One Last Chance

Chapter 21

Unknown to Daniel, Edward was awake too.

His mind was racing with thoughts and he couldn't shut it off. He was going back in time, on a slide, deeper and deeper into his past. He saw fragmented memories of him, in primary school, beating up smaller, weaker boys in the school bathrooms and demanding all their pocket money from them. Daniel had been one of them, as well as the subject of much taunting and name-calling.

But Daniel was special. He never cried no matter what Edward did to him, whether it was snatching his miserable sum of pocket money or smashing his head against the dirty tiled floor. He just gave him a look that plainly said, I'll get even with you one day.

Edward saw himself when he was seven years old, he himself beaten up in the school bathroom. Going home with a bloodied nose, split lip and black eye, he would never forget his father's look of contempt as he laid eyes on his son.

"Edward, if you are going to let other people push you around, then you are no son of mine. Learn to protect yourself. You must be bigger and stronger than everyone."

Edward had loved his father dearly, the kind of selfless love only a young child could give. Whatever his father said, he did to the best he could.

So Edward enrolled in a karate class the next day.

The very first thing he learnt about karate was from a poster he read hanging on the wall of the dojo.

The poster denoted belt ranks, with white being the lowest, followed by yellow, orange, green, red, blue, purple, brown and finally, black. After black, one could continue to higher dans, meaning levels, ranging from second dan to tenth dan, which no one but some famous Japanese karate master had achieved.

On the very first day, to his surprise, he managed to fell a green-belter  which was three ranks higher than his white belt status. By out-manoeuvring his opponent, tiring him out before slamming a punch into his soft stomach, he quickly established a no-nonsense reputation both in and out of the dojo.

He became something of a hero to the younger boys. And much to his father's delight, he earned his black belt within three years.

That was when he became a bully. Edward quickly discovered that there was never enough money to buy what he wanted, be it some chocolate or a fancy toy robot. His father was rather tight with his money, even though they were well-off. So, after discovering that he could make use of his karate skills to extort money out of younger, defenceless kids, he officially tied the title "school bully" to his name. He'd even kept a record of how much he took from each boy, taking sadistic pleasure in doing so.

Of course, there were pleasant memories too. The times he had crushed on a stunningly pretty girl from a neighbouring school. That thrill of seeing her after school at the coffee shop or bookstore everyday, her laugh, pure and true, carrying through the air. Her smile, coupled with her twinkling eyes, were never far from his thoughts. Although he'd never found out her name, he was heartbroken when he heard news that her family had moved away.

And the times he had spent with his parents, before they had been forced to spend countless days, weeks abroad working. The picnics, family outings, holidays....

Edward smiled as he remembered the beautiful memories, and for a few minutes he was in a blissful land, joyfulness warmly radiating through him.

Everything is in the past, Edward thought. Stop thinking about-

A tear escaped his eye before he could finish his thought, and as a blanket of nostalgia and homesickness descended over him, his body was wracked in a series of silent sobs.

Both boys lay beside each other, supposedly peacefully asleep, but cocooned in their own world of loss, homesickness and beautiful memories.