Singing of the dead (Novel one)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: 33

When Jim was sixteen years old, he won his first ever official amateur boxing match. His opponent was Mitchel or 'Mean' Mitchel which was the name he had given to himself. Mitchel was practically a weight division above Jim and was also twenty-one, but Jim was good he had sheer raw talent for boxing and with his constant hard work became formidable despite his age. Mitchel had way more experience however, and unfortunately for Jim he was absolutely dominating the ring and practically making Jim look like he was a complete novice.

There was view people watching this match, the Judges and Mean Mikes family making most of the bodies apart from two people on Jim's side. His one-man corner team of his friend David and his school sweetheart and future wife Glenda.

The fight constated of six, three-minute rounds and Jim had lost every single round. Yet he continued to fight and really made Mike work for it. In the last and final round Jim had gotten knocked down and he was almost out for the count, Jim looked over towards Glenda and the words she spoke to him were 'Keep going' she looked at the time and then added 'you can do it. Thirty three seconds. Keep going." With that Jim rose to his feet and raised his hands up and stared into Mikes eyes. Mike could feel this sixteen-year-olds gaze Peirce into his soul, and he knew that this kid in front of him wasn't going to give up.

The final bell rang and to nobody's surprise the judges gave the victory to Mike and the ref raised his hand into the air claiming him victorious, as Jim fell to his knees exhausted. Mike knelt next to Jim and propped him back up giving him a hug and saying 'You did good kid. You did good. I want you to come train with me.' And with that Jim's boxing career took off and he became a local champion that everyone in the town knew and adored.

Jim wasn't that man anymore. He was a tragic husk of the man he once was as his own mind decayed and ravished him.

The next few days after the death of Atlas everybody struggled. Especially Jim. To him he was now alone. Surrounded by only two people. One of which was Jessica who he had only known for a couple of years and her presence just reminded him of his grandsons' death, and another who even though it was his granddaughter he didn't recognise her anymore. Jim had no wife, No grandson, No son. Jim began to have nightmares not only in his bed at night but during every waking moment of the day. It seemed that the death of Atlas triggered his PSTD of what happened that night his son and daughter in-law turned into Singers.

Jim remembered very little of that night, but in his dreams the thoughts came alive. He dreamt that they were traveling to Burger and Slush to hopefully gain transport up north, until Singers turned up and who ever they didn't kill they turned. Every noise louder than a talk set him off into panic attacks as all he could he was the screams of his son and daughter in law as their body's withered in pain. Even deeper in his subconscious Jim knew that somehow his son and Mary were together still, he didn't understand how he knew this, but he knew he saw something.

Jim secretly longed for the sweet relief death but was unable to manifest any form of idea or plan. Something inside kept driving him away from the family home, and any chance he had he would try and walk away from the home until Jessica and Isabelle would usher him back in. Did Jim simply want to get away from this girl he barley knew and what was to him a stranger or was there something deeper driving him.