1. Orphaned
1156 Words
The crowd was going wild. The fighters were blowing punch after punch and were shedding blood in the ring.
"Jason! Jason! jason!" Those who favoured Jason chanted his name. It was a signal for him to make his signature move. His opponent was already panting, and one of his eyes had closed long ago. It was now his turn to deliver the final blow and advance to the next round of the season.
His opponent readied himself, stood up in a defensive stance with his knuckles covering his face. Anyone who had lived to see Jason's move would know him— It was a kick, punch, and lock combo.
Jason, knowing well that his opponent could barely deflect him, started with his flying kick move. It hit his enemy's ribcage, snapping a few bones in the process. He followed it up with a left uppercut, locking the man's jaw up. His opponent could barely breathe, yet Jason was not satisfied. He took the neck in between his thighs in one swift move, and he did a flip disabling the man.
"One!"
"Two!" The crowd has joined in with the referee in counting down.
Three!" Another tap on the mat was down by the referee. His opponent was struggling to break out, but he was too strong.
"Four!" Finally, his opponent tapped the floor, signalling that he was giving up.
With no second guesses, Jason snapped his neck, causing the man to die immediately. It was the golden rule, the loser must die inside the ring, or there will be no winner.
Jason stood up and raised both his hands as the crowd cheered for him.
"Woohoo! Jason! Yeah! Jason!" A mix of voices and declarations of love came his way as well, but he remained focused. He stepped out of the ring and went to his locker room.
FLASHBACK ׀SIX YEARS AGO
"Jason. Wake up, sweetie. The food is getting cold."
His mom knocked on his door. They lived in a decent apartment in the city's slum area.
"I'm awake. I'll be out in a sec." He slid off the duvet and sat upright.
Like a morning routine, he checked his upper body in the mirror hanging on his door. He was still scrawny and would most likely be scrawny until he got to shift. Since he was just wearing his boxers, he grabbed one of his shirts on the floor and a flannel jacket. He also pulled a pair of jeans from his cabinet.
"Good morning, Mom. How was work?" Jason asked her as she had just come off a graveyard shift.
"Good morning. It was the same, too slow and few clients," she gave him the usual update. His mother had a slender body and could be mistaken for a model. However, her face had started wrinkling in the past few years that made her look older than her age—brunette hair with a bunch of white strands sticking out.
She worked in a store nearby, and the store sold tickets for underground fights — death brawls as most people know it.
Jason took out the box of cereal from the cabinet and milk from the fridge. He then placed it on the table and took a bowl from the counter top.
They barely eat three times a day, but his mother always ensured that breakfast would be served.
His mother suddenly coughed out loud. "Ahem… hack… hack!" She was trembling when she covered her mouth. He was about to ask what the matter was when she fell to the ground.
"Mom! Mom! Come on…" He walked beside her and lifted her head. He placed her in his lap as he tried to wake her up. A few more minutes and her breaths started to slowdown. Worse, he could not feel her heart beating too.
Without money or any adult around to help him, he lifted her and ran to the nearest hospital. Even though he could barely carry her, adrenaline helped him to move past the morning crowd of workers going into work.
He got to the emergency entrance of the hospital, panting, as he tried to get someone to help them.
"Help, please! Help us! Somebody!" he shouted to the busy emergency room. There was someone who just came from an accident as another patient, a woman, was lying in bed while screaming from labour pains.
He looked around, looking for a nurse or a nurse aide. "Hey, sir, please help my mom. She is barely breathing. Please take a look at her." He grabbed the nearest person he saw in a doctor's gown.
The doctor looked at him with disgust. "Get out of my way, boy. I have to attend that pregnant woman." The doctor then pushed Jason's hand away.
Jason was getting angry at how they seemed to be invisible to everyone. He balled his fist, ready to punch someone or something when a nurse approached him.
"Excuse me, may I know what your concern is?" she asked. She had a pleasant voice, and it somehow soothed him.
"Please help my mom. She coughed, fell to the ground, then became unconscious," he said, his voice was rattling. He was already shaking as he held his mother close to him.
"May I get her name?" she asked again.
"Laura Richards", he replied.
She wrote it on a piece of paper and wrapped it in her arm. "Let me check her vitals and get a bed for her. Please stay here as I prepare her to get into our care." She then called a nursing aide to bring a bed to her.
Tears ran down Jason's face. He woke up earlier worrying about his scrawny body, and now he was about to become an orphan. "Mom, hang in there. I will do everything so you can live longer," he said to himself.
The nurse had already brought his mother inside the ER and put her in IV drips.
Jason stood still in front of the door, unable to bring himself near his mother. People passed by looking at him, but no one stopped to ask about him. The guard even ignored him when it checked around the vicinity.
At that moment, he was invisible to the world, and only his mom could see him. It was depressing for him to see that only person on the brink of death.
"Are you the relative of Ms Richards?" a doctor approached after a long while.
"Yes, I am her son," he replied. "Is she awake?"
Jason hoped he would say yes.
"I am afraid she is no longer with us, son. Ms Laura Richards died around 10 o'clock in the morning. Her lungs had already collapsed when you brought her here. We could not revive her, even with an oxygen concentrator. I am sorry for your loss." He then tapped his shoulder.
He was at a loss. His mom was everything for him.
- Writer
