Call of Ring(Compleled)

1 Trauma

It was a trip that he wished he had taken sooner. Blake was a student from the Canadian University of Toronto. He chose to travel for a few weeks at the beginning of his summer break in part to reward himself for completing his first year of University. His focus of the study was a major in Business with a minor in Spanish. The trip was to Bolivia, a country landlocked in South America, a country rated as one of the poorest in the Western Hemisphere second to only Haiti. An economical vacation, but also a chance to explore some of the country’s rumored hidden gems.

Blake stood at an average height, 5 feet 10 inches, and he had a medium build, weighing about 180 lbs most days. He was fit, but not particularly muscular. He had dirty blonde hair, mid-length, with curls that wrapped around the back of his ears, but not long enough to be considered an official mullet. His eyebrows were surprisingly dark, a pleasant contrast to his dirty blonde hair. His mother thought so anyway, but he had yet to find another woman who agreed. Blake had little more than peach fuzz for facial hair which he shaved diligently giving him an overall boyish charm. His piercing blue eyes, sparkling white teeth, and a somewhat crooked cheeky smile all added to his persona.

Spanish had been an interest of Blake’s since he was young. Although he was a typical white Caucasian boy with Irish roots, his life changed when he met Sofía in high school.  For him, it was love at first sight. For her, it took a while for feelings to be reciprocated. It was obvious that she was Latin, her long black hair beautifully shaped, matched the whole of her person. She had a dark complexion, beautifully soft skin (or so he imagined from afar). Her slender face lay almost hidden behind her hair, giving Blake a sense of curiosity that was borderline unhealthy. She had dark eyebrows to math her lovely and slightly oversized brown eyes. Her unique sense of fashion served to accentuate all of her naturally beautiful features.

It didn’t take long for Blake to find out that she had recently emigrated from Bolivia. Blake never quite admitted out loud to anyone that he initially thought that Bolivia sounded like it was in Africa.

“Thank God for Google…it is indeed in South America,” he confirmed after a quick search on his phone.

One of Blake’s first moves was trying to learn some Spanish. Eventually, Sofía gave way to his chivalrous advances, and after a few dates, they became boyfriend and girlfriend.

After their final year of high school, they were going their separate ways. Blake was staying in Toronto to study Business at U of T.  Sofía was off to study Art in Ottawa at Carelton University on a full scholarship. Blake had considered going with her, but he couldn’t afford to live away from home. All this meant they would attempt a long-distance relationship. Blake’s friends bugged him for years that he was dating out of his league, and they were even more surprised to find out that she wanted to keep the relationship intact through the challenges of long-distance separation. Ungrateful for the opinions his so-called friends harassed him about over the years, Blake was at least thankful that he had a summer to enjoy with Sofía before their respective good-byes. 

Shortly after take-off from Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Blake ordered a beer. As he sipped his Molson Canadian, memories of the traumatic summer flooded his thoughts.

Blake had practiced karate since he was ten years old. His classes were often in the late afternoon, and Sofía had made a tradition of randomly meeting him after class. It wasn’t every week, and she preferred to take him by surprise. Blake loved it!

The day was August 14th. Blake had just finished a class and was thanking Sensei Sapporo for the class. Sapporosan was quick to confirm to any new student that although he was indeed Japanese by birth, he was not named after the infamous Japanese beer. His name meant “Dry, Strong River”. He was a short man with a sturdy build. He had owned and operated the Karate School of Toronto for the last fifteen years. The location of the school left much to be desired, but Blake was sure the rent was cheap. Inside the atmosphere was one of discipline and even subtle kindness. Sensei Sapporo seemed to strike an impossible balance between those two character traits. Outside this haven of learning lurked the streets of Jane and Finch, a crime-infested area of Toronto.

As if somehow trying to keep the vivid memories from emerging to the forefront of his mind, Blake instead recalled the motto painted on the walls of the karate studio:

“Discipline of the body and discipline of the mind leads to discipline in life.”

After taking another sip of beer and realizing that the plane had reached its cruising altitude, Blake tilted his seat back and closed his eyes. It was then that vivid images rushed into the forefront of his consciousness, almost like a movie being played in 4K for the 1000th time.

Yes, it was August 14th and a particularly hot and humid day of a Toronto Summer. As he was about to exit the air-conditioned studio of the Karate School of Toronto, Blake heard a loud exchange of voices coming from outside. A girl was screaming.

Within seconds, he was out the door to confront all the commotion.

A scene of horror met his eyes. A man was holding both arms of the woman who was screaming for help. He was taking off her ring. The woman was Sofía! A second man stood a few feet back and was holding a gun. It looked like she was being robbed. Instinctively, Blake yelled out, “HEY! Let her go!”

The assailants looked up quickly to see a man dressed in a karate uniform with a black belt. The man holding the gun panicked causing him to flinch.

BANG!

The men run away with the ring.

Blake opened his eyes trying to trick his mind into not replaying the images that burned their way into his memory. His ploy didn’t work, because the image of Sofía laying motionless on the pavement of that parking lot flashed back into his mind as if he were right there again.

It was his nightmare. He thought it would haunt him for decades.

But it ended soon, in a way he had never imagined

The plane crashed.