Dying Wish

[32]

Mistake. Mistake, mistake, mistake.

Batch's surging right heel slammed into the dirt. White sparks curved outward and reconnected around Alice, sealing her in a giant ring. I never felt further from her than I did right then. This counterattack turned out to be unstoppable, with Alice's body suddenly raking the dirt. A jaw-breaking blow did this. Alice's wobbling arms lifted her chest and her face shook away the dizziness, but confusion lingered. She looked for answers.

There were two blonds. Then one.

The original, which never moved, dissolved into white flakes. This speed...

"Afterimages," Alice said.

This was bad.

And it was about to get a lot worse.

What followed was an invisible onslaught. Thousands of white flakes arose that night, they looked like fireflies. Heaps of brown dust incinerated against the lightning ring. Alice's body and her clothes continued to take on filth, one agonizing blow after another. Batch's pace started to escalate. Neither Alice's mind nor or feet could recover before her body rolled through the dirt again.

With one exception.

Everything went silent. I had never seen Alice stagger. At the center of the ring, it looked like she was at the limit of her immortality. And Batch was nowhere. Until she was right next to Alice. Her cheek suddenly dimpled and her neck snapped to the right. The blow was so devastating Alice's arms and ankles twirled and her body was toppling.

Batch was in a crouched position next to her falling body, satisfied with her roundhouse kick. She slowly rose and hooked her fingers under the seam of Alice's collar, before she hit the ground. The ring exploded, which spread a shockwave toward me. The tree took the damage. I peered out and found the very incarnation of despair.

Alice's back arched. Her arms dangled. Eyelids shut. Just how many times did she die tonight? Something caught Batch's attention. She said, "Oh, what's this? Let's have a look. You don't mind, do you Alice?"

"Uuu... Uuu..."

"Too beaten to talk. Here. Let me help you." I watched Batch yank Alice's body like a child yanks a ragdoll. Alice's wrist flipped up. Batch held Alice by the joint and slid the charm off. "Quite nice. You have good taste, Alice."

Face in the dirt, Alice moaned, "Give... it... back..."

"Look at this. Your skin is so light around the wrist. I suppose that means you don't take this off very much, do you? Must mean a lot to you. I wonder... Did Gray give you this? He did, didn't he. Huh. Lucky me. We'll be here all day and your spirit will never break. But what about if I break this? Give me the Death Coin, Alice, or I will."

"Don't... Don't... Please..."

I found myself whispering the same thing, "Alice, don't. Please." Don't give up the Death Coin. Not for a $500 bracelet. Batch was right. Alice never removed her bracelet. Ever. I knew how much it meant to her and, yeah, that meant a lot to me too. "But it's not worth it, Alice. You can't give it to her."

"Well, what's it going to be?" Batch said. Her fist swallowed the object. Alice squeezed her eyes and buried her face in the dirt. I could feel her resolve slipping. How lonely and afraid she had to be right now. And what was I doing about that? Nothing.

It was then and there I realized how right he was. Dad, I mean. About having regrets. I did. Not about everything, of course. Never Alice. Just this here. A moment when the person I loved more than anything was in a situation like this and I was too powerless to do anything about it. Yeah, I knew a lot about regret.