"Once Upon Love" (A Modern "Cyrano de Bergerac" story)

9: The Shadow of Death

Back at the Battle, Matt toasted himself with another pint. All of his problems were solved. Chris was no doubt thoroughly embarrassing himself and offending Madi's delicate sensibilities. The Bergeriacs were sure to fail without their fearless leader to carry them along. In one bold move, he'd eliminated every competitor for the life he wanted, the one he deserved. Matt took a large gulp and swallowed noisily. The cool drink felt good.

Just before he drained the glass, Hayden Berger appeared at the table before him as if by magic. Matt choked in surprise, nearly spewing his drink.

"What're you doin' here, Hayden?" he cried loudly.

"I should be asking you the same thing, Matthew. What are you doing still here?"

Matt flung his hands up in an exaggerated shrug. "What can I say? 'Tis love that detains me." He chortled to himself and then sneered, "Love, and revenge."

"For whom?"

Matt's lips, loosed by the alcohol, spoke willingly, "Love for Madison, 'n' revenge on Chris!" he said derisively.

"You mean, love for yourself," Hayden corrected with equal scorn.

Matt slammed the table with his fist and jumped tipsily to his feet. "I love Madi, even if she don't love me back, and I'm gonna have her!"

Hayden shook his head and set his jaw. "No, you're not!" he said resolutely.

"Yes I am, and you can't stop me! You'll be graduating at the end of this year, but Madi and I will still have a year or so left together! I tried to get rid of you by sending your groupies to the Battle, but you wormed out of it! Come the spring, I won't have to get rid of you, Ballard will! And there's nothing you can do about it!"

Lightning cracked in Matt's face, and suddenly he was on the floor. Hayden stood over him, teeth bared, fists clenched, eyes flaming.

"So help me you will not touch her!" Hayden hissed with a vehemence others rarely saw.

Matt struggled to his feet and put up unsteady fists. "You want it this way, Plato?" he challenged, "I'll give it to you!"

Quoth Hayden, "Dark and sinister man, have at thee!"

They fought hand-to-hand; Matt was good with his fists, but Hayden had real training to his credit. The latter emerged victorious, landing a last punch from which Matt would not recover soon. A burst of applause called his attention away from his vanquished adversary.

On the stage in the center of the auditorium, Las Poetas Piratas received the "Best Bard" trophy. Hayden watched as, in full view of the crowd, the Piratas gave the completely-defeated Bergeriacs a very deliberate cold shoulder. It pained Hayden exceedingly to see this group of eager, diligent students, positively shunned in this manner.

His cell-phone beeped. It was not a number he recognized. He answered it.

"Hello ... Who is this? Mrs. Newville? Why—" he stopped suddenly at something she said. Hayden felt like the beefy bartender at the food court had just knocked the wind out of him.

"WHAT?" he gasped, running toward the nearest exit. "All right, I'm on my way!" He hailed a taxi. "Drive to the hospital, quickly!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

At the hospital already, Madison had been waiting for nearly two hours for news of Chris, when a man in a white lab coat approached her. She looked up as he offered his hand. "Miss Robbins? I'm Dr. Evan Potts. I understand you are here to see our recent crash victim, Christopher."

At Chris' name, Madi's chest tightened. "Yes," she breathed, "Yes I am."

Dr. Potts smiled. "If you will just follow me, I can take you to him. The car that hit him was going pretty fast--there was lots of internal bleeding, broken vertebrae in his spine, and some deep head trauma that we're still trying to ascertain. Maybe if you're lucky, you can talk to him."