Hi everyone, continued thanks for the reviews and suggestions (special thanks to Flamestriker)!
And here is a chapter that focuses more on our protagonist.
Chapter 10: Archery and Counseling
"Time's up, shoot the damn thing!" The harsh voice of the archery coach bounced around the cavernous indoor range.
Traxex released her fingers from the bowstring and the arrow sped towards the target, landing on the line dividing the red and gold circles.
"What's wrong with you? You took such a long time, and you barely hit a nine," the coach grumbled, shaking her head of dark, curly hair. "Last week you scored forty tens and twenty nines, but today you've been hitting only eights and nines. And to think I had such high hopes of you bringing home the gold!"
"Sorry," Traxex sighed, lowering her bow in dismay. For one, she hadn't completely gotten over the shock of being thrown straight onto the world stage. Miss Medusa, the new coach, had declared her an 'archery prodigy' at their first meeting, and was setting her sights on the summer World Archery Championships. But the real problem was, she was not shooting up to expectations right now.
"Archery is all about being perfect, absolutely and consistently, perfect!" Miss Medusa continued her lecture. "How are you going to make it on the competitive circuit if you do not understand this? The top archers in the world, settle for nothing less than perfection, from their breathing right to the release of their fingertips!"
Come to me, ma cherie, the unearthly voice coaxed. Traxex closed her eyes as an involuntary yawn escaped her lips.
"It's only four in the afternoon - what's with the yawning? Don't you know you have to be in tip top mental and physical condition for target practice?"
"I can't help it," Traxex muttered. The lack of sleep was taking its toll on her. She wished it was because she'd been partying out all night like Mirana, but unfortunately, it was Krobelus, appearing in her dreams every night ever since she'd eavesdropped on her and Mr Nortrom in the library a week ago.
Miss Medusa turned around to bark at the other two students, who had finished shooting their ends and whose arrows had landed in the red circles.
"Lyralei, do you think you are a machine gun? I told you to slow down and work on your shot, you have to find the shot that uses your body best! And you – Mirana - should know that high heels and cleavage-baring tops are not appropriate attire for shooting! Just wait till your boobs get whipped by the bowstring!"
The ginger and brunette glanced at each other and shrugged, neither daring to meet the gaze of their clearly pissed instructor. The Greek former Olympian was known not only for her skills and exacting standards, but her signature baleful glare that would turn any disobedient student into stone - metaphorically speaking, of course.
A series of shrill whistle blasts prompted the girls to walk up to their respective target boards. They pulled their arrows loose and returned to the shooting line, slipping the arrows back into the quivers slung over their shoulders.
"Ah, crap," Lyralei said to the brunette, absently fingering the tip of one of her arrows. "I'm also not concentrating well these days."
"Aishiteru, Yurnero-san," Mirana elbowed the ginger, eliciting a giggle and a blush.
"But seriously, field archery's way more interesting than this. At least I get to run around in the forest."
"Sorry babe, target archery is the only type allowed in the Olympics," Mirana smirked.
"What's so funny?" Miss Medusa's leathery, weathered face twisted into a scowl.
"Nothing." Lyralei quickly straightened up.
"This team is going to be the death of me," Miss Medusa ranted. "I'm in my fifties with bad eyesight, but I can do a better job than you airheads combined." With a grunt, she collected three arrows from her students' hands. "Give me your bow!" she ordered Traxex, and the teen complied.
Miss Medusa nocked all three arrows into the bowstring at once, taking a few seconds to align them. Next, she tilted the bow so that it was horizontal, then drew swiftly and fired. The arrows diverged into different directions as they flew forward.
The girls watched in wonder as each arrow hit the bullseye of each of the three targets. Traxex rubbed her eyes and blinked. How was that even possible? The chorus of inhuman voices streamed into her mind again. "But of course," Krobelus's demented giggle echoed throughout the library. "And I blame these beautiful gifts…"
The sign on the door read: Mr D. Dazzle, Counselor and Psychologist.
Traxex stood waiting outside the office quietly and nervously. It was the first time she had sought the help of a school counselor, but she didn't even know what she wanted out of the session. She only knew she needed to talk to someone, preferably someone normal… or maybe, she was the one who wasn't normal. Whatever it was, she had to do something before she went batshit crazy like Krobelus.
Soon, the plump Miss Arachnie ambled over, opened the door and showed the teenager into the room.
"Have a seat, sweetie, Mr Dazzle will be here in a minute," the motherly school secretary smiled and left.
Traxex looked around the bright, cosy office decorated in neutral tones. There were some colorful motivational posters plastered on its walls with their usual images of mountain climbers and over-achieving athletes, and an unoccupied desk with a laptop at one corner. She sat straight and awkwardly on one of the big, squishy armchairs.
The door opened and a man who appeared to be in his late fifties strode in with a file in his hand and eased himself into the couch across from her. He was lean, bespectacled with neat grey hair.
"Ah, you must be Traxex, good afternoon. I'm Mr Dazzle," the elderly man welcomed her with a kind smile, flashing a row of neat, white teeth, which reminded her of his name. Although he was dressed in office attire - a purple shirt, tie and blue pants, he had the air of a priest. "Please relax, I don't bite. If there's anything you don't feel comfortable talking about, feel free to let me know."
Traxex nodded, tucking stray strands of pale hair behind her ear.
Peering into his file, the counselor continued. "Let's see… you have transferred here for nearly a month. How are you coping so far?"
She hadn't planned what exactly to say, nor how to start. To talk about the supernatural incidents might make her come across as loony, so she decided to focus on the issue at hand. The words came out in a confused ramble. "Um…I have been having strange dreams, I feel scared and alone. And um… I haven't been sleeping well and I suck at everything now, even the one thing I'm supposed to be good at."
Mr Dazzle nodded slowly as he listened, then he leaned forward and adjusted his glasses. "Let's do this one at a time. What have you been dreaming about?"
"A ghost, chasing me." She bit her lips to stop herself from elaborating any further. After all, she was supposed to pretend that the whole incident in the library had never happened.
He scribbled some notes on his clipboard. "Did anything traumatic happen to you recently?"
She frowned and hesitated for a minute. Did the incident with the shadow fiend count as traumatic? But she had already confided in Mr Nortrom about it, and the conclusion was that there wasn't any point in harping on about it without evidence. Besides, there wasn't much a school counselor could do anyway. "Hmm… no… nothing really upsetting," she said.
"I see," he said patiently, again looking into his file, which she guessed contained her personal information. "Let's go back to your past. I understand that you lost your parents when you were five?"
"Yes," she said softly. "They were killed by robbers."
He peered at her solemnly with his wrinkly eyes. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I suppose I could, but it's all hazy to me as I was very little at that time."
"Well, perhaps you could talk about the bits you remember?"
Exhaling a long breath and fixing her gaze randomly on one of the posters on the wall, she began. "We were traveling in a caravan, having a holiday in the highlands… and that particular night we were parked at a service station."
She sensed him looking at her quietly, intently and her gaze shifted to meet his, only briefly, before settling on the table between them.
"The caravan… I don't remember much about it except... the fridge. Because my mom shoved me inside there. She said she was playing a game with me and I was to stay inside the fridge quietly until she let me out. So I did, and I remember getting annoyed because it was cold in there. Then I heard voices and two loud bangs, I didn't know they were gunshots at that time. I was confused… I hid inside the fridge for what a really long time, it was like forever, and then I couldn't take it anymore, and I got out."
She paused for a moment to take another breath.
"The first thing I saw was my parents lying on the floor. I was so stupid, I thought they were still playing a game with me. I shook them and shouted but they didn't reply. Then I noticed the blood. I ran out… there were some people out there, they were my adoptive parents… well, I guess that's about it."
She finished her recount with a shrug that betrayed not a bit of self-pity or any emotion. Her voice had stayed calm throughout, because the memory of it was so distant, she felt as though she was recounting a scene from a movie. Sometimes, she wondered if it would have hurt more had she been older.
"I'm sorry to hear about all this," Mr Dazzle said gently. "And how have your folks been treating you?"
"Um…not too bad, actually. My foster father isn't at home most of the time, but he brings me on his hunting trips every now and then. His wife is always busy with the house and kids, and I was taught to help out with the cooking and the younger kids, change their diapers and all that. They don't talk much to me, though. They think I'm weird."
"Did anyone physically hurt you or beat you?"
"Nope… well, except that one time when my father found out I had stolen a particular set of bow and arrows from him."
Mr Dazzle frowned in concern. "Was it bad?"
Traxex thought for a moment. "The beating? I can't really remember it… which means it couldn't have been that bad," she gave an ironic laugh. "I do remember the bow, though, it was this beautiful, vintage recurve bow and it was said to be owned by a Sylvan Guard, you know, one of those legendary guys who patrolled the woods in the old days. And the arrows, they were so heavy – I learnt that the heavier the arrows, the quieter they were."
"You seem to like bows and arrows a lot," Mr Dazzle remarked with a twinkle in his eyes.
She returned him a wry smile and a sigh. "Yes, but my shooting has gotten so bad. I haven't been sleeping properly because of the dreams… now I don't dare to fall asleep at night and the next day I feel like a zombie."
"Well, first thing, we all have our bad days, so there's no need to beat yourself up over some mistakes during training. And for your dreams, you mentioned a ghost," Mr Dazzle said. "Does it have a face? A name? Somebody you know perhaps?"
Guess it wouldn't hurt if I said her name. "Krobelus," she blurted out. "That's her name. I, um, don't really know her."
"Krobelus?" The counselor raised his brows and leaned forward.
"Why, does that name sound familiar to you?"
He merely gave her a cryptic smile. "What does she do in your dream? What does she look like?"
"She has a bunch of – er- sisters, she talks to me, and the dream… everything is dark, I think I am at the stairwell, I don't dare to look at her face, but her sisters, they're all glowing green."
"Ah," Mr Dazzle said. "So… it's like you're looking at a negative of a photograph, light and darkness reversed?"
"Yeah, that sounds like it."
"And the darkness makes you more afraid, does it not?"
Traxex pursed her lips and nodded.
"Let's try something now," he suggested. "Close your eyes and visualize your dream."
Traxex did as she was told. The translucent banshees flickered into life, wailing and brushing her face with their cold fingers. And that sultry voice from behind… let me tell your fate, my dear…what I've seen goes far beyond death.
"Now, I want you to imagine a light switch on a wall next to you. You got it? Don't press it yet."
"Uh huh…"
"Now tell me what you think this ghost will look like once you've switched on the light."
"Um… something scary? Like an eyeball-less corpse with worms coming out of her mouth?"
A hearty laugh escaped from the counselor. "My, my, you watch way too many horror movies! Open your eyes, please."
Her eyes snapped open and she found herself looking at a picture of a woman in a school yearbook. The woman looked like she was in her twenties, with blonde hair framing a slender face, deep-set, expressive green eyes and small lips curled in a graceful smile.
"Miss Krobelus was a mathematics teacher in our school. She passed away five years ago. This is what she looked like when she was alive," Mr Dazzle explained.
Traxex examined the photo. Krobelus was wearing a purple blouse with a wide collar, and she didn't look too bad. Not drop-dead gorgeous, but not unattractive either, she grudgingly admitted.
"Now, I want you to imagine, after turning on the light in your dream, that you'll see this woman in the photo. Practise this a few times a day, and you'll have no problem with your sleep at night."
Traxex released a sigh of relief. "Thank you sir, I do feel a little better now."
"Well, I think you were scarred by the death of your parents, and it seems there aren't many adult figures you can trust. Do you have friends?"
Friends? She pondered over the word for a moment. Lyralei was busy with her new boyfriend, Mirana was too upper-class for her, and Shendelzare… probably needed a little counseling herself. "I'm not very good at making friends," she muttered sheepishly.
"Sometimes it is hard to make friends. Just try to smile more and start a conversation with someone. You never know, you could end up making a good friend there."
"Yeah… I guess I could… by the way, will you tell anyone what I told you?"
Mr Dazzle shook his head. "Rest assured, I won't. Everything you say here will be kept confidential, unless you are in danger of harming yourself or others."
Traxex glanced at the clock; more than an hour had passed and she wondered if she was taking too much of his time. "Well I guess, I'll go now," she said, standing up. The couch was getting too comfy for her.
"Sure, feel free to see me again if you need help." Mr Dazzle flashed his wide, toothy grin again.
Traxex walked out of the office feeling healed and refreshed.
(End of chapter)
Till then, see you guys next chapter! Comments are much appreciated, as usual.
Note: I don't know much about psychology, apart from having taken 1 or 2 modules. Achus93 is the expert - don't flame :D