CURSED 1

I TOLD THEM

I sat there quietly for a moment. Unfortunately, my brain had a hard time.

Drop it. It kept replaying the word vampire.

Finally, I said, “Well, tell me this. How did you meet Atticai?”

Lena sighed, leaned back, and crossed her arms just under her chest. “I was at

a party in Riverside about two years ago. A typical college party: stupid stunts,

drunk assholes, beer bongs, and I was pretty bored, to say the least. I was sitting

alone outside, having a smoke, when Atticai approached me. He seemed more

out of place at the party than I did. He sat next to me, and we talked for hours.

We ended up being the last two at the party. He took me home, and the rest is

history.”

“It’s the rest that you can’t tell me about?”

“Not at that moment. But I can tell you that Atticai is the one who started

calling me Lena.”

“Your name isn’t Lena?”

“You don’t remember? My name was—is—Donna.”

“Sorry. I remembered your face, but I never knew your name at Eisenhower.”

“Wow, no wonder why I hated jocks so much in high school. You didn’t even

know my name.”

“Hey, we never talked. We didn’t have a single conversation.”

“Trust me, that was all you,” Lena said.

“Why is that?”

“I had a little crush on you.”

“You did?” I was extremely surprised to hear that. I wouldn’t have thought a

A girl like Lena would have given a second glance towards a guy like me.

“Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have your picture hanging in my locker or

anything, but I thought you were pretty cute.”

“I wish I had known.”

“What are you talking about? You didn’t even know my name. You’re were

too busy dating cheerleaders and drill team girls.”

“I never dated those types of girls. It might surprise you, but I have always

been interested in girls like you.”

“What type of girl do you think a girl like me is?”

I paused. “A thoughtful loner, who thinks independently and doesn’t care.

what ‘pop culture’ tells her to be like.”

Lena smiled. “I guess that is me. And you liked that?”

“Yeah, because believe it or not, that is how I am. You know, but as a guy.”

“I figured what you meant. I didn’t think you had a gender

identity crisis.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Lena. I knew your face in high school. You were

someone who I thought was hot, but thought I had zero chance with. I figured

Girls like you hate guys like me.”

She laughed. “Trust me—we did. No one knew I was secretly crushing on them.

you.”

“How funny,” I smiled at Lena.

“Oh, don’t start getting all cocky on me.”

“I’m not getting cocky. Life is fun; that’s all. We never spoke in high

school, but yet, after one night, you trusted me enough to let me help you.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“What I mean is, at the time, you were all I had. If you turn out to be a

creep, too, like those frat boys, I was s**t out of luck. You not only turned out to

be a fantastic guy, you kick more ass than any man I have ever seen.”

“Your boyfriend isn’t too bad in his own right.”

“Yeah, but he has an advantage.”

“What advantage is that? That he is so tall?” I laughed.

Lena looked at me as if she would open up to me about something, but then

held back. Lena paused and took me in. Her eyes penetrated through me. “I want

to trust you, Josiah,” she said. “I hope I can.”

“You can, Donna,” I said, winking at her.

“Please don’t call me Donna. I hate that name immensely.”

“So, why did Atticai rename you Lena?”

“The reason is a little bit on the weird side,” Lena laughed.

“Trust me, nothing you tell me about Atticai would make me think he’s any

weirder than I already do.”

“No, this is pretty weird—even for Atticai. Okay, fine. Donna was his

mother’s name.”

I paused. Atticai’s fear of an Oedipus complex factoring into their

The relationship swirled in my brain like curdled milk in hot coffee. “You’re right.

That is pretty freaking weird. But I kind of get where he was going with the

name change request.”

“I know. Right?”

“Your order is up!” The old man from behind the counter yelled out. I got up

and grabbed the tray and filled up my Diet Coke. I took the tray over and set

it on the table. Lena tore open her burger wrapper and took a giant bite.

“I’m so hungry,” she said, wiping her mouth.

“Apparently so.” I watched as he devoured her hamburger.

Lena looked up from her burger. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure,” I said. I started to eat my fries first, as I always do. I think I secretly

have a salt addiction.

“How much do you get paid to fight?”

“I’m fairly new to the sport. So, I get paid the minimum.”

“Which is?”

“About five thousand a fight.”

“Wow! That’s not bad.”

“It’s not for other fighters. When you only fight every three months, it ends.

up being a pretty remedial job.”

“Then why choose that profession?”

“I’m hoping I’ll get better and to win over a larger fan base. The idea is to get

proficient enough to get on pay-per-view. That’s where the real money is.”

“Well, you’re as tremendous a fighter as I’ve ever seen. I’m sure you’ll get

the big pay-per-view fights in no time.” Lena took a couple more bites of her

hamburger. I decided to start on my own hamburger. It tasted delicious. This old

The man behind the counter could make a pretty tasty burger.

When we were done, I took Lena home. I knew she had more on her mind,

and somewhere along the way in the conversation, she held back for whatever

reason. I dropped her off and was just about to pull out of the driveway when I

got a text from Tommy. It was a short text: ‘Get home. Now.’

I pulled up to my house and Tommy was outside sitting on the porch steps. I

got out of my truck and headed over to him.

“So, what’s up?” I stood there looking at Tommy. He wouldn’t look me in the

eye. “Tommy, what’s going on?”

He hesitated. “You know, we got our match-ups today. Aren’t you the least?

bit curious about who you’re fighting?”

“You know me, Tom. I genuinely don’t care. I fight my fight like an

adrenaline maniac, no matter who it is. Look, if you’re pissed off that I took a

day off from training...”

“Josiah, you have a tough opponent this time and you had better start taking your

training very seriously. Don’t be such a dumbass about your career.”

I shrugged. “Who did they give me? Don’t tell me that they gave me Marquez

already.”

“No, your opponent is a little tougher than Marquez.”

“Who am I fighting?”

Tommy stood up and walked onto the lawn. He got into MMA striking

stance. And he said, “Me!”

“You?! You’re kidding, right?”

“I wouldn’t have asked you to come straight home if it wasn’t true.”

“Can they do that? I mean, everyone knows we’re practically brothers.”

Tommy laughed. “Josiah, they can do whatever they want. They are the

Commission, man. They can make us fight a leopard in the ring if they want to.”

“I don’t understand. They told you this was only going to be a tune-up fight.

They know I’ve knocked out everyone in the first two minutes of each of my

fights. I’m anything but a tune-up.”

“It’s not your performance in the ring, Josiah. It’s who you are out of the ring.

”

“What does that mean?”

Tommy was getting himself worked up. “It means you don’t take being a

fighter seriously, man. It means you get fat every time you’re done training.

Don’t you think the trainers see that extra twenty pounds you’re carrying right?

now? They see you arrive late to do your training, and you’re always the first to

leave. You’re looked at as being soft. Lazy!”

“That’s bullshit, and you know—”

“Josiah, they apologized to me that they couldn’t give me a better fighter.”

My ego was wounded, my mouth dropped open. “You’re serious?”

He nodded. I knew this wasn’t easy for him.

“They apologized for not making you a better fighter? And they were talking

about me?”

He nodded again. “Look, Josiah, I know you’re tough, and I know what you

can do. So, I’m telling you right now that you had better train seriously. If I easily

kick your ass, the Commission will think you threw the fight, and that would be

worse than if I lost to you.”

“I can’t believe you assume that you’re just going to kick my ass. Do you

have any idea what I’m capable of?”

“It doesn’t matter how tough you are, Josiah. You and I both know that.

When two fighters are as skillful as we are are, the winner is always the

person who trains the hardest and who is the smartest. You and I both know I

have you on both points.”

“Says you,” I replied.

“When you measure who has the edge, between you and me, it’s me, Josiah.

Me.”

This was the first time in my life I ever wanted to punch Tommy in the face.

How could he say these things to me? He was in my corner in each of my

knockouts. He saw how easily I manhandled all of my opponents. The nerve of

him, thinking he could just roll me over!

“Look,” I said, raising my voice, feeling that familiar surge of adrenaline. It

was all I could do to control myself. “Do what you have to do, and say what you

I have to say to try to get in my head, to beat up my ego, to get your edge into it.

away out of the ring. Before you get go in it, with me. Because there will be no

mercy in that ring. None.”

Tommy stiffened, but didn’t reply.

I blasted on. “Tommy, I’m telling you right here and now that this is the

worst thing that could have happened to you. You’d better train Rocky Balboa-

style. I will not be easy on you. In fact, I would be the exact opposite. I’m going to

kick the living s**t out of you.”

Tommy had a cocky smirk on his face. “Good, that’s what I want to hear. Our

Fight is in 24 days. I think it would be best if I stayed over at my grandma’s.

house until the fight. You know how I get. All machismo. It will be just so

weird running into you each day. We’ll end up beating each other’s cocky asses

over the last protein bar in the house before we ever set foot in the ring.”

“Do what you have to do,” I repeated. “And don’t eat too much of your

grandma’s cooking, or we’ll see who’s too fat on fight day!”

“Hey, you smell like burgers and fries,” Tommy said. “Cut that s**t out.”

I brushed past him into the house. I went straight to my room, where I

Striped off my shirt and jeans. They did smell of burgers and fries. Now, just in

my boxers, I dropped to the floor and cranked out 4 sets of 50 pushups. If

Tommy wanted me at the top of my game, so that’s where he was going to.

find me.

TO BE CONTINUED....