Fifty Pushups Miss ☑️

Ch25 The FUMES

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Hey guys.. It's raining chapters!
Well I remember asking you all to fall for Nick. But now I must say, please pray for that poor soul. Why?
Well read below.
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Now that the counting will be the only audible thing, I start playing music and went over the whole conversation.
It was their emotional upsurge, for sure, but connecting these dots were easier.

What I made out from everything I heard was-
1) While Killer was out, probably during that dangerous mission which they all keep talking about, both father and son thought he was dead. Oh my god.

2) Nick did something out of anger, probably shouted at uncle, that he's regretting now. But I wonder what he must have said that he's feeling so bad.

3) Uncle didn't say anything to anyone. 'Had no channel' probably means no one to share feelings with. Oh poor man.

4) Killer has no clue about such an emotional turmoil in both of them. But he's trying to know it, somehow. I'm impressed how both of them have kept their feelings hidden from him, he's such a detailed observer that he doesn't miss anything.

5) These guys love Killer like the crazy family they are. They're all hard shells from outside, but they're soft and delicate souls from inside. Just look at these two crying.. It melts my heart.

6) Nick, as always, is in deep trouble. I guess I should use the word deepest this time. Since Uncle himself referred to his punishment as 'more than any human body can go through.' But Nick asked for it. He couldn't get over his regret, and he asked Uncle to do that for him. Army habits are cruel I must say.

I came back to present.
I was still amused by the name of this punishment. Fumes. Such a badass name. Though it's origin is still unknown to me.

And there was Nick, topless. I saw his body at that moment .
Man! He was doing reverse crunches while hanging from the bar. Every time he pulled his legs up and tightened his stomach, his abs would become prominent. And they were.. Well.. hot!
I'm glad to have such a muscular, hot looking friend.
I'll not forget giving him the compliment when we're all done tonight.

He counted 25 crunches and dropped back on ground on all fours, took a deep breath, and said "next, sir."
"Left arm behind, pushups."

I was wondering how is that possible, when Nick dropped to pushup position, moved his left hand behind his back, and took a few moments to support all his weight on his right palm. Then he started pushing. By the end of 25, his grunting had tripled as that of first. He clearly wasn't enjoying it.
At the end, he fell on the ground, panting.

Then repeated the two words "Next, sir."
This time he was supposed to push with his left hand, and keep right behind.
God, that's a pure form of torture.
He took several breaks to finish these next set of 25 Pushups.
They call it 'one arm Pushups' which I came to know later.

I understood the rules of this game. Both of them will speak minium. Nick will say "Next, sir" when he's ready to go for the next set. Uncle James will tell the name of workout what he has to do in a set of 25.
But till when this go on? And what's fumes in it? And why doing it here in this small room?
I didn't know I fell asleep, finding answers to these questions.

I woke up hearing a loud thud. It came from Nick. It must have coincided with the silent time between two songs on my I-pod.
I stood up to see Nick hanging upside down from the bar, by his knees. He was swaying in the air, looking lifeless, like you hang clothes for drying in the sun.
Below him, on the ground I saw one of the dumbells rolling. So the sound must have come from that dumbell falling from his hand.

I saw a lot of sweat on the floor, too. Clear droplets. I looked back at him.
If I ever used the term 'sweating rivers', then I'm sorry, I should've reserved it for this very moment.
He looked like he just came from shower. Drops were falling from his hair, his nosetip, his ear, his palms, while he was hanging.

He stayed like that for a few seconds, when I heard uncle speak up. "You're wasting your sweat. Time is ticking."
Nick managed to climb down with lot of efforts.
He sat on the ground, realising that he can't stand.
But this time, instead of saying 'Next, sir' he said 'check, sir."

Uncle laughed for a few seconds. "You really thought it will be too easy? You think Fumes is just a hyped drill? Just like that?"
Nick was still sitting hanging his head low.

Just then I heard my name "Jane, can you please tell the time? There's a clock outside, at your back." I looked through the wall and there was a clock. It showed 0315. Oh my god, how many hours did i sleep?
I turned back the next moment and told them the time. "You sure, girl ?"
"yes, it's 0315 only, I saw clearly."

Uncle James laughed again. Nick gave me a look of anger and pain. I didn't understand where I went wrong.
"So you want to call it a failed day then, son? Let's go back?" while getting up from his chair.
"Next, sir."

Uncle sat down again.
"Knees pushup."
Nick supported his weight on both hands and both knees and crossed his feet in the air.
Then he started counting from one to 25 while he pushed himself up over and over again. Discomfort making itself clear with each count.

I felt bad for poor guy.
But i was feeling irritated. I don't know why.

There were few more sets of simple exercises, which seemed pretty bad, considering Nick's drained out condition.

My irritation was growing with time. I felt sticky. My hands, fingers, face, everything felt sticky. I was about to ask uncle James about going out in fresh air for some time when i saw Nick falling flat on ground after doing his 25th crunch.
"Check, sir."

Uncle turned back to look at me. "Jane, tell the time please."
I turned back, and saw that the glass wall had become hazy. It had small droplets on it. I couldn't see clearly if it was 0510 or 0610.
"Glass is hazy, I can't see." I said without turning back. I thought it was humid outside the room which made the wall hazy from outside.

"Rub it and see again"
I rubbed the wall and saw the clock clearly now. It was 0510.
"It's O five-Ten."

Nick made a loud noise while lying on his back and then didn't move at all. He was hardly breathing. I was worried if he's still alive.
Uncle stood up, looked him in the face and said "Five more, don't even dream of getting late."
With that he opened the door and left.

Suddenly I was hit by fresh air.
I ran to Nick and checked him "You alive?"
"Yea, i hope so."

I thought of holding his hand to make him better, but he was drenched in sweat. All his muscles were about to rip out. His biceps, triceps, pectoralis, deltoid, calves.. Everything was on fire, well literally.
(How do I know names of so many muscles? You forgot Killer kills me everyday at stretching? Yea right.)

With the thought of Killer in my mind, I felt that stickiness again on my hands. "I feel yucky! Let's go out." I told him.
"That's.. That's my sweat Jane"
Without opening his eyes he pointed at me, and then pointed at the wall I was looking at the clock through.
"it's all my sweat."

I was shocked. So it wasn't humid outside, it was humid inside. The source was Nick and his sweat. Oh my god. Uncle was not asking me to check time, he was checking whether the glass was still clear, or his sweat... Shit.

"You had to sweat out this much to finish this punishment?"
He nodded in a semi conscious state.
"Fumes..." I whispered to myself.

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