The Sokolov Family (Completed)

Chapter 21

21

I didn't wait until Brian had left the school building before I ran at him and threw my whole body at him. He lost his balance and we both went down to the ground. I'm not sure how much I hurt him in the fall, but I landed badly and for a moment that pain was so much that I actually though I was bleeding. I landed partially on Brian and he pushed me off and got to his feet with ease.

'What the hell. You want some of me....come on then', he yelled.

A crowd had built up around us and I knew I only had a short time before a teacher got to them to break up the potential fight. I had to hit him, express my anger towards him. Let him know that no one was going to be walked over again.

I sprang to my feet and thrust a punch in his direction.

Before I tell you the result of my action, let me first explain my experience of fighting. The last fight I had, was with my brother, at the age of nine. He was seven. It wasn't the first fight I had had with him, but the outcome was the same. I guess it just took me a long time to learn my lesson. He was always going to be faster and stronger than me, no matter how many times I fought him. After that fight I vowed never to fight him again. However, the greater lesson I learned from it, was that there is always someone who is stronger than you, can fight better than you, is faster than you and the problem you will always have, is you'll never know who that is. Therefore, staying out of fights was the best way to avoid humiliation.

That day, I had forgotten my vow and when I threw the punch at Brian, the inevitable happened, he ducked, I missed and my face hit the punch he threw in retaliation.

I was back on the ground, with everyone watching. As I looked up at Brian through my blurred eyesight, Steven stepped out of the crowd, hit Brian in the stomach and then in the face. Brian fell to the ground, with my little brother hovering over him.

I had a vision of how frightening Steven looked at that moment. I preyed that he hadn't become enraged and that he had remembered to take his suppressant.

Brian and I both rose from the ground at the same time, with two different objectives. Brian's was to get away from the little boy that had humiliated him, mine was to calm my brother and usher him away. Mum's words to him were ringing in my ears, "don't bring attention to yourself". I had ruined that.

I came up behind him and leant my head to his. He felt it and his tensed muscles relaxed. He leant back to me.

'Let's go', I whispered in his ear. He allowed me to lead him away.