Chapter 12: Chapter 12
The second phase of my training turned out to be excessively intense and adrenaline-rushing, as Holden had planned a three-hour session for me. As I stepped out of the elevator into the training arena, I discovered him standing upright with his chest thrown, fully dressed as a British soldier, wearing a khaki uniform with a bullet-proof waistcoat over it and a matching pair of heavy combat boots. Holden's new look surprised me pleasantly as I marched towards him, with my hand in a salute and he nodded approvingly.
“Miss Ellie,” muttered Holden, removing a bullet-proof vest from a bag he held in his hand and handing it to me. “You are going to wear this bullet-proof vest during the entire session today,” I donned the vest quickly which felt incomprehensibly light and cool, despite its rough texture. Holden gestured me to follow him as he marched towards the shooting area, which forced me to wonder confusingly as to why he wished to train me in shooting, but, as it was a known and clearly understood fact that he was a highly knowledgeable and shrewd man, I realized his main motive behind leading me there, which initially seemed beyond my comprehension. At the shooting area, he made me wear the shooting range ear muffs which appeared similar to headsets, but for ear protection. Now, as any ordinary person applied his thinking, I moved to the table and lifted the handgun, aiming it at the mannequin in its direction. But before I could muster the courage to press the trigger, Holden snatched it away from my hands and placed it back on the table.
“Now this is an action what an ordinary person would take in this arena, but not something that a telepath like you is supposed to do,” he clarified, clasping my shoulders and moving me a foot away from the table, and I understood everything, feeling a little foolish for not realizing it earlier. “Girl you know the drill. On the count of three,” he instructed, moving aside to give me full space. “One….Two….Three…” I emptied my mind and opened my eyes, focusing them on the gun and simultaneously exerting the force of my muscles, making the sunrise over the table and into the air. And without any further instructions, I raised my hands to support the force exerted from my body and compressed my fingers which caused the pressing of the trigger, as the bullet left the gun, it traveled towards the mannequin and shot through its forehead.
Holden looked at me approvingly with a half-smile but stayed silent as he was probably aware that this was just the beginning of my achievements of the day. I practiced shooting with my powers a dozen more times till I became consistent and my accuracy improved. The next part of the session involved stopping bullets which were a tough cookie as the bullets traveled way faster than any other common object and that's where the bullet-proof vest came in handy, otherwise, it was assuredly an excruciating death for me.
“Listen carefully Ellie,” he instructed, pointing a handgun at me from approximately ten feet away. “This is going to be a little more grueling than the previous tasks, and it might wound you to a considerable extent so hear me out. For you to control these bullets, that are going to be sprayed at extreme speeds as you are aware, you must align the focusing power of your brain with the will of your heart. In simpler terms, you must focus your mind on the gun and bring out the emotions on the bullets. It’s the same as the apples being thrown at you, however, these apples could be controlled if the intensity of your focus mismatched with the emotions that were emitted by your heart, but here, in this case, they need to be aligned perfectly. And trust me, Ellie, once you attain that inexplicably powerful state of alignment, you will be unstoppable….”
Holden's simplification of the internal process made sense to me, but my gut feeling pointed towards an unfavorable outcome. Plucking up an immense amount of courage, and directing my focus on the gun, I gave him the green signal, and a spray of bullets came charging at me. My emotions didn't kick in at the right moment and the right intensity and I ended up flying backward and crashing onto the floor due to the colossal force of the bullets. My chest nearly burst out with pain as though banged by a wrecking ball and my back hurt miserably. Holden got me onto my feet and seated me on the chair, looking at me with absolute pity.
“Ellie…your courage and determination are admirable and your loyalty incomparable. You are possibly the strongest girl that I have come across in my damned life. And the enormous feats that you have achieved in this brief period of our training are unmatchable. Therefore, as your teacher, I would suggest that we stop it at this point-"
“No!” I cut in, rising from the chair. “I have to do this, my friend's life and future are at stake. If I crumble now, I won't be able to look myself in the eye ever again. This drill can be mastered, it's just I am not following your instructions. I need to align my focus and emotions perfectly, but my emotions aren't gaining much strength today I don't understand why,” I finished, looking at Holden frantically and hoping for his approval.
“Very well then, let’s give it another shot but if the result is not in our favor, we are stopping, agreed?”
“Definitely,” I declared, as Holden urged me to focus on my mission, on saving the life of a potentially guiltless friend and let the love I had in my heart for him erupt like a volcano when confronting those bullets.
I closed my eyes, imagining Matt's tenderly innocent face and dreaded the kind of horrible condition he might be in prison, perhaps ill-treated by the police. These thoughts caused a gush of love and angst from my heart, and I opened my eyes, placing my utmost concentration on the gun…..and the emotions erupted out of my heart….and everything around me stood still….time seemed to have halted or was slowed down…..and the pulling of the trigger sounded…releasing a mass of bullets in slow motion….I waved my hand slowly, thoroughly deflecting them and they were sent crashing haphazardly across the place and everything returned to the normal pace.
I fell onto my knees instantly, my eyes brimming with tears and my heart weeping with joy at my success. Holden knelt too, and with a tear of joy trickling down his cheek, he patted me on my head.
“You are an almost ready, dear child,” he exclaimed, as we got onto our feet. “Tomorrow’s going to be your final session. I can't express how proud I am as a teacher,” he grabbed his bag from the table and removed a plastic cover containing a black suit. “It’s made of spandex, which is shockproof and extremely light,” he added, digging his bag again and fetching a pair of gloves. “These gloves are specially designed to stick to any type of wall, be it metallic or concrete. Consider this as a gift of excellence from your humble teacher,” he beseeched, handing the suit and gloves to me, which I accepted gleefully and thanked him.
“Mr. Holden,” I piped in, halting at the elevator, as I recalled something of vital importance to me. “Why did you mention that I love Matt?” he erupted with laughter at this query and shook his head in amusement.
“My dear Ellie, the only person for whom a girl readily puts her life at stake, is the one who has gained ownership of her heart and mind,” he illuminated, noticing the redness conquering my cheeks as I rushed away, blushing profusely.