Flatline - Murder | Mystery | Intrigue

Chapter 1

Fifteen years later...

Kay

I inhaled deeply and stepped forward again, all sound was drowned out by my heavy breathing, the rush of blood and adrenaline in my ears, all I could see was her and I doggedly kept my gaze fixed on her throat. I just managed to dodge the front kick she snapped out at me, God I was so tired already, how long had we been going I wondered. I needed to be careful, her reach was much longer than mine, and we were neck and neck with blows so far. She was definitely tough, I couldn’t slip up for a second or she’d put me down hard. ‘Light as a feather, rooted as a tree, touching heaven and earth’, I kept chanting to myself while moving around.  As I sidestepped, I landed a punch to her left rib, but she recovered quickly and immediately came at me with a punch to the face. She caught me just below the right eye, fvck! 

That was definitely gonna be a shiner, I moved to keep a good distance and landed a reverse roundhouse kick to the left rib again. Ha, always takes them by surprise. She slowed down slightly, showing the efficacy of the technique. Sticking to her left side, I punched her face, she blocked it and I landed a kick to her thigh, as I’d hoped, she dropped her guard and I followed through with a hook punch to her opposite side, landing it right on the temple. She shook it off but I could see it had done its job, her balance was affected. I swept her and took her down, landing a punch to her face with gravity and bodyweight behind it.

Finally, I heard the bell and the referee stopped the match. Damn, that was the longest three minutes of my life. Breathing deeply, I started hearing the audience’s cheers again, things came back into focus as I slowly recovered, my lungs were on fire and my legs were deadweight. I knew I’d scored more points so I had won, the referee called it. Thankfully this was my last kumite match of the tournament, although I had to stay to the end anyway as I was also an official there.  I bowed to the judges and my opponent, and as I left the mat I saw Peter waiting in the common area. I exited the participant’s area, he walked over and wrapped me in an excited bear hug, and clearly he didn’t mind the sweat dripping off me. 

“You did well Bella, I’m really proud of you,” he praised. My mouth opened slightly in shock, Peter had never hugged me this way before and very publicly no less. 

“Erm, thank you.” I whispered, feeling my cheeks heat up even more. 

He reached up and gently traced the already swelling bruise under my eye. Suddenly, he seemed to realize what he was doing and slowly released his hold on me. Peter was my Sensei, we met at his brother’s funeral, the man who had saved my life, but lost his in the process fifteen years ago. I felt like, on some level, Peter blamed me. We had gotten very close since he suggested I start training to keep the nightmares at bay. No matter what, it still felt like there was a wall between us, one that would be eternal. I had let go of any romantic desires I had towards him when I realised it wasn’t mutual years ago. His behaviour now was confusing me.

I cleared my throat and stammered, “I better hit the shower, I’ll see you later.” 

His eyes darkened and his expression hardened for a second before he nodded and let me go. I headed to the showers to freshen up and change into the official uniform.  I stepped into the cool water and felt my entire body wake up, I needed to break the sensual spell Peter had inadvertently awakened. A little uneasy at my body’s reaction to him, my mind replayed what his body felt like up against me. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, I couldn’t quite rid myself of the heat between my legs. It had definitely been too long. I set the water to ice cold in desperation, the jolt to my senses snapped me out of it instantly.

“Well done Aunt Kay!” Seth said, hugging me as I came out of the change rooms. 

Seth and I both had a love for martial arts, I had raised him since he was just a year old, when his mom passed away. Once he turned four, I took him along to the dojo and he took to it naturally. 

“Well done to you too Mr, a gold no less!!”I squealed, quite proud of his achievement at just sixteen. “We’ll have to celebrate tomorrow, we’ll go out for dinner” I beamed. He had come such a long way from the shy, awkward kid. Martial Arts had really helped his confidence and self-esteem. He went off to watch the rest of the matches while I did my admin duties.

As a table official I’d help keep score, the next kata up at my mat was Peter. He walked up to the mat and entered with a bow. The aura rolling off him was powerful and deadly, a palpable presence. He took his place and started his kata with explosive movement, his body graceful yet lethal. I stood in a trance, captivated by the art he always managed to produce. I could picture his opponent, feel the violence wrapped in such beauty, was I warped to see it as such? I was in awe as his body flowed from one movement into the next seamlessly, each technique laced with perfect form, speed, power and pinpoint accuracy. His startling kiai was like a roar from his soul, it was part of the kata but still intimidated me like a heady tonic.  He finished with a bow and the judges delivered their scores, near perfect. Our eyes met just as he was leaving the area, his fierce expression left me dumbstruck again. Violence and lust in equal parts, was I imagining it? What on earth was going on with Peter?

It had been a long two days and I felt it as we headed home, the drive felt interminable. When we finally got home Seth went to bed and I ran a hot bath, I needed this quiet space to clear my mind. I chose a playlist on my phone, connected it to the Bluetooth system and stepped into the bath. I washed my body with water and my soul with sound. My muscles relaxed as if my body had let out a huge sigh, the heat of the water worked out some of the tension and the herbal fragrance of the bath oil produced mental pictures of a lush, fresh forest. I exhaled, pushing the last of the air out of my lungs and dipped my head underwater, the distorted sounds always making it feel somewhat alien. I came up, took in a brand new breath and invited peace. As my breathing returned to normal more tension left my body. When I felt myself drifting off I got out, dried off and moisturized, loving the silky feeling of my skin when I’d finished. I didn’t bother with nightwear, preferring the feeling of the cotton sheets on my body. When my head hit the pillow, there was no thought left and I drifted off to sleep with a satisfied sigh.