Out of Place [Cobra Kai OC x Robby Keene]

58- Voicemail

Parker POV

It's happened every night since what happened at the laser tag arena. I don't know why I thought last night would be any different. It's been almost two weeks since it happened. They haven't ceased. They're different every night, but in the end, it's always the same. A knife to my throat and one of my friends or someone I care- or cared- about getting hurt while I stand and watch, powerless to help them. First it was Demetri, like in real life, then it was Sam, then Miguel, then Abuelita, then Mr LaRusso, then Moon, then Mrs LaRusso, then my brothers in succession, then my mom, then Ms Diaz... even Eli- of all people- made an appearance... last night it was Robby... it was worse than any of the others... he was practically killed, right before my eyes, and I couldn't do anything.

I can't get the nightmares to stop. I'm not sure how. It's hard not to think about them, especially when the image of the latest victim seems to be burned into my skull. My solution would be to not sleep, but Abuelita said that was a bad idea. She's right, like usual, but I'm prone to bad ideas when it comes to my own health, so it's starting to look quite appealing. Either way, I need a distraction. Something to take my mind off of things, even if it's just for a few minutes... what's something that always helps in situations like these..? Patterns! Of course. Every time I lost balance before... everything that happened, I did patterns... and it helped. It really did. I pull myself up from my bed, moving to the center of my room. It's certainly not huge, but I'm sure I can manage to do it decently well with the given space.

I tie my hair back in a ponytail, take the center of the room, get into the correct ready stance, then let the pattern take over, just for a little while.

—

Just as I get to the second to last move, a throbbing pain shoots through my temple and I go crashing to the ground, barely managing to catch myself before banging my head on something in the closet. ¡Ay caramba! I put a hand to my head to try and stable things out. I think I might've gotten a mild concussion when that guy punched me... it makes sense. I did take that turn a little fast. When the wave of pain subsides, I sit up, turning to look at what I almost hit.

It looks like a cardboard box... it must still be left over from the move... what didn't I unpack..? I shift some things off of it, pulling it out of the closet. I am now very curious as to what I deemed unimportant enough to leave in the packing box. If there are spiders in here, I'm running away. With shaking hands and a pounding heart, I open the box. It's just... white fabric?

Now even more confused, I pick up whatever it is. Wait... it's my Miyagi-Do gi... I run a gentle hand over the embroidering on the back, then set it aside to see what else is in here. The next thing I pull out is the headband that Mr LaRusso gave me on my birthday. The lesson he taught me where he used it as a blindfold and I learned how to use my other senses to fight... using it as a blindfold when playfully sparring Robby... tying it around my head before getting back up to score the final point on my opponent at the tae kwon do tournament... I carefully fold it, setting it on top of the gi.

I find medals from tae kwon do and karate, the bracelet I got from the arcade on my birthday that matches with the ones that Robby and Sam got, my second degree black belt- which still has the black electrical tape covering all the words embroidered upon it, the little paper card that has a list of all the drinks available at the beach club we all went to, a photo strip from the photo booth at the arcade, with Robby, Sam, and I smiling in one, the two of them holding up hearts at me in the next, us making silly faces in another, and then us laughing in the last. I can't help but laugh a little at it, even though tears start to pool in my eyes. That was such a good day before... before... yeah...