The debut of the training II

•••

" Someone is knocking on the door! " Donald shouted to his fiancee from a little space near the living room he had converted into his small office, " Do you have an idea who might it be? "

" No, but don't interrupt your work for that, I'll go open " Volga responded while going out from their bedroom, " I have the feeling it's for me anyway ".

She reached the handle of the door and when she opened it she found the young man, Andre, standing there before her.

" Why am I not surprised? " She didn't give him the time to open his mouth but immediately added, " don't bother yourself to answer. So... why are you here, our training session is only within two hours? "

" The situation has changed and I'm so sorry to ask you so much but I think I need more than one hour of shooting practice, " since Andre's reply was just too vague Volga ended up being confused.

When she asked him to repeat but to be more clear this time Andre saw Don appearing behind her with his kind smile.

" Well, why don't you just enter in? I'm pretty sure your explanation would be more clear when we sit around a table, and that's good timing since we were about to have our lunch.

The young man gazed at Volga as if to ask for her permission to stay since he started to understand how precious her moments alone with him were.

The woman shrugged, " well, he's right and I'm sure you are hungry, aren't you? " She moved aside of the door to let him enough space to enter while extending her arm towards the inside as if to show him the way.

Andre nodded and he timidly went inside the apartment

Volga pushed him to the dining room and forced him to have a seat.

She was fully aware that since the young man lost all his souvenirs he naturally had problems with socializing but what she couldn't understand is that, though they didn't truly spend so much time together, she estimated that they were both at least enough close for him to see her as a familiar person and thus be at ease around her.

[ Maybe he had problems with socializing even before losing his memory ] she guessed.

Don made it back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room to take the plates and the food, after he placed everything on the table he went to take his place and once he sat down Volga moved her seat closer to his.

As they started eating Don tried his best to engage the discussion by asking Andre about how he felt staying in Stainfall so far and if he could yet manage to accommodate himself to that lifestyle. As he didn't want to seem rude, especially before someone as kind as Don, Andre responded courteously at each of his questions but he never extended his replies, and whenever he gave a reply the couple would glance at each other as they understood that the man was purposely avoiding to go to much in details.

In the end, they finished eating in silence.

" Well, what about telling us why you came visiting me? " Volga asked once everyone had emptied their plates and put down their utensils.

Andre was a little reluctant to talk since he had promised Jamal and the others that he would stay quiet about the danger menacing the city so he couldn't how to formulate the request he was about to ask the woman without explanation.

While he was taking his time to think all the attention of the couple was centered on him, it lasted a quite short moment until he finally raised his head to talk. " I... I have made an important bet with Jamal and I somehow came to ask for help to win against him- ".

" Impossible " Volga cut him and replied straightforwardly.

" But- "

Andre tried to negotiate but Volga completely inflexible in her reply. " Listen, boy, I'm not trying to be mean by telling you that but you've just chosen the wrong person to compete with," she paused, " just so you know, I'm not trying to sound arrogant but I'm pretty strong myself and yet I am not sure I would be capable of winning against him in whatever discipline it would be. That guy is something else ".

" But you didn't let me finish, " Andre could finally catch that chance to explain himself, " I won't be competing against him directly, but Carla instead, in a match of paintball ".

" Oh I see, " she nodded, " That's too is impossible, " she repeated with the same calm tone

As he was looking at her blurred by her reply she tried to explain herself since she didn't want to feel too discouraged or lose confidence in himself, " that girl has been well trained for a longer period than your, she has good instinct and she is quite fast at finding good strategy in a battle. She is highly skilled in the manipulation of firearms and not forgetting the most important part which is that she had a lot more experience in real-life combats. Do you have any talent capable of countering all those qualities of hers? "

" ... "

" Just like I thought, " she shrugged.

As he remained silent, Volga assumed that he understood and agreed with her arguments but when she was about to pass to another subject Andre said, " that's more than a simple duel or a simple bet ".

When he looked at her and repeated the same words, in his eyes, Volga could tell how motivated he was, though he was conscious of the difference of strength and skills between him and Carla, he didn't want to give up and was still holding onto the small percentage of chances he had to win no matter how tiny the odds were.

Don didn't miss to notice those strong feelings of his, he took his bride-to-be's hand in his and told her " I'm sure you saw it as well as, that spark in his eyes, didn't you? That boy is motivated and he deserves to be given a chance, " he smiled, " and I'm sure you're bored staying here all-day watching me writing about other people's dreams and fear, am I wrong? "

" But I love staying here and spending time with you " She replied to him while holding his hand tighter.

" Not more than I do " Don paused, he raised her hand drew it closer to his mouth and he kissed it, " but you know when I proposed to marry you I didn't mean to kidnap you, holding you in my apartment and keep you away from all what would make you happy. Don't hold back, go have some fun playing with guns and lend this boy a hand, I will always here waiting for you ".

Volga stayed a long moment staring at his lover's face and suddenly surrounded his neck with her arms and kissed him savagely.

" Andre go wait for me... outside, let me prepare myself and I will join in a few minutes," she ordered him in hurry between two breaths while still kissing Don.

The young man didn't need more explanations as he immediately understood what was going on, he jumped out from his chair and quickly walked towards the exit, and the time he reached the door, pieces of clothes were flying here and there in the apartment.

He was sitting in the hallway his knees curved close to his chest and his back resting on the wall just in front of the apartment when the door got opened, at least one-half an hour later. Volga came out his clothes changed, as she then dressed in a tracksuit, out of breath with her cheeks slightly pink, she made a sign of the head as to tell him to get up and get going and then she started rearranging her messy hair while she was walking in the hallway, ahead of him.

" Didn't you bring your weapon with you? " she asked him when they left the building.

" No, I didn't think we would use it today " he replied, a bit embarrassed.

" Well, though it will be a match of paintball you have to keep in mind that it would be just like fighting on a real battlefield ". When she finally finished brushing her hair with her hand, she smiled and patted Andr's back, " let's pass by your home to take your gun and we will go to that old building to resume your training ".

The latter nodded and like that, they headed to his apartment.

•••

Andre left Volga waiting for him at the foot of the building and he ran up to his apartment, he arrived in front of his door, entered in, and directly rushed to his room to go pick up the gun Volga had offered him.

When he was about to leave the apartment he passed by Matteo's room which was closed.

Normally, Andre didn't pay much attention or rather, he was never aware of the presence of the young boy since most of the time he would be outside busy with work and when he's at home he would always be calm and quiet which, combined with Andre's lack of effort to socialize, made their apartment reassembling to a cemetery.

However, that day, Andre was surprised to notice that Matteo was there since he could hear noises coming from his room.

He would, usually, say to himself to not mind in other people's businesses since it was quite disrespectful, but without knowing why, that moment, he felt particularly curious to know what was going on in that room.

He got closer to Matteo's door and put his ear next to it so he could hear more clearly and try to identify what those odd noises were.

He stayed focus and started to listen carefully and soon recognized Matteo's voice and he seemed to have a conversation with someone or rather he was moaning words to someone as if someone was harassing him while he was trying to talk.

[ What is this? ] Andre asked himself as he had difficulties comprehending the situation. He gave in to his curiosity and decided to have a look, he turned his head, bent, and lowered his upper body as he started peeking inside through the keyhole.

He took a few minutes to be able to get a proper view of the inside and finally he found Matteo lying on his bed or at least his legs which were the only part Andre could see.

[ He's sleeping ] he concluded. But as he continued observing him he noticed that the feet of the boy didn't stop moving frenetically and his moans became louder and louder.

He was talking in a way that Andre couldn't understand what he was saying since he uttering a lot and his words were too detached from one another, however, at a moment, he successfully grasped four words which he managed to interpret a meaning, " I... won't... let you " he thought Matteo said.

He stopped peeking and stood still after he started feeling uncomfortable and he thought he should quit now spying on him. Andre just concluded that Matteo was having a nightmare which explained his agitated sleep before he carried his gun and he went off.

•••

" You took your time," Volga said when she saw him coming out of the building, " what happened? You couldn't see where you had left it? "

The young man shook his head and scratched the back of his neck, " no, it's just... it's just that, my roommate, Matteo, seemed to have a bad dream so I wanted to check on him ".

" Oh, I see. Is he okay? "

" I hope he will be " he shrugged and replied, " his door was closed so I couldn't do anything special for him but I think it won't take him too much time before he wakes up ".

Volga nodded, " Don has told me that there are many citizens having nightmares related to what happened 2 years ago and that's it's really difficult to heal those traumas. You should advise him to come to see him, he may be able to do something for him ".

" 2 years ago? What happened 2 years ago? " Andre repeated with a very low voice, his face turned to the ground, while wondering what was she referring to.

" Well, we have enough wasted our precious time so let's get going " she pushed him enthusiastically interrupting the run of his thoughts, the latter raised his head surprised, but he anyway, obeyed as he looked at her and nodded while drawing a slight and discrete smile on his face.

" When is your match, by the way? " the woman asked him.

" Jamal has decided that it would be in 2 days ".

" What?! " Volga shouted in surprise.

Andre turned his head towards her with an interrogative expression and the latter forced a smile before she told him to not worry about it, she actually didn't want to disturb his concentration or shake his confidence.

[ But I swear to God, Jamal is really trying to complicate me the task ] she thought for herself.

•••

On his bed, Matteo was still there shaking with all his body while big drops of sweat were running down his forehead. In fact, he was sweating from his whole body so much that even his shirt was soaking and sticking to his skin.

His face was distorted by grimaces as if he was in pain and that could also be observed on how tight he was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists.

But the real deal was happening within his mind where he was opposing an enemy he didn't expect to face so soon.

In there, his pain was real and he wasn't hesitating to scream it loud enough to wake up his whole building.

" You very are tough, kid, I will give you that, " said the mysterious woman under her hood as she was holding Matteo's neck, " but until when will you be able to hold it, huh? Sooner or later, I will win so why not give up and spare yourself from unnecessary pain ".

Matteo was panting and even there, inside his mind, he was also sweating a lot. He was suspended in the air in that completely dark place, with his arms extended to both sides and his feet attached together by what seemed to be an invisible cord, but the most spectacular detail was that his entire naked upper body was thrust by many metallic sticks, staying still as they were deep inside him, in a way that if it had been in the real world there would have been no chances for him to remain alive.

Despite the pain and the pressure she was exerting on his neck, Matteo managed to extend his lips to reveal a tired mocking smile, " what did you say? unnecessary pain? Do you think... I didn't notice that you were in a hurry? Acting like you were taking your time to torture me... just to try to fool me but you see... I'm not the kind to show off but I'm pretty smart... so you can stop lying and tell the truth that your time out here is limited... that's why you need me, huh? "

The hooded woman didn't reply and though he could see only the lower part of her face, Matteo, anyway, noticed that he had made her mad.

She raised her hand on the side and summoned another metallic still with a sharp edge, which appeared directly in her palm, she found some little free space on the lower part of Matteo's abdomen and thrust it in slowly making him scream louder than before.

" Don't think you have won, boy. I have observed you as well and I can tell that you are not strong, you are just trying to act brave but in reality, you are just an afraid little boy, " she finally said while maintaining her grip on the stick, " as long as you will have that power of yours and as long as you will continue using it, I'm gonna keep finding you, and I promise you that no matter how limited my time with you, here, is limited I will pay attention to always making it feel more painful than the previous one. I have told you, sooner or later you will no longer be able to keep this up and you will abandon the control of your mind to me ".

She finally let loose the grip she had on his neck and the metallic stick still planted on his abdomen and she progressively let go of him and started stepping back.

Suddenly the invisible cords which were maintaining Matteo in the air, as well as all the sticks which were planted on the upper part of his body, disappeared, making him fall down hard. On his knees, he raised his head to stare at the mysterious hooded woman as she was slowly disappearing in the darkness of that weird dimension.

" I can't wait to meet you again... boy, " her voice echoed before she was completely gone.

Suddenly, Matteo woke up on his bed, and instinctively, he made his body rolling on the side of the bed and fell on the ground and while standing on his two hands and two knees he started throwing up for not less than one minute. He stayed in that position for some minutes again before he could be able to stand up. The souvenir of what happened in his mind, or whatever was that dimension, began to emerge and since he was not able to hold it anymore, he started crying.