The stars spin.
They fly in and out of focus as I attempt to
draw air. *Breathe*, my head chants, but I can hardly hear it through
the sharp pain wrapping around my skull. The asphalt presses into my
back and the concrete walls of the alley frame my vision. A ringing
sounds in my ears. As I struggle for oxygen, other injuries come forth,
the feelings blossoming in my spine, my ribs, my shins, my arms.
I should be getting up, preparing to defend myself,
to make some sort of attempt to resist my attacker. But I can’t get
my body to listen, I can only lie here and wait….
For a moment the agony peaks, and my lungs stutter.
When I regain semi-awareness I urgently try to focus. At Watson they
teach us to concentrate on something, anything that will motivate you
to fight. Anything that will give you the strength to get up.
My mind lands on Ray. Immediately I’m lost in
memories, one’s I’ve been suppressing for years, and they flash through
my mind with more clarity than the pain in my body.
That’s where everything started, anyway. *At
the beginning,* my mind says, as if I’m telling myself the story, which
cues the first memory, the first time I saw him…
