J. Cooper - Everlasting Sin

“Riley, come over here!” Justin shouted and waved at me.

I pushed my way over to the seat he was saving for me and gave him a look of thanks. “It’s really busy in here.” I looked around.

“Yeah,” Justin nodded. “Nick’s pissed. No one else was supposed to be here, but Channing created an event on Facebook.”

I frowned. “Why would he do that?”

“He thinks he’s going to win.”

“He doesn’t have a shot, does he?”

“If he plays dirty.” Justin shrugged. “Who knows?”

“You really think he’s going to fight dirty, don’t you?”

“I don’t know.” Justin’s face was grim. “I really don’t know.”

“He’s going to try and hurt him, isn’t he?” I stared at him and felt my body going cold. “I know you said that earlier, but I thought it was just conjecture. But you weren’t just saying that, were you? You think he’s going to really try and hurt him.”

“I don’t know what he’s capable of, but yes, I think he has a few tricks up his sleeve.”

“I need to talk to Hudson.” I jumped up, feeling panicked.

What if he didn’t fight back because I had told him to fight clean? What if he just took it because he was worried what I would think? I had to let him know to fight as dirty as he had to.

“You can’t go to the mat.” Justin grabbed me. “You’ll get him disqualified.”

“But I need to talk to him.” I shook my head as my whole body convulsed.

“You can’t go to the mat.” His fingers tightened their grip on my arms. “If you do, he’s out. It’ll be okay, Riley. Hudson knows what he is doing.”

“I hope so.”

I sat back down and watched as an older-looking man stepped onto the mat. He looked at Hudson and Channing and said something I couldn’t hear. Then the fight began. The room became quiet. I was shocked by the silence. I had always assumed that fights were noisy events.

“Why is it so quiet?” I whispered to Justin.

“People want to hear every break and crunch.”

“What?”

“They want to hear the bones break.” He offered me a gentle smile. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I swallowed hard. “It just seems so weird that people would want to see other people get hurt.”

“That’s humankind for you.” He shrugged and then gave me a once-over. “Are you sure you want to be here? It could get pretty bad. I’m sure there will be a lot of blood.”

“I want to see.” I nodded. “I have to see. I’m writing an article.”

“Yeah.” He looked at my pad and paper. “I forgot about that.”

We turned back to the fight and I tried not to squirm in my seat as Hudson and Channing faced off. So far neither one of them had made the first move, and the tension was high in the air. We were all waiting to see what happened.

I sat there with my hand over my mouth. I wanted to scream, but nothing had happened yet. I was scared for Hudson. I was scared for myself. A horrible feeling was building up in my stomach and there was a ringing in my ears. My entire body was still in tension.

And then it happened. It seemed like everything was occurring in slow motion. I watched Channing’s right hook connect with Hudson’s jaw. The crack was heard throughout the room, and I heard everyone gasp. Hudson tried to hit Channing back, but Channing blocked him easily. I watched as Channing hit him again and blood squirted out of Hudson’s nose. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see him getting hit.

“Oh fuck.” Justin’s exclamation made me open my eyes again. I watched as Channing held Hudson in a choke hold, squeezing down on Hudson’s neck.

“Stop.” I screamed. “You can’t do that.” I cried out, but no one paid any attention to me. Channing punched Hudson in the face again and then went crashing down to the floor. He jumped up, kicking Hudson in the ribs, and then fell on top of him. The whole room went silent as we heard a loud crack.

“He’s not moving!” someone screamed, and I watched as Channing stood up, staring at the ground in shock.

“He’s gone and broken his neck!” someone else shouted.

Suddenly there was commotion in the room as everyone struggled to look at Hudson’s unmoving body on the mats.

“He’s killed him.” Justin’s eyes were wide with shock as he stared at me. I could hear in his tone that he was about to break down.

I stared at him and then looked at Hudson again. I started to feel like the world was spinning and I couldn’t catch my breath. I watched as a guy jumped on the mats.

“I’m an EMT!” he shouted and kneeled down next to Hudson. “He’s not breathing!” he shouted out. “Someone call 911!”

I stared at Justin in shock, and then I fainted.

Hudson

Present Day

“Welcome,” a sweet soft voice whispered to me.

I couldn’t see her face or locate her in the darkness, but I was grateful for the sound. I was happy that I was surrounded by angels. I hadn’t been sure what was going to greet me when I crossed over.

They say that when you die, all your memories flash before your eyes. You see your life in a dream sequence so you can remember the people you’ve lost and the people you’ve loved. All I could think about was Riley. In the darkness, it was her face that kept me warm. I died happy—well, as happy as I could be. I died with the knowledge that Riley loved me. I wasn’t mad that I died right when all my dreams were about to come true. It was karma or kismet, as some people would say. One death begets a death. It was my fault that Clara was dead, and now I was dead. It was how it should be.

I remembered what my pastor had said in church once. He’d said that when a person died, the breath of life departs from the body and the soul no longer existed. He said that death was like a long, deep slumber. And that we’d have to wait until Jesus came back and then the good would go to heaven and the bad would go to hell. His words had scared me to death.

Could you imagine just waiting to be awoken, not knowing if you were going to an eternal lifetime of love and hope or if you were going to be burning in the pits of hell? Now that I was dead, it didn’t seem so bad.

I was alone with my thoughts and my memories. And all I could think about was Riley—her beautiful brown eyes, her long silky hair, the way she smiled at me when she saw me, the way she touched me so softly, the way she moaned when I kissed her. I could remember every last moment I’d spent with her. I couldn’t stop the guilt though. It stayed with me, even in death. And a part of me felt uneasy.

A part of me wondered if she would have still loved me if she’d known the truth. I thought back to that last night in Englewood. Clara had started drinking at lunchtime. She’d been texting back and forth with someone fervently, and all I could think about was how sad I’d been at not knowing when I’d see Riley again. We’d argued a little bit. Clara had told me that she could cheat on me just as much as I could cheat on her. I’d ignored her talk since it was the alcohol talking.

I hadn’t cheated on her physically, though mentally she was far from my mind. She’d gotten drunker at dinner, telling me I wasn’t really a man. That even Luke thought she could find someone better. I’d rolled my eyes and thought about how I could get Riley alone.

When she had gone to lie done, I’d felt exhilarated. I tucked her in with the flask and I knew it was over. She knew as well. And I didn’t feel guilty because she had been too busy texting back and forth. I didn’t know who she’d been talking to, but whoever it was seemed to make her happy because she laughed every time she got a new text.