Red Mountain Chronicles: The Illusionist

Chapter 13

"Remember the rules, no magic. You have three minutes. Whoever double taps first loses."
I looked at my opponent whom I decided looked around 6 feet and weighed 200 lbs. His broad jaw bone and deep set eyes squinted at me. "You're pretty dainty. I'm gonna have to go easy on you," said Mr. Castillo.
        I took my attention elsewhere, as I silently examined my opponent. Just how on earth was I supposed to get out of here unscathed— let alone beat him?
         Luckily it did not take long to find out possible weaknesses. It was not his behavior, but his choice in equipment. He was wearing a wrestling helmet and what looked like a baseball vest— and both seemed like useless accessories. The vest looked too small for him, and the helmet seemed pointless— with less protection than my helmet. But size aside, I had to admit that the gear suited him. He did look like a wrestler after all.
"3, 2, 1, go!"
I watched his feet. They started to move towards me, and his arms were held wide open. I knew what he was going to do. He's gonna try to tackle me.
I dived to the right, causing me to do a volleyball roll as I rolled over my left shoulder. Thank goodness I took up volleyball when I was younger, or I would have never learned how to roll and get up fast. Within a second, I sprung back on my feet. I looked back to see him charging to where I originally was.
Good. He missed.
Unfortunately I could not celebrate for long because I saw him ground himself and start to charge again. When I tried to roll again, he grabbed my outstretched wrist. But my momentum kept going. Once I got up from my roll, I felt a burning pain surge up my arm. He was still holding onto my wrist— or rather, loosely wrapping his hand around it. But it was enough grip to cause my skin to stretch and twist. I wailed in pain.
"Oh!" He exclaimed in surprise. He then loosened his grip.
I pulled myself toward him, aiming my elbow up and yanked myself free. I then ran the opposite direction.
He caught up to me and grabbed me from behind. He then began to squeeze his arm around the sides of my neck. I gasped for breath as the corners of my vision began to turn black. As I began to think there was no way to get him to let go, I realized his body armor was to small to fit him. Leaving his nethers unprotected.
I closed my hand into a fist and hit him in the groin until he let go. He doubled over in pain, low enough to knee his nose on the way down. I then got out of the way and kept a good distance from him. His nose began to bleed. He plugged one nostril and blew, shooting blood onto the floor. He then looked at me. And this time there was rage in his eyes. If he was goin easy on me before, he definitely wasn't going to now.
I'm dead.
He charged toward me. Now he was a lot faster with his movements. He started swinging. I ducked as much as I could, but he finally landed a low punch on me. It threw me to the side, causing me to land on my shoulder. I rolled up, despite the pain I felt and ran to the wall. Bad decision.
He dived toward me, casting a shadow over me. I covered my face with my arms as I braced myself for impact. But then time seemed to slow down. I wanted to disappear so badly. I wanted to get out of here so badly. I wanted him to miss me so badly but I knew I was probably gonna die. I imagined myself there. Motionless. There was nothing I could do but dodge.
At the last second I moved to the right, just as my opponent's fist hurtled past the back of my head. His fist hit hard stone and broke it. It was quiet.
I moved my hands and looked toward my opponent. He was frozen. He looked confused.
"Huh?" He said, then looked toward my direction. He looked dumbfounded. His fist still in the wall where he'd broken it. Where my face used to be. He missed me by two feet.
"Time!"
Relief washed over me. I slid down the stone wall and stayed there for a long while.
"I don't know what that was, but it certainly helped you Miss Vega. Does anyone have any idea what just happened?" I heard Professor Price say. I didn't answer him.
I looked back at Mr. Castillo. He was looking back at the hole he'd made. Surprisingly his hand did not look broken
        "I thought I killed her. Her face was here. I killed her," he muttered.
He then looked at me again and sank down. He looked like he was in complete shock, and tears streaming down his face. He looked a person after experiencing a life threatening car accident.
"Are you ok?" I asked.
"I'm so sorry."
That sentence sent shivers down my spine. A minute later, Mary was giving me a hand to pull me up. Once I got on my feet, she said, "you're shivering"
"Am I?" It was only then that I noticed my teeth were chattering.
"Alright, let's do majority vote! Whoever believes Mr. Castillo won, raise your hand!"
Half the people raised their hands indecisively. Many were exchanging confused looks to each other or muttering amongst themselves.
"Who believes Miss Vega won?" Same thing happened, then someone yelled. "She cheated!"
There was then a loud uproar. Everyone began talking at once. The noise was deafening. Then, Professor yelled over the crowd. "QUIET!"
Everyone immediately calmed down, and the chatter ceased. "Well then," he proceeded in his normal voice, "since we can't decide on a winner, I have decided that it is a draw, since both are equally at controversy for breaking the rules. Mr. Castillo was going to break Miss Vega's skull since she was in front of a blunt object. Both will be docked one point. I'm ending class early. Go get changed. Class dismissed."
Mary helped walk me toward the locker rooms, giving me her pullover and wrapping it around me for comfort. She tried to calm me down, saying, "it's okay. You're okay."
I looked back at my opponent. He was still on the ground. Frozen in his place, looking at his hands in horror.