Our last semblance of fun

“You want to stretch those back muscles, really feel the tension across your fingers.

Yes, exactly like that! Now, pull back, breathe with the bow, let its tension flow through your bones.” The instructor's words echoed through my thoughts.

My eyes focused on my target ahead–an enemy of paper and straw”

Every beat of my heart rattles throughout my eardrums, slowly increasing in pace. Badump... Badump… Badump…

Tension placed through my leather sheath, surrounding my fingers with one final layer of protection. As the yellow heart of my enemy lay bare, my grip slowly surrendered its war of attrition, and thus the arrow flew.

Silent, deadly, the arrow flew through the gentle breeze toward my target.

BAM

“All that for a black, what a shot! All that practice back at home clearly is paying off!” Charlotte glanced out towards the distance, hand steady above her eyes. “I mean, your skills were obvious, but to hit the black from twenty meters away, what a shot!”

I rolled my eyes at her incessant sarcasm, more effort than her remarks deserved. So what if I’d only hit up to the second ring in? It's not like anyone else was having much luck in the accuracy department!

My eyes glanced over toward Patrick, who’d just hit another bullseye–his twenty fifth in a row. Showoff.

Yet, I couldn’t deny the inevitable. In the time it took for me to get a singular half decent shot off, Patrick was picking up his fourth arrow. His form, draw, anchor, aiming, even his release. Every step collaborated towards a singular smooth motion–perfection.

Why was life so unfair sometimes?

“Ok, if you're so confident, why don’t you give it a shot? Clearly, you have the skills.” At my taunt, she just smiled. Oh no.

“Let's make a deal then. Five shots. If I hit the blue or better, you pay for our next five pizzas.”

“Five! Fine, you miss and you’ll be doing the same!”

“Tell your wallet sorry for me.”

Charlotte had never shot before! No way she did better than me right?

Right?

Charlotte took her position, a natural confidence in the air. The string slid smoothly through the air, resting just under the right edge of her lip. One breath, in and out, and she released!

As my financial future glided across the air, a deep set sorrow filtered through my thoughts. Rip my spending money.

“Red!” Charlotte shouted with glee.

I could hear the sirens blaring in my future. Imprisoned before college for bankruptcy–what a life.

“Pure bad luck, nothing else to it!”

“Sure, you can believe that! Doesn’t make it correct but hey, free country.” Charlotte didn't even bother to look back.

I spotted Sam and Avery near the fields edge, setting up their equipment brought from home. They didn’t need our old rickety wooden bows, no no, rather both held an amalgamation of bells and whistles called a compound bow. Gears fastened to each tip ran through the bowstring, turning as the string drew back.

As they drew their arrows, thick shafts with feathers straight off a prehistoric bird of sorts, gears turned and metal creaked. Their targets stretched out eighty meters away–a mere dot in my sights.

They held, and held… and held for what felt like a millennium, before a boom echoed across the field, and the arrow flew true.

“Not bad!” I shouted. “Sad you need training wheels to compete with our mere sticks of wood.”

“Training wheels? Oh it's on!” Sam’s expression alit with confidence as she marched over, Avery just behind.

She carefully set her bow upon its rack, stringing up one of our wooden sticks in half the time. “Everyone here combined couldn’t match our scores with these…” She glanced at her newfound bow. “Things. Well if there are people that can shoot without arms, shotty equipment is the furthest thing from a legit excuse.”

“Kaiden, have fun with your second loss.” Charlotte taunted me–leaning against her bow. “All that confidence and yet so little results. What a pity.”

“Thanks for the encouragement,” I said, tone drier than the Sahara.

“Avery lets have you and our sniper over here go out... Let's say forty meters. Surely that's a fair distance, especially when you’ll be facing the big strong alpha that is Kaiden.”

I was gonna completely miss the target, wasn't I?

“If anything it’s too close! Such a distance is a mere trifle for my skills.”

“Skills, such as hitting the white?” Charlotte’s innocent voice just served to send Sam into a frenzy of laughter.

“Exactly! Wait–”

“No takebacks! Sam, aren’t you concerned at Kaiden’s enormous talent?”

“Very. Avery, you ready?”

“Of course!” She lined up at the shooting line, bow in hand–glancing down at her objective.

“You know,” I heard Sam and Charlotte talking just beyond the line, barely legible. “Part of me hopes Kaiden somehow lucks his way into a half decent shot.”

“No shot.” Charlotte scoffed. Wow, thanks.

“I know but… Avery’s a good shot, one of the better ones I’ve personally seen, she just absolutely refuses to take criticism of any kind.”

“Hm?”
“Everything she’s done until now was primarily her own merit, no outside help involved, yet she's plateaued because of it. She may technically know her flaws, but fixing them by herself is practically impossible. We're here to help but–”

“And you want Kaiden to put some sense into her.”

“Exactly, unlikely as it is.”

Both girls turned as Avery’s arrow flew through the day’s gentle breeze, landing just outside the yellow.

“Damn it.”

“You’ll get it next time!” Avery just marched off without saying another word.

“Well, time for me to miss the target.”

Something felt different as I pulled back the bowstring, gears kicking into overdrive. Such an impossible task, slamming my arrow toward the yellow, yet everything clicked as I released my shot.

And it slammed just where I aimed.

“Never in doubt!” Was that pure luck, absolutely! But gaslighting myself to think it was skill sounded way more fun.

My eyes followed Avery as she just sighed, walking off towards the hotel without another word.

And just like that Felix’s plan began