Escape

12

The fragile bubble

I woke up excited the next morning, ready to have my first ever self defence lesson. After showering I made myself some bacon with fried eggs, hoping it would give me some extra energy and I wouldn't collapse on the floor after 10 minutes.

Well, that would be embarrassing...

I put these negative thoughts aside and reassured myself that I won't fuck this up and Anthony will be a good teacher.

I found him in the gym already running on the treadmill.

"Oh shit, am I late?" I was still in my pyjamas.

He chuckled and slowed down the machine, finally fully stop it and walked over to me. He was panting, a sheen of sweat on his forehead. I guess he was already doing exercise for a while.

"No, don't worry. I just had a morning running."

"And when do you want to start?"

"We can start now if it's good for you."

"Okay, just give me a minute, I'll go get changed."

I looked for shorts in my walk in closet and a comfortable shirt and after changing I was walking down the corridor when I saw Dylan. I guess he was going to have breakfast or something but he turned towards me when our eyes met.

"What are you doing?" I still had an excited grin on my face and his question sounded more like out of curiosity, than suspiciously.

"I'll work out with Anthony. He um... will teach me some self defense." It was hard to keep eye contact, both of us remembered the times when I could've used self defense against him.

"Oh, good luck then." He said I think... awkwardly? Like those moments played through his head as well.

"Thanks." With that both of us kept going and I made my way towards the gym.

"Are you ready?" Anthony asked me excitedly.

"Yes." I said nervously. He sat down on one of the benches so I sat down next to him.

"Alright, so someone attacks you. What would you do?"

Oh no, think Lucy, don't say something stupid...

"Well, I try to get free? Fight him off." He nodded.

"Yes, and when you do it you should focus on his vulnerable areas." I nodded, listening to his words closely.

"Try to hurt him in the eyes, nose, throat or groin."

"Eyes, nose, thoat, groin. Okay, noted." I mumbled back.

"But wait, what do I do if I'm completely hold down and can't use any of my limbs?"

"That's why we'll learn a few techniques how to get out of these grips."

"Alright." He clapped his hands. "I think we should start with the frontal choking. That's really common and can be dangerous." I gulped, tried to swallow down my nerves.

The both of us stood up and went over to the wall.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." He said sincerely to my eyes and slowly raised both of his hands to wrap them around my throat, but he didn't put pressure on it.

"So there are 2 ways to get out of it. One, if you grab my elbows and try to pull them down." He gestured with his head for me to try it.

I raised my hands and with all my force I tried to pull his elbows down, but nothing. I was too weak, I couldn't move his arms down.