Jhun Thai O: The Fall Of Thomas Brady

Jhun Thai 0 Epilogue

Two Weeks Later

Thomas took several deep breaths as he knocked on Travis's door. He lived quite a distance away from Burslem in the town of Congleton. Laymere Avenue was quite a plush and posh part of the town and it made Thomas feel slightly out of place, especially with his travel bag by his side. It was the first time he had ever visited his brother and he was surprised at how well Travis was doing with his life. Thomas knew he had always been the smart one of the two, always sensible and careful with money, unlike himself who always seemed to squander it on booze and women.

He wondered how Travis would react when seeing him. He had not heard from his brother since the night of his fight and had not replied to any of his text messages or the voicemails he had left on Travis's phone. He figured his brother was still pissed at him, but he wanted to see the only family member in his entire family that he was still in contact with. He did not have the courage to go see his father, Malcom Brady in person to thank him for his financial support. There was a lot of bad history with his parents and he felt now was not the time, but perhaps sometime soon in the future when he was strong enough to face up to his past and put his demons to rest.

The door opened and Travis was stood there. He did not seem either surprised or shocked to see his older brother standing there, but he frowned when he saw the bag Thomas had slung across his shoulder.

"Er hi, this is not what it appears to be," Thomas said sheepishly. He felt his heart racing and his nerves becoming entwined in a knot. He always hated emotional encounters, especially with family members. "I just came to....."

THWACK!

Thomas was sent crashing backwards in a heap by a heavy punch from his brother, something that he was not expecting. And what's more, it hurt like hell.

"That was for hitting me!" Travis said in a strong and angry tone of voice. He reached out his hand to help Thomas up. "Now we are even".

"Sheesh. Never figured you could hit so hard," said Thomas, taking Travis's hand and stumbling back to his feet. He dusted himself off and then turned to face his younger brother.

"What do you want Thomas?" Travis asked him, his arms folded, his face hard. "You are not seriously thinking about moving in with me?"

"Like I said, before you whacked me, this is not what it appears to be," Thomas said to him. He wiped away bit of blood away from a cut lip. "I just came here to see you one last time before I go".

Travis frowned at this, his face quickly turning to confusion. "You are going away?" he said to Thomas. "Where exactly are you going?"

"Hong Kong," was Thomas's reply. "I'm going to try and find someone, someone I think will help put me on the right track".

"Hong Kong?" repeated Travis, scratching his head in confusion. "Who are you looking for? What is all this about?"

Thomas breathed in deeply before replying. He did not have much time to go into a long winded explanation, so he made it as short as possible. "There's this book I use to have that I gave away. Now it's been given back to me. I've been reading it and it's really changed the way I see things, the teachings and philosophies. The guy who wrote it was a genius, he was a master of this ancient art of Jhun Thai. And that is his name. He named the style and system after him. I'm going to Hong Kong to find him and learn from him and maybe he can help make things better for me. Hell, he might be able to make me into a better fighter, a better martial artist and a better person".

"So lemme get this straight," said Travis, trying to understand what Thomas was telling him. "You read a book from a martial arts master and it's changed your outlook and now you want to go to Hong Kong to find him in a hope that he can train you and teach you to be a better fighter?"