Hollow (Perfect Little Pieces) by Ava Conway Page B

movement in relation to Qi and restoring balance to your being. It sounded like the typical garbage my mother spewed after getting her aura realigned. It was difficult for me not to roll my eyes.
    “When something comes at us hard, our natural instinct is to fight back, to match hard with hard.” She stopped, her gaze on Carter. “But what happens when we do that?”
    Carter jerked his gaze away from me and turned to the instructor. He moved his lips but no sound came out.
    “You get hurt,” someone next to him said.
    I frowned at the big, burly patient. He seemed rather chatty with Jayden. Why did he have trouble speaking now?
    “That’s right.” Rose grinned as Carter ran his hand over his face. “When hard meets hard, both sides end up hurt. What Tai Chi teaches is how to become soft and move with the momentum of the attack. This ‘hard versus soft’, or yin versus yang, creates balance, both within ourselves and within life.” Rose turned back to me. “Understand?”
    Not really. Hard, soft, yin, yang…who cared? I was tired of the lecture however, so I just nodded.
    “Good. Jayden, why don’t you keep your eye on Lucy and help her out if she’s in trouble?”
    Jayden winked at me. “It will be my pleasure.”
    Warmth spread through my veins, pumping into every crevice. I felt my cheeks heat and quickly turned away.
    Rose started a small radio. Soon soothing oriental music filled the air. She took us through some poses she called ‘Awakening Qi’ and ‘Open Heart, Embrace Nature’. I could follow easy enough. The moves didn’t seem too difficult.
    “You’re too tense,” Jayden murmured under his breath. “Relax.”
    “I am relaxed,” I murmured back. As relaxed as one can be while pretending to be a fountain.
    “No, you aren’t. Feel the music and the moves, let yourself go.”
    I pressed my lips together in frustration. That was what I was doing, didn’t he see that? God, he was worse than my mother.
    The instructor moved us into a few more advanced forms, and my legs shook as I tried to maintain balance.
    “Just relax. Breathe deep,” Jayden whispered.
    I stopped moving and straightened. I got enough criticism from my mother. I didn’t need any more from Jayden. This whole ‘finding balance’ nonsense was getting me nowhere.
    “Try it again,” Jayden whispered next to me. “You can do it.”
    I scanned the room at the other students, trying to see if I was the only one struggling with these moves. What I saw blew me away.
    Gone were the ticks, the insecurities, and the tension I had seen at Rec Therapy. The class moved as one, all of them performing the moves with precise, fluid motions that made me feel like a gorilla.
    Perhaps my mother was right. Perhaps I really was a failure and disappointment. I couldn’t even manage a few simple movements that seemed second nature to everyone else. Even Mr. Big and Burly, with his animalistic tendencies, seemed to be a natural.
    Jayden moved with the group, his arms and legs shifting with agonizing slowness. The man was flexible and balanced in a way I could never be. It looked damn hot. It also made me feel inadequate and clumsy.
    “It’s all about controlling the body and mind,” he said when he caught me looking at him. “Just relax and let the movements lead you.”
    Easy enough for him to say. He was probably doing this for years. This was my first session. I sighed and tried to mimic the motions.
    While straining my arms above my head, I marveled at the others taking the class. None of them seemed unsure of their movements or at odds with themselves. What struck me the most was how engrossed everyone was with the poses—especially Carter.
    While most of the patients moved into the correct positions, Carter seemed to take things one step further. His entire body was relaxed and flowed from one position to another. It seemed as if part of him wasn’t even present in the room, but lost in the movements of the forms. It was