backonlineagain

Broke and beaten, I gasped awake, feeling every square inch of hurt. The pain came in waves, radiating a sickening heat all over my scalp. It was as if someone cracked an egg over the top of my skull and left the fatty yolk to run amok. If my brain and body weren’t already a lump of mashed potatoes from endless sparing sessions, then I would’ve been gonezo.

They had thrown me out, along with yesterday’s trash. If it weren’t for the smell of beer-soaked bar food and vomit, I could have fallen back asleep on the soft, squishy bags of garbage. I kept my eyes closed, feeling the warmth of the rising sun on my weathered face. The heat would soon bake the mounds of trash into something far more foul, prompting me to wearily push myself upright. The coagulated blood on the plastic made a suction sound as my skin peeled away, leaving behind the imprint of defeat.

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I tentatively lifted my hand towards the side of my head, gliding the pads of my fingers over the jagged ridges of dehydrated blood. It was still a little sticky and warm, a familiar sensation that brought a sick comfort and rekindled old memories.

I suddenly staggered forward, bracing myself with uneven steps. The boarded-up windows of the neighboring buildings came in and out of focus, spinning around and twisting into a contorted nightmarish landscape. My next steps were herky-jerky as I lurched out of the alleyway and face planted into a nearby parked car. It let out a piercing unrelenting shrill as if I had been the one to wound it.

This was bigger than a hair of the dog solution. I’d been in enough fights to know when I needed help, and this time I was hurting bad, so I steadied myself against the broken sidewalk, beginning my lonely trek towards Mercy Hospital.