Jessy's body still hummed with lingering pain when the doctors ordered him to lie low for four days. But rest was a lie he refused to believe. In the cramped room he shared with one observer, the stale air felt like chains every breath a reminder of time slipping away.
It was Reef!
He sat against the peeling wall, watching Jessy unpack a battered laptop and a metal ruler scuffed at the edges. "They said no exertion," Reef said, voice hushed, as though even the walls might tattle.
Reef was so calm that it gave Jessy chills!
'Reef!? Is he going to kill me for the humiliation he suffered because of me?' Jessy thought while panicking.
"Sir, ummm I really have to admit you should have won that fight if I didn't cheat—-"
"Your fight with me was never intended to be fair from the start. I am actually thankful you didn't hit my head with the fire extinguisher, instead you went to my shoulder and knees completely immobilizing me. The actual reason for moving in with you is to make up for that favor!" Reef said.
Despite him looking big and mean, he actually smiled a lot. He didn't seem to hold a grudge against Jessy anymore, in fact he wants to be friends with him.
Reef adviced Jessy to take a full break these 4 days to recover from his wounds. Yes, Jessy removed the bandages but still his body was full of bruises.
Jessy's eyes were cold embers. "Four days to sharpen or four days to rust," he murmured. He lifted his school bag from the ground and proceeded to take out a ruler.
Yes a it's a school ruler! If someone wants to survive a place like that he needs to take advantage of every single opportunity he has, and for Jess 4 days were a golden ticket to get ready for what's next.
***
Sunlight bled through a threadbare curtain, slanting dust motes across the floor. Jessy searched the web and pressed play on fight training guides. But Jessy didn't want polish he wanted hunger.
He fast‑forwarded to the knife defenses, watching ankles twist and wrists snap as if peeling back flesh. The screen glowed with promise.
'I don't have a knife on me but this will do' thought Jessy looking the ruler on the floor.
Reef fetched a damp rag and wiped dust from the ruler. "One slip, and you might as well use your own wrist," he warned.
The grey 50cm ruler was made out of metal alloy with sharp rusty edges! It didn't have a handle, so in a way, it was actually more dangerous to train with that actual training knifes.
Both hands locked on the ruler. Jessy drove it forward in explosive jabs spine rigid, core coiled like a spring. Each strike ended in a slight hiss of obsession, the ruler's point nicked the air where a foe's throat would have been.
Reef stood by, counting every tenth rep."Nine‑thousand nine hundred ninety‑eight… roll your shoulder, Jess."
The ruler sliced through the dim beam of afternoon light. Jessy visualized bones cleaving; the edge carved phantom wounds across his forearm. He felt each swing vibrate up his arms, blood echoing in his ears.
He began with his right elbow anchored, wrist snapping with a whispered crack. Then left, weaker, trembling. Every cut on his palm taught him the language of pain.
***
By dusk, Jessy's arms throbbed. He dropped the ruler and prowled the room's center.
"Footwork!" Shouted Reef.
Shoulders low, knees flexed he shifted east to west, weaving through invisible blades.
His breaths came shallow, each pivot a gamble, one wrong step and he'd slam bone into floorboards.
Reef mirrored him, ghost‑like, offering insights in hushed fragments, "Pivot on the ball… keep your weight forward… eyes on the threat, not the floor."
The room felt smaller with each passing second; the walls pressed in like a coffin suffocating him. And still, he danced.
When the final rays died, Jessy collapsed onto the ragged floorboards. He planted his hands beneath him and forced his body into motion.
500 Push‑ups. Every descent was a fight against gravity's cruel appetite. His chest skimmed the wood; his shoulders trembled at the apex.
500 Sit‑ups. curled through pain, each rise a battle to keep his head from snapping back.
2 sets of 50 Pull‑ups His fingers clawed at the ceiling beam like desperate roots. His chin crested only by fingernails, body shaking as though years of weakness rode his spine.
Reef sat cross‑legged beneath him, counting in a cadence that felt like a dirge. At rep 43, Jessy's arms crackled with fatigue. "Don't stop," Reef whispered. Jessy's throat tightened into a snarl, and he ripped himself upward seven more times.
By the end of Day One, Jessy lay splayed out, drenched in sweat and something darker an exhilaration that tasted like iron.
Reef tossed him a threadbare blanket, and Jessy accepted it without thinking, eyes half‑closed, mind already racing
"Good night… "
said Reef after awhile.
Jessy although sleeping.
he responded nearly instantly.
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"