Chaos • TW [2]

[18]

...

Rose walked out of her physics class only to be tugged by arm and rushed down the hallway. She looked to her left at the kidnapper and narrowed her eyes at Lydia in confusion.

"Lydia, what are you doing?" Rose asked.

"We're going to help Allison." Lydia stated determinedly as the two girls briskly walked down the hallway.

"But we have calculus?" Rose reminded her.

Lydia shot her a glare and asked, "And you actually wanted to go?"

Rose frowned and mumbled, "Not really."

Rose and Lydia made their way to Lydia's car where Allison was already waiting. She sat timidly in the backseat, causing Rose to wonder whether or not she was being held against her will.

Once again the three girls found themselves roaming through the woods. Lydia had been pinning up a target to a tree while Allison stared blankly it at, and Rose was apprehensive about the whole thing.

"Lydia," Rose asked impatiently, "How is shooting an arrow going to help Allison?"

"Yeah," Allison agreed, "Do you really think this is gonna help?"

Lydia let out a heavy sigh and she trudged back over to where they were standing. Lydia immediately regretted wearing heeled boots, but she didn't know that she would be in the woods today.

"I know that if you think it's not going to help it definitely won't," Lydia stated, "So get your head into it, shoot a few and see what happens."

Allison inhaled and exhaled deeply. She then slowly lifted the bow and drew the arrow back. Her usual steady hand was trembling; the same way it was during painting earlier this morning.

Rose watched carefully, praying that Allison would at least hit the target.

A whizzing sound soared through the air as the arrow flung of the bow. But they all watched at the arrow hit the ground, nowhere near the target.

Rose dropped her head in disappointment, and Allison let out a sigh of frustration.

Rose frowned slightly but tried to sound encouraging when she said, "It's only the first one, maybe you just need to warm up or something."

"I've never had to warm up before." Allison whispered, still staring at the failed shot.

"Maybe you should try holding the string a different way," Lydia suggested, "Try the Mongolian draw!"

Allison and Rose both turned their heads to look over at Lydia. They both looked shocked as their eyebrows furrowed at her.

"What? I read." Lydia then looked down at the arrow and up at Allison, "Try it."

Allison nodded and lifted the bow to give it another try. Once again the arrow flung off her bow and hit the ground. Completely missing again. Allison didn't react, she just looked completely disappointed.

"Okay, um..." Lydia began at a complete loss for words. "Take a second to close your eyes, and imagine the arrow going into the target."

Allison shut her eyes tightly and exhaled a large breath. A few seconds later her eyes popped open, and her body jerked with surprise and fear, as she looked off into the distance further into the woods.

"Did you see that?" She asked, her eyes darting around.

"Uh...no." Rose shook her head slowly.

"Wait here." Allison instructed as she slowly picked up the remaining arrows, her eyes still focused on the woods.