TRAINING (2)

“What is happening here?” I asked feeling vaguely creeped out by the surprising festive mood that I was witnessing. I hope they are not planning on sacrificing or something, I thought.

“Michelle's Grandfather, Mr. Obara is throwing a celebratory party to welcome the return of his prodigal granddaughter.”

“Ehn....” I stuttered “is that all?” looking at Janette and everybody in the ballroom suspiciously.

“Yes, that's all,” Janette replied with a smile that did not reach her eyes.

“You know Janette, right? I can call you Janette, right?”

“Yes, you can call me Janette, I don't mind”

“Wow, thanks. Anyway as I was saying Janette you will make a very good secretary or personal assistant” because nobody can know shit about what's going through your mind, I thought to myself.

“Wow, thank you. Should I take that as a compliment” She replied sarcastically

“If you want it to be?”

“You are quite brave aren't you?”

“Nope, only easy-going”

As we were having this back and forth banter, I was looking at my surroundings and taking note of where I was. The Ballroom looked to be. massive and probably underground as I still couldn't see any windows. I called it a Ballroom because it seemed as if I had stepped into the past I didn't know much about building or architecture but that's just what I felt. The party itself seemed to be a quiet affair like something a politician or the Uber-rich would throw. The guest seemed to be milling around sampling the different finger bite snacks and assortment or banquet of food spread on the various tables. Everybody in the hall seemed to be in formal wear and there was a nervous energy that could be felt as if they were waiting for something anxiously. There were many whispers in the hall and as I was thinking to myself for the umpteenth why am I here I was rudely interrupted by my 'guide'.

“Williams, how did you come to know Mitchelle?”

“Sneaky sneaky, why do you even want to know?”

Said a child's voice behind us. We both turned slightly startled by the sudden presence of a kid behind us. It was the kid I saw when I first arrived here with Mitchelle and our kidnappers.

He looked cute and friendly in the children-sized suit he was wearing. He had his hair gelled back and with the way his hair was glittering under the overhead light, his mom must have emptied a whole container of gel.

“Oho, You are looking quite stylish my little man. ” I said to the kid

He grinned quite mischievously “I know right. Boyo you have good eyes but let me give you a piece of advice boyo stay away from that one. you know all that saying about snakes and grasses.” the kid said pointing at Janette.

“Quiet, How long have you been following us?”

Janette cut in quite rudely. She looked cold and was no more exuding the creepy fake hospitable feeling.

“Since the beginning.” replied the kid called Quiet smirking now, by the way, who names their kid Quiet.

Before whatever confrontation could start the whispers in the hall died down as a group of people were being ushered to the hall. The head of the procession was led by the Oldman that was Mitchelle's grandfather, followed by Mitchelle on his right, The middle age Accountant, and creepy leather dude Rico on his left. Followed by other people that I didn't know.

The Oldman strolled to the center of the hall (I noticed he was not with his walking stick) and was handed a champagne glass by one of the waiters who seemed to appear out of nowhere. He took it, looked around and made eye contact with as many of the people in the Ballroom as he could. His eyes stopped at me and we made eye contact. His eyes seemed to twitch and twinkle at the same time. I could swear the old man was smiling but it didn't show on his face. What was the old codger planning I thought

Clink! Clink!

He hit his champagne glass with a spoon - seemingly out of nowhere - to get everyone's attention and quiet them down. Which seemed to be just for show as the hall was already deathly quiet.

He spoke in a great oratorical voice that covered the whole hall. The acoustic of this place must be superb

“You all know me but to be polite and show decorum to you as my guest I will reintroduce myself. My name is Alexander Obara and you are welcome to my banquet”

Finally, the Oldman looking at me smiled outwardly and it seemed to chill the blood in my bones.

****

We are all seized by irrational fears from time to time. As a pedestrian, you are seized by the fear of being, run over. You glare at the passing cars wondering which psychopath might just try to off you today. Okay, maybe not all motorists are psychopaths. Your fear still makes you look twice even thrice as you contemplate crossing the road. Suspicious of each passing car on the freeway. Some are seized by other irrational fears some ingrained by our very biology to protect us such as fear of heights its why you think twice atop a bridge or a high building. Though some irrational fears are more personal in nature and differ from person to person. This where the thoughts going through Michelle Obara's mind.

Well right now she had seen the fruition of her fears and let's say it was that bad but neither was it good either.

Mitchelle Obara was currently lying face-up on the training mat, she wore a weighted exercise vest and long trainer joggers that were form-fitting .

She was breathing heavily or just mostly huffed out huge breaths when she could. Every part of her ached and she felt like she was bruised all over and she probably was. She knew that if she didn't get an ice pack over her left eye soon she will be sporting a black eye in the next few hours but that was the least of her problems. Her main problem came into view above her as she lay on the training mat. Her problem was the middle-aged woman codenamed PAIN and boy oh boy did she live up to the name. Pain had been put in charge of getting Mitchelle in fit shape in preparation for the upcoming Tournament. She took to her job with a very quiet and vigorous gusto that involved beating Mitchelle senseless Mitchelle black and blue, again and again in this morning routine called "combat training" and usually consists of about 4 hours of sparring in various tempos and use of weapons. Mitchelle Obara didn't have any problems with Pain herself except that she did have a problem with Pain's Martial style. It seemed to be mismatched or stolen bits and pieces of various martial styles combined and applied with the express purpose of inflicting pain on its intended victim or opponent; of which unfortunately for Mitchelle in this case, she was.

Mitchelle had a niggling suspicion that she knew some of the other duties that Pain performed apart from being Rico's adjutant. The question had been on the tip of her tongue this past few days and she blurted them now as she lay on the floor

"You are Rico's unit Master of Torture? "

Pain kept looking down at her without any visible change in expression

"Yes, I am" she replied unfazed

Pain looked at her watch as it beeped loudly then looked down at Michelle.

"Break time over, on your feet"

"Yes, Ma'am"

Mitchelle grudgingly pushed herself off the ground and stood up. She was a bit shaky on feet, luckily the damn weighted vest helped to almost pull her towards the ground so long as she stood wide-legged it helped to balance her but it also negated its usefulness as a slip in her stance threw her off balance and either ended up with her face down or face-up on the training mat depending on her luck. Her days consisted mostly of waking by 5:00 am getting in a good 5km jog through the skulls brotherhood training corridors (which was just a specialized name for the wide windy corridors that served as a race track of sorts to the brotherhood)

After the jog, she meets with Pain in the training ground where they go through a series of stretching exercises before they begin sparring against each other. It had various breaks between it and the combat session usually ended around 9:00 am. Where she would be allowed to rest, eat and freshen up.