushing me down.

For the last time, I let weakness win.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

"Do you think she's alright?"

"Yeah, she strong. She surprised me by not giving up easily today. I don't know what you told her last night, but whatever it was it helped."

I blinked a few times to clear the stars. The ground beneath me was hard and cold. My body ached and I felt weakness creep in. I pushed it all out. I ignored all the pain and weakness, it was all in my head.

Austin and Danny were squatting down next to me. We were all still in the white room. I sat up as they turned towards me.

"Hey that was insane!" Austin exclaimed.

I laughed to myself, boys were always into fights.

"How long was I down?" It couldn't have been long since I was still in this room.

"About 10 min. Great job out there. Don't worry, soon you will be able to beat up that dummy in seconds. You just gotta build up a bit more muscle." Danny winked at me and I smiled.

"How about you go get her fixed up." Danny looked at Austin, and then to me, "we will move on to controlling your powers tomorrow."

Danny got up and walked out of the room, leaving the door open for us. Austin gave me a hand and pulled me up.

Sharp pains hit me in the sides. My body screamed and my head created stars again. I gasped and tried to push out the pain. I couldn't think about it any more, I needed to distract myself.

Austin held my side and waited for me to calm down. My arm glowed red and my body filled with warmth. I don't know what that was about but it felt nice. Austin carried/dragged me up to the living room and helped me position myself comfortably on the couch.

He disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a tube full of clear looking lotion.

"This will soothe your muscles and help you heal faster." Austin opened the tube and put some on his finger. He took my arm and rubbed it along my bruises. His hands were tender and gentle. I watched his face unknowingly. I had always loved his eyes. His face was scrunched with concentration as he rubbed the clear gel. I had the feeling his mother had taught him how to do this. I bet my mother had used this same gel too.

When he was done he helped me to my room. I sat on bed, my legs crossed as he stood beside me.

"Here take these." He handed me two large green pills, some sort of pain killer. "They work fast and are very strong. You won't have to worry about sleeping tonight."

I took the pills and swallowed them. I felt them go all the way down into my stomach.

"You did awesome today. Even though the dummy won you kept getting back up. My dad was happy about that. Tomorrow you are going to focus more on your brain and how you react to things. That way you can deal with the colors your arm creates. It will start getting stronger and creating more ways to help you perfect yourself.

I nodded, what mind games would it create? I felt nervousness settle in my stomach but I ignored it. My brain felt like a cloud was coming into it and pushing all my thoughts away. I laid down and closed my eyes.

For a minute it was quiet and I thought Austin was gone but then I felt something warm against my cheek, his hand. He was holding my face in his hand. I was too groggy to open my eyes or move so I let sleep take me with Austin's hand cradling my head.