Mitchell Freeman: Unlikely Hero

Chapter 3 - The Fight and The Truth

     The excruciating pain in my head abruptly ceased. It was immediately replaced with red- hot rage. I had seen everything in his head. I saw Gailin shove Emmy into the lockers. I saw her go to the floor. Gailin, that piece of trash, had hurt my friend. All of my usual fear disappeared.

     "Where's my ten bucks, Freeman?" the bully jeered.

     I rose to my feet. Gailin took a step toward me with a fist raised in threat. I didn't flinch, but just stared Gailin in the eyes. I advanced a step toward my attacker.

     I could read every thought in the bully's head. Even if I gave him the money, Gailin was still going to pummel me. He was proud of the black eye he gave me, and he wanted to make the other eye match. He was just waiting for the right moment to strike.

     "So," Gailin grunted impatiently, "hand over the cash!" He didn't like the way I was staring at him. There was no fear in my eyes. Oh well, he though, he'd teach Me the meaning of fear. However, what I said next threw him for a loop.

     "I'll give you the cash," I growled, "when hell freezes over."

     Gailin Just gaped at him. He couldn't believe it! I wasn't going to back down this time. He gathered himself together and cocked back his fist. It was time to take out my good eye. Gailing swung at my face...

     My left hand moved faster than could be detected by sight. I caught Gailin's fist a good six inches from my left eye. The punch's momentum was stopped dead. I wasn't even using any effort to hold back the larger boy. I held Gailin frozen in mid-punch for a few seconds. I then started to squeeze the fist.

     "Aaaaaaaaggh!" Gailin screamed as the crushing pain shot through his clenched fist. He had never felt pain like this before. His knees buckled and he sank to the floor. There was a sound like twigs snapping, and he realized, with horror, that it was the bones in hand. He opened his mouth, but could not get another sound out.

     I seized Gailin's arm just above the elbow with my free hand. I yanked the bully off the ground, and spun him like he was a track and field hammer. There was an audible 'pop' as Gailin's arm came out of its socket. I released him after a lightning fast revolution, and the momentum sent Gailin soaring backward. With a deafening crash, the bully slammed into the bank of lockers on the opposite side of the hallway, and then he crumpled to the ground unconscious.

     Jimmy Walsh had been watching the whole thing dumbfounded. He had expected to see me beaten to a bloody pulp by Gailin, but instead I had tossed his friend around like a rag doll. He realized that he was capable of moving, and he sprang at me wailing a battle cry.

     As Walsh threw a lunging punch at me, I easily ducked under the blow. I drove my shoulder upward into Walsh's gut, and lifted him off his feet. Then, plowing my arms forward, I shoved the temporarily hovering boy. Walsh was launched through the air like a shot put. He flew fifteen feet down the hallway before landing hard on his back. He slid another ten feet across the tile floor after he landed. He lay there gasping for breath.

     I turned my attention back to Gailin. There was a deep dent that ran across several of the lockers that Gailin had slammed into. I advanced on the motionless bully with my fists clenched. I wanted to pound every inch of the boy who had tormented me for so long. I cocked his right arm back ready to deliver a blow, when someone grabbed my arm from behind.

     "That's enough, Mitch!" Gill exclaimed. He had extreme difficulty restraining me.

     I stopped struggling when I realized who had grabbed me. I looked at my uncle. Then I looked down the hall at Walsh lying flat on his back twenty-five feet away. Slowly I gazed down at the unconscious Gailin. The hand he had squeezed was purple and swollen, and a few of the fingers were bent at odd angles. The bully's head had a good sized lump forming on his forehead and was lolling to one side. His eyes were slightly open, but the whites were all that could be seen.