Dominion (Guardian Angels) - By Melody Manful Page 0,14
times, because sometimes the agents needed quick medical care.
I managed to take one more deep breath before a gong went off, signaling the start of the challenge. I couldn’t see the big screen because it was further up ahead.
My father had almost reached the middle of the rope by the time I got the courage to start climbing.
“You’re not letting me win, are you?” he asked, stopping so that I could reach him. “And I’m serious, loser gets mom’s angry stare.” I knew that stare, the one that said more than words could.
Suck it up, Abigail. I breathed in and started climbing. When I reached the top of the rope, my father was already descending on the other end. I inhaled again quickly and told myself that I wasn’t going to collapse, and then I went down again with no problems.
I felt so happy when my feet touched the ground. At this point my father was already using the metal spikes on the wall to climb up.
“You are too slow, Abigail,” he said when I managed to make it halfway up the wall. He was standing underneath me, having already gone down. What my father seemed to be forgetting was that I hadn’t gotten the years of advanced training and field training like he had. I was only just starting.
“Are you trying to make me win?” I asked nonchalantly to cover my sadness that he was talking to me in his not-so-impressed voice.
“You wish.” And then he started climbing up again. This time around, I pushed myself and made it to the ground before he did, but when he reached the hole, he jumped right to the other side, leaving me standing still.
“Are you letting me win now?” he teased.
I went back a few steps. “You wish.” Then I sprinted and jumped. I was pretty sure I would land on the net below like last time, so when my feet actually touched solid ground, I was more surprised than my father.
“You did it,” he said, and then both of our eyes flickered toward the next hole, and we started running toward it. We both jumped at the same time: he landed perfectly, and I almost fell, but luckily for me, my father reached down and caught me.
“Twenty more bucks to whoever wins!” he said, and then we started running again for the final hole.
The moment both our feet touched solid ground at the end of the last jump, we rushed toward the rope and started climbing.
My heart felt like it was nearly jumping out of my chest because I was dangling on a rope in mid-air, but I refused to stop now.
My father and I both reached our quiver and bow at the same time. We both threw the bow and quiver to the ground below and started climbing back down.
He was fast going down. He had his bow and arrows and was rushing toward the black line before I reached to grab mine.
“Shoot all three arrows into the red button on time and you win,” my father said, and then he lifted his bow up with an arrow loaded.
I finally saw the timer, which flashed twenty seconds until the game was over.
My father’s first arrow went straight into the red button. I quickly shot my own and felt delighted when it also hit the red button. My second arrow shot into the center of the red button moments after my father’s landed perfectly beside his first one.
“Five. Four…” my father’s last arrow landed in the red button, and he rejoiced. “Three. Two…” I shot my last arrow, but the timer buzzed right before my arrow landed in the red button.
“I am awfully disappointed in you for breaking your mother’s beautiful lamp,” my father said. He proceeded to place his bow and arrow on the floor and do a victory dance that I hoped for both our sakes he didn’t do with people around.
“You know, children pick up on what their parents do, so if you’re asking me to lie, I might just lie at some point…”
He cut me off with a “don’t even go there.” Then he walked over to me with a smile on his face and took the bow from me.
“I’m so proud of you,” he said as he put my bow on the ground. “I’m really, truly proud of you,” he said again as he threw his arms around me. It was now that I realized my body hurt from the combat training.