Chronicles of Araxx - Forever Broken

The second day of Lee’s training was much like the first. She practised the wall jumps and some other small skills she thought she might be able to do.

Her muscles were sore from the day before, and the weight training had made everything twice the effort to do, but she felt like she was getting a hang of the smaller things.

She stopped for a lunch break and got the laptop out as she ate a cheese and pickle sandwich she’d bought from the corner store.

While browsing the internet, Lee came across a website that interested her. She was looking for ways to teach herself how to do free running, and she found a lot of people started at trampoline parks.

She brought up a video of someone doing this in one of these parks, and it looked easier than learning on the streets. After thinking about it, she decided to search for the nearest trampoline park. If she was lucky, there might be one just a few tube stops away, and she could learn some more advanced skills in a safer way without hurting herself.

According to the internet, the nearest trampoline park was twenty minutes away. Lee picked up her bag and left the warehouse, heading for the tube.

The tube was crowded again, but not as bad as the day before.

It was only a short ride, then she exited the tube and headed up to ground level. On the way up the escalators, she heard a couple of people having a conversation. They looked to be in their mid-twenties, and they were talking about a club they had been to. From what Lee could gather, they were in the club with her the other night, and they saw everything.

“I saw this guy bite a girl,” one of them said.

“No you didn’t,” the other answered back.

“I did. There was blood and everything,” she insisted.

“Must have done too much of something,” said the second girl. “I haven’t heard about it on the news, though, so she can’t have died.”

Lee pushed past them. She didn’t want to hear any more.

It was bright and sunny outside, but there was a breeze in the air that caught Lee’s hair as she exited the tube station.

It was just a short walk to the building where the trampolines were, and she found her way to it without a problem.

The building inside was large and airy, but there were a lot of people in the room.

Lee felt uneasy at first. The people in the trampoline centre were loud, and all of them looked liked they knew exactly what they were doing. Lee had never been on a trampoline before, and she had no idea how to use one.

She quickly learnt they were bouncy, and it didn’t take much to get height on one. She was having fun, the most fun she’d had on her own.

Lee spotted a group of people over on the other side of the room. They looked to be practising free running and were having fun doing it. Lee watched for a few minutes before plucking up the courage to go over to them to watch closer. It was like watching one of the many videos she’d seen recently. These people moved with such ease, and they looked good doing it.

She watched for about five minutes before one of the guys came over and asked her if she wanted to join in.

“I’ve never done anything like this before, though,” Lee said.

“It’s easy. Just start small,” the guy said. He looked to be about the same age as Lee but was built like he was made for free running. His arms were huge, and his muscles were clearly defined beneath his clothing. He was wearing a white vest, which contrasted beautifully with his darker skin.

She joined in and started by jumping distances. This was a lot easier at the trampoline park, with pits of foam squares to fall into. It didn’t take long before she was jumping distances she didn’t think she’d be able to.

“It’s all about confidence,” the guy who invited her into the group said. Lee caught his name, Vaughan. He sounded vaguely American. At least Lee thought that was where his accent came from. She wasn’t too good at placing them. “If you believe you can do it, you really can.”

The next thing Lee was taught was how to do a handstand. A simple thing, but hard to learn.

“And how will this help me?” Lee asked.

“It won’t,” Vaughan said. “But it looks good when you do one in the middle of a set of tricks.” He then proceeded to do an impressive one-handed handstand.

A bell rang out in the hall, signalling the session was over for the day. “Well, that’s our time up here.”

“Do you guys come back every day?” Lee asked.

“Got you hooked, did we?” Vaughan laughed a throaty laugh. “I tell you what. Why don’t you come with us? We practice on the streets too.”

“Oh, I don’t know if I’m ready to do that.” Lee blushed. “I can barely do anything in here, so I doubt I’ll be able to do anything on the rooftops.”

“Rooftops? Who do you think we are? Superheroes? We don’t go on the roofs, too dangerous. We stick to ground level and I’m sure you could keep up with our crew.”

Lee was flattered she was invited, but she noticed it was getting dark and she didn’t want to be out in the streets after the sun had gone down. Vampires and all that.

“Maybe another time?” She shrugged. “I’ll be back here tomorrow, though?” Lee hoped Vaughan would say he was coming back too.

“Same time tomorrow, doll.” He winked then turned to leave with his friends. “Oh...” He turned back to Lee. “What’s your name?”

“Lee.” She smiled.

“See you tomorrow, Lee.” Vaughan waved.

She smiled as she pulled her trainers back on. She’d made another friend.

Her smile faded. Was it a good idea, or would it come back to bite her?

She tried not to think about it on the tube home.

Climbing into bed was a relief on her sore muscles. They were going to ache in the morning.

Vaughan and the others had taught her a great deal, and she was getting confident on the trampolines. They’d taught her how to do a back flip on the trampoline, a front flip, a roll and she was confident doing all of this.

The next thing they were going to show her was wall walking. Vaughan had said this was hard, but Lee didn’t quite believe him till she tried it herself.

The wall Lee was supposed to climb was only 10 feet high, just under twice Lee’s height, but climbing it was hard.

“You have to get the right speed, momentum and jump height to be able to reach it, making sure you keep your run going even up the wall,” Vaughan told her.

By the end of the session, Lee was able to do that as well.

“You’re really good,” Vaughan said, clapping Lee on the back. “A natural, even.” He smiled at her.

“Thanks.” Lee grinned.

“Come out with us. We’re going to Trafalgar Square to do some practice and film. I think you should come along.”

Lee was enjoying herself, and couldn’t really say no. The sun was still high in the sky. They’d gone to the trampoline park earlier, and it was only 2 pm by the time they left.

“Go on then,” she agreed.

Trafalgar Square was a great place to practice. Lee was nervous. She’d never done free running on the street, and someone was walking around with a camera too. Everyone was showing off, but Lee was focusing on practising. She was so used to the bouncy floor of the trampoline it felt strange to be doing everything on a hard concrete floor.

The first thing she tried was a simple handstand. It took a couple of attempts, but she managed to get up into one and held it for 10 seconds. When she landed on the ground, she was acutely aware there was a camera trained on her.

Vaughan came towards her, a bounce in his step. “Wanna show the camera what you can do?”

“I don’t think I can...” Lee started, but Vaughan was already pushing her towards a small wall. It was only 2 foot high.

“Back flip?” He asked, prompting her. “You can do it,” he encouraged her when she looked sceptical.

“If you believe you can do it...”

“You can,” he finished.

Lee stepped up to the wall, bounced on her toes a couple of times, then took a deep breath and jumped. As she jumped, Lee forced her legs back a little, forced herself backwards and before she knew it, she was standing on the ground, her feet firm on the floor.

Vaughan clapped his hands. “I knew you could do it.” He laughed.

“That felt amazing.” She laughed.

She messed around with them for another hour or so, letting the camera follow her around. Although she was still a little clumsy, it was true what Vaughan had said, she was a natural.

“So I’ll see you at the park tomorrow?” Vaughan asked.

“I’ll be there.” Lee smiled.

“Day after tomorrow we’re going to do a run, not just doing tricks. Do you want to tag along?” Vaughan asked.

“Yeah sure, what time are you going?” Lee asked.

“Just after 3 pm. Meet us here?”

“See you then.” Lee smiled. She looked up at the sky. “Crap!”

“What’s up?” Vaughan asked.

Lee hadn’t noticed just how dark it was. The lights at the square made it difficult to tell the time, and from the looks of it the sun had gone down a little while ago. “I gotta go, but I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lee called as she ran to the underground station.

She had to get back to the warehouse without being spotted by the vampires. She didn’t even know if they knew where she was, but she didn’t want to run into them.

The whole way back, Lee kept her ears and eyes open for any sign of Vampires, or worse, Jacob. Thankfully, there was no danger on her way back. Lee was beginning to wonder if Jacob had left London, but she thought it was doubtful.

She got back to the warehouse just fine, and had a long hot shower. It felt good to wash the dried sweat from her body, clean her hair and relax her muscles.

The warehouse was cold when she got out from under the hot water, and still wrapped in her towel, she turned on the storage heater in the main warehouse. She turned the laptop on too and made hot chocolate, then went into her room to dress.

Once she was suitably clothed, Lee returned to the laptop and went straight onto YouTube. What she found made her laugh, and she couldn’t stop watching. It was strange to see herself on the screen, but she liked it.

It had been two days since Simons had called, and the boys were no closer to finding Annaleah. They were becoming restless, and doubts were creeping into Adz’ mind.

“What if she’s left London?” He wondered. Even though no one answered him, he kept talking. His own voice was a comfort to him. “Maybe she thought it was too dangerous here and went. Maybe somewhere up north, completely out of the way. Maybe she’s not even in this country any more.”

It was dark outside, and they’d stopped searching. The drones had good sight, but Adz and Jay were clumsy with them when there wasn’t much light.

Adz was droning on, being his usual moody self. Jay had opened up the computer and was searching the internet.

“What are you doing Jay?” Adz asked. “Surfing isn’t going to help us find her.”

“No, but free running might.” Jay smiled.

“If that was some kind of joke, it was a poor one,” Gray said.

“It didn’t even make sense.” Adz raised one eyebrow and brushed his black hair out of his eyes.

“No, look,” Jay said as he brought the video he’d found up onto the screen on the wall of the room. It projected an image of a group of teenagers practising free running in the city centre.

“And how is this…?” Adz was cut short when the image of a thin redhead filled the space. She was smiling and looked nervous. She was encouraged onto a wall and did a back flip from it. The shot then cut back to the group doing other things.

“Rewind that,” Adz said.

Jay did.

“Pause.” The image froze on the face of the girl. Adz pulled a picture from his pocket. “That’s her. That’s our girl.”