Visions of the Future

An English project I had to do this year.

 

We all have those times when we’re teenagers; we’re sitting innocently, doing something useless, when suddenly it hits us: we want to do something useful. Up until that moment, we didn’t really had any plans other than slumming through high school, and then maybe becoming a business worker or something like that. Just as that vision hits, we see the prediction of our lives as we really want them. It’s all just a matter of working hard enough to get it…

 

***

 

I love watching movies about action heroes; Batman, Hancock, Iron Man, and so on. I never thought of anything like them before they came out. When I watched them, I became filled with the strong desire to become a police officer so I would be sort of like them.

 

My name’s Emma and I’m just a kid. Well, actually, the term is teenager, but close enough. My life has been a constant battle with depression, health fluctuations, and familial issues. Not much of a life if you’re looking at it from the inside. From the outside, people see a pampered kid who gets what she wants most of the time. Wrong! It’s like a personal hell for me. My story though, is about to get a lot brighter.

 

As I sat watching Batman Begins, I started thinking about his suit, and the training that they put him through in the movie. I have always had a sort of an interest in ninjas and what they do. Just as he faced Raz Al Ghul, a vision hit me like lightning hitting a metal pole. It surged through my body, and took over my conscious mind. Next thing I knew, I was imagining myself, only in the future, with images whizzing past me.

 

I was standing in the middle of a large field, with a mallet in my hand, and a wooden peg in the other. I could feel the weight of the mallet, and the eagerness in my head as I looked at all that I had accomplished. I had borrowed an acre of my friend’s land to build a training course for myself. I believed that I could train myself to start off in the world of Parkour and Ninjitsu.

 

The course was set along a wide, curving path, clearly marked by large stones. It started with a rope swing that went over a pit of sand, followed by large logs that steadily grew higher, until they were over 12 feet high. Those logs dropped off suddenly at the end, only to be preceded by a tall wall, with nothing on it. I would have to climb this wall with no tools, except my own body. On top of the wall was a platform which held a bell. After the platform ended with a rope leading down to the ground, it was followed by a rope bridge made up of dozens of ropes strung together in a web over a sand pit. Several other obstacles followed, getting more and more difficult with each one.

 

A breeze wafted through the long grass that foolishly tried to enter my course. Incenses were set up in different locations, unlit, waiting for me to seek them out. Standing beside me was my cousin and best friend, Dorian. He was my training partner, and we had built the course together. We trained hard into the night until he decided to leave. As he walked away back to his car, I climbed up onto the highest log, and watched the full moon rise with each minute. I could hear grasshoppers croaking in the grass, and the steady creaking of the ropes as the wind shifted them.

 

A sudden flash of light appeared as I was thrust towards another vision. Now I see myself as a fresh 18 year old. My clothing looks almost identical to that of a ninjas, including night vision goggles. My vision is completely green, as I penetrate the night with my eyes. A trickle of fear creeps down my spine as I realize that I’m lost, and don’t know where I’m going.

 

I’m at the SWAN training camp for elite ninjas. A year long program that trains people to be the best they can be in all situations, and I’m only on my second week. As I am sneaking through the bushes, I’m trying to find the near invisible flag that I’m supposed to collect. I check my watch; 20 minutes until I have to return to base, with or without the flag. Slinging my air soft gun across my back, I slip my climbing spikes onto my hands and feet, and begin to climb the tallest tree I could find. The bark brushes painfully across my face, and I can feel my skin being pierced but I keep going. A bird takes off from a branch just above my head, startling me. Sweat drips down my neck, and soaks my shirt. Finally, I read a decently sized branch, and balance my self on it while placing my spikes back into my bag. The memory of that night sitting on the post on my training grounds was strangely fresh.

 

Evaluating how to find a flag that you can’t see, and navigating land that you’ve never explored nor have seen on a map is near impossible. I try to think of any way to find the flag when I heard an unusual disturbance in the bushes below me. I quickly bring my rifle around to my front and level it to my eyes to take aim below. The scope on the gun allowed me to see farther than my naked eye and paired with the goggles, I could see nearly perfectly. I scanned the ground but couldn’t see anything. Hearing nothing, I gave up and replaced my gun on my back. I was just about to jump down the eight feet onto the ground when the leaves rustled again. This time, I heard the steady breathing of an opponent. Quickly and quietly, I jumped from my branch to a nearby branch on an adjacent tree. I could now see the man perfectly. He was crouched below the tree I had just occupied, and was fumbling with something in his helmet. I assumed it was a communication device, even though those were supposed to be banned from the exercise.

 

I chuckled silently to myself when he put his rifle on the ground, letting it get dirty. I was a newcomer to the camp and even I knew not to do that. If you got the guns grimy, you could clog the barrel, making it so the gun can’t fire. I took my own gun off my shoulder, and brought it up to eye level. I peeked through the scope and examined his body, looking for the flag holder that could hold the flag. They never said you couldn’t steal the flag from other players. I kept looking until I passed over an emerald green fabric on his ribs. I zoomed in a little bit more and discovered that all too familiar SWAN emblem embroidered into its body. Grinning to myself, I moved the rifle to aim at his chest. I pulled the trigger until the semi-automatic gun fired a single rubber bullet whistling towards its target. The bullet hit the man straight in the chest. We were never given any armor, so it went straight into his chest, winding him. I fired two more that hit each knee, stopping him from running. Gun in hand; I leapt down from the tree, landing in a crouch. We had fifteen minutes left but I was still a mile away from the base and I had to act quickly. This guy wouldn’t be getting break tomorrow, just because he was lazy with his defenses. I strode towards him as I put my gun back onto my back.

 

“You know buddy, you shouldn’t have left your gun on the ground. Nor should you have stopped in an area where you can’t see anything around you” I said while laughing. My pride swelled within me like a balloon. I was so proud of myself for taking someone down so quickly!

 

As I reached for the flag, I saw a Japanese symbol on his chest and gasped. I’d taken down one of the instructors! I could tell he was fresh meat into the program but he was an instructor none the less. They were in charge of moving the flags from place to place, and to keep us in line by trying to take us out.

 

His beady eyes looked up at me from above his bandana that covered the lower part of his face. I snatched the flag, double checked that he couldn’t move to follow me for at least five minutes, and then jogged the other way, now realizing that his partner may be nearby. With every step I took I listened for any other sounds, stopping if I thought I heard voices or footsteps. Now, sprinting full on, I dashed up and down hills, leaping across creeks, and stomping through rivers. Boulders sat in the way but with my minimal Parkour training I was able to overcome them.

 

After seven minutes of straight running, I came to an abrupt stop when I heard a metallic whistle. You can’t hear that kind of whistling, unless there’s something metallic to cause that sound, I thought to myself. I followed the noise until I came to a clearing. It was brightly illuminated with large stadium lights. I removed my goggles, squinting when the lights hit my eyes. My vision cleared to show me a gigantic brass bell, sitting in the middle of the field.

 

A rampaging urge to run up and ring the bell struck me like a hurricane, urging me to surge forwards. It took almost all my strength to push my emotions down, and allow tactical thinking to return. I used my scope to spot a few guards, lingering on the edges of the field just waiting for people like me. I smirked as I saw that none of them were really camouflaged. They were all pretty far away, enough to make the shots hard. I took a deep breath, and started firing rapid, accurate shots into each guard. With six shots, five went down. The last guard had ducked at just the right moment evading my rubber bullets. I cursed under my breath as he disappeared into the direction of the main base.

 

Hoping there were no other guards, I leaped towards the bell with all my strength. I was pushing my legs into the largest strides I could muster, trying to gain as much speed and distance as I possibly could. The run seemed to last forever, contrary to the couple of seconds that actually passed. After what seemed like ages, I reached the bell. I smacked right into the bell, too distracted to stop. All my concentration was focused on trying to find any more guards that might rain bullets down on my head. Now let me tell you, running full blast into a brass bell the size of a large desk hurts! All the force I had put into running for it came right back at me in full frontal pain. As I lay sprawled on the ground, unable to move from shock, a long, rumbling “bong” erupted from the bells center. It sung throughout the trees, alerting all nearby beings. There was nothing as sweet as that perfect sound reaching my ears.

 

Smiling from ear to ear, and laughing so hard my sides hurt, I bet that I looked like a maniac. Forgetting my pain, I stood up. Just at that moment, a flock of crows scattered from the trees. I could hear shouting coming from the trees; shouts of several men looking for the bell. Team-mates or trainers, I will never know. My own team mates were long gone, having abandoned me long ago.

 

Suddenly full of fear for my newly found victory, I decided to head in the general direction of the base, using my limited memory of the maps I had been able to glance at from behind the trainer’s backs. As I ran, I risked a glance at my watch. Two minutes; time to start rushing my butt off. I sprinted, full of adrenaline, but losing energy fast. Branches whizzed past me and twigs cut my skin. I would have to fix those once I’d won or lost the exercise. The flag flapped behind me, threatening to snag on a tree. I ripped it out of its holster, just as my watch chimed the one minute mark. I screamed a curse and flew even faster through the woods. I burst out of the trees coming face to face with the entire base. Everyone was assembled outside lounging on the grass. Just as I emerged from the bushes, three guards jumped to their feet as they leveled their guns on me. A flurry of rubber came flying at me. One hit me in the ribs throwing me to the side but not enough to stop my determination.

 

I spotted the pole I had to touch to be safe just behind the crowd. “Get out of the way guys!” I shouted to all the idiots just standing around, gawking at the scene before them. They all started to rise but were too slow to move. I leaped over them as they ducked shouting at me. Without slowing, I hooked my arm around the metal pole, stopping me abruptly and wrenching my arm from its socket. I gasped as the pain hit my brain but hooked my other arm around the pole just as my watch beeped the shrilling alarm, ending the time I had to finish the exercise.

 

Just then the vision cut out, shooting forwards even farther. I was now on top of a rooftop in a large city; Chicago it looked like. I could feel the weight of my clothes. They were colored as dark as blue got and hung slightly loosely, but tight enough to not catch on anything. I was overlooking a few men standing around in an alley. The breeze brought the smell of exhaust and cooking.

 

I deliberately fell from my perch on a wooden railing and landed on the street, just around the corner from the men. Their voices were joined by another weaker voice. It sounded like a young girl, aged around 16. “Poor girl”, I thought. “She doesn’t know what she’s doing.” This was the third time I’d seen her that week, and helped her out of trouble.

 

The men were starting to get rowdy and by the sounds of their feet, I guessed they were trying to corner her against the dumpster. She screamed and swung her bag, trying to get away. I sighed heavily, and pulled out my blow gun which held the stunning dart. As I rounded the corner, I spotted the position of each man. There were two on the opposite side of the girl, out of my line of sight. Three were standing with their backs to me.

 

I shot three darts into the necks of the three men and they went down fairly quickly. As the other two reacted, I pocketed the dart gun, and crouched into my offensive pose. They pointed their petty knives at me, growling when I leapt forwards, tackling one with his knife at an odd angle. My hand caught his wrist and I twisted it around, and then pushed my nails into the sensitive flesh on his wrist, causing him to drop his knife. The other goon tried to get me from behind, but I kicked him in the groin, sending him sailing backwards.

 

“Look lady,” I called to the girl who crouched at the base of the dumpster, “It’d be mighty fine if you would just move away from that dumpster.”

 

She scuttled out of the way just as the guy I was wrestling with went crashing into the dumpster. I kicked him once in the gut, then in the head and flipped him into the trash. He lay motionless in the garbage. I spun around just as the other man rose from the ground, looking madder than ever. I whipped out my dart gun, and shot him in the collarbone, causing him to fall unconscious.

 

I smirked as he hit the ground. I took some time to lift all the bodies and put them into the trash. I was thankful for my mask that was hiding my obvious burst of pride from the young girl. I closed the lid to the dumpster and picked up her bag. I strode over to her, handing her the bag. She smiled warily at me, probably thinking that I was some sort of monster.

 

“You know, this is the third time we’ve seen each other this week. It’s not exactly healthy to be meeting like this” I said to her.

 

“I’m not very good at avoiding trouble.” She grinned sheepishly as she said this and a blush swept color into her pale cheeks.

 

“Right, well try harder. I might not be here next time.”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“Miss. I’m not a guy” I laughed.

 

She began to say something, but I was already jumping up a ladder on the fire escape. By the time I was on the roof, I could see her grinning to herself as she walked away, calling the cops on her cell phone. I was confident that she would be more careful, and a “vigilante” like me wouldn’t need to help her so much.

 

I wasn’t so much of a vigilante; just a helper. I worked with the cops, and I help them to stop the crime…with their permission of course.

 

Another flash of light and I snapped back to reality. Batman had only progressed a couple of seconds that entire time. I was shocked at that vivid vision, and I was secretly pleased.

 

***

 

Now as the teenage girl sits at the computer looking at camps, she realizes just how much she has always loved ninjas. Her books are piled high, stocked with information about their origins, their techniques, and their secrets. She absorbs the information like a sponge, eager for more.

 

Soon, she will be out of high school and on to live the vision she saw. Hopefully, she can muster through the hard times to arrive at the dream she holds.