Warrior

Chapter Twenty Three

Satey

He fell in slow motion before finally hitting the mat, his head flinging back up in the rebound.  I could feel my mouth hanging open as Liam remained frozen.  Even from the distance I was from him, I could see that his eyes were wide open as he stared, motionless, at the ceiling.  

Craig bent down, lowering another shattering punch straight into his gut.  Liam did nothing, his only movement was his body reacting to Craig’s hits.

A piercing sound reached my ears and I realized I was screaming.

I pushed through the crowd and watched in horror as Craig hit his defenseless body again and again.

“Stop it!” I screamed, directing it at both Craig and the referee.  I raced over to the checkered man as I yelled, “can’t you see he’s not fighting back?”

I wrapped my fingers around his collar, surprised by my own strength when I yanked him down to my eye level. “Stop the fight!”

“I can’t!” he replied, “the rules state that if the fighter is conscious I can’t-,”

“I don’t care!” I screeched, “something’s not right!”

Liam was badly battered now; his lip split and his cheek swollen as Craig continued his assault.

“Get up!” Craig shouted at him, straightening and spitting at his opponents unchanging expression, “fight me Payne!”

He looked down at him, and I could see the confusion flash over his face before he turned to shrug at his trainer.  Ray pointed at Liam and gestured his hand slicing his neck.

My eyes widened and I let go of the referee’s collar while he was talking, assuming that I was actually still listening to his ramble.

Craig was going to kill him.

But the blow never came.

He only glanced between the two before walking over to his coach and pointing back at Liam in exasperation.

People around the ring were in an uproar, screaming in outrage at the turnout of the fight.  I felt someone shove into me and I panicked, wondering if people would riot just because their bets wouldn’t be fulfilled, but discovered it was only Paul.

Liam’s coach dove between the ropes as the crowd booed and the referee yelled at him to get off the mat.

“Paul!” Ray yelled over the turmoil, “what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” He proceeded to scream at the referee, who seemed too stunned to even be able to process what was happening.

Paul didn’t answer anyone as he bent down to inspect Liam.  He seemed to have even moved as his blank stare was still focused on the lights above him.  Even when Paul shined a small focused light into his eyes, he only blinked.

Paul stood, turning to face Ray, who was still yelling protest. 

“We forfeit the fight,” he said simply, lowered his arm and threw Liam over his shoulder.

“Satey,” he barked as he walked down the steps after crouching between the ropes and I fell over my own feet to chase after him.  

People were beginning to calm down as the referee blew his whistle while we retreated, explaining to the people that Craig had won by forfeit.

“Move!” Paul yelled over and over as he carried Liam through the parting crowd.  

I stumbled behind breathlessly, tears blurring my vision, and I was sobbing uncontrollably by the time he pushed through the locker room doors.

“Paul,” I cried as he laid Liam across the bench, his lifeless arm dangling on one side, “Paul, what’s going on?”

He didn’t answer as he balled up Liam’s sweatshirt, putting it under his head to prop it up.  He was eerily calm as he folded Liam’s arms onto his chest.

“Paul,” I sobbed again.

“Satey,” he said sharply, lifting his head up with an intense gaze that caused me to snap my mouth shut. “I need you to calm down and breathe.”

My mouth parted again, opening to calm my shaking breath.  I sat there, breathing with Paul’s instruction, until it regulated again.

“What’s going on?” I repeated at a whisper.

“Liam is fine,” Paul started out with, but the glance I stole to look at his broken, but beautiful, unmoving body made me believe otherwise.

“He’s having a panic attack,” he explained softly.

I crumpled to the ground at his words, sitting back on my heels as a silent sob tacked my body.  I put my hand to cover my mouth in a quiet gasp and Paul ran a hand over his face.

“His… attacks… aren’t like other people’s,” he said in a quiet voice that resounded in the silent room, “when something triggers his grief so much that he panics, he’s sent deep into the chasms of his mind.  Flashbacks.  It takes him to another world.” His voice was solemn, as if he was talking about a dead person.

My throat constricted as a wave of crying hit me again.  I realized that it had happened before, when I had touched his scars in the car. He left me for a moment and had almost killed us both.

I drew in a calming breath, relieved that Liam was alright, but still afraid for what he was seeing in his mind.

“So he’s kind of… gone?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Paul nodded with a have sigh. “Basically.”

I felt a twinge in my heart as I stared at Liam’s unmoving face.

And then I felt a huge wave of conviction crash over me and I found that I wanted to help Liam the way he helped me.

I breathed deeply again. “What do we do?”

He sat back of his knees, leaning on the lockers. “We wait.”

“Until he wakes up?” I questioned softly.

Paul sighed again, a small clang echoing as his head hit the metal of the locker. “Something like that.”

I wasn’t satisfied with that answer as I fidgeted around to sit cross-legged. “Until what then?”

Paul rotated only his eyes to look at me as he said, “until he wakes up trying to kill someone.”

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Sorry for the short update that has probably left you even more confused than before *insert evil laugh* but I know for sure I won't have any time to update until next weekend so I wanted to get something in before then. I'm SO sorry (kind of >:D) to leave it off on a cliff-hanger-type-thing but I have toooo! Stay tuned next weekend because I will for sure post then :)

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