The Wrong Side

Chapter 6

    Even if I think that I'm faster, smaller and almost as strong with my new arm, my ass gets handed to me several times over and over and over again until the sun starts setting, my shirt is soaked through with a cold sweat and a foul body odour is emanating from me. I haven't been able to beat Venning once all day and now he is holding me by my throat on the edge of the roof. Almost all of my ass-handings have been delivered by him nearly throwing me off of the building.

    "You thought that you might be able to beat me this time?" he asks with a smirk and I nod guiltily. "You're going to need a lot more experience before that happens," he says as he relinquishes his grip around my throat and I fall with a soft thud on the roof.

    "Get up," Venning says for the umpteenth time and I push myself to my feet. Venning wipes his forehead with his hand. I can tell that he's tired because his breaths are heavier and he's moving a lot slower. He waits for me to get ready to fight, but I'm tired as well and I can barely stand up straight at this point.

    "I think that's enough for today," Venning says.

    I grin from relief and I collapse on the roof. I lay down on the cool surface of the concrete and stare into the sun-stained sky. The colour is so red -- almost the same shade as it was when I was attacked three months ago. That time feels like it had happened in a different life time.

    "Come on," says Venning's voice near my head. "Get up and go back to the house. I'll see you in a few weeks."

    I look at him and he waits for me to stand up to follow him. I get up and scale down the fire exit of the building with Venning following not too far behind me. At the bottom of the building, the ground is still stained with my blood from three months ago. Even Mother Nature couldn't wash away the red gore on the pavement. I think this incident is why I now have an aversion to the colour red; it reminds me too much of blood. A few weeks after the amputation, after I had recovered from the operation, I came up here and found the knife which was thrown into my arm. I took it back to my room and kept it hidden from Ada and Venning. I don't why I didn't show them, but I guess I just wanted to keep it to myself.

    Venning walks me back to the house and he gets into his car. I wait for him to leave before I go back into the house. Ada's waiting for me and she's cutting up food for dinner. She looks up at me as I come in and smiles. I nod in greeting as I run my hand through my wet hair and make my way to the bathroom in which is attached to my room. In the bathroom, I strip down and turn the shower on to a warm setting. The shower steams up quickly and I wash until the smell of sweat has vanished.

    I step out of the shower and grab myself a towel to dry off. I wrap the towel around my waist and wipe the fog off the mirror in the bathroom, in which I can see my reflection. I grin at my new arm. It looks like it's eating away at my torso, but it looks so awesome. It's like I'm part Terminator or something. I'm surprised how cool it looks on me. The colour is a soft bronze hue contrasts against my skin which has been tanned a light gold-brown after a long time in the sun today. For the first time in a while, I actually look at myself in the mirror. I have dark brown hair with a few auburn highlights and deep blue eyes. I don't know whether or not I'd be considered cute or not because I've never been really interacted with a girl before and I don't want to be narcissistic.

    "Damon," I hear Ada calling from the kitchen. "You're dinner is ready."

    "Yeah," I reply, "just give me a minute to change."

     "Okay."

    I change into something comfortable and go into the kitchen where Ada has prepared a pasta dish for me. Just because Ada does most of the cooking, it doesn't mean that I can't. I can cook very well. I had a few lessons just in case I needed to make food and Ada wasn't here for whatever reason.