Come Closer

Chapter 9

The sun rays were gently touching Avelyn’s face, waking her up. She slowly opened her eyes but closed them tight as the sunlight directly hit her eyes. She got up and looked around and went out of the room, rubbing her sleepy eyes with her palms. She went downstairs and found Nathan in the kitchen, cooking breakfast.

“Good morning Nathan!” Avelyn greeted.

Nathan turned and smiled. “Good morning Avelyn! Are you OK now?”

“Yeah, sort of. Let’s talk about that later. You need any help?” Avelyn asked.

“No, I don’t. Go and freshen up. I’ll just arrange the table.”

“OK then”

With that, Avelyn again went upstairs and quickly did her morning routine. After she came down, Nathan and Avelyn had their breakfast and then went to the living room.

“Nathan, I need to talk to you” Avelyn said as she sat down on the sofa.

“I think you are already doing it” Nathan grinned.

Avelyn rolled her eyes. “You are surely enjoying teasing someone older than you, aren’t you Nathan?”

“OK alright, I’m sorry. Go on”

“Let’s take a look at that CCTV footage you told me about.”

“We can’t see their faces.” Avelyn said as they were replaying the CCTV footage again and again.

“Yeah, they are wearing masks. We can’t even recognize the numbers of these cars because of this low quality.” Nathan said frustrated.

“Then how are we going to find her? This footage doesn’t help at all.” Avelyn asked.

Nathan looked helplessly at Avelyn. “I don’t know. I have no idea.” He sighed.

“Weren’t there any other CCTV cameras?”

Nathan shook his head. “This is the only one we could find.”

Avelyn sighed. “Even the police couldn’t find anything. Now what do we do?”

“There are some other mafias with whom I deal with. I can ask for their help. But I don’t trust them much, you know, everyone is trying to stab others in the back. But, if you want, I shall ask for their help” Nathan said in a disappointed tone.

“No, don’t let anyone know about this. If someone knew that you are searching for Lyena, they might take that as a chance to harm you, using her. And I don’t want you to risk your life in this.” Avelyn said thoughtfully. “We should search for her without raising the alarm. We can’t let any outsider know that we are searching for her. But we shouldn’t be slow. Or it might be too late for rescuing her.” Avelyn said, tapping the desk.

“Yeah, you’re right. By the way, you are good at planning things. You should become a mafia.” Nathan said grinning.

“I was going to tell you that. I’m going to be a mafia. You should train me.”

A complete silence fell on them for one good minute. Nathan’s widened eyes remained as they were like he was frozen on the spot. “Oh no, no, no Avelyn! I was just joking. You shouldn’t join this scary disgusting world where there is no one you can trust. The illegal businesses we do will make you feel guilty but you wouldn’t have a choice. Please don’t do this. I am also stuck here. There’s no escape from this world, Avelyn. Please don’t do this.” Nathan said as he didn’t want Avelyn to enter the dark world of mafias.

“Then how are you expecting me to find Lyena huh?” Avelyn asked, trying to control the anger building inside her.

“I will find her for you” Nathan said desperately.

“Do you really think that I’m going to let you do all the work and sit back? You know me Nathan. I’m not going to be minding my own business letting YOU fulfill MY responsibilities. If I am going to get your help in this, then I will also share the burden that comes with it.” Avelyn stated. Nathan sighed knowing that Avelyn had already taken her final decision to join him as a mafia.

“I’m asking this for the one last time. Have you thought through this well? Are you sure about this?” Nathan asked, looking directly at Avelyn’s eyes. “You know I wouldn’t say this to you if I haven’t thoroughly thought about it.” Avelyn said with a determined tone. Nathan nodded his head a little. “Ok then, I’ll train you. But as I said before, there’s no turning back.” he said. Avelyn raised her chin and looked down at Nathan. “I know.”

“So Avelyn, you should be capable of defending yourself against enemies. And, since we don’t have a lot of time to train you, we are skipping the training in using your body to do that. You are going to learn about weapons from now on.” Nathan said as he carried some guns in his hands. He placed the guns on the table in the practice room.

“What if I can’t use them? I mean, when I don’t have them with me, how can I attack them?” Avelyn asked.

“There shouldn’t be such a time. You should always carry one of these around.” Nathan said, arranging the guns in a line.

“Imagine if the gun was snatched from me in a fight. What should I do then?”

“Simple. Take the gun back.”

“What if I can’t take it back?”

“Then say goodbye to your dear life” Nathan said, fixing the targets in the middle of the room.

“Can’t you understand what I am saying?” Avelyn asked, frustrated.

Nathan looked at Avelyn for a minute in silence. “I clearly get what you are saying. The thing is, do YOU understand what I am saying?” Avelyn frowned at that. “You can’t beat someone who has been training, let’s say for five years, in physical defense. You wouldn’t stand a chance. The only way for you to stand up against someone like that is, not letting them come near you.” Nathan explained. “I’ll teach you some effective self-defensive techniques. But, you must avoid the chances to use them” He said as Avelyn nodded her understanding.

“Come let’s start.” Nathan said as he started to demonstrate how to assemble the parts of each weapon.

“Gosh! It’s harder than I thought” Avelyn said after missing every shot she had fired at the targets. “You must keep your arm tight. Don’t let it shake when you shoot.” Nathan said. “Your arms are not strong enough to bear the impact when you shoot. You should start working out from today itself” he said. Avelyn whined. She was tired. “You wanted this, now deal with it” Nathan said as he saw Avelyn being lazy. “I know, but I didn’t think it was this hard” Avelyn said.

“You want to turn back?” Nathan asked.

“No, I’ll keep practicing until I become more skilled than you in these things” Avelyn said, going back to practicing.

After practicing and working out, Avelyn was sitting on the floor of the gym room. She looked up as Nathan came towards her. “I have arranged a schedule for you.” Nathan said. “You should work out every morning for three hours or so, starting from 9 a.m. And then, you will have lunch, then practice weapons. Also, from four to five in the evening, you should work out again. Then your day will be over.” He told Avelyn. Avelyn looked at Nathan and smiled slightly. “You like ordering me around, don’t you?” “Of course! Who knows when I would get a chance like this?”