Epilogue
The aura was wilder than anyone I'd ever previously experienced. Cheers erupted throughout the heights of the pavilion, spiced with anxiety and determination. You couldn't concentrate on anything other than the match even if you tried to. I wasn't sure why the noise was present; but, I believed it had something to do with my return.
Anyways, an uppercut shoved beneath my jaw brought my attention back to my opponent and away from however the hell the cheers thundered.
Soon after, the bell came and the round was over, while I was with a blurry mind and a bleeding nose.
With slow staggers, I plunged forward, slumping down onto the little stool at my corner. My opponent, Ahmad Tuniski, wasn't exactly a foe. Bald and Algerian, he was obviously the type to grin with you right before the match, breaks your bones on the ring, and then exchange numbers gleefully right after. It was his jovial professionalism that gained my respect.
Simon's body came suddenly to block my already weak view, making me groan and lean backwards to rest my thumping head. "You were fine during training! What's up with you now?"
"Nobody told me my opponent was African." I said with a tone a wailing child might use. "Those guys can chew rocks!"
"Your whines are childish, Jeff," I heard my brother's voice. Glancing over my shoulder, I watched him try to park his chair at the bottom of the ring. Without further ado, he met my gaze. "Attack heads on. I thought your thing was nonstop offense!"
To fulfill his childhood promise, Noah had volunteered to step up beside Simon as some form of an assistant. He got to watch my trainings, manage my diet and throw in some tactical suggestions to my Coach when he had any. In four words, he controlled my life. However, for someone who had no certified experience in boxing, he was good at it, I'd give him that.
But as always lately, he was hard on me.
"Easier said than done, Noah," I responded. I took a peek at the time; I had thirty seconds. "Besides, things get harder when the opponent has a stone body!"
A woman from the medic team tipped my jaw up and pinched the bridge of my nose, supposedly arresting its bleeding. Warm towel came dabbing on my face soon after.
"Then try a clinch and get him to tap out!" Noah barked in a whisper, if that was possible. His idea gave me a smirk though, and I silently admitted that Noah was good at what he did.
Even Simon's look screamed "impressed"
"Five, four, three…"
"Now, go in there and win your reopening match," Simon chose to conclude with the reminder as a boost, patting my back one last time as though to propel me forward.
Although there was a limp here and there, my confidence readily took over and I was striding towards the ring's center to meet my Algerian opponent. The cheering continued in the background of it all, doing well to bring joy to my soul.
After a couple months of getting freed from jail, I'd decided to give my life one last chance; do those things I loved and soak up all the memories. With the love I had all around me, it had been a smooth ride.
Looking back at my dramatic life, the hitches and glitches, I realised there was much more to learn from people around me that I'd thought I'd known. Every single let down had come with its own little lesson afterwards, exposition the much larger picture of life I was still yet to fully comprehend.
Somewhere in the midst of all my trials, there was my brother, an embodiment of love and support whenever I needed him. Although we'd lived completely different lives and traveled different roads, we'd made it back together with fairly similar memories. He'd been my strength in difficult moments, my light when I was blinded by rage, my comfort during pain. He would take a bullet for me if it came down to it, certainly the only person I knew who'd die for me. What I did to deserve this, I wasn't sure.
However, if ever again I were to doubt God, one look back at everything Noah had done for me would be enough to restore my faith.
"Ready to get this over with, Jeff?" Ahmad whispered to me, a glint of excitement in his eyes. With his mouth guard though, his words almost sounded like some foreign language.
After some hesitation, I crouched with arms apart. After a tip of my head, the bell came right before the referee stepped away from our center. Neither of us pounced forward at once. Rather, the wait for the other to attack stretched into half a minute, the both of us only glaring and circling a spot in a crouch.
My patience expectedly got worn out first and I decided to lash out. I'd been studying his movements with the corner of my eyes for possible reflexes or sudden attacks. Right when I sensed his biceps pulse, I took the hint and chose to get this over with.
His jab came towards my right shoulder quickly, only missing by a hair breadth as I tilted towards his right and threw a punch against his temple. The cheers from the audience turned to a blood thirsty roar that fueled me as always.
With one go, I wrapped my arms about his torso in a clinch and sent him toppling backwards and onto the ring's floor. My grip around him only strengthened, feet curling about his and pinching him in that position as we remained there in a ball.
His groans showed his obvious discomfort as he struggled to pull away vainly. Something I'd gotten to learn about was the fact I never backed out of something if I set my mind to fulfill it. Unfortunately for Ahmad, he'd just gotten literally and uncomfortably entwined in my frustration.
Suddenly, it'd just occured to me out of nowhere that Noah had actually kept his promise.
The image of that night at Mrs Kimberly's window came back to mind; where my brother had held me protectively and made an oath I believe was the greatest he'd ever made.
"I'll never leave your side, Jeffery. Not today, not tomorrow. Not ever."
Like the gifted soul he was, he got to forgo his own happiness and survival for my own, something that no amount of natural explanation could make me fathom.
Soon, Ahmad's hand came tapping upon my shoulder desperately as his own form of surrender. I'd won, just as the roar around me exceeded all limits.
Safe to say I'd finally found the peace I was searching for.