The Aroma of Roma, pt. 12

Night seemed to have come sooner that it had come for the past few days, and I wondered if Audrey would mind me coming over for a visit. She seemed very nice and probably wouldn't mind, and yet I didn't want to just barge in uninvited. I made up my mind that I would go; any chance to see Audrey was worth the risk to me.

Performing the standard procedure for any outing (getting my things and locking up the house), I started out on my walk towards Audrey's house in the park. It was quite a lovely night; the moon was full, making everything look even more beautiful. I remembered the previous night, when I first went to her house; I certainly hoped I didn't find myself in the same situation as I was in then.

As I walked closer to the park, I thought I heard a low, somewhat dark chuckle somewhere behind me. I dismissed it as nothing, until I heard similar laughter, growing slightly louder. I picked up the pace of my walking and had gotten a considerable distance into the park, when I heard a voice at the gates and stopped.

"Well, well, well... Fancy that, me running into you again."

I knew that voice all too well, though I hadn't heard it but a few times in my life. It was the voice of Leo, the gang leader who had threatened me the last time I was in the park. I gulped nervously and looked around to see him slowly approach. What struck me as odd was the fact that he was completely unarmed. No knives, no crowbar, no brass knuckles, nothing. Unfortunately, I was also unarmed. Even from a distance he seemed to sense my fear, and continued, "We're gonna settle this whole thing right now, like men; no weapons, just good old-fashioned fists."

I was possibly more frightened by this than if he had allowed us to use weapons; I'd never really fought anyone and meant it before, and that put me at a considerable disadvantage... "What’s this about, Leo?" I asked, though I knew the answer.

"You and your skunk friend humiliated me last night," he barked. "And now, I'm gonna do what I should have done then." Upon finishing that sentence, he ran rapidly towards me and lunged at me, and though I tried to dodge, it was too late; he tackled me to the ground. Leo then attempted to punch me several times, while I rolled around and tried to evade his attacks; some of the punches connected, and they hurt badly.

Flailing around, I was able to get on top of him, but he simply wrapped his hands around my throat, trying to choke me. I succeeded in pulling his hands off of me, and he punched me again. Holding me down with one hand, his lips curled into a menacing grin, and he growled, "Say good-bye, you little punk!" Eyes wide with fear, I screamed for help, hoping Audrey would hear me, as Leo readied another punch. While I screamed, he launched his fist towards my mouth, hoping to knock my teeth loose; then, something truly incredible happened. I caught part of his fist in my mouth, which was open wide from the screaming, and instinctively bit down. HARD.

Leo screamed in pain, trying to pull his hand out of my mouth, and me trying not to let it go. He eventually yanked his hand out from between my teeth, and it had somewhat deep bite marks in it; his hand also appeared to be bleeding a little, to the surprise of both of us. Trying to make the best of the situation, I succeeded in freeing my foot, which then made contact with Leo’s nose; I figured that it was a good thing I'd worn boots that night. This got him off of me, as he held his hand over his nose, which also bled. Shocked at my own newfound "strength", which was actually little more than sheer dumb luck, I grabbed Leo up and pushed him as best I could; continuing my "lucky streak", he tripped over a large rock and banged his head on the ground, where he lay, apparently unconscious.

Not ten seconds after, Audrey came running out, asking if I was all right. Her eyes then turned to Leo, who was still lying on the ground. Amazed, the skunk turned to me and said, in a voice barely above a whisper, "Did you do that?" I nodded, though it hurt my neck to do so. "He threatened my life, Audrey; I had to defend myself..." Audrey nodded in response, and said, "Man, it's gotten to where you can't even take a stroll in the park at night... We should go to my house; I'll fix ya up." I agreed, and we slowly walked towards her house.