Amnesia

20. The Range

Inside, the whole area was open. Along two of the walls, a longer and shorter, were targets. Near the entrance were all kinds of weapons.

“When would you use a bow and arrow?” I asked.

“It’s just for fun,” Devan answered. “We’ve got a few weird weapons here just ‘cause.”

“What is a girl doing here?” Someone asked.

“Hey Pete,” Devan greeted the man. “It’s been a while.”

“Did you finally decide that you need to come back for practice? Or are you here just to impress?”

“I’m actually here hoping to be impressed.”

“By the girl?”

“My name is Scout, nice to meet you,” I interrupted.

 “And you think that you’ll be able to hit one of those targets?” Pete asked me.

“Let’s find out.”

Once I was given a gun, I noticed how comfortable it felt in my hand. Of course I didn’t mention that to Devan. I definitely surprised them, and myself. Every target was hit dead center. I know I should be impressed and excited about this, but it only confirmed what I didn’t want to be true.

“If you can get more of her, then you can replace half the men you have right now,” Pete told Devan.

Devan just shook his head as he picked up the bow and an arrow.

“Light me up,” He said.

“Oh no. Not this again,” Kyle said.

“I will get it this time.”

“I don’t trust you. Last time you started the whole place on fire.”

“Somehow, I don’t find that surprising,” I said.

Devan rolled his eyes and then lit the arrow on fire. We all took a few steps back. He aimed for a target on the far side of the room. Everyone else who was here cleared the floor. Devan shot the arrow, and it hit the solid wall about five feet above and to the right of the target and landed on the floor. Someone quickly ran out with a fire extinguisher. I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“Do you think you could do better?” Devan asked me.

“Probably not. I doubt I’ve ever used one of those. They’re from, what, the 1800’s or something like that?” I said.

“You wanna give it a go?”

“Not with fire.”

“No, of course not.”

“Well then sure.”

Devan handed me the bow and an arrow. But I was clueless as to what to do with them. I made a guess as to how to hold it, but I was completely wrong. When I held it up to aim, Devan quickly jumped forward.

“Okay, let me show you.” He had me set the arrow down for now.

He stood behind me as he guided my hands to where they should be on the bow and where I should hold them on the string. Then he picked up the arrow and showed me how to put it on the string and how to hold it so it would be straight.

“Now when you pull back, use your cheek as an anchor. That’s how far you need to pull.” He placed his hand over mine as he helped me to keep my arm steady and aim. “You don’t need your elbow so high.” He used his other hand to move my elbow of my pulling hand down a little ways. “Got your target?”

I nodded.

“Release.”

I let go of the string so the arrow was sent flying and it stuck into the target, but just barely on the edge.

“Kyle, you better shut up or you will be the next target,” Devan said.

I hadn’t heard Kyle say anything, so I turned to look at him, but he was turned around and walking away, though I could see his shoulders shaking with laughter.

Devan muttered something as he picked up another arrow.

“You’re better than me,” He said to me as he handed me the arrow.

“Only because I had your help,” I replied. “Otherwise I would probably have missed like you did.”

“Let’s see how you do on your own.”

I took the arrow and put it on the bow and took aim.

“Remember to not have your elbow up too high.”

I made the adjustment and then let it fly. I missed completely. Well, I missed my target completely. I hit a target that was next to mine.

“We can give you credit for hitting one,” Devan said. “We have to go now.”

“Aw, really?”

“Yeah, it’s time for dinner already.”

“Wow, time really flies.”

Devan nodded and I set down the bow and followed him out to where Kyle was already waiting.

We walked back to the house where supper was waiting. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, Melly hugged me tightly.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for cleaning up the library,” She said.

“You’re welcome,” I responded.

After supper I saw Melly immediately run up to the library. I went to my room to begin reading my book. I was hooked by the first chapter. It wasn’t until I saw that it was almost one in the morning that I decided to stop and get some sleep after finishing the fourth chapter. You would think that I would be farther than that with the amount of time that I had been reading, but I am a terribly slow reader, so I didn’t get very far.