Entry: 6

Entry: 6
    - Training daily, making memories lazily

   “So...what now?” Finnley asked. Jay still hadn’t backed up, and neither had she.
For a fleeting moment she thought he might kiss her. But he just grinned.
   “Now, you have boot camp to get through.” He took a step back and took her baseball glove with him.
   “Come on, you had better go tell Martha your decision.”
He led her back into the old bank building and through the science lab. Walking down the hallways they quickly came to Martha’s office.
   “I don’t think there’s any reason to prolong the inevitable.” Finnley stated. Martha looked up from her salad, as did Maxxie and Kaden. She was slightly startled that the other two where here, but Jay gently touched her arm, telling her to continuing.
   “Your stuck with me.”
Martha and Maxxie grinned and Kaden made a move towards her. She held up her hand and stopped him.
   “Uh-huh. You freak me out. Just...stay.” She said as she walked up to Martha’s desk. She heard Jayson laugh.
   “Ooh, burn.” He mocked.
   “Jay,” She turned to him with a strait face and her hands on her hips.
   “Straiten up or you won’t get with in a ten foot radius of me.”
That sobered him up.
Martha smiled with a raised eyebrow.
   “I think you’ll be good for those boys. You have something they both want, and you wont give it to them unless they behave. Very smart.” She gave Finnley a wink, who couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed.
She chuckled and shook her head in her hands as the boys protested loudly.
Martha waved away their noise and handed Finnley a salad.
Now, normally, Finnley would rather eat a big mac, then a salad. Of course she wasn’t a rude girl so she didn’t say anything but she wasn’t to eager to eat it.

Jay tossed her something from his backpack. Catching it she saw by the wrapper it was a burrito from Taco Bell.
She grinned and unwrapped it as she sat down on the floor in front of the coffee table.
   “You don’t look like the girl who counts calories.” Jayson said quietly as he sat down beside her.
   “Nope.”
Jay chuckled and the room went silent as everyone ate their lunch.
   "Finnley."
She looked up and saw that Martha was speaking.
   "I hope you know that the next few days are not going to be pleasant. The trainer is know for weeding out the weak. If you want out, now's the time."
Finnley bit her bottom lip and a small grin crossed Jay's lips. He knew what that look meant.
   "You're going to be feeling the fire all week. And it wont let up till you past. Then after that it's strait to work. It's tough, and everybody breaks."
Kaden piped up.
   "It's true." Martha jumped back in. "And with what's going on, you'll be burning on empty soon."
Finnley laughed, and placed her burrito on the coffee table.
   "You can't scare me away. Like I said, 'you're stuck with me.' Whether you like it or not. I'm stronger then even he knows." She jerked her head towards Jay.
   "I don't scare off easy. I may look small and maybe a little pathetic at times, but I've got a fire burning in me, no one can put out. No matter how hard you try."
She met Martha's stern gaze with an all-knowing grin.
   "You are so much like your father.
The training will only last five days, and then you will be assigned to a mentor." She went on to explain. "We believe in learning by doing. So we'll team you up with another agent, and send you out into the field. The training here will only provide you with some martial arts and how to use our weaponry. Then it's up to your mentor to teach you what he thinks you'll need, in order to survive."
Of course, at the thought of a mentor, Finn was dying to figure out who it was going to be. And Martha picked up on that.
   "And you'll know who your mentor will be after your basic training."
Finn made a face which made everyone laugh.

++++

Once everyone was finished, Martha took Finnley aside.
She led her down another hallway that opened up into a lounge room.
It held several leather couches in a square around a coffee table. There was also a few beenie bags on the right side of the room in front of a television unit.
To the back of the lounge there was several doors that Finn assumed led to rooms.

Martha led her to one of them, and opened the door for her.
Stepping into the room, she saw that it was spacious with little furniture.
   "Oh, lots of space to dance." she blurted out. Martha rose an eyebrow, and Finn tried to correct herself.
   "Uh, when ever I have the time."
Martha smiled.
   "Well, this will be your room while you're here."
   "Oh snap!" Finnley cried, jumping suddenly.
   "What?!" Martha demanded, slightly startled.
   "I need to explain this all to my mom. Or...something. I mean how do you tell your mother and only parent, that you got hit upside the head by aliens, had to get seven stitches, went on the run with a boy I hardly knew at the time, and then ended up in this secret agency that doesn't "really" exist. And now you're joining up with them?! It sounds just a little far fetched don't you think."
Martha was impressed that Finn managed to say all that in one breath.
   "Sweetie, that's what I was going to tell you."
Martha led her into the room and sat her down on the bed.
Deciding to get strait to the point, Martha took a deep breath.
   "Your mom already knows."
   "...What?" Finnley was sure she hadn't heard right.
   "Your mom already knows about H.U.N.T.E.R, and aliens, and the guns, and the high-tech equipment. The whole sha-bang. She knows about all of it."
   "How?" Finn wasn't connecting the dots. Her mind was exhausted.
   "Your father was one of us."
   "What?!"
Martha nodded. "Yes, he was one of the best. So, just tell your mother that you're with Martha. She'll understand. Now get some sleep. Jayson's just down the hall, but after curfew you have to stay in your own room. And I don't mind if you're in each other's rooms talking, but please leave the door propped open."
Finn nodded.
   "There have been some clothes moved into the closet for you."
Finnley opened the closet door and made a slight face as she pulled out a pair of green shorts, that were extremely short.
   "Do you happen to have a boy's uniform I can wear?" She asked.
Martha was a little confused by her question.
    "You wear-?"
   "Yeah, she agrees with me." Jay inturrupted rudly. Sticking his head into the door.
   "The girl's uniform is rather....revealing. Which does nothing for us guys. And for Pete's sake, get her a guy's uniform. She's better off keeping her purity."
He made a clicking noise and gave his foster mom a wink, then with a grin that made Finnley's heart skip a beat, he walked away.
Get over it girl! Gosh I hate crushes! She scolded herself.
Martha sighed and turned back to Finn.
    "He always has been pushy. Alright I'll get you that uniform. you'll only have to wear it for the several days of training, then you'll be back at your own home. How does that sound?"
Finnley smiled.
   "Sounds great! Thanks!"
Martha nodded and left, pulling the door to as she left.

Finnley found a bathroom attached to her room and decided to take a shower. While gathering her night clothes she passed the computer that sat on the desk.
   "Hmm...I wonder..." Walking over to the computer, she quickly hacked in. Just the long in screen mind you, seeing as she didn't know the password.
Realizing who she had just hacked, she quickly found the email system.
She sent an email to Martha explaining what she just did and begging her to keep the SWAT team from breaking down the door.
   Martha replied with a chuckle and a warning not to do that again, she also included the password.

With that off her chest, Finnley found iTunes. Clicking onto a Taylor Swift song, and turning it up loud enough to be heard in the bathroom, she jumped through a quick shower.

Finnley was brushing out her hair in her room while bobbing to "Enchanted". Not knowing she was being watched, she mindlessly started singing with it.

"Your eyes whisper 'have we met'?
Across the room your silhouette
Starts to make its way
To me.”
Feeling like a little girl, she held her hair brush in front of her mouth like a microphone.
   “The playful conversation
Starts,
Counter all your quick
Remarks,
Like passing notes in secrecy.

And it was enchanting to meet you.
All I can say is
I was enchanted to meet you!

This night is sparkling,
Don’t you let it go
I’m wonder-struck,
Blushing all the way home.
I’ll spend forever wondering
If you knew.”

She started to dance silly, around her room. Feeling like the little girl she use to be when her daddy would dance with her in the living room. The next line was a little silly but she sang it anyways.

   “The lingering question
Kept me up.
2:00 A.M., who do you love?
I wonder ‘till I’m
Wide awake.
Now I’m pacing
Back and forth
Wishing you were
At my door.”

Jayson chuckled quietly as he watched Finnley dance around her room.
Oh if only you would turn around. He thought with a grin.

   “I’d open up and say,
‘It was enchanting to meet you.
All I can say is,
I was enchanted to meet you!’

This night is sparkling,
Don’t you let it go.
I’m wonder-struck
Blushing all the way home.
I’ll spend forever wondering
If you knew
I was enchanted to meet you!”

Finnley stopped dancing and bounced her leg to the beat as she messed up her wet hair with her free hand, knowing if she opened her eyes, the whole dream would evaporate.

“This is me praying!

This was the very first page,
Not where the storyline ends.
My thoughts will echo
Your name until I see
You again.
These are the words I held
Back
As I was leaving too soon,
I was enchanted to meet you.”

She sang the next part like she was hoping with all her heart as she spun around. And Jayson noticed.

   “Please don’t be in love
With someone else,
Please don’t have someone
Waiting for you.
Please don’t be in love
With someone else,
Please don’t have someone
Waiting for you.”

The chorus came back and Jayson knew he had better leave before he got caught, but he couldn’t seem to pull himself away from behind the door.
So, there he stood, watching someone who knew how to be a little girl in the midst of all the madness around her.

   “Please don’t be in love
With someone else,
Please don’t have someone
Waiting on you.”

Finnley ended the song with a twirl, but she lost her balance and was doomed to hit the hard concrete floor.
Being the hero type, Jayson sprinted into the room and managed to get a hold of her. Twisting around, he was the one that hit the floor while Finnley landed on top of him.
They both landed with an “oof”.
Finnley had closed her eyes when she fell, but now she opened them and starred right into Jay’s screaming silver-blue eyes.
Pure horror raced through her whole body.
   “Please tell me you didn’t hear that whole thing.” She pleaded.
Jay gave her a smile that told her “yes.”
She groaned as Jayson pushed himself into a sitting position.
Finnley ended up in Jay’s lap, and Jay was leaning back on his arms.
   “You weren’t suppose to see that. I never sing when I know there’s people watching.” She muttered. “And of course, I just draw so much attention to myself.” She kept talking to herself, and was seemingly absentminded of where she was. (though that’s extremely far from the truth.)
   “I just had to run off at the first sign of trouble with someone I hardly knew, and now I’m falling for- Let me guess!” she interrupted her own thoughts as she figured out how he most likely ended up behind her door.
She turned to Jay, who was just having fun listening to her ran on.
   “you were walking past the door and you just had to stop and watch. Why?”
Jay, ever so cool in almost every situation, answered with out hesitation.
   “It was cute.”
She raised an eyebrow, sensing there was more to it then that.
Jay gave a slightly nervous chuckle as his eyes darted around.
   “You were cute ok?”
Her eyebrow stayed put as a slight grin grew on the left hand corner of her mouth.
   “Now would you get off me?” Jay asked.
   “You’re kind of heavy.”
Finnley gasped and slapped his arm as she slid to the ground beside him.
   “Just remember, you’re the one who got yourself into this position.” She stated, pointing an accusing finger at his chest.
Now it was his turn to cock an eyebrow.
   “Oh, so you would have rather hit the hard cold floor?” He asked.
   “We girls sometimes, want to take the fall.” Finn shot back.
   “Why? That makes no sense.”
   “Just to prove that we’re strong too, that we can do what the big boys can, so that way we earn some respect as well. How do you think those women in the military make it?”
It took Jayson a moment to let her words sink in.
   “Well you know what?” He asked. “My dad taught me to protect town and country. That was his code of honor.” He scrambled up to his feet, and looked down at Finn with a kind, yet determined look.
   “’was’?” she asked. A twinge of pain ran through him.
   “You know what else?” He continued, ignoring her question. He offered a hand and pulled her to her feet.
   “’Protect the women and children first’”
Finnley bravely asked,
   “What category do I fall in?”
Jay gave her a mysterious grin.
   “Tell you what, next time, I’ll back off.”
He laughed at her face when he obviously didn’t giver her the answer she wanted.
   “Oh gee thanks hero.” She stated sarcastically as he walked towards the door.
   “Don’t mention it princess.”
   “’Princess’?! Do I look like a princess to you?!”
Seeing her in baggy flannel pajama pants and an old t-shirt, with her wet hair a mess, and that cute mad/shocked look on her face,
Jayson just grinned and left her hanging.

Finnley scoffed and picked up her cell phone. Dialing her mom’s number, she got her voicemail.
   “Um…hey mom. It’s me. Um…I’m ok. But I-uh-I’m with Martha. She said you would know what that meant, but don’t worry, I’m doing ok, so just…enjoy New York and go shopping. Love you mommy. Bye.”
Finnnley sighed and turned out the lights and curled up in the unfamiliar bed, and turned to fall asleep. She did, but she was chased by nightmares.

Ghostly images of her father flashed through her mind’s eye. Spinning her around on the swing, balancing spoons on their noses together, laughing at the most random things. But then he was gone. Like he had been so often her subconscious realized.
Her memories were so vivid, even in black and white. She saw small details that she had missed when she was six.
   “-no. Finn’s birthday is today.”
She remembered that really sad birthday where he didn’t show up. The one person she wanted to see so bad, never came. He let her down.
She remembered the countless times he wasn’t there for her.
In her head she screamed, and cried.

Gasping for air she jerked strait up in her bed. Her vision went blurry and her head hurt like crazy. Finding the reason why she couldn’t see anything, she rubbed the tears out of her eyes, and jerked badly when she heard someone.
   “You ok?”
Looking over, she saw Jay standing against the door frame.
   “What are you doing?” She was a little confused on why he was standing in the doorway. He gave her a duh look.
   “It’s past curfew. I’m not allowed in your room.”
She nodded slowly.
   “So…you just stood there…watching me scream?”
He sighed.
   “Which took a lot of will strength. But yes.”
She shook her head and crawled out of bed and went into the bathroom.
Splashing her face with water she took shaky breaths, trying to slow down her heart beat.
Walking out of the bathroom she looked at the clock. 4:35a.m.
Might as well stay up. She thought.
   “You ok?” Jayson repeated as she walked to the closet.
She nodded.
   “Alright. Make sure you eat a lot of breakfast. I’ll come get you when the cafeteria opens up.”
Again, she nodded numbly. Jay knew something had triggered her. And he wished he could delay her training. But there was nothing he could do about it. She was on her own.
For now.

++++

Despite Jayson’s warning, she didn’t eat much breakfast, which she knew was probably a huge mistake, but she just couldn’t get anything down without gagging on it.

Her and a few other new trainees, reported for duty on the training field. Several other agents were already out there, including Jayson who was using one of the flying skateboards.
He gave Finn a thumbs up, but she was still not at her best. The nightmare had caught her off guard. And now here she was with a whole five days ahead of her with Mr. Jar-Head.

Her first glance at her teacher she knew she was in trouble. But she knew she couldn’t back down now. Not after what she said to Martha.
Lord…your going to have to be my strength and my will through this, so please hold me close, and don’t let me go. She prayed as the wolf barred it’s teeth.

   “This is not a tea party! I am hear to break you down till there’s nothing left!”
The General (as he was called) walked back and forth with the most strait face and loud voice Finnley thought it should be illegal.
The five new trainees were lined up with their hands behind their backs and their feet apart. There was two girls and three boys. The other girls laughed when Finn showed up in a boy’s uniform. But she paid them no attention.
   The General stopped in front of her and was only an inch or so away from Finnley’s face.
   “Got that?”
   “Yes sir.” She answered gazing off at some point in the distance, trying to ignore the fact that his breath smelled like he had beef jerky for breakfast.
   “Well then princess, I suggest we get to work.” He backed off and started yelling.
Why does every one call me ’princess’??

Her first day of training was horrible.
The General drove them on till they had nothing left,…and then some!
It went from crawling around in the mud, to shooting holographic aliens from the sky.
That was not Finnley’s favorite part. She hated flying.
She forced herself to do it, though she did really poorly.
The General wasn’t helping because he was always yelling at her to speed up or to do better she thought she might punch him.

The next day didn’t go any better. She was just as bad, and just as slow.
The General’s taunts attacked her and stuck to her like glue. She tried to shake it off, but by the third day she was shaking like crazy because her blood sugar was so low and not getting enough sleep wasn’t helping her condition.
And it got so bad that Jayson started to get really, really worried for her.

   “Finnley, I want you to eat and drink all of this!”
Jayson set a Hershey’s bar and cherry Coke in front of her.
Finnley chuckled.
   “Ok you’re getting very….fatherly, and it’s freaking me out.”
Jay raised an eyebrow from a few feet to her left. They were both sitting on the same small couch in the lounge room just in front of their rooms. Finnley had already changed in to her PJ’s, and they both had wet hair from their showers.
Maxxie was also sitting across from them with her platform leather boots on the coffee table, smacking gum.

   “’Fatherly’?” Jayson inquired.
Finnley reached for the chocolate bar and noticed just how bad her hands were shaking.
   “Well ’motherly’ doesn’t work for obvious reasons. So yes. ’Fatherly’.”
She explained as she tried to tear open the chocolate bar.
Failing miserably, Jayson took it and opened it for her.
   “Well if that’s what you want to call ’taking care of you’, then sure.”
He handed the chocolate back and Finnley rolled her eyes teasingly as she slid back into the couch and pulled her socked feet under her.
   “Are you two always like this?” Maxxie spoke up.
   “Like what?” Jayson asked.
   “Like that.”
The two exchanged confused looks.
   “Like what?!” They asked simultaneously.
   “Like,” Maxxie linked the two by waving her fingers between them. “That! I mean you act as if you know each other inside and out! Like a brother and sister, or a couple, but you’ve only known each other for a couple weeks!”
Finnley decided Jay should do the talking, so she busied herself with eating her chocolate bar.
Jay gave her a friendly glare when he realized what she was doing.
Mouthful, she simply pointed to the candy and smiled. Knowing he knew exactly what she was saying.
   “I don’t know how to explain it Maxxie. It’s a God-thing. It’s as simple as that.” Finnley liked the way he put it. And it was very true!
She had often wondered what would have happened if she had never met him.
She was never happy with those out comes however. Dispite the fact that he had destroyed her life and showed her that her reality wasn’t even real at all, she knew that God had a plan for everything, and as a follower of Him, she wasn’t going to question what He put her through.

Maxxie took a deep breath and looked like she was trying to cover the boredom, or slight displeasure.
Finnley suddenly realized! Maxxie wasn’t a Christian!
With this realization, a feeling in her heart broke the surface.
She felt sorry for her. Her heart ached to show her just what God could do if she would just open her ears and heart to Him.

All of these thoughts and feelings made Finn realize what a hypocrite she was!
She realized that God, in her mind, was a distant figure that did nothing but give her what she wanted. A genie waiting to grant her wishes.
She never thought to stop and think what His dream was!
She hadn’t even asked Him wanted her to do with her life.
It was always about her.
What she wanted to do.
Where she wanted to go.
Who she wanted to see.

Tears slid down her face silently as she realized just how utterly lost she really was.
Jayson and Maxxie faded from her vision, their voices dulled out till she couldn’t hear them at all, and then everything went black.

++++

She was standing, floating, flying (or all three for all she knew!) in a tunnel of pure darkness.
At first she just thought it was her eye sight. But she suddenly noticed that it wasn’t just darkness.
It was pitch black sand! Shifting in a large circle around her. Shifting, shifting, every shifting.

At the end of the tunnel was a hole of white light as big as her hand.
So they weren’t joking when they said there’s light at the end of the tunnel. a passing thought stated.
“Am I dead?” she said out loud. She was suddenly scared of this tunnel.
The strange white light was gradually getting bigger, so logically, she figured she was getting closer.
But as she got closer, she also got lower.
Lower.
Lower.
Even lower.
Her bare feet touched the sand for a split second.
She gasped when the sand suddenly reached up and grabbed her ankles.
It pulled her down to her waist in an instant.
A scream left her lips as the quick, black sand swallowed her.
She flailed about wildly as more tears fell down her cheeks.
   “Help me!” She didn’t know why she was screaming, but at the moment she wasn’t really caring.
A sob got choked in her throat as the sand rose higher and higher. She gasped for breath as her head went under.
Her lungs screamed for air, but the sand was suffocating her slowly. Her right hand was the only thing that hadn’t been taken by the sand yet, and even that was soon to be gone.
For one bleak second, she thought for sure this is how it would end.
She had some many things she wanted to do. So many places she wanted to go.
She didn’t want to leave yet. She hadn’t lived yet. She hadn’t lived out her dream. One that had been put into her heart ever sense she was handed her first baby doll.
She didn’t want to go.
She didn’t want to leave him.
A sudden grip on her hand gave her hope. She wasn’t sure who it was. But she didn’t care. Her only hope was this grip on her hand.
Quickly it pulled her up and out of the sand. Her head broke the surface.
Air never tasted so sweet!