Chapter 8

05:30, August 25, 1983 (Attack Day)

My eyes popped open at five-thirty on the dot. Not because my alarm woke me but because of the nightmare I’d been having. Today was the day. That was my first thought. Today Kent and his goons would attack Rhyll. That thought filled me with dread. I almost lost my stomach to the sick feeling that rose inside me. I was wound up like a spring about to snap. I dressed and grabbed my bike. I rode hard and fast to the track and didn’t stop and lock my bike up like normal. Instead, I rode right up to the track. Jumped off my bike and let it fall as I hit the track running as hard and as fast as I could.

I needed to get strong. I needed to be able to do whatever was necessary to protect the ones I loved and felt responsible for. I needed to outrun the ghost of my past. Outpace the voices in my head that reminded me that I hadn’t even tried the first time around. I ran all out putting everything I had into the act of running. I went beyond four laps, beyond six. I honestly got lost in the voices in my head. Arms grabbed me and I just reacted.

I lashed out with all the Jiu-Jitsu training I had the first time around. I struck without thought, just reacting to the perceived threat. Mr. Snodgrass was yelling at me to stop before I hurt myself.

When Jiu-Jitsu didn’t work, I switched to Krav Maga without a thought. It wasn’t until I was wrestled to the ground by the superior weight of my attacker that I realized I wasn’t under attack. No, my girlfriend’s father, the man who was supposed to be training me, had me wrapped in his arms and legs on the ground. “What the hell Harrison? Where did you learn to fight like that?”

“Oh shit, I thought. I’m only fifteen and have only been training this lifetime for about a week. I really fucked up. What could I tell him that he’d believe?”

I didn’t have a clue what to tell him that didn’t make me sound crazier than he had to think I was. So I fell back on an old teenage standby. I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking, just reacting. Did I do something wrong?”

The retired Marine officer looked at me. ‘Besides almost killing me? No, you didn’t do anything wrong, that’s the problem. You shouldn’t know or be able to fight at that level. It was all I could do to contain you. You fought at first like a very high-level black belt. Then you changed styles to something I’ve never seen before. Harrison, what the devil got into you? I reached out because you were running so hard and fast I thought you were going to hurt yourself. What demons could you have at fifteen that sent you into that kind of self-punishment?”

I shook my head. “Not punishment, fear. I had a terrible terrible dream last night that I can’t shake. I have to be ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Ready to save her.” Damn, I’d done it again, spoken without thinking about what I was saying.

Now he sat still. “Ready to save who, Harrison?”

I took a big shaky breath as the tears of my shame ran down my face. “Amaryllis. I dreamed that some bullies I know hurt Rhyll in a way no girl should be hurt. Worse, I let them hurt her.”

“Ah, now I understand. Harrison, it was just a dream. You didn’t let anyone hurt her. She’s home in bed, well right now she is probably in the shower. She has that appointment at the school.”

I looked at Hiram and shook my head. “It felt like more than a dream. For example, the dream took place at the school. Not at the school itself, but in my dream, she left the school alone and walked across this field to the Circle K. They caught up with her there.” I shook my head hard trying to dislodge the memories of both the first time and then the dream from last night. “I tried to stop them but they are bigger than me. They are real Mr. Snodgrass, I know them. They’ve been bullies to me and several others most of our lives. They’re seniors and members of the football team.

In the dream, I heard her scream and ran to where she was. I tried to stop them but they held me down and beat me until I couldn’t move. Then they made me watch as they hurt her over and over again. I couldn’t stop them, they were too big.” I screamed and pounded the turf. “I have to be ready. I have to save her. I have to win the fight. I have to be able to do what is necessary. I have to!”

He shook his head. “Harrison it was just a nightmare. A dream that’s all it was, it isn’t reality.”

I shook my head. “No, it was more than a dream. I know you don’t believe me and I can’t explain what you don’t believe. I have to try anyway, I guess.

In my family there have always been a few people, special people, the old timers called those people seers. They, on occasion, had true dreams. Some of the things they dreamed of came true. All I can say is, this didn’t feel like a dream. It felt real. Even now I can feel the weight of her safety pushing on my soul.”

I sighed for all that Mr. Snodgrass had treated me like an adult and not a little kid, I knew he didn’t believe me.

“Let’s change the subject for now. How were you able to fight like you did when I grabbed you?”

Again, time to fall back on the age-old teenage non-answer. “I don’t know how I fought like that. I wasn’t thinking, I just reacted.”

He shook his head at me. “So you’re telling me that your reaction to thinking you were being attacked was to fight perfectly, in a style of hand-to-hand that you just started learning. With it, you blended another style that I don’t even know what it’s called and almost took out an opponent with years of hands-on experience and knowledge?”

“I don’t know what to tell you, it just happened. I can’t explain it any more than you can.”

“Tomorrow I want to test you. Let me see if I can find us a gym or dojo to spar in. I want to see just how ingrained this unknown knowledge is.”

“I can’t tomorrow Mr. Snodgrass. Like Rhyll today, I have a meeting with my guidance counselor tomorrow. I’m asking them to test me for the new gifted program that Rhyll is going to be tested for.”

“All right, let’s plan on some time next week. That will give me time to find a quiet place where we can spar without an audience. If all else fails, I’ll contact my instructor from the Marines to let me use his dojo. I may do that anyway. I’d like his opinion on your ingrained skill. If anyone would know what that mystery discipline was, he would.”

I shuddered at that thought. I shouldn’t have lost control like that. This road less traveled suddenly felt like the freeway, jammed with travelers on vacation. Once that was agreed upon, and because of the punishing pace I had set earlier, Mr. Snodgrass finished his run while I did a light set of the exercises he’d started me on.

After we parted ways I got on my bike and rode over to the Circle K. I went around back where I remembered seeing Kent, Aaron, and Todd corner Amaryllis the first time. I took the Ashwood staff and rubbed it with dirt and mud. Camouflaging it to make it look more natural and less like a fighting staff.

I looked around for other natural items I could use if the need arose. One of the truths of any battle is that no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. The truth was, I didn’t really have a plan beyond keeping Rhyll from getting raped. I would do what was necessary to ensure that she got away. Even if it meant sacrificing myself.