I ended up in the city, under the neon lights that blurred into streaks of color in the rain.
I stopped on a bridge overlooking the highway. I gripped the railing, my knuckles white, the metal biting into my palms. Below me, cars rushed by, oblivious to the world ending above them.
"DAMN IT, OLD MAN!" I screamed at the black sky. "WHY DID YOU DIE ON ME?!"
My voice cracked, lost in the sound of the wind. I gasped for air, gripping my hair with both hands, pulling until it hurt.
We were supposed to have more time. We were supposed to go to America next year. We were supposed to finish that anime series. We were supposed to be a team.
I looked down at the medal. It felt like a joke now. A stupid piece of metal. I unclasped it from my neck and held it over the edge.
"What's the point?" I sobbed.
I shoved the medal into my pocket. I couldn't throw it away. It was the last thing I won for him.
I turned away from the railing, wiping my eyes with my soaked sleeve. I needed to find a place to sit. To think. To figure out how to breathe again.
I turned into a dim alleyway, looking for a shortcut away from the noise of the traffic.
That's when I saw them.
A man was pressing a young woman against the brick wall. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, erratic and aggressive. The woman looked young, maybe a college student, her black hair plastered to her face by the rain. She was crying, shaking her head.
"Please, just stop! I don't want to talk to you!" she sobs.
"You don't get to walk away from me!" The man slammed his hand against the wall by her head. "You think you're better than me? Huh?"
He had her pinned. His body language was violent, coiled like a spring.
My blood, already boiling from the grief, spiked into a sudden, blinding rage. I didn't care about my safety. I didn't care about anything. I just needed to stop the hurting.
"Hey!" I roared. "Get off her!"
The man whipped his head around, giving me a piercing glare. "This is none of your business! Walk away, kid!"
He turned back to the woman, raising a fist to strike her, grabbing her by the throat to silence her whimpers.
That was the last straw.
I didn't think. I bolted down the sidewalk toward him. I balled up my right hand, the same hand that had thrown the winning pitch just hours ago and threw my weight forward.
I punched him square in the jaw.
The impact rattled my arm. The man stumbled back, falling hard onto his butt in a puddle. He looked up at me, his face twisting with murderous rage. I turned my back to him to check on the lady. She was trembling, pressed flat against the wall.
"Go! Run!" I shouted.
I stepped closer, blocking her from the man's view. "It's okay. You're safe n—"
SCHLICK.
A cold, sharp sensation punched into my back, piercing straight through to my chest.
I gasped, the air leaving my lungs instantly.
I looked down. Protruding from my chest, right over my heart, was the tip of a serrated blade. It was stained red.
My vision blurred. The world tilted violently to the left. I collapsed backward onto the wet pavement.
"You little shit!" The man stood over me, breathing hard, a bloody knife in his hand that I hadn't even seen. "You shouldn't have touched me!"
"Hey! Police! Drop the weapon!" A beam of a flashlight cut through the rain from the street entrance.
"Crap..." The man spun around and bolted, disappearing into the darkness of the maze-like alleys.
An officer rushed over, skidding on the wet pavement. He looked at the wound and his face went pale. He grabbed his radio. "Dispatch! Emergency! Requesting an ambulance immediately! I have a minor with a stab wound to the heart! Suspect has fled!"
He dropped to his knees and pressed his hands over the hole in my chest. The pressure was agonizing. "Hey! Stay with me! Look at me! Don't you dare close your eyes!"
It hurts. My heart feels like it's on fire, a white-hot poker twisting inside my ribs. I try to move, but I can't. I'm completely frozen, my body feeling heavy and cold as the heat leaves me. I try to speak, but my voice is nothing more than a wet, bloody gurgle.
So this is how it goes. My father, then me. We didn't even make it through the same night.
I'm sorry, Dad. I guess I'm coming to see you sooner than we thought.
The streetlights above me started to smear into long, blurry streaks. The sound of the rain faded into a dull hum. The pain vanished.
Then, the world turned black