RafexKiara Tangled Up in All Your Pieces // Riara

Chapter 29

"Go out there and show me how you do things! Show me how you live! Show me how you fight! Show me who you are!"

My coach motivates me by placing both hands on my bloody face and cupping it.

"You've got more in you, kid."

The downtown Charleston crowd was electric tonight, especially on a night like this.

"We're not through yet, son. There's a huge world outside the ring."

The wrinkles on the middle-aged man's face deepen, revealing the wise years he had lived.

"I'm growing tired of people talking to me as if I'm dead. I'm going to fight again, Kev."

I'll be honest.

"No, you're not, kid."

He touches my face softly while applying alcoholic rub on my injured eye.

It's when you're in the ring that those doubts begin to creep in.

You may be wondering why you fight or for whom you fight.

Your excitement is pumping as you scan the crowd for answers.

The audience in front of us tonight had forced me to fight for my life in the ring.

Kevin instructed me to fight for what was outside the ring, but I fought for what needed to be demolished right here in this ring.

My father had an emotional manipulative chain around my neck, urging me to wake up every day and work for what I believed in.

He was the reason I fought.

I had to bring a little part of my world into the ring.

It wasn't only the shackled look in my father's eyes, but what he did to me, that drove me to bring our battle into this ring.

Every punch I was able to absorb felt like I was letting go of everything I had been holding onto for so long.

I was looped into this world of emotional damage, which was to my own expense.

Each blow I fired at my opponent was motivated by my fear of becoming the same as him one day.

Abusive and unexpected behavior. I wanted to avoid what had brought me up.

My life is plagued by the underlying issue of abuse.

A manipulated and bereaved childhood.

I was the only one who could be held accountable for who I would become later in life.

I couldn't remain imprisoned by my own demons, battling for a way out.

All I had to do was confront my demons with such passion that I would be able to destroy my past.

I shall be in command of my own life.

All I had left was the will to fight.

That was all I had.

All I had was what my father had given me, and that was pain.

He caused me suffering, but it was the only thing that saved me from destroying him.

He was a delusional man who had delved much too deeply into what his own father was to him.

He chose the course that his father had pushed him to take.

He didn't fight for what he believed in.

So, he is now experiencing the life he wishes he had had through me.