senseless | l.h

ROUND 9: KISS IT BETTER

"Today is not your day, son. This was a bad idea."

Luke mostly glared at these words. He had enough self doubt running rampant in his head, his trainer's doubt wasn't helping. As the pair stuck themselves in the corner of the ring, Luke wasn't doing well in his fight at all. There had been a few rounds already, but everything was being way overthought. The boy knew this, and he would have stopped under normal circumstances, but everything just hurt more than usual that day. Despite this pain being more prominent, he was also more determined. Anger was always a sort of metaphorical jet fuel for him.

The trainer looked at him concerned as the boy leaned back in his chair, catching his breath for a moment as sweat slicked up his skin. He was bleeding from his nose and bruises were already forming on the side of his face and by his eyebrow. It was all a sickening sight to even witness Luke put himself through. Luke only pushed his trainer away a few seconds later, his chest still moving up and down at a faster rate than usual as he stepped away from his corner. The man frowned at him for this, mostly because he knew Luke wasn't done, especially if he was pushing away the guy who was only trying to help him.

The man cursed to himself as Luke did this, watching the boy lead himself into another overthought beating. And he was right, because Luke stepped in and failed to do what he normally did. His reflexes were slow, and his punches didn't have the same amount of momentum they usually did. His gloves made less and less contact with his opponent and his trainer's head shook more and more.

In the end, Luke came out with more than he came in with—that was if you were counting injuries and anger. He had bruises on his face, the corner of his eyes and brow being turned the loveliest hell he could imagine. His nose and lips bled, the red color dripping to just about every where since he refused assistance.

He stepped out of the ring without a word after the last round, the boy not bothering to stay to catch his breath or wipe the blood from his face. He left his trainer hanging as he took off his gloves as stepped into the locker room with his knuckles and nose dropping blood on the floor and in his skin. He continued to ignore it as he grabbed his sweatshirt from his bag and put it back on. Luke didn't bother to stay to talk to anyone else, his mind no longer dwelling on his performance but what he had done before.

It was all the factors that had lead up to the fight that drove him mad. The reason he joined in the first place. The pain he felt in his chest years later. The thought of his hands gripping a steering wheel rather than his fists clenching.

As he stepped into the chilly fall air, his mind was focused on the girl in the clouds. The girl he had lost all to a miscalculated mistake; a fuzzy headed, awful mistake. The scowl didn't leave his face as he stepped down the street, the blood beginning to dry and stain his skin. He was lucky the streets were empty during the day; his overall look would have been one that caused unprecedented concern. He considered this, but after a short time, decided he didn't care.

The boy had his hands shoved into his pockets as he stepped around a corner, his long strides getting him somewhere faster than normal. A few seconds later his phone vibrated in his pocket; he mostly wanted to ignore all calls that say, but he always got one call from the only person he knew didn't hate him for what he had done. He sighed as he looked at it, the person's name coming up on the screen before he pressed the large green button and muttered a hello.

"Where are you?" She asked. "I've been sitting here for like twenty minutes—and it's not just haunting—it's lonely. And sad." She mumbled. Luke rolled his eyes at her tone, the girl sounding more annoyed at his lack of presence than something that had matched what she had really said.

"I'm on my way. I got caught somewhere." He said, stepping into a small building before he nodded at one of the workers. They gave him a look for a moment, the boy proceeding anyways. He stepped out another door, making his way through some grass as the girl sighed into the phone.