Guns and Sirens (boyxboy)

21. Practice Bullets

River Lockhart

I walk into the mansion with a smile playing on my lips after sending a text to Officer Damian, but I mask it off as soon as I meet my dad face-to-face. He's on a phone call, followed by two of his bodyguards, and he walks past me as if I were invisible.

I just watch as he walks by and turns around to see James and Terry standing in front of me.

"Oh, hi," I mutter.

"Mr Lockhart asked us to take you to the training room to practice the basics," James says.

"Uh. What basics?" I ask.

I don't even need an explanation for what my dad wants me to do. Because I stand in front of a dark room with four separate cubicles, nets drawn around them and a target in front of each cubicle.

Practice guns lie on some black tables, and as we walk in, our footsteps echo through the room.

"Why would I even need a gun if you guys are following me around?" I ask James and Terry as I watch them prepare the ear protectors for me. Terry hands me a practice gun with practice bullets, and I put on the eat protectors.

"You have to learn to survive alone," James replies.

But I know how to fight. That's more than enough, I think to myself, though I clearly know that it's not enough power to stop a bullet or fight against bullets.

"Hold your stance like this." James shows the stance, and I copy him. He looks just as old as my dad but gentler with his words and actions with me, maybe because I am his boss's son. But it makes it easier for me to practice.

"You will feel a push from the gun towards your body. You just have to aim and focus with your eye to the centre of that board..." He points toward the middle of the target, and I hold my gun toward it, bringing it to eye level. However, my aim staggers as I hold the gun. It doesn't stay in one place.

"Now shoot."

I pull the trigger, and with a loud bang, the bullet hits the corner of the target board.

"Wow. I am so good at this." I say through sarcasm.

"It's okay. Practice more, and you'll get a hold of it. Every eye is unique, and the vision lines are different. In my case, I hold my aim a bit to the left of the target so the bullet hits right in the target. You'll get it the more you practice." he says.

James enters the cubicle next to mine and puts on the ear protectors to practice on his own. Meanwhile, Terry stands behind me, entering more bullets into my gun as I try around ten more bullets.

I twist my shoulder a little before trying a few more and sigh to myself. I look at the target board where only one bullet has landed near the centre.

"Oh, this is sick," I mutter to myself as I check my watch for the time.

A few days pass, and I get a text from Officer Damian saying that he has returned from his four-day workshop, which he told me about before. But I don't get a chance to visit him because of my mock exams at university.

I reply saying that I will be bothering him after my exams.

I walk to my faculty area and text my friends to see where they are.

"Yo, gay fairy." Lucas suddenly appears out of nowhere and puts his arm around my shoulder, choking me a little with his bicep.

"Idiot," I say as I tuck my phone in my pocket. "So what's up? We have a mock exam, right?"