THE ALLEYWAY FIGHT
by Taylor G Mauck
Bio: David gets dragged into a fight with guys who want revenge over something that happened in high school, and gets injured. David’s boyfriend, Jacob, and his best friend, Makayla must help protect him from them. However, no fight has an easy outcome.
The annoying ringing in my ears is the first thing I hear when I start to come to. Ugh, my head! How did I even black out? The only thing I can even register, is something firm but at the same time soft against me. The ringing in my ears died down a little, and I can start to hear some muffled voices.
“…vid…ear…e…?! …ease…!”
I try to muster up enough strength to open my eyes. It takes a few seconds, but I eventually do open my eyes. Above me is a person; although, I can’t make out who it is. I blink a few times before I’m able to see who it is. My eyes widen at who it is. It’s my boyfriend Jacob! What’s he doing here?!
“David!” Jacob exclaims.
“J-Jacob?” I asked, while trying to sit up from his lap; which is what I am laying on.
“Stay down! Makayla thinks you have a head injury! Possibly a concussion!”
“Wait, Makayla’s here?!”
“Yea! She was the one who heard some crashes coming from here! She wanted to check it out, and we looked in time to see you getting your head slammed against the wall! You can imagine how pissed she was, and how worried I was!”
I’m about to say something, when I hear a thud. I look over to see Makayla slam her fist right in a guy’s nose. The guy lets out a yell as he slams on the ground. A moment later, she turns around and blocks an incoming attack from behind. Oh right. I keep forgetting she was living on the streets for 5 years and taught herself how to fight. Back in early high school, I never knew she would one day become one of my best friends. As Makayla went to block another blow, everything started to come back to me.
A kick to the chest.
I get jumped and dragged into the alleyway.
A hit to the jaw.
“You think you’re so cool!”
A sprain to the arm.
I get a punch in the gut. I get slammed into a wall.
Makayla yells as she charges again.
“You deserve this! After you expelled us senior year! You and your stuck up boyfriend! What makes you so special for being gay anyway?!”
Makayla blocks another attack.
They slam my head against the wall behind me.
Makayla dodges.
Black.
Now I remember. I know they didn’t like me in high school because they thought I was stuck up, especially when I started dating Jacob, but I didn’t think they would go this far.
“David?”
I look over at Jacob to see that concerned look on his face.
“I’m ok,” I try convincing him.
“Like hell you are!”
I glare at Jacob before looking back at Makayla’s fight. In that moment, she looks over at us, and her eyes widen.
“David?!”
“Makalya!” Jacob suddenly shouts.
I suddenly see one of the guys running up to her. She doesn’t have time to react as she’s suddenly knocked off her feet and is pinned to the ground. Jacob suddenly stands to his feet.
“David, if anyone comes after you, yell!”
I don’t get a chance to respond before he runs over and tackles the guy off of Makayla.
“Don’t touch her!” I hear him yell.
Makayla stands up and takes a moment to run over to me, while Jacob tries to fight.
“Thank god you’re awake,” she says as she kneels down next to me. “We were worried there for a bit. Thankfully you aren’t bleeding, but we still need to get you to the hospital, Do you think you can walk?”
I nod. “Yea.”
She sighs. “Alright. Just hang tight.”
Makayla stands up and turns around, only to be met by the guy with the possibly broken nose. When did he…?!
He’s suddenly grabbed by the ponyhair and yanked on the ground hard. He groans as he makes an impact, and we look to see Jacob glaring daggers at him. After a few moments, he looks at us.
“Are you guys ok?”
“Yea,” Makayla says while I nod.
“Good. We need to get moving! Now!”
I stand to my feet, only to wobble and fall against Makayla. Judging by the way she flinches, I’m guessing she’s off guard.
“David!” Jacob suddenly shouts.
I shake my head and push off Makayla.
“I’m fine! Just got a little dizzy is all.”
“Don’t say you can walk, if you actually can’t,” Makayla rolls her eyes.
“But I-!”
“David, I love you. I really do. But you’re seriously an idiot sometimes!” Jacob glares at me.
I roll my eyes. “Gee thanks. Love you too.”
“Let’s just go! We’re wasting time! Jacob, help with him!”
Jacob nods, and left me no room to protest. As Jacob prepares to grab my arm, I suddenly hear a smack. We look over to see Makayla smacking one of the guys in the face. Wait, weren’t they just knocked out a moment ago?! Damn it! Makayla was right! We wasted too much time with arguments! Makayla’s back is turned to us as she charges at the guy. Within a few moments, she suddenly stops, and starts backing up a little.
“U-um…w-was David by any chance stabbed, Jacob?”
Jacob and I look at each other confused before Jacob quickly inspects my condition.
“No. Why?”
“Because this guy has a knife!”
Jacob and I look at each other in shock. What did she just say?! How does he have a knife?! Oh god! What would’ve happened if these two didn’t see me getting ambushed?!
“M-Makayla?” Jacob suddenly stutters, but then Makayla charges at this guy again. “Makayla! Ugh! Damn it! What an idiot!” He then looks at me before making me sit on the ground. “David, I need you to hang back. Make sure those two other guys don’t move!”
I look to my left to see the three other guys Makayla and Jacob knocked out. When I turn my head back, Jacob was already fighting alongside Makayla. It’s obvious they’re both heavily on the defensive side. Wait a second…weren’t there five of these guys? I looked back to the three guys unconscious, and back to the guy with the knife. That’s four. I look around the alleyway, but I didn’t see him anywhere. Did he simply just run away? No, he wouldn’t when it’s 3…I mean 2 against 5.
Suddenly, small pieces of gravel fell on my back. I flinch at the sudden impact of it. It feels like it came from above. I look up, only to find out where the fifth guy is at. He’s on top of one of the buildings closest to the alleyway. He has something in his hand, but I can’t make out what it is. It kind of looks like a…wait, is that a gun?! Shit! He points his gun forward. He points it towards Makayla and Jacob. Shit! Shit! Shit!
“Hey, get down!” I shout, causing my head to suddenly throb.
Makayla and Jacon look confused, as the guy with the knife nearly stabs Makayla.
“There’s a guy on the roof who has a gun! Get down!”
Everyone looks up towards the roof before they hit the deck. A shot rings through my ears, but I could tell it was a blank.
“What the hell?!” Jacob exclaims.
“Ugh! That bastard!” Makayla shouts as she makes a run for the fire escape.
“Makayla, wait!” Jacob yells after her, but she doesn’t pay attention.
He looks back at the guy with the knife. I get to my feet and walked over towards the two. Something tells me Jacob’s going to need help.
“Jacob!”
He looks at me. “David, what are you-?!”
“Shut up with your talking already!” the guy with the knife charges at us, barely missing Jacob in the process.
Jacob gives me a glare as if saying he will lecture me later before he went in for another attack. My head pounds and throbs, but I can’t just sit by and watch any longer. With Makayla after the guy on the roof, it’s Jacob vs a knife wielding maniac. As I begin to try and run into the fight, Jacob is clutching the guy’s wrists as if he was trying to get khim to release the knife. I can see this either going very well or very wrong. I run towards the fight, and the guy sees me. He kicks Jacob in the gut as Jacob lets go of his wrists and falls over to the ground. He then swings his knife at me and I barely dodge. Damn it!
He smirks at me as he swings the knife near my head. Holy shit! Is this guy actually going to kill me?! What exactly happened to him after his expulsion from school?! I try my best to dodge his attacks, but my head wouldn’t stop spinning the more I dodge. Eventually, my legs give out and I collapse to my knees.
“Well look who finally stopped being a pest!”
He raises the knife, and that’s when Jacob comes out of nowhere and basically tackles to guy to the ground. That guy has a knife Jacob! What the hell are you thinking?!
“If you even think about hurting him, I’ll kill you!”
All I can focus on beyond that point, is my pounding head and everything around me spinning. Damn it! Why does this have to happen?! Why?! My hearing begins to go as well as all I can hear is that annoying ringing again. I clench my eyes shut as I silently pray for the dizziness to stop. Damn it all! Why did those guys bring me into this after all these years?! Why did they get dragged into this?! They had absolutely nothing to do with this!
The dizziness stops and my hearing comes back. I open my eyes to see Jacob once again getting kicked towards the ground. The guy approaches him, knife in hand. Jacob looks like he’s still recovering from that blow. I bit my lip as I look to the roof above. Makayla and that other guy aren’t there. I really hope Makayla’s alright.
I look back to see the guy was a foot away from Jacob. Shit! I had no idea my body even moved until I’m suddenly standing in between Jacob and the other guy. And then…pain! The best way I can describe how this pain feels is just…white, hot and agonizing. I hesitantly look down to see the knife lounged right into my side. I don’t even have to turn around to see the horrified look on Jacob’s face.
“You little pest!” the guy pulls the knife out of my body and kicks me towards the ground.
I can’t stop myself from screaming out in pain as I fall. My body falls on something, and I look up to see Jacob, looking at me with terror.
“David, I…you idiot! Why did you do that?!”
“I…I…” I don’t even have the strength to talk.
Jacob lays me down gently, and he glares at the guy.
“YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT YOU MONSTER!”
Jacob charges full speed, knocking the guy over. I’m able to make out Jacob beating this guy senseless and ruthless. Everytime the guy tries to get up, he’s immediately back on the ground. My vision swims heavily and it’s making me feel nauseous. My shirt clings onto my skin as I felt the blood flow beneath me.
“Jacob, stop!”
I look up to see Makayla pushing Jacob roughly off the guy, who is now unconscious. When did she get back?
“He’s done, alright?!”
Jacob glares at her. “He stabbed David!”
“Wait, what?!”
She looks over at me before rushing over. Jacob isn’t far behind her. I look up at her, and her eyes widen as she looked at my wound.
“Holy shit…!”
Jacob looks like he’s about to be sick.
“Oh my god! Oh my god, Makayla! He’s bleeding badly! David, you need to stay with us! Makayla, do something please! He’s gonna die! He’s gonna-!”
SLAP!
Jacob immediately got silent as soon as Makayla left a huge red mark on his cheek.
“Shut up! Calm down! How about instead of freaking out like an idiot, go call an ambulance?!”
Jacob blinks before gulping.
“Ah, right!”
He frantically grabs his phone before shakingly pressing the numbers. Makayla sighs as she looks back down at me.
“David, can you hear me?”
I look up at her.
“Ma-Makayla? I-I…don’t…f-feel…good…”
“I know, but you’re going to be fine. Just stay with us, alright?” her voice shakes slightly.
I stare at her as I find myself getting more and more sleepy. I know she wants me to stay awake but I’m…so tired. So very tired. Sleep sounds so good right now.
“David!” Jacob comes into my view, tears forming in his eyes. “Just stay with me ok!” He holds my hand. “You’ll make it! You just have to just listen to my voice, ok?!”
Every second, my vision gets more and more blurry. Every second, I can barely register Jacob’s plead for me to stay awake. Each one sounds more desperate than the last. Jacob please just…shut up. I’m tired.
I very vaguely am able to hear the sound of sirens in the distance. Hearing that made me realize I can finally get some sleep. My vision goes black shortly afterwards.
…
I opened my eyes slightly, and the first thing that floods my vision, is a ceiling. My vision is hazy for a few moments before it clears. When I look around at my surroundings, I notice I’m in a hospital. Everything that happened starts coming back to me. I quickly realize the pounding in my head has lessened, but it was still there. It was uncomfortable, but at least it isn’t unbearable. I go to sit up, when a sudden pain went through my side. Oh right. I was stabbed protecting…
I quickly look around again, before I see Jacob resting his head in his arms on top of my bed. How long has he been here? How long have I been here? Should I wake him up? My silent question has been answered when Jacob stirs slightly and opens his eyes. He then looks over at me, and he immediately froze.
“D-David?”
I give him a weak smile. “Hey.”
He immediately leans back roughly in the chair, nearly falling over in the process.
“Oh my god! David! You’re finally awake! How do you feel?!”
“Well, my head hurts from all your screaming.”
“Oh,” Jacob blushes. “Sorry. But seriously, how do you feel?”
“Well, my head hurts a little. My side hurts too.”
“The doctor said that was to be expected. That is, if you ever woken up.”
“What?”
Jacob bites his lip. “Well…you had a concussion, plus you also got…you know, stabbed. You’ve been unconscious for a week, and the doctors weren’t completely sure if you were going to wake up due to falling asleep with a concussion plus bleeding out. But look at you now!”
I felt numb in that moment. There was a chance I could’ve died in a coma?! That’s…
“Y-yea…”
I look up to see Jacob having tears in his eyes, which caught me completely off guard.
“Wha…Jacob?!”
“I’m sorry. I’m just so relieved that you’re ok! You had us all worried sick!”
I chuckled weakly. “Well, I’m sorry to worry all of you. Wait, where’s Makayla?”
“Oh, she had something to do. She said she’ll be back later,” Jacob tells me as he wipes the tears from his eyes.
“Oh, alright. So what happened after I blacked out?”
“The ambulance and the police came to the scene, and the paramedics loaded you quickly onto the ambulance. The police arrested the five guys who attacked us, and took Makayla’s statement, and my statement. They want us to expect a call from them on the matter. We’re going to have this case taken to court eventually. We didn’t get arrested because they classified our actions as self defense. Especially since one person had a knife and another person had a gun. Makayla basically beat the crap out of the guy with the gun after she got the gun away from him.”
I look down towards my lap. “Oh.”
“Yea…”
Jacob suddenly leans over and kisses my forehead, before he stands up quickly from the chair.
“Shoot! I have to go tell the doctor you’re awake! I’ll be back!”
Jacob runs out the door immediately afterwards. I sigh as I stare at the ceiling again. How long did this fight even happen? A few minutes? An hour? Honestly, it felt like it lasted forever I knew they hated me for expelling them in high school, but I never thought they would try to kill me. Would I be dead right now if it wasn’t for Jacob and Makayla? That’s what scares me the most. I know this won’t be the last time I’ll see them. But is their motive to fight me actually because of them being expelled, or is it something far more deeper than that? I feel that will be a story for another time.
About the Author:
I am 20 years old and I was born, raised, and currently live in western Maryland. I’m currently going to a community college to get my associate’s degree in general studies and planning to graduate in August 2020. After graduation, I hope to work in a library as a librarian technician while also trying to work on my creative writing and getting my work published. I’ve grown up loving to write creatively and reading. I hope one day I can make people happy with my stories as much as many well known authors have made me happy with their work.
