Behind the white fence sat three men dressed in all white suits and black ties. Justin was staring at me with that same sly grin, waiting for them to give the signal to begin our training session.
“All right, you too,” one of them said as Justin and I stood a few feet apart from each other. “You know the drill. Let’s get on with it. We don’t want to be here all day.”
Justin was immediately charging at me with full speed. He was always really fast. He came at me with punches first, same as usual. I blocked five of them this time, before taking a hard shot to the kidneys. Justin didn’t waste any time. As soon as I bent over to nurse my stomach, his right knee cap shot into my jaw. As I staggered back I could feel several feet blasting me in the chest. Justin loved multi kicks to the sternum.
Then he crouched low and tried to trip me down with his legs. I jumped straight up to avoid it. But while I was in the air, Justin spun up from the ground and whipped his heel across the side of my head. I tumbled to the ground and I stay there.
“Well done, Justin,” one of the men in white said. “Very good. Come with us.”
As soon as the man said the last three words, Justin’s face sank. Whatever kind of victorious feelings that had come over him after kicking my tails was gone immediately after he said those three words. This always happened. Then they took Justin away.
I laid there on the ground for a long while, neglected and forgotten by everyone. Everyone except God. I could have gotten up anytime I wanted. I could have beaten Justin anytime I wanted. But I let him win. I always let him win because God told me to let him win.
Never use the skills they give you. The Lord told me in a vision. Only the gifts I give you are useful.
Later that day, I heard Justin on the second floor. Like I said, he never cried, never screamed. But there were times when he pleaded, when he moaning with such pain, when he begged them to stop. They never did until they were finished. It was always like that after training.
He didn’t come back downstairs until it was so dark outside that if you closed your eyes and open them again you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. I sat at the door of our room until he came back.
“Hey Justin.” I grabbed his arm tight.
“What?!” Justin said as his snatched arm from my hand. He had a look on his face, like he was staring at an unstable animal. I wanted to warn him of what I saw in my vision. Unfortunately, the words flowed from my mouth in a riddle that even I could barely understand.
“At night when all eyes close,” I began, my voice becoming cold and poetic, “the men will come and release the vapor of death which will seize the weaker of us. The vapor has taken many. It will try to claim us tonight. And it will fail. Then the father of the vapor will take us. He wants our bodies. He wants our souls. For they hold the key to his work.”
“You’re out of your mind,” Justin said as he took a few steps back. “I don’t know why they even keep you around here.”
“You'll see what I mean, Justin,” I said as he was walking away. “You’ll see.”