23 August 2017
Perth , Australia
0755 hours_
I'm awake. Its so early in the morning. Why can't I sleep? I usually can sleep through the whole day. Did I wake up from a nightmare? No. Not likely. My heart beat seems fine.
I try to collect myself and attempt to remember what I dreamed about. Its hard to remember dreams. You can only remember certain glimpses of the subconscious mind.
What did I see? What was it that made me wake up? What is happening to me? More important question, where the heck am I? I check my surroumdings. Everything looks perfect. Except...
The painting on the wall. It's different. It's not the painting that Steph gave me. Its a different painting. It shows a girl stabbing someone in the back in what looks like a cafeteria. The same cafeteria in our college.
I squint my eyes a bit more. The girl has long hair. I see a streak of bluish-purple in the girl's hair. I ponder about this for awhile.
Suddenly, the girl turns into a screamer. This gets me by surprise. I did not expect a jumpscare. Wait. I'm back. In reality. I see Steph's original painting. No screamers. No back stabbers. I'm relieved. Its just a dream. Or is it a vision?
***********************
The gang and I hang out at the college gate. We are expecting a new student. If I remember her name correctly, its Priscilla. I don't have an intention to tell them anything about my little jumpscare nightmare.
A taxi pulls over in front of the college entrance. We see a tall girl emerge from the taxi with her bags of essentials.
"Hey, I know who would be a good guy for her." Shawin whispers.
"Fang? Yeah probably." I reply in whisper.
We introduce ourselves and guide her to her room. She was gonna be roommates with Jessica. I have a strong feeling they are going to be best friends.
Soon, over time, we get to know more about her and we welcome her to our circle of friends.
Kuching always comes about sometimes. He joins us in our little meet ups as well. His real name is Khoo Chien Ming. Yes. He's Chinese. For short we call him , Kuching. Which means cat in another language.
On Saturdays, I go alone to a sniper range out of town. I go there by bus and back by taxi. The range is not very used because of the lack of customers there.
My instructor, Mrs Lyn, teaches me new techniques to use with the rifle. She's been teaching for nearly 20 years in this field. She doesn't leave. She says its a sport that doesn't involve running.
Well, I have to give it to her. She is right. She's like a guardian more than an instructor. I remember her first words when I joined.
"You're a natural. Are you sure you haven't done this before?"
My accuracy and precision have improved tremendously over time. I have a test today. My final test before I graduate and get my certificate.
"Okay. You gotta go into the forest and watch out for 12 targets. They will be hunting for you. Keep your eyes sharp and remember. Headshots only. You'll be using the lite sniper kit." Mrs. Lyn tells me and hands me a little case.
Now the lite sniper kit was handmade by Mrs Lyn herself. Its a non-harming sniper rifle and an SMG that shoots straight beams of light. When the light hits the special headset given to the targets, it sends a signal to Mrs Lyn, who is tracking my progress by radar, camera and audio devices implanted around the forest perimeter.
I start my trek into the forest and prepare. I learned that high ground in the forest is not the best idea. You can escape if you're shot and spotted but you can't climb down fast enough.
I hear the audio devices screaming;
"Ready? The targets will be released in 12 seconds. Good luck."
I camouflage in between two little rocks and a pile of leaves.I'm ready. I hear the alarms blowing. The targets are in.
I spot two of the targets. Tag teaming. Easy. They are two far too see me. I load and lock the simulator rifle. I get the headshots. Two down. Ten to go.
Minutes pass by and I see two more targets splitting up in different directions. Both carrying an MP5 simulator gun.
I grab a rock and toss it near the guy on the left. It distracts him for a moment. Enough for me to land a quick-scoped headshots on the guy on the right. Then I finished off the left one.
Right when I did that. I was surprised by three other guys behind me. Well, to be fair I did sense them coming. Their mistake was they made too much noise.
I reach out and grab my SMG and fire careful precise shots on their heads. Can't waste any ammo. I have a limited supply of light beams per clip.
Soon, I quickly take down the remaining four targets. I got three of them unaware and one found me by mistake. One more. Then I'll pass this test.
I know the last one has the same rifle as me. I smile to myself. A sniper duel. I was looking forward to it.
I started up the hill in search for final target. I find him waiting for me in a large open part of the forest.
I see something glinting in his hand. It can't be. Its a shiv. Mrs Lyn never let any other weapons in except the ones she gave.
The man has a mask on.
"Um... U shouldn't be using that." I say to the mysterious man.
He just stares at me in silence. He drops his rifle. What the heck is he doing?
Suddenly, he gives an evil chuckle and whips out a real SMG. I quickly dodge out of the way and seek cover on a fallen tree.
I change my rifle clip to my emergency clip. Mrs Lyn told me to use it only if it was life threatening. Well it is life threatening. I make it happen.
One...Two...
Everything slows down. I can hear the bullet spray everywhere slowly. I lock and load the clip.
Three...Four...
I get out of my shelter and quickly scoped into position and fire. I know I didn't miss because I can see a spray of blood.
Five.
Everything is normal again. There's blood on my jacket. Shit. Please tell me its not mine. I don't feel any pain.
I look up and see the masked man down on the crisp bloody leaves. I hit him in the chest. He's still breathing.
"Hee...will....come...to...kill...you....."he breathes his last. Shit. Who is this guy? Why was he trying to kill me? I don't think I did anything to him before this. I contact Mrs Lyn and explain everything. She assures me that it wasnt part of the test and contacted the police.I unmask the man. I don't recall his face.
Who is he?
