6 Years Ago


“WAKE UP ETHAN!” I awoke to the shaking of two hands on my shoulders. Confused I looked around, still in the hospital room, the lights off. It was hard to see, instantly I recognized the voice to be my Fathers. I struggled to focus my eyes on him, when he finally came into focus, I could see the anger emanating from him. The first feeling I had was confusion, I was unsure of how he would handle this situation. Would he finally be the good father? Would he care for me, show concern? Or would he remain the ruthless businessman and think only of how this would affect his business.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU ETHAN!” He yelled loudly, quickly answering my earlier question. I felt my heart sink a little, although I wasn’t surprised by his actions. I was tired and sore, frustrated and emotional. This certainly wasn’t what I needed at the moment. What I needed, was to be left alone, peacefully and in the dark. In the short period of time I had been laying in that hospital bed, somehow the darkness had calmed me. The loneliness had allowed me time to be one with my thoughts.

“You know Ethan, I give you everything. Everything fuckin’ thing a Father can give his son. I pay for your education, I pay for your car, I give you an Upper Westside Penthouse. This is how you repay me? By wrestling? Dressing up in a costume and parading around, do you know what this has done to my image? Me a successful businessman and my only son, he wears tights around in his free time.”

“Dad, I’m not up to this right now.” I said almost beginning him to stop belittling me.

“Ethan, I don’t give a shit what you’re up for. This little escapade of yours is going to cost me millions in bad publicity. My enemies are you going to have a fuckin’ field day with this.” He was pacing back in forth in my room. It wasn’t until this point that I realized he had brought his “driver” with him. Tony wasn’t much of a driver. He was in his early 30’s, a massive man, he stood well over 6’5” inches and I would guess weighed close to 300lbs. He clearly wasn’t employed by my Father for his driving skills. Bodyguard would have been a much more appropriate title.

“You’ve embarrassed me for the last time!” He yelled again

“Get him, we’re leaving.” He screamed to Tony. Without any hesitation Tony lifted me out of the bed and shoved me towards the chair in the corner where my clothes had been set out.

“Get Dressed” Tony barked at me, while slowly moving his jacket to the side revealing the silver handle of his handgun.

I don’t remember getting dressed, I just remember for some strange reason I wasn’t afraid. It wasn’t because I didn’t think my Father would harm me, in fact I knew that was a perfectly reasonable reality. I had seen him do many ruthless things to get ahead. Bribery and extortion were two of his specialities. I also remembered reading articles implementing him in some murder investigations. A former colleague and partner, a former lawyer and even the investigation into my Mothers suicide.

The next thing I knew I was being ushered down the hall, my Father leading the way, doing his best to act normal. I was walking in the middle, still limping and sore, each step drained me more and more physically. Tony was walking briskly behind me, giving a slight push every so often to keep me moving.

When we reached the outside of the hospital, Tony held the car door open for me while staring coldly at me. I knew this was only for show, incase someone was watching. He moved his eyes slightly downward looking at the area in which his gun was situated. I quickly decided it would be in my best interest to get into the car with them.

We didn’t drive far, heading only a few blocks from the hospital. Without warning, Tony pulled a sharp turn down an alley and stopped the car. He and my Father stepped out of the car and motioned for me to follow them. My Father walked to the front of the car facing deeper into the alley, Tony moved towards the back of the car, guarding the entrance to the alley.

“Ethan, here’s the problem that I have. You’re my Son, while you never will achieve what I have in life, you’re still my blood. I’ve always said business comes first, today you fucked with my business. You hurt my image immensely. I have to do something.” I knew where this was going, although for the first time in my life I felt a calmness. I didn’t hear the roar of the streets, I couldn’t smell the familiar smell of hot dogs just outside the alley, In that ultimate moment, I felt clarity.

“I wish I could say I’m sorry Ethan, but I am not.” He looked me in the eyes and shook his head. He turned slowly and nodded and Tony and made his way back to the car. Tony walked towards me, in this moment I knew I had two choices to either stand and fight a man much larger than me while badly injured. Or I could take whatever was coming and live to fight another day. In that ultimate moment, without hesitation, without fear I struck Tony as he neared me. A right hand to the jaw sent him staggering, injured I pushed forward into him, forcing him into the front of the car. He let out a quick yelp in pain. This is where my heroes story ends, I wish I could tell you I fought off the larger man and left that alley victorious, but I didn’t.

Exhausted simply from this short exchange, Tony easily over powered me, throwing me to the ground in front of the car. I lost count of how many times his size 13 dress shoe crashed violently into my ribcage. Strangely I didn’t feel pain, just acceptance. I knew in this fight I wouldn’t be victorious, yet still time after I time I pushed back to my feet each time only to be sent down to the ground more violently.

Tony was finished, his shoes covered in my blood, his hands swollen from the numerous strikes to my skull. He walked back to the car, as he opened the door I watched my father say something to him. A dejected and confused look came across Tony’s face. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, suddenly he removed the handgun and walked over to me.

“Come on Ethan, stand up” he whispered under his breathe to me. Confused I looked up at him wondering why he was whispering. Something inside me told me to listen to him. I used every last ounce of energy in my body to push myself to my feet. When I got there I struggled to stand. Tony pointed his handgun at me.

-BANG-

A single shot struck me and I fell to the cold cement. I looked down at my body, seeing the blood pouring out of the left side of my chest. I watched the car pull out of the alley way back onto the busy street and drive away.

I laid still for a moment, almost accepting that this was my moment. A strange calm had come over me.

After what felt like an eternity, I opened my eyes. Why wasn’t I dead yet I asked myself. I moved my right arm to the wound on the left side of my chest. I felt my heart but no bullet hole. I moved my hand about two inches to my shoulder, where I could feel the hole left by the bullet. Now I understood why he wanted me to stand, he missed intentionally, giving me a chance, even a small one to stay alive. I may not have been a medical student, but even I knew I had to do something to stop the bleeding. I felt the back of my shoulder and found an exit hole. The bullet had gone right through.

I managed to pull myself into a sitting position, I looked around the alley then I looked into the street. The logical decision, was to pull myself towards the street and have someone help me. However, something told me to go deeper into the alley, to move from the light into the darkness and obliged.

I dragged myself down the alley, inches at a time. The whole time I was looking for some type of shelter, anything. The alley was long and dark and I was nearing exhaustion. It was at that moment that I saw something, it appeared to be a discarded table. I rolled myself underneath it, shelter. I removed my belt and tightened it around my wound attempting to add pressure to it and stop the bleeding.

It felt like an eternity passed underneath that table yet I felt comfortable. My mind was clear and I felt no pain. Despite it being a cool day and a dark alley, I felt an unusual warmth.

I won’t lie, there was pain. Every second was a struggle, but I refused to give in. I fought and fought to remain conscious.

Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder I rolled over to look and saw a man, I could recognize him but I didn’t know from where, then I realized, it was the homeless man from the park yesterday.

He extended his hand, I grabbed it and he pulled me to my feet, we both disappeared deeper into the darkness of that alley.