Once again I found myself in the strange dream.
This time I was in a house, lying down on a sofa, looking at a big shining object.
Images seemed to move within that object, emitting sound and light.
In my hand I held a strange device that looked similar to the object but smaller and able to be held in one hand.
Suddenly the device started vibrating and playing a tune that I did not recognise. On the screen was a name.
■■■■■
I pressed the yes button on the device and brought it to my ear.
Magically, words started to come out from the device. It sounded like someone was talking to me, but I did not know who it was.
"#%@!~^&*+=?/<>[]{}$√◇¤※§◆"
I could not understand a word. It sounded like it was from a completely different language.
"∎★≠¶∆≈→∞¿†µ◎‡※Ω⌘☆╳"
I replied to the person's words.
But I also did not know what I said—though I could feel the intent.
It was fondness.
After that, I went to my room to change into clothes that could only be described as undignified.
They were sloppy at best, many of them having weird pictures on the front of the shirt, like a half-mouse, half-human picture.
However, when I walked in front of a mirror to see myself, all I could make out was a male figure.
My face and body were covered in dark black fog that obscured any prominent features.
The mouth of the body opened, but this time I could understand what was being spoken to me.
[Wake up Amon.]
At his words I felt the world around me begin to fade away into smoke.
It felt like an attractive force was pulling me away from what I was seeing, until once again I drifted back within the darkness.
[Wake up Amon.]
'What was that? It was like the weird dream I had last night...'
[Wake up...]
'This time I was in a house with objects that I have never seen before.'
[Wake up...]
'Could it be heaven? A utopia? Or maybe a different—'
"Wake up Amon!"
I heard a loud boom coming from next to me, which caused me to instantly sit up due to the shock.
'What the hell?! Are we under attack?'
I quickly looked around to see what was happening.
But it was nothing of the sorts. My brows furrowed at the sight of the person in front of me.
"Tsk. Your mother is already awake so why aren't you?"
Thomas Carrow had just kicked the couch I was sleeping on while scoffing at me.
"Argh, what time is it even?"
I took out my pocket watch and looked at the time.
It was six in the morning.
"What the hell, the sun isn't even up yet!"
"Too bad, Hugo is coming in half an hour with breakfast so get ready."
He turned around and walked out of the break room.
"Oh! And don't forget to act when you see your mother later."
"Click."
For some reason, in that moment the sound of the door shutting seemed to make my blood boil.
'Hah. What does he even mean by prepare? I don't even have any other outfit to change into, they all burnt down back in the house.'
I inspected myself, trying to uncrease the folds on my shirt and pants.
Before long Hugo had arrived with some freshly baked bread, which I shared with my mother.
After our breakfast I once again pretended to still be injured, informing my mother that Hugo would be bringing me to the hospital.
"Amon dear, can't I go with you?"
My mother protested when I told her she could not come.
"No mother, the wait would probably be very long and there is still lots of smoke and ash in the air. I wouldn't want you to be staying out there for too long."
I continued to convince my mother why she shouldn't go until I was finally able to get her to back off.
Hugo and I then left the office, my left hand slung over his shoulder.
"Goodbye mother, we will be back soon."
With that we exited the office, slowly walking down a few blocks until we entered a different street.
"Argh! If I stayed in that position any longer my back would break!"
Since we were far enough, I dropped the act, stretching my arm and back out in the open.
No longer being forced to act injured, I decided to enjoy this short morning walk, enjoying the cool breeze that was mixed with ash and smoke...
'Ok this is not as enjoyable as I thought.'
We both picked up the pace and soon we were already at the police station.
Entering the building, there was a middle-aged policeman at the desk reading a newspaper.
"Are you two here to report something? If so do it later, we are busy."
'Hah. Busy with what exactly, reading a newspaper?'
My lips curled up slightly in annoyance at this police officer's brazen attitude.
"No, we are not here to report anything. Instead we are here to use your firing range, Thomas Carrow has given us permission to use it."
As per usual, Hugo said that in a monotone voice while walking towards the man.
"Thomas Carrow, hmm… nope doesn't ring a bell, if you have nothing else get lost."
The police officer did not even spare us a glance, still fixated on his newspaper while asking us to scram.
'hoho?'
I raised my eyebrows at his words.
"In that case. Does this ring a bell?"
Hugo then reached into his pocket, taking something out before slamming it on the table, which caused the officer to jump a little in shock.
"What the? Are you trying to threaten me? I can have you arrested you know that!"
Now furious, the officer placed down his newspaper before standing up from his seat.
"Look at the badge."
Hugo calmly pointed down towards it.
At first the officer scoffed, but after a little while his eyes suddenly widened into two huge saucers.
"How… do you have this?"
He trembled as he grabbed the badge from the table, inspecting it more intently. Beads of cold sweat dripped down his bald forehead.
"As I said, Thomas Carrow—or should I say Inspector Carrow—has granted us permission to use your firing range, so lead us there."
Hugo repeated himself, his words laced with a little impatience.
'It seems that even a saint loses his patience when insulted a third time.'
I snickered inwardly at the officer before proudly stepping next to Hugo, backing him up.
"Yes, if you don't let us use the firing range, the big boss inspector himself will get angry. You wouldn't want to get sacked do you?"
I leaned in close to him, ensuring he heard every word I said.
Hugo seemed to shoot me a glance, but I made nothing of it.
Faced with overwhelming pressure, the officer eventually bowed his head and apologized in a worried tone.
"I'm sorry that I did not recognise such important people, I will bring you to the firing range immediately."
He quickly led the way towards the back. Opening one of the doors, we saw a huge room with five booths, each of them having a target that was slightly further away than the other.
To the side of the room, there was a small bench that had a few types of guns, ranging from a revolver to a small rifle.
Along with that, there were many blank bullets provided with the guns and some noise-cancelling wax to place in our ears.
"Feel free to use any of the weaponry over there but please return them to where they originally were when you are done."
Hugo and I gave a small nod in confirmation, then the officer bolted out of the room, leaving our sight.
'Wow, I've never seen this many types of guns before…'
I stared at the large assortment, my eyes wide in astonishment.
"Amon, grab a few of those blanks over there and load it into the revolver you already have."
"Ok."
Though I entertained the thought of trying out some of the other guns, I quickly dismissed it as I needed to be comfortable with the one I currently had first.
I took out my revolver and slowly loaded six blanks into it, cocking the gun each time.
"It is time to teach you the basics Amon."
Hugo stepped forward, a revolver in his hand.
"Firstly hold your revolver with both hands firmly."
I followed his instructions and gripped the revolver with both my hands tightly.
'I never really realised it before but the revolver is pretty heavy.'
I felt the heavy weight of the revolver pushing down on my hands.
"Secondly widen your stance, your feet shoulder-length apart."
I followed, bringing my feet slightly away from each other.
"Thirdly raise the gun to your eye level."
Raising the gun to my eye level, I felt the weight of the gun push down even harder, as if it was biting into me.
"Lastly steady your breath. Breathe in and out slowly like this."
He then showed me how he breathed: one in, one out. One in, one out.
"Then fire."
With a loud bang, the gun fired, leaving a small trail of smoke coming out from it.
"Remember to watch the recoil, now you try."
I steadied my breath according to his instructions.
One in, one out.
One in, one out.
With my finger on the trigger and the target in my sights, I fired.
"Bang!"