Domino the Destitute: A Tale of Two Brothers

Part I: Ups and Downs

Part One: Ups and Downs

It was a cold August night, as the fire from armored trucks spread throughout the plaza, and the booming of policemen yelling and the stomp of the footsteps filled the air, as thousands of $100 bills fluttered through the breeze. The cold, hard floor would be the last thing he saw, as I held my hand to him, he gripped it firmly, and, the moment our hands made contact, the past year flashed through my mind, as the brother I knew was going to leave me forever.

His name was Domino. He was my brother. Even now, I lie awake trying to remember the first time we boxed. When my sweaty body threw all the energy it had at his muscular form, and how his skinny, tan face flinched when I punched him. Those beefy legs kept him up, absorbing the impact. When he threw a punch at me, it bruised me for a few minutes. His big fists flying freely, like a bird in the sky, and finally, the bird reached its nest. Sweat rained on the floor, and we ended that match.

Years after, Domino and I went to the movies, and saw a flick on a champion boxer whose whole career crashes down on him. Me and him, we loved boxing movies. There were some new moves to learn from them. Every time we saw a boxing movie, we tried to mimic some combos we thought were useful. This next part happened within the year, and it was that year when Domino entered me in my first boxing tournament.

We approached the boxing club where we boxed about three weeks before the tournament. Domino and I, we woke up at 3 AM and we took a five mile jog from our houses and the club. The orange sunrise made the lake near our house look like a pit of fire, and some ravens flew over the sun, leaving a mark of the perfect sunrise. Small yet long clouds covered up portions of the sky, and long shadows of leafless tree branches looked like menacing hands trying to reach out to get us. We ran down the boulevard and saw our silhouettes running with us.

"It's a beautiful August morning hey Chess?"

"You bet Dom. California is beautiful at this time of year." I replied.

"Nothing can ruin this at all Chess. Absolutely nothing." Domino said.

"I hope your right." I said as we walked towards the entrance of the gym. We swiped our cards of our membership and two metal doors slid open inside. We went to the locker room, and we changed into our boxing clothes, a simple sleeveless shirt or no shirt and a pair of gym shorts. I looked at my slim but built body, and my short black hair, reflecting the light. My blue eyes seemed peaceful and calm. I looked over at Domino, who had a muscular and built body, with very short hair, and also had blue eyes. His tall form overtook mine, like he was a building, and I was a human looking up at the foundation. Our tanned skin made us look like we lived in Florida. We threw our gloves over our shoulders and we walked into the gym.

Two more doors slid open and we saw the three official sized boxing rings and the weights on a rack all the way in the front, to the left of the door. A giant mirror took up the entire left wall, and the treadmills took up half of the right side, while stationary bikes took up the other half. There was a big window facing the sunrise. Further behind the rings were the bench presses and giant weight lifting machines. Into another little sect of the room was an area for boxing training, which included a punching bag, a speed bag, and a pull-up bar. Lights hung up from long, plastic covers as our shadows cascaded over the equipment. Domino and I went to work on the punching bag we had thrown so many jabs and hooks at for the years.

I threw my headgear and gloves on and got to work. This bag was still hard, even after five years of use. Domino held the bag to make it feel like an opponent. As I threw my punches at the bag, Domino gave little grunts and gasps. After my last punch, I sent Domino to the ground.

"Whoops, sorry Dom, didn't mean to do that."

"It's okay brah. It's not the first time." He replied.