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#Post#: 2868--------------------------------------------------
Haunted by the Past - Chapter 03 - A Friend Indeed
By: RampageSports Date: February 6, 2016, 1:28 pm
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Haunted by the Past - Chapter 3 - A Friend Indeed
I'm not sure how long I sat like that. I only know it was long
enough for Danni to look pretty concerned when I came out of it.
When the wheels in my mind started to turn again, I found her
squatting next to me, with her hand gently squeezing my knee.
She realized I was back before I even said anything.
"What was that all about?" she asked.
I looked away and focused my attention on the stapler sitting on
my desk as I considered just how much of the story I was going
to tell her.
As little as possible, I thought to myself.
There were just some secrets that needed to stay that way.
First things first, I realized I needed to finish making that
phone call. I needed help even more now than I had earlier, and
the man that could give it to me was the same one I'd started to
tell Danni about.
I knew he could help me because he'd done it before.
"I have to make a call," I said to her. "I'll come over when
I'm done."
I turned and reached for the phone, again. How it got back in
the cradle, I hadn't a clue.
Danni took her hand away and looked at me.
"No," she said calmly.
A little sliver of anger pierced through my malaise. I was in
no mood to have her demanding answers from me at that very
moment.
She stood and walked back to the guest chairs.
"I'm not leaving," she said as she sat down.
I could feel my anger growing by the second. I threw her a
look, but she was unmoved.
"Make all the faces you want," she said. "I'm not leaving you
here like this."
Just like that the anger was gone, evaporating as quickly as it
had risen as I realized I had misjudged my friend.
Danni wasn't demanding anything. She was worried about me.
Just as I had been worried about her only moments before.
I set the receiver back down.
In that moment, I accepted that I had lied to myself a moment
ago.
A piece of my past had come back to get me. I'd been worried
this might happen. For a long time, I had waited for it, fully
expecting the inevitable. As time went on, I allowed myself to
believe I might have been wrong. That maybe I was clear of it
forever. But that was just a cruel joke.
Now, it was back... my worst fears realized. Except, it was
far worse than I ever could have expected. For reasons I
couldn't understand, Danni had gotten sucked into it.
How could this be happening?
I brought a hand up and covered my mouth — unconsciously pulling
at my lower lip as I tried to sort the thoughts racing through
my mind. My eyes wandered aimlessly, seeing nothing until they
finally came to rest on Danni. I watched her study me with an
apprehensive eye. Despite her own troubles, it was concern for
me that was now etched on her face.
She and I had been through so much... and we had proven
ourselves to each other time and time again. She had earned my
trust, and I felt confident that I had hers. I would not betray
that now, despite what it would cost me. She deserved to know
what we were dealing with.
So, I wasn't going to tell her as little as possible. I was
going to tell her everything.
"I got myself in trouble a while back," I began. "A lot of
trouble."
"How long ago are we talking?" she asked.
"About ten years ago."
"What kind of trouble?"
"Well, back then, I was trouble," I said, "and that's how it
started, I suppose."
She grinned at me.
"I don't know exactly what to call my, uh... combative
experience," I said. "Calling it a career sort of legitimizes
the whole thing, but I guess that's what we'll go with."
I grabbed the blue rubber ball off my desk and started to roll
it between my fingers.
"The thing is, maybe I do legitimize it, to a degree," I
continued. "It was all there was back then, and it had more
structure to it than you'd think. It wasn't like the UMMA, but
there was a network of venues... sort of an unofficial league.
You just had to know the right people, and you were in."
"And you found the right people?" she asked.
"If you were good, the right people found you," I said.
"And..."
"I was good," I said with a nod. "I was very good."
She smiled.
"Of course you were," she said.
I spread my hands in front of me.
"We all have to be good at something, I guess."
She smiled some more, but she didn't need to pursue the subject
any further. She and I have recently taken to some private
sparring after hours. So, we each know what the other can do.
"Then what?" she asked.
"Then, the money got serious," I said. "Twenty thousand a
fight, just to show up. More, if you won."
She wrinkled her nose. That wasn't much, compared to what the
more experienced women of the UMMA made. In salary alone, Danni
made nearly a million dollars a year. That was more than fifty
thousand dollars for a normal event, and even more for
tournaments.
"Hey, that was big money," I said. "You gotta remember... this
was totally illegal. So, the people in charge were not exactly
upstanding citizens. They kept most of the money for
themselves. For them to be willing to pay a fighter that much,
she had to draw a crowd."
"And, of course, you did."
"I made a name for myself," I said with a shrug. "I would have
been bigger if I'd been willing to put on a better show."
"A better show?" she asked.
I blew out a sigh. This conversation was going to get ugly,
fast.
"It was common for the better fighters to sort of..."
I groped for a euphemism, but nothing came to me.
"...punish their opponents."
"What does that mean?" she asked.
"They would try to hurt them," I said. "Make an example of them
for daring to get in the ring with them."
I waited a moment and let her digest that little tidbit.
"Did they ever..."
Now it was her turn to search for a word. But, I knew where she
was going.
"Yes," I said softly. "People died."
This was the first time Danni and I had really talked about my
past. We'd referenced it a few times. To some degree it had
taken on a mythical quality, like I had some glorious history
that helped connect me to the women of RSI.
There was no glory in the gritty details, though.
"They ever try to hurt you?" she asked.
There was a flash of anger in her eyes that I found curious.
Whatever had or hadn't happened to me, it had been years ago.
Yet, Danni looked as though she might go on a quest to even old
scores.
All I had to do was say the word.
"I think that's enough background," I said, "don't you?"
The look on her face said she didn't, but she nodded anyway.
"So, where does this King guy come in?" she asked.
"King Powers," I said. "He ran one of the fight venues."
"Where?"
"Boston," I said. "He was a local crime boss, and the fights
were a big part of his operation."
She didn't show much reaction, but I heard the soft click of her
tongue as she pressed it to the back of her teeth.
"Crime boss?" she said. "Are we talking mafia, here?"
"Something like that," I said.
"Jesus."
"I know," I said. "I'm sorry. It's my fault you're caught up in
this."
She opened her mouth to protest, but then she hesitated. That
hesitation was not hard to understand. She wanted to believe in
me... to believe this wasn't my fault. Yet, here I was, telling
her tales of a Richelle she knew nothing about. How could she
decide how much blame I deserved when she didn't even know the
story?
More importantly, how could I break it to her that I deserved
all of the blame?
"So, what happened?" she asked.
I closed my eyes and massaged the bridge of my nose between my
thumb and forefinger. Danni waited patiently, recognizing that
what was coming was difficult for me.
"I got pulled into something," I said. "Something bad."
[hr]
Character Reference
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Richelle_100x120.jpg
Name: Richelle Winterfeld
Nickname(s):
Background: Owner of the RSI stable, former underground fighter
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Danni_100x120.jpg
Name: Danneel Harris
Nickname(s): Danni
Background: RSI stable leader, reigning DEF welterweight
champion
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