Chapter 4- Solitaire

Chapter four:

Solitaire

Jack's feet were pounding the earth beneath his feet as he raced towards the man, who now that he was closer Jack noticed how truly big the man was. Standing at six feet and five inches tall, he was easily taller than Jack, with three hundred pounds of muscle and fat packed onto his giant frame he out weighed Jack by seventy pounds as well. This was not going to be easy. Sure Jack had gone through training in hand to hand combat to be apart of the knight department, along with recreational boxing, but right now Jack's veins were still full of whisky. Yet he smiled. It was in moments like these that Jack felt most himself.

Through out his life Jack had gotten into more fights than any one he knew. His poor mother worried about him constantly. It started in elementary school in grade one. Jack had attended an assembly that talked about bullying, many words were said but the one thing Jack took from it was “If you see some one getting bullied, do something” To Jack this meant step in and kick the bullies a*s. From that day forward when ever he saw some one getting picked on in any degree he would stop it one way or another. Through elementary school this usually meant walking up and punching the other kid in the face. As he grew up he stopped using violence as his first effort to stop fights, instead he got good at talking things out. How ever he was never afraid to throw a punch if the situation called for it.

Stopping three feet in front of the man clad in black clothing, a ski mask over his face. To Jack this man looked like a mountain made of darkness. Raising his hands in a fighting position like he had done hundreds of time in a ring Jack got ready. The masked man moved faster than Jack thought possible giving his size. Quickly taking two steps towards Jack, swinging his blade like a flag being thrown around in the wind. Taking a step back on his right foot, Jack tried with all he had to twist his body out of the way of the cruel blade. It sliced through his hoodie, barley missing his skin. The sudden charge forward had thrown the masked man off balance . Leaving him open for a counter attack. Bringing both his hands close together near his chest Jack stepped forward throwing an uppercut with his right fist. Burying his knuckles into the mans covered chin. The mugger fell onto his back droping his knife, Jack crumpled to his knees from pain. “F**k.” they both said in unison. Grabbing his right hand Jack cursed himself for forgetting that he had hurt it earlier. Before he noticed the man was on his feet, bringing his foot crashing into Jack's face. Moving Jacks nose completely to the right side of his face, cracking his left cheek bone . Blood and snot exploding on the impact. Knocking Jack fully on his back.

Rolling to his left Jack narrowly missed a second kick to the gut. Spitting on Jack's crumpled body as he held both his hands to his face trying to stop the flow of bloody mucus. The mugger walked over and picked up his knife. “alright you son of a b***h, you made me chip my tooth. I hope it was worth it.” walking towards Jack's curled up body. Rolling over on his back Jack spit out a bloody tooth. Watching the man Jack got ready for when he got close. As soon as the man got near Jack's legs, Jack took advantage of his over confidence. Kicking with the speed of a viper strike Jack hit the giant right between the legs. Kneeling over so that his face was not far from the ground Jack quickly fired another kick into the mans face. This sent the man to the ground, holding his face as crimson water flowed through gaps between his fingers.

Standing up as fast as he could Jack kicked furiously at the fallen man, making sure that he wasn't going to be standing any time soon. Caving in one side of the mans rib cage, satisfied that one threat had been taken care of Jack started to turn around to the last mugger. Before he could turn to face the other man, Jack was tackled from behind. Gasping as pain shot through his body as a blade dug itself between two of his ribs. The metal of the blade felt as tho it had been super heated and was setting Jack's insides on fire. Tears of pain and snot were running down his face. Jack reeled back his head as hard as he could smashing into the second muggers nose. The sound of snapping cartilage rang through Jack's head. “ You f*****g a*s hole!” Screamed the man in rage. Pulling out the knife he got ready to stab Jack again. At the moment the knife left his body Jack kicked as hard as he could against the ground jumping forward a few feet. Landing on his belly Jack started to crawl like a slug away from the man. Leaving a trail of blood. No longer thinking about the fight, everything in his brain had been shut off. The only sound in his head was a blaring siren telling him to run as fast as he could. Blood started to fill his mouth, filling it with the taste of iron. With all his strength he tried to stand but to no avail. This was it. Jack felt death coming for him, as if it was angry about being cheated out of his life twice already.

The second masked man was almost on Jack when on the other end of the alley sirens were howling in the night, red and blush lights bathed the alley in a light of justice. “ put your hands up” commanded the officer. “f**k ... f**k f**k.” The man attempted to grab the girl in an effort to get a hostage but the moment he moved the officer fired. His shot finding its mark with perfect aim. The bullet was planted in the mans lower leg, dropping him immediately.

The world around him grew dark as more blood left his body, the sirens from the police cruiser became muffled. Jack was barley conscious as the paramedics treated his wounds and put him in the ambulance. Half way to the hospital Jack lost the ability to see, or hear. Only his consciousness remained. Panic struck him as he began to fear he was dead. Only hours previously this had been his goal, yet now the very thought terrified him to his foundations. Soon complete silence fell as he went unconscious.

Opening his eyes Jack found himself sitting on a bench at a schools play ground, the sound of sneakers crashing through pea gravel surrounded him. With choirs of laughter, and screams of delight from all the kids playing adding to the blanket of joy being placed on him. Taking a deep breath in he felt an itch form in his brain. This smell of freshly cut grass, the laughter, the sound of cars driving by. It was all so familiar. As if he had heard and smelt all these things before in the exact same way. Yet he could not place it. Looking around he saw the play structure made out of wood and metal, tire swings and slides that were baking in the hot sun. Laughing to himself Jack realized he hadn't seen a park like this since he was a child. Slowly his laughter stopped as he noticed this was the exact play ground from his elementary school. Furrowing his brow Jack did not understand this park had been demolished years ago. Looking to the school he read its name “ Janet John stone” with out meaning to he tilted his head in confusion. This was his elementary school. But it had been demolished with the park many years prior. Then he saw a ghost from the past, six year old Jack sitting with a bunch of his friends.

He was wearing yellow shirt with a cartoon version of the paladin on it holding his sword skyward. With blue shorts that barley covered his knees and sandals that would give him blisters until the day he got fed up and would throw them out. “ I want to be it!” He said to his friends. Older Jack smiled to himself. He knew what game they were about to play. They called it knights and titans. In it one person was a knight and it was their job to chase every one and tag them. Once all the titans had been tagged they were dead and the knight won. Jack had felt very proud of himself on his fifth birth day when he came up with it. Soon all the kids were running around in a frenzy as Jack chased them all yelling about how knights would always win.

As Jack was chasing one of the smaller kids in his class a large child by the name of Brent stepped in front of them and shoulder checked the smaller kid onto the floor. “Hey what was that for?” Jack said bawling his little hands into fists. “This part of the school yard is for third graders only, you a third grader?” Said the boy who stood a few inches taller than Jack, With a black mo hawk shaved into his head. Standing a few feet away was the adult Jack. “ This is that day.” Jack said to himself as he watched the situation unfold. “Hey kids, stop that right now.” He yelled at them. None of the kids responded. “Hey I'm talking to you.” still none of the responded. Moving to grab his past self his hand fell through the image of young Jack.

“ I don't see your name on it.” Said Jack standing as tall as he could, his fists still clenched. “Only third graders can see it.” Said the boy pushing Jack hard backwards. Anger started to form in young Jack's stomach. Looking between the third grader and his own friend Jack knelt down and helped him up. Pulling him away from the overly aggressive eight year old. “ are you okay Stevie?” “ yeah I think so” He said looking down at a scrape on his arm. “come on Jack we don't need to play here. Lets go find every one else.” Looking back to Brent who was sticking his tongue out at Jack and Stevie. Jack turned his back and started walking away his hand on Stevie's back. He knew better than to fight when it wasn't needed. “ Alright Stevie I will give you a five second head start” Stevie started to run as fast as his small legs would carry him,. Smiling to himself for how he had defused that hostile situation. When Jack had counted to four he bent his legs and got ready for the chase,. With in the next moment a rock sailed over Jack's head and beamed Stevie in the middle of his back. Stevie let out a sharp cry of pain as fell over and slide on the ground being carried by his own momentum. Jack clenched his fist so hard he was a little a afraid he was going to break his skin.

With out a word he turned around and charged the older boy. Swinging in wild motions. Trying to connect with any part of his body. His tiny soft fists finding their targets in Brent's gut and rib cage. Unfortunately this would be the first and last time in this fight that Jack landed a punch of his own. Putting both his hands together above Jack's back the third grader brought them down on him like a hammer to a nail that just would not go in. Jack's knees almost buckled. Before he could recover, Brent grabbed Jack by the shoulders and kneed him in the chest. Knocking the wind out of his body, he fell to the floor. Brent jumped on him punching him in the face two times before Jack's teacher Mrs. Robertson grabbed Brent's hand in air and dragged him off of Jack. Her cheeks were scarlet with anger. Letting out a torrent of words at Brent she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him in the school. Soon a circle of kids were around Jack. Laying on his back he silently cried. The tears running down his face over his ears. He was so ashamed for losing the fight. The crowd how ever thought he was crying because he was hurt and soon some of the meaner children were laughing. Then the other kids joined in as the mob affect took over.

Older Jack looked at the scene with mixed emotions, this was the day Jack made the decision to be strong, to never lose a fight again. It was this day that would one day make him start body building, boxing, train to become a part of the knight department It was this day that would shape him as he grew into a man. He felt sorry for his child counter part. From this day forward he would have to try with all he had. It was not going to be an easy life. Putting His hand on his chest Jack recalled the will that had been formed in him all these years ago. “what has my life come to” He said more as a statement than a question.

Jack eyes opened with caution, as light started to fill them, making him wince. With every passing moment the relived memory slipped out of his mind like water through cupped hands. Breathing in Jack cringed as the air touched his nose. It smelt of cleaning products and sickness. A sort of sterile filth. Sitting up he grunted in pain shooting through his body from his back. Looking around him every thing was white, as though the designers of the room thought the white would counter act the smell of the air. All it did was show off where the dirt in the room was. Frowning Jack thought to himself “Hospitals, I hate hospitals.”

“oh your finally up.” Jack was startled by a girl who was sitting by his hospital bed. How had he not noticed her? She was looking at him, on her lap was a food tray with playing cards sprawled over it.

She was winning a game of solitaire. Looking to her face Jack tried to place it. She had dark green eyes with gold circling her pupil, long brown hair that flowed in waves past her shoulders, a few freckles danced across her cheeks. Jack had no memory of her. “sorry , but who are you?” Jack said with an apologetic look on his face. “not to sound rude or anything, my mind feels like its full of thick fog.”

she laughed , mostly to her self. “ I am Julia, I was the woman you saved last night.” she smiled at the end of her sentence, it was big and beautiful. Jack swore it added light to the room. “ oh, I am glad to see you are okay, you didn't need to wait here for me to wake up though.” “well I did, not much you can do about it now, is there?” She said as her smile got a little bigger. “ It was the least I could do, I don't like thinking about what would of happened last night if you hadn't of shown up when you did.” Putting a hand on Jack's forearm and looking him deep in the eyes “Thank you.” Feeling his face turn red Jack broke the eye contact and looked down ward. His right hand was in a black cast which made a harsh contrast to the whiteness of the room.

The redness in his cheeks was a symptom caused by a combination of things, feeling embarrassed at her thankfulness. It wasn't something he felt the need to be thanked for, it was just something he did. He couldn't not run into a situation like that. The second reason for his Santa like cheeks was a mystery to him. All of these thought combined with the pain medication running through his body made him feel as though wet cement was being plastered in his brain.

searching through his almost cinder block of a brain for anything to say to break the silence he had created. Cheeks getting redder as the embarrassment rose at the lack of conversation. Looking through out the room for any subject of conversation Jack's eyes fell on her playing cards. “are you winning your game of solitaire?”biting the inside of his top lip, hoping that she hadn't heard the desperation in his voice. “ I am winning this one, but so far today I have lost many more than I won.” a half smile forming on her face as the final word left her lips. “ How many games have you played?” forgetting his want to kill the silence, Jack asked the question with genuine curiosity. Scratching her head Julia said “ around eighty? Yeah around Eighty” “holy Moses!” Jacks lips curving down ward into a face that said “not bad, not bad at all.” Looking down at her cards Jack studied them. You see to Jack the cards on the table looked like they were in another language. with two aces sitting over five other columns of cards Jack could not make heads or tails of what she was trying to accomplish. “ not a big patience guy are you?” looking at her, Jack tilted his head slightly in confusion. “ what do you mean?”

Julia looked at this man who had saved her life. With the blank look on his face he was almost comical. Laughing she said “ It is another name for solitaire” Recognition ran over his face. “no I never learned it my self. When I was young I never saw the point of a card game by your self.” “well you never know, one day you may have to wait fourteen hours for some guy to wake up who saved your life the night before. It comes really in handy then.” Looking to her watch. Nine pm already. She stood up, walking towards the door she turned back and asked “ so what name shall I call you when I tell my friends this story?”

fourteen hours? How had she waited so long? In the midst of his thoughts she asked his name. A look of complete loss covered Jack's face as he forgot his own name. “ uh, erm. Jack.”

“nice to meet you Jack, maybe I will teach how to play patience some time.” Leaving while Jack mouthed the words “nice to meet you too.”