The FORGOTTEN Edge

Chapter 3

She laid on her back with her ears ringing. "Nadia! Nadia! Nadia!" Henry was chanting but there was too much pressure in her ears to hear. Nadia rolled her head to the side, she could see the crowd of people, mostly middle aged men, some covered in bruises and cuts, screaming violently. A man, leant against the wall, he wasn't moving or talking. He watched her, almost shaking his head. In her mind she scoffed at him. He was dressed in dark clothing without a mark on him. She wanted to roll her eyes at him. Nadia's head hurt. Her opponent was cheating. There was a strict no weapons rule but Nadia knew a brass knuckle when she felt it against her skull. 

Suddenly Henry came into view, the desperation on his face for her to get back up was adamant. Suddenly she was grabbed by the collar of her shirt and lifted from the ground. She was struggling to breath. Her opponent was taller than her by at least 2 feet and was using it to his advantage. His teeth, a gross grey colour, smiled at her. He reminded her of Paul. It made her skin crawl and her blood boil. He was cheating. So should she. In a split second decision she wound back and kicked him straight between the legs. A crappy move to make and not very fair at all. He dropped her to her knees. She gasped for air before quickly getting to her feet and landing the hardest punch she could muster with her shaking fist straight to his head. He fell back onto his back, his brass knuckle clanking to the ground and rolling away. She got up, with bloody teeth and a dizzy head. "I think you dropped something," she muttered, picking it up. 

Nadia was proud of herself but she wasn't so sure Paul or Henry would be. She had won but it hasn't been easy. Her head was still aching when she started her way home. There wasn't much of a moon tonight with so much cloud cover that it made it difficult for Nadia to see her way home. It was very early in the morning, probably around 2am. Normally she loved the quiet and cold but Nadia wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed. Nadia began to think about when it came time to leave. What bus would she catch? Where would she want to go? She wasn't sure how it would all work out. Where she would live or how she would make a living. She couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if Paul found her. Would he drag her home or kill her right there on the spot? A shiver ran down her spine. 

Suddenly a car, on an otherwise empty street sped past her and brought her out of her train of thought. She was so tired and in pain. She was close to home now. The car did a U-turn ahead of her and started back towards her. Her chest went tight when the car slowed down beside her. But she had had enough for one night. Nadia bursted out into a sprint towards home. She made it onto her street before she saw the car again: it's clean black paint job made it hard to see in the dark. She fumbled with the door knob before it popped open and the car pulled over in front of her house. She slammed the door shut behind her before she could see who was following her. Her heart pounding in her chest as she leant against the door. She might be safe from the street but she had a bigger problem. Paul stumbled down the stairs in front of her. He was drunk and swaying madly from side to side. He tossed a bottle towards her head making a small screech come from her mouth. His feet slipped from a low step. He sat on the step, swearing and angry but harmless. She sighed at him.