Battling Demons: My Undying Love

Isolation

'Every man goes through a dark moment at least once in their lives'

If I remember clearly those were his last words of 'wisdom' to me before he left for his business trip. Those words sounded quite familiar.

Oh right!

He said those words after mom had filed a divorce. I was only eight at the time, so I really didn't pay attention to it.
Fortunately, I haven't been through any 'dark moments' yet. Besides, I turned eighteen last month, I still have more time. Don't I?

"Damon! Damon!"

"What now?"

"Dude you got to come downstairs right now. There's a hot girl lurking around in the living room."

"Kim, you know very well I have no plans of being in a relationship right now. I still have lots of plans and goals to accomplish".

Kim replies with a cunning smile
"Who said anything about being in a relationship. Just go have fun with her. And who knows, she might actually be the one for you."

Damon looks away in disgust "I ain't interested"

"Bro, you gotta chill a little on this whole 'goal' thing and f*ck around a little. If you get too tensed up, you gon' age up early.
Plus she's a hot one, and as much as I know you, I'm sure she definitely the girl for you."

"Kim! If she's that hot like you say, you can go ahead and do as you please with her. It's none of my business."

"Damon... You really gotta come towards the brighter side of life. You always isolate yourself from people and get lost in your thoughts like it is what gives you life."

"Thoughts give me peace. It's like a safe haven that helps me forget about the worries of life. And besides, who needs people when I got you, Dad, Uncle Willy, Aunt May and even Mr Charles. Apart from you guys, I trust no one else"

With one brow raised, Kim asks
"Really? Mr Charles? Your butler."

"Of course, Mr Charles has been my caretaker ever since mom left, and he's been like a second father to me. So yeah, Mr Charles."

"Whatever man. Most of our schoolmates attended the party. It wouldn't hurt to come say hello."

Damon let's out a long sigh "Alright Kim, I'll be down in a minute"

"Ok, good. I'll go get you a glass of wine. Come take it when you come downstairs."

Damon turns to look at his friend with a smile "yes sir"

"Alright"

Kim has always been like a brother to me. We met a year after mom had left Dad and I.

Classes had ended when I stayed back on the top floor of the school building. It had four floors so the view from the top was quite breathtaking behind the balcony. The view of kids running around on the park with both parents filled my heart with envy. I guess I was one of the unlucky ones.

Kim had gotten in trouble with some seniors. It seemed as though he was protecting someone. Oh yh, it was the class nerd, Victor.

Kim was doing fine beating up the guys which were three years older than us. The smirks on the face of those five boys were wiped out the moment they got kicked by Kim. The sounds of their cry were like music to my ears.

Kim was having so much fun down there and it was written all over his face. All I could think was 'what a guy'. I decided to go downstairs to join in on the fun, but...

The guys were all beat up by the time I got there. I looked at Kim who had bloodstains on his shirt. Funny thing was those bloodstains didn't belong to him.

The nerdy Victor was still down on his knees but was completely shocked with his jaw hanging. I was quite impressed myself.

"You know you can get expelled or worse because of your actions today right?"

He turned to look at me with laughter on his face as soon as he heard my voice "Hey it's you, I thought you couldn't speak. Well as for these guys, they'll be the one to be expelled and not me."

I was surprised to hear him say that. Is he arrogant or just stupid? Either way, I like this guy.

Before I could ask him of his name, we heard footsteps heading towards us. We turned towards the sound and saw ten more seniors heading towards us. They were third rate school thugs. Third rate because they were only middle school kids. The real thugs occupied the senior high blocks. These were just copycats.

Kim stood in front of me trying to protect me from them. I laughed at the latter from within, but I was somewhat pleased.

"Hey punks, are you the ones who beat up those boys down there?" The guy spoke indifferently

Kim still stood firm on his ground "Yeah, I did. Care to join them?"

The senior was stunned for a moment and could only laugh at the latter. He had been a thug for a couple of years and no junior had dared to confront nor stand against him.
What was the name again?
Right! Samuel.

There was so much contempt in his laughter that even I was pissed.

I tapped on the shoulder of the fearless boy. "What's your name?"

He appeared to be stunned. I guess it was kinda creepy to ask such a question knowing there were ten fifteen year olds wanting to beat the be-jesus out of us.
But he still answered anyway "The name's Kim. Stand back for safety while I deal with these wanna-bees"

"Why do you think I came down here?
I came here to have fun just as you were."

"What? You gonna get your butt whooped" he told me

"Hmph, Name's Damon.  And as long as I live, no one's gon' whoop my butt."

After those lines of courage, I charged towards the group of wanna-bees with an uncontrollable smirk on my face.

That line sounded pretty cool to me at the time, but now it feels stupid everytime I think about it.

The first punch I threw landed exactly where I aimed it at, right at the centre of the Samuel's face. Right on the nose as a matter of fact.
That's when I understood I had a gift. That was the first time I struck my fist at a person, but I loved it.
Dad once said 'we make decisions most of the time based on our own personal interests, and when some of these decisions are made, we end up regretting them later'.

Can't say he wasn't right. I acted without reason, all in the name of 'fun' and ended up making an unforgivable mistake.

I heard screams from behind and subconsciously turned to see many of our school mates gathered around. Everyone had horror on their faces as they kept pointing at me.
'W..what, what's wrong? Why are they all staring at me?' I asked myself in confusion.

They weren't pointing at me but rather the latter I had just struck my fist at. Coming to think of it, I had started to feel something warm and wet running down my fist.

I thought that it might be how the hand feels after landing a hard punch on ones face. I didn't even look at his face after I threw the punch 'cause I felt I'd be disgusted by the view.

After looking at the crowd, I turned my head slowly to look at the condition Samuel was in. 'It's prolly Samuel's nose bleeding because of the punch'. I thought. 'There's bound to be blood once one was hit hard on the nose, so why on earth are they all kicking up a fuss?'

I turned slowly to look at the position at which Samuel was standing "no! no! no! No!"