Down to a Sunless Sea

3: Battle of the Beasts

-Ramon (POV)-

As I left, I could feel their confused gazes on my retreating back.

“So…what happened?” Night asked, while I sipped my beer slowly.

We were at the local bar, drinking. It was where my friends and I usually hanged out after school. It had a kind of homely, relaxing feel to it, and we used to come here to drink off all our worries and our problems.

“She really is a bitch! She just gave me the book and went off saying she ‘doesn’t want to be friends.’ I would have said ‘Go to HELL’ on her face but…you know the damn game!” I slammed the glass down on the counter angrily, “Another refill!”

“Why don’t you leave it?” Night suggested lightly. I knew he was concerned about me, but he didn’t want to show it. “You can try that Juana girl from class 3B. It’s not like you have to do Evelyn.”

“I know, but after all, I made a vow to myself! I will make this girl fall in love with me!” I replied determinedly, raising my fist high into the air. It was true. I always stuck to my vows. And I wasn’t going to lose to some red headed freak. Ever.

Night, looking amused, was about to pass a comment when suddenly we were distracted by the battering sound of the bar’s door as someone came crashing in. I my head snapped towards the sound and suddenly I stopped breathing. All of the heads in the room turned towards the figure standing in the doorway.

It was Night’s girlfriend, Connie. And she was a mess.

Her long, shiny strawberry blond was now all tangled up, with streaks of blood running through. Her pale face was full of scratches and cuts, and she was holding a hand up to her bloody nose. The other arm was tightly pressed to her side, her hand hanging loosely. My hunch: it was broken. Her once beautiful face was ruined, tears streaming down, mixing up with the blood and her ruined makeup. Her delicate shoulders were shaking with wails and sobs.

I glanced over at Night, half afraid of his reaction. His jaw had nearly dropped to his knees, his eyes frozen in shock and incomprehension. There was a sharp crash; Night’s glass had slipped out of his fingers, breaking into a million gleaming pieces. 

The sound seemed to break him out of his trance. The next second he was rushing towards her. Holding her tenderly in his arms, he inspected her wounds. I followed. I couldn’t read Night’s eyes; they were hard and bitter. I had seen that look before, and what happened after was not good at all. Before I knew it, he had rushed out of the bar, holding Connie close to him.

I ran after them, my mind blank. My feet seemed to move without me telling them to, trying to match Night’s hasty pace. Everything seemed out of place, extremely disoriented.

One single thought kept blinking in my mind, like a light bulb with a broken fuse. No man could have ever hurt Connie like that, so, was it a woman? What woman could be so strong that they could literally handicap Connie like that? Who could hold a grudge as strong as that?

Her face kept revolving around my mind. Doubt mixed in. Evelyn couldn’t be capable of this, hell no. She was just a cold hearted freak, not the type to go around beating people to a bloody pulp. Or was she? Anger grew inside of me at every hurried step I took.

We took Connie to the nearby hospital, ignoring the shocked look of the receptionist as we burst in, Connie nearly unconscious and Night’s clothes stained crimson with her flowing blood.

A few minutes later, Night and I were waiting outside of her hospital room. The doctor needed some time to fully analyze her wounds and treat them the best he could. Night didn’t like it.