Battling the Invisible

Chapter 8

Drake had locked himself in his room studying fighting techniques. The beginning of the competition would take place in a few days. He refused to leave even to train. Then one night his dad called.
“Hey, what’s up pop?” He answered the phone.
“What’s wrong with your voice, Sugar Muffin.” His voiced seemed deeper than normal.
Clearing her throat, Cierra tried to remember what her normal voice sounded like. “Sorry, nothing’s wrong just a frog in my throat.”
“Oh, I see.”
It wasn’t like her father to call so late at night nor was it like him to talk to her often. “What’s going on, Dad?”
“Umm… Well, it’s your mother. She… Umm…” her father’s voice cracked.
Cierra’s face didn’t change. She didn’t move.
Axi starred at his roommate, curiosity consumed him.
The other end of the phone was silent for a moment longer, then “Sugar Muffin, Mom died in a car crash. A drunk driver hit her on her way to work this morning. He was a young man who had just celebrated his 21st birthday the night before and he…”
Cierra still didn’t move, her entire body in shock.
“Cierra? Honey?” He paused for a moment. “I want you to know that we’re all here for each other. I gotta call your brother. I’ll call you back in a few days. In the mean time I want you to decided if you want to come back for the funeral or if you’re going to stay there. I love you, Sugar Muffin. Good night.”
She didn’t wait for him to hang up the phone. She just chucked her cell at the wall and ran out of the room.
Axi was left sitting there. Confusion overwhelmed him.
Outside Cierra ran until she was on the sparring fields, the only place she felt comfortable. She sat in the darkness, allowing it consume her.
“Cierra?”

***
Jackson sat down next to Drake at the lunch table. He glanced over at his best friend then at Axi who was sitting on the other side of him. “Dude, Braw? What’s wrong?” The blonde bumped Drake with his elbow.
The brunette hadn’t spoken a word in days. He had told Axi what the phone call was about, but hadn’t said anything since.
“Drake, man. The competition starts tomorrow, you gotta get it together.”
Axi glared at Jackson trying to signal him to lay off, but the blonde was too unaware of the silent signals.
Drake got up without touching the food on his plate and walked back to his room. He didn’t want to be around anyone. He just wanted peace.

***
The first round of the competition was bright and early that day. Everyone had gathered at the sparring grounds to watch the big event. Drake was nervous, but still silent as the days before. The brunette cracked his neck and turned his attention to the board.
The rules were simple for this first round all he had to do get from point A to point B. Basically he had to run through an obstacle course as fast as he could. Placing in the top five would give him ten points, placing in the top ten would give him eight points and top twenty gave him five points. Anything lower, gave them nothing.
By the time it was Drake’s turn he was completely calm. He was determined to do well in the competition. He stretched and waited for the judge to give him the signal to start. At the sound of the buzzer he dove into the body of water before him. He swam deep to the bottom of the pond to find a key hooked to a rope. The key was to be used to open an underwater gate that he need to swim through. Making his way through the gate and up to the surface he looked around for his next obstacle. The seventeen year old could barely hear the cheers of the crowd because he was concentrating so hard.
I can do this, was all he would say to himself. He didn’t want to over think anything, for fear it would slow him down. He quickly hurdled over the wall in front of him. On the other side he need to find another key to unlock one of three doors, there was a different obstacle behind each one. So, if he picked the wrong door it could hinder his ability finish the race. The key was hidden inside one the crates stacked up on the right side of the path. There had to be at least fifty boxes. Thinking on his feet, the brunette concentrated and unleashed a burst of flame from his body. All of the wooden boxes caught fire and quickly burnt away the wood, leaving nothing but ash and a smoldering iron key.
Last obstacle, he ran up to the farthest door to the right and unlocked it. Behind the door there was a warrior stand in the way of the bell that he was supposed to ring. All he had to do was ring the bell and course would be over. Without thinking he ran toward the warrior and took a swing at his head. The muscle bound man quickly dodged the fist and took a jab at Drake’s stomach. Stumbling back, he tried to come up with a play. He attempted to hone his martial arts skill to help him get to the goal, but all that gave him was a headache and a deep cut on his left cheek. Then it hit him. He had the ability to become invisible. So, he disappeared from sight and ran around the bewildered soldier. He rang the bell ending his first event.
Axi ran up to his roommate, “That was awesome! You did really well!” He held his hand up for a high five, but received nothing in return.
“Fuck.” Drake wiped the blood from his face. “I only got fourth place.” Frustrated he walked away to go find a quiet place to think.