Eternally Yours

Out Of Harlem

Josh was sparring in the gym with Chris and Frank, trying to blow off some steam because of his last conversation with Isabelle. He needed to get his mind off her or he was sure he’d go crazy. His pent-up rage was starting to resurface, the rage he had since he was a kid but didn’t know why, rage inherited from Garin after he was reincarnated in him, but Josh didn’t know this so he struggled with understanding where his anger came from.

He was in the boxing ring with Chris while Frank was outside the ring, pumping him up with words of encouragement. He had his gloves on while Chris wore the protective padding suit so Josh could hammer away his anger on him.

“Come on, Josh. Let’s see what you got,” Chris said.

“Yeah, get him, Josh,” Frank said from outside the ring.

Josh moved closer to Chris and began to offload a flurry of punches on his torso. He was completely focused and hit as hard as he could and Chris was lucky to have been wearing the protective gear otherwise he would have crashed to the ground after the first hit.

“How could she do this to me?” Josh asked and hammered away at Chris, “How could she just throw away what we had?”

“That’s women for you. They claim they want a serious relationship and you give them your heart but as soon as the going gets rough, they bail out on you,” Chris said.

“I try to talk to her but I get nothing. I try to explain but she doesn’t want to listen. All she wants is for me to fire an innocent employee because of her insecurities and I’m not going to do that,” Josh said as he continued punching Chris.

“That’s right, you’re not. She can’t boss you around because you are a man,” Frank said in agreement from outside.

“I just don’t get why she’s so adamant about firing Jennifer. I mean, what has she ever done to her?” Josh asked angrily and hit Chris again, this time a lot harder and Chris felt it even with his padding.

“And now, she’s already running around with that Neo guy who’s taking her out on dates and writing her poems and she’s doing it all just to spite me,” he cried out and punched even harder.

It was getting very intense in the ring and Chris was getting worried because he knew that Josh was starting to lose control of himself as his punches were getting heavier.

“You can’t let her get to you, man. You need to flush her out of your head and out of your heart,” Frank yelled at him.

“You’re right. I need to forget about her,” he screamed and hit Chris again, causing him to fall onto the floor of the ring.

“I need to forget about her,” he screamed again and got on top of Chris and continued pounding away at him in anger, unable to control himself.

Josh began to see flashes, images, and memories of himself but it wasn’t his face he saw; it was Garin’s.

He saw the demon with his blade, fighting against a legion of angels. He also saw him on the beach, holding a woman’s hand, a woman in white who looked like an angel. He saw blood, he saw fire, he saw light and then, he saw darkness and it overwhelmed him.

“Whoa, relax, Josh,” Chris said to him but Josh looked like he wasn’t listening, almost like he was in a trance, and just kept hitting his friend.

Frank jumped into the ring and grabbed Josh off of Chris, trying to get him to calm down.

“Josh, relax, Buddy,” Frank urged him.

“No, no, no! I won’t let you forget her. I won’t let you forget Hannah,” Josh screamed frantically as he was pulled off Chris.

“Calm down, dude. What’s wrong with you?” Frank asked, worried about his friend.