Ocean of Secrets

I clutched my shirt between my hands in a vise-like grip that I didn’t relax until we pulled up to an old warehouse. There were other cars parked around, but not a large enough number to make me feel any safer.

“I come here a lot when they have matches.” I looked over at Malachai to see that he had a weary look on his face as if he were testing me.

“Matches,” I didn’t know what to think of that one word as I quietly repeated it. It could mean multiple things.

“You’ll see soon enough,” He still hadn’t moved and was starting to creep me out. Of course the thought that he was going to rape then kill me wasn’t helping much either.

A strange look came across Malachai’s face and I wondered if he could read my mind or something. That would probably be the most embarrassing thing in the world and I quickly shook away the idea. If he could read my mind then he would always know what I was thinking and I wasn’t absolutely sure if I would like that too much.

Suddenly Malachai opened his car door and stepped out onto the barren street. With the door open I realized just how quiet and empty this part of town was, and once again a sheen of sweat broke out on the back of my neck. He walked around the car, opened my door for me, and then shut it after I had stepped out. He put his hands on my shoulders and stared into my eyes for a couple seconds with a serious look on his face.

“I need you to listen to everything I tell you, alright?” I nodded my head and gulped loudly. I wasn’t so sure if going out with him was a good idea anymore. “You’re going to see something tonight that you might not like too much but don’t act scared or nervous. Don’t let go of my hand whatever you do, don’t talk to anyone and don’t look anyone in the eye. Stay by me and act as invisible as you can pretty much. Do you understand?”

I nodded my head again even though I didn’t understand at all. Where were we and what were we going to see? I had so many questions but I forgot all of them as soon as he curled his fingers around mine. My heart stuttered and my lips quivered and I wasn’t sure if I could walk because my legs felt like jell-o, but I did.

We got onto the sidewalk and walked around the large building into a narrow alley and then around the back. The building was probably at least a quarter mile in every direction and my legs ached slightly by the time we reached the back door. I wasn’t really afraid of him anymore because my brain was all fuzzy, but when I saw a burly man standing in front of the door I knew something was up.

My fingers tightened around Malachai’s hand as we got closer and I inspected the man. His hair was cut short and when he turned toward us I saw on the side of his head a big ‘d’ on top of what looked like a round ‘w’ with the center line longer than the others. His eyes were dark and shadowed by thick eyebrows, his whole body looked to be one huge tattoo, but I could only see his arms and neck. He wore a tight fitting black crew neck tee and some dark jeans. His hand was big enough to probably reach all the way around my thigh and his arm looked about as thick as a large tree branch.

I looked over at Malachai as he cleared his throat and watched him give the man a slight nod. The man dipped his head back and stood to the side while opening the door. Inside I couldn’t see anything but blackness, but I heard grunts, the sound of shuffling feet, people talking loudly and some even yelling. Smoke hung heavily in the air and I tried not to cough but the back of my throat itched something awful and I ended up hacking loudly.

I wanted to ask Malachai where we were but he removed his hand from mine and then wrapped his arm around me. We were practically joined at the hip as we walked deeper into the dark warehouse but I didn’t really mind our close proximity because he smelled good and I was scared shitless. The sounds got louder as we continued to walk. It was dark enough that I couldn’t see very far in front of me, but I could tell that we were surrounded by boxes on all sides except for the small, clear path that we walked on.

Finally after what felt like forever – but could really only have been a couple minutes – someone walked past us and I knew we were nearing our destination. I could only make out their silhouette and the heavy smell of smoke on their clothing, but it was enough to realize that I was somewhere that I probably shouldn’t be.

“When you want to leave squeeze my arm or something,” Malachai whispered, “I can’t promise that we’ll leave as soon as you do it, but I’ll try to get us out soon afterward.” He must have seen the fear on my face, but when I looked up at him he was looking straight ahead.

We walked a little farther and I realized that it was slowly getting brighter. I could finally see around me, but I wasn’t so sure that I liked my surroundings. People were everywhere. In corners couples made out and right smack dab in the center of everything was a stage of sorts with four corner posts and a single rope wrapped around the whole thing. I didn’t watch a lot of TV, but I had seen enough to know what was going on here.

Standing inside the rope were two people only in shorts. They had no padding or anything as they punched and kicked each other, and blood ran freely down their faces but no one did anything. They were urging them on and watching to see who would be the last man standing like wild, savage animals.