Bruised

Chapter 2

An old short man approached him as soon as he stepped inside. "Bossy" Matthew started but the man, the owner of the place interrupted him " I'm really sorry, me and your old man were like family, if you need anything just tell me and I will help you".

 Matt knew he should feel grateful for Bossy being there for him, for Nate being there for him but all he felt was more anger. Everyone felt the need to run in circles to avoid the word 'dead', and Bossy? He had never been nice, he wasn't a nice man, Matthew didn't need pity, he needed his father, and yet no one could give him that.

"I wanna fight the sooner the better" he said in a sharp tone. And the old man wanted to tell him he shouldn't, not on that day, maybe not this sooner, but he also knew this was a business and maybe that fight would be good to the kid standing in front of him "half eleven in the usual location" he said in a very weird, calm way "Jarred Gareth" and in that moment he could swear the kid in front of him was pure anger.
"I'll be there" Matthew said, and the kid, the man or the ball of anger that was once standing in front of him was long gone.
Soon Matthew was already home, punching and kicking everything in his way. Of all fighters it had to be that one, it had to be him. Maybe that was a second chance, a second chance for him to tear that guy to pieces. Oh. And he would.

It wasn't eleven yet and Matthew was already leaving home. He always called his dad when he had a fight, but now his dad wasn't there. 
The fight was in the same usual dirty place. And the way in was the same one too. First he fighters entered through the VIP section of the famous 'Dirty Dancing' disco. The ones that were there to fight for the first time would make the mistake of drinking a few of drinks enjoy themselves with a couple of girls and would miss the fight.

That was obviously an organised plan for easy money because missing a fight would mean having to pay for being irresponsible. Poor guys, he thought as he walked by two newbies doing the exact mistake. But he just continued his way and once he way the man, 'Machine' opened him the iron door he was in front of. The big guy murmured a simple "Don't die" before he closed the door behind him. And so he realised what was expecting him.

Half eleven. The old clock in the old dirty wall made of bricks had just showed the time fo the fight. He saw the devil himself getting into the ring. Jarred. The jerk he was hoping to get a chance to kill for longer than a year. Now he had the perfect excuse to do it. 

Patricia stepped into the ring with not more than a bra and shorts and suddenly everyone stopped their small talks and had eyes on them. She quickly told them that as always there were no rules, there was only one round and it would be until one of them give up, losing the fight meant taking no money home, winning meant taking home 80% of the bets, if they lost their senses during the fight they would be taken out and left in the same alley as always, meaning obviously no medical cares, telling something to the cops would also mean being dead. 

Matthew had brought no one on that night, but he almost never did anyway. Yet he could still feel and hear half of the men in the room cheering for him. And besides all the noise they were making it was still easy to hear the music playing in the disco just above them. In the few minutes he had to prepare himself he put his gloves and his mouthguard. And then he thought about his father, he thought about making him proud, he thought about all he had been through, he thought about that guy in front of him and he thought about how he felt sick only by looking at him and then he stood up. And he thought, he thought he was ready to face Jarred.

It was not easy to hear the bell ring with all the noise in the room and all the music above them, but Matthew still heard it. And that was the moment. That was the moment he was waiting for. He was there with elbows down, to protect the body and hands up to protect the face, chin relaxed down and once Jarred got closer he managed to throw a perfect left jab followed by a right straight punch to his head, and while was taking care of him he was surely winning the fight.

It was true that he wasn't expecting his opponent to be so strong and it was obvious that he had progressed since they had trained as friends. Jabs and crosses were being combined and the fight was only getting more intense, the sound of people yelling was getting louder and so was the sound of the blood pumping in Matthew's body. Everyone was already cheering for him thinking that the fight was almost won. Jarred was already on the ground, and between all the noise his words were barely impossible to hear, yet there was a word it was very clear for Matt. "Amber". Millions of images came into his mind, all the memories came back and before he could even realise punches were coming from all directions. His strength seemed to be leaving him, the sound seemed to be getting far away he started to see white and then it all turned black.

-------------

thank you for reading, 

give your opinion, ly

yxzmin