The night

"The world ended for him then. A life that he finally achieved, gone in the blink of an eye."
A young man watched his friend grieving for the loss of his comrades.

I sigh as I walk into my room. Today’s training session was too tiring, I still had to complete my German language practice before relaxing. I jerk my head into the air, taking in a deep breath. I concentrate all my thoughts – the dread, soreness of my body, and laziness – and exhale, expelling them.

I make my way into the shower, my body struggling to move from the difficult workout it went through. As the cold water struck my body, I uncontrollably shivered even though I’d went through this routine a thousand times. Strange how, no matter what we do, we’ll never get used to some things; all we can do is accept the pain.

As I began to get used to the cold temperature my mind drifted into a drill we went through today. I cursed myself as I remembered how many trials it took before I got it down. Despite it being a four-punch combination, I was somehow still unable to replicate it under 10 tries. I saw myself go through the motions, remembering what our coach taught us. I was so immersed in my mind simulation that I was almost going to punch the wall. Thank god, I thought as I pulled my hand from its frozen position, that was at least 3 months in recovery.

I lasted 10 more minutes before stepping out, drying myself and walking to the mirror. I saw my face, water dripping from my bald scalp. I moved my hand through my head brushing the water away as I felt the friction from my growing hair follicles. I stared at myself for a while, just looking. I focused on my eyes, then my vision lost focus. I tried hard to look at the centre of my pupil and failed. I repeated this for a few minutes and gave up, walking to my room.

After two hours or so laid in my bed after completing the rest of may night routine; it made me slightly less agitated. Though as time continued, I couldn’t sleep. I kept seeing myself mess up the punching combinations. It was so frustrating, after so many years of dedicated training how could I still mess up? I am supposed to be Russia’s next big MMA star and that will remain a dream if I keep going like this.

It was three hours past midnight, and I was wide awake. I decided to take a walk. I cursed my uncle for buying such a big house, it took four cycles of opening and closing doors before I reached the street. Thankfully though, my anger slowly disappeared as the night’s serenity started having its effect on me.

The walk continued before I crossed paths with a familiar figure. My friend Alexander was apparently also having trouble sleeping.

“Sasha, what are you doing man?” I said with a quiet chuckle.

“Admiring the night’s atmosphere, you?” he replied with a chuckle.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“Figures,” said and added “Thankfully tomorrow is a day off, you’ll be able to catch up on the hours lost.”

“Yeah, I hope. Alright then,” I said extending my hand, “I’ll see you on Sunday.”

I continued walking for a while before hearing a quiet aggressive tone. I continued walking and there were four men huddled up around a car, one holding a crowbar. The streetlight illuminated them but also kept me hidden in the shadows. Thieves? In our neighbourhood? I left my phone behind one of the cars and grabbed a rock.

Without thinking I threw it at them, thanking my baseball coach in my head. They were startled and that gave me an opening. I grabbed one guy from his waist and was able to secure a body lock, instantly I threw him to the ground, cracking his right arm in the process. His friend tried kicking me but I was able to roll back in time.

As I stood up, the remaining three turned their attention to me. My concern was the one with the crowbar and luckily he foolishly swung first, telegraphing his attack. I stepped back and stepped in grabbing his head and kneeing his chest as hard as I could. Unfortunately though, his friend was able to grab me by the waist, whilst he other one pushed me to the ground.

With my balance in jeopardy I ignored the one standing, instead I focused on the one holding my waist. I used the momentum from the push tocreate an armbar. Without thought, I pulled hard as I can cracking the joints and feeling a bit of muscle tear. The victim let out an agonizing scream as his arm was fully broken.

His friend came in for the rescue and soccer kicked me, knocking, for a split second, the consciousness out of my head. My entire face screamed in pain, I felt a crack in my cheekbones. I thanked god for not losing my consciousness and blocked the following attacks and pulled his leg with mine, making him fall to the ground. With no mercy I pulled his leg onto my chest, he tired to pull free but his fate was secured, he was never walking again. I had a knee bar. I pulled as hard as I could, these men meant to kill me, I thought to myself justifying my act. He gave an even louder scream.

I let go and he was.. crying? A rush of guilt hit me and I cursed myself for it. I was too kind, these men could’ve ran away and yet they stayed to fight. THEY DESERVED IT. I got my breathing to steady and stood up seeing the three men on the ground grabbing their destroyed limbs. Two were going to recover whilst the third one, not so much. Three? I could’ve swo---

My vision blurred, a sudden wave of pain crashing over me. My entire body was in a state of shock. A throbbing sensation vibrated, stemming from the back of my head. Fuck, the one with the crowbar. I could barely see as the man rushed to check on his friends. A faint police siren was rushing to the scene, but I was probably not going to be saved. I could feel the blood exiting my scalp. I was slowly losing consciousness. This not is not how I….

DARKNESS

I was nowhere and everywhere at the same time. A dark sky stretched as far as my eye can see. I could feel my hands moving around and yet it was doing nothing. My clothes disappeared and my skin felt estrangedin this foreign place. Is this what death felt like, because it felt too real to be a dream.