The Incredibles

♢ Chapter 6 ♢

I had the dream again. The man in suit reached out his hands to me again. The dream did not black out as early as it did last time, it gave me a few seconds more. I had resisted the man's request to bring me to somewhere. And then it backed out again. It then occured to me that if I could see the future, that dream was probably indeed a premonition. I sat on my bed scared stiff. Perspiration formed on my forehead and I felt dizzy after some time. Was it because that I had unconsciously used my ability while I was sleeping and when I got scared my will was fluctuating? I calmed myself down and tried not to think about the dream. Now is not the time to think about them. It is the time for my training. I inhaled a great amount of oxygen.

"Good morning dad,mum,Sasha,Shawn........" My voice trailed off upon seeing an unknown figure in front of me. He was a frail old man with a white beard going all the way down his neck. I was disgusted. He wore clothes with holes everywhere, and old tattered jeans. Upon seeing me, his eyes had brightened.

"Good mornin', miss Sherrie I spose'?" I nodded and ran to mum like a scaredy cat after that. I hid behind her back, to make sure he does not pedophile me again.

"Oh no no no no..... I'm thy trainer. Don't be scared of meh!" The more words he spoke, the more uncomfortable I got. When I learnt that he was my trainer, I was strongly against it.

"Your ability. Show me." I spoke.

"Thou is really curious,aren't thou? I will show thy....only after you come to the mounts' with me to train. That's how you deal with stubborn kids.. Like the one at home." The old man chuckled.

"My name is George Tunnick. You may call me Teacher. Only teacher, and nothin' else." His voice sounded awfully hoarse. I hesitated to accept his request, but upon thinking about the training I must have if I do not want to leave my family, I accepted his request reluctantly. He smiled and told me to pack my luggage as we were going to stay in the mountains for 1 week. Training in the mountains? I betted that it was just going to be survival tests. I loved that one and was sure that I would survive. It would be like a piece of cake for me.

I dragged my heavy luggage behind me as I bade farewell to my family. George or whatsoever teacher led me by the route to the mountains. I was expecting a car, but it was nowhere to be seen.

"Old--, teacher, where is the car?" I could not help but ask. It was impossible for a human to walk from the city to the mountains. It would have taken 3 days, that is,with food and water. However, since I have not thought that far, all I had in my luggage were clothes. Screw me. I waited for George's reply,but he had not stopped walking to try to answer my question at all.

"Teacher??" I almost shouted into his ears. He continued walking, but started to talk seconds later.

"Shush Sherrie, when we are walking,we don't talk until we reach our destination. It's part of your training, to only focus on one thing at one time. As for your question, no, we are definitely walking to the mountains. You are not any rich man's girl, so don't fantasize about anything more." He frowned and sounded irritated.

After he finished talking, his speed increased, and I had to scurry like a mouse behind him in order to catch up. As I walked, I thought of what he said. Firstly, he was not using his ancient way of communicating with 'thy' and 'thou'. This made things easier for our communication, but I could not understand why he had changed his way of speaking. Was it because that he was so irritated he couldn't care less about his old image? I stifled a laughter. Secondly, his tone was different. It was more of a cheerful tone when we were in the house and he was speaking to me infront of my parents. When he spoke just now, it was scary. It had shut my daring personality down for long, even until now. There was an awkward silence as we walked on to the mountains.

The night soon came and I was exhausted and hungry. I only had a bottle of water to drink. My legs were sore and I needed to rest terribly. However, as George's speed kept gradually increasing, I had no time to rest. I looked back at the distance we walked and jogged and then ran, and wondered how I had managed to even come this far. I calculated the maximum time my legs can support me in this state and then die down. It was approximately 3 seconds. I squealed in pain as loudly as I could while walking for the next 3 seconds and then plan to collapse, in order to catch George's attention. The success rate was low as this kind of cold-blooded old man were common in action drama series and they would always give their students tough training that could literally kill a normal human. I sighed as I waited for the next 3 seconds to pass.....

Time...slow... My eyes brightened. I could slow the time of my legs down and make the 3 seconds that it could last longer! I smiled and focused as I activated my ability. I had invented a new way of activating my ability that last time I was in bed, and I couldn't wait to try it out too.

"Time o' time, go slower for my legs! I gather my strength here, time manipulation, activate!" I opened my eyes halfway to see George turn his head back to look at me and immediately turned back upon realizing what happened. I thought I saw a smile on his face, but I quickly brushed off that thought as I figured that it was impossible. After the chant, my legs felt better and I could once catch up to George again. I regained my cheerful and daring self and laughed heartily as I overtook George.

"Bye bye, old man! A student will one day bound to surpass the teacher!" I was a bit complacent as I kept running. "Sher.... Th...way...!" I could only hear George say those words as the distance between us grew longer. I paused to think of it and suddenly realization struck me. I had went the wrong way. George had already turned into that section in the middle of the pathway and I was in front of the section, as I had went straight. I hit myself for the dumbness inside me and immediately changed course. How should I face him when I meet him once again? After the remarks just now? It would be awkward when I meet him afterwards.

My legs grew sore again as I was walking towards the section. I was depressed and did not want to meet George, else I would be embarrassed. As I collapsed onto the ground I realised that the time manipulation effect had gone away. My will to go faster was not strong enough as I had the thought of wanting to stop and never meet George again. Then, I felt dizzy. The ability had started to eat my life energy up. I was terrified. Cold sweat formed on my face as I tried to harness energy from within me to shout for George. If teacher were really that good, then he would have found me and healed me. My eyelids became heavier every second. I had to calm down, but I couldn't. Mom and dad were not in the vicinity and my only hope was George, who seemed to be so far ahead of me. I knew I should not have used my ability; mom and dad had already explained the consequences to me. Why was I so reckless? Before I could answer my questions, my ability got the better of me and I passed out. Again.