after his next fight, the boy found him. he'd wandered around the arena until he popped out of the changing room.
"you did good tonight," the stranger boy remarked. "you didn't kill him."
he blushed. "i didn't try tonight," he lied. he was getting better at lying.
he was sweating. the stranger boy's heart was pounding. he hated the build up to questions like the one he had burning his tongue. he needed to say it.
"barakat! what a fight!" a man in a suit yelled. he stood out.
stranger boy stepped back after carefully placing a piece of paper into his hand and let the smiling man proudly slam a thick envelope into the fighter's hands, congratulating him on the night's fight.
he didn't care about the man or the money. he searched the dimming crowds for the boy. it wasn't until he left that he looked at the paper.
it was messy sharpie and hard to read.
a.g. -5518
