Human Nature [PARKER]

FOUR

[ word count: 1811 ]

[ FOUR | TRAINING MONTAGE ]

A SIGH ESCAPED ALISON'S LIPS AS SHE PUSHED BACK HER HAIR FROM HER FACE, QUICKLY MOVING TO REDO HER PONYTAIL. Today had been her mother's funeral, and she was feeling horrible even if an empty casket had to be buried. So in order to take her anger out on something that wasn't herself, Alison decided to go to the boxing gym two blocks away from her apartment while her dad slept.

The membership for the gym wasn't so expensive so she managed to pay it with her own money instead of doing it with her dad's credit card. Now with her own locker and a pair of training boxing gloves, Alison was soon to become a frequent visitor at the gym. After another thirty minutes of hitting the punching bag out of pure aggression Alison pulled away and tore off her gloves, moving to sit on the bench where she had put her bottle of water. Ripping out her earbuds she took a sip and admired the gym now that it was empty, the only one there being the owner, Simón and herself. He walked out of his office a few moments after, the keys to the front door gripped tightly in his hand. Alison sent him a small smile, "Hey Simón." He smiled back.

The two had already known each other for some time, that being one of the reasons why her membership wasn't that expensive. Simón and her father knew each other, having gone to the same high school back in the day. Once Simón opened up the gym and the Rivera's moved into the apartment building, the two kept seeing each other quite frequently and now Simón was a friend of the family. He became a sort-of godfather to Alison, and she knew that he could trust him. Sadly he couldn't make it to the funeral seeing as how he didn't have anybody to watch the place while he was gone because his wife was in the hospital so he stayed. "Hey kid," he said before he sighed. "Look I gotta go, early mornin' and all, but, if you want, I could give you the keys and you could close up," he dangled the keys from his index finger.

Alison glanced down at her tennis shoes, mulling over her decision. She looked up at him before answering, "Yeah I can do it," she accepted, not wanting to think about it twice. If her dad was to wake up, Alison had posted a sticky note on the fridge telling him where she was so she had nothing to worry about. Simón nodded, tossing her the keys which she quickly caught. With furrowed brows she looked at the keys, confused as to how she was able to catch them with ease seeing as how she was sometimes more clumsy than Peter. She waved it off and told herself it was luck — but maybe it wasn't.

"Alright chiquilla," he said making Alison let out a quiet chuckle as he ruffled her hair, loosening her ponytail and making it stick to her sweaty face. "Good night."

"Night," she said before the door slammed closed and she was left alone. Alison sighed, quickly put her hair up in a bun, deciding it was easier to manage than a ponytail. She slipped on her gloves and started hitting and kicking the punching bag as a way to take what little anger she had left in her, which seemed to be a lot.