Hitman's Journey Back in Time

by Joshua Schank

  “If I don’t get into that ring and learn how to fight and defend myself, my mom is going to end up being beaten to death by my alcoholic stepdad,” said Ben.

  Ricardo could see the desperation in Ben’s eyes. Ricardo looked around to see if he could find John. John has a clipboard in his hands about twenty-five feet away.

  “Hey, John, do you have someone that wants to get in the ring!” Ricardo yelled in John’s direction, hoping that he would hear him.

  John looked around to see who called his name and finally spotted Rick.

  “I want Rick!” Ben shouted to Ricardo.

  Ricardo smiled. “Your wish is my command.”

  By this time John already made his way. “My boy, Ben here, wants another crack at Rick,” said Ricardo.

  John had a surprised look on his face. “Well, let me get him for you.”

  John walked over to Rick who was punching a bag. Rick was around fifty feet away, and Ben and Ricardo watched John speak to Rick. They couldn’t make out the words being said, but they seen Rick nod and then begin to head towards the ring.

  “Are you sure that this is what you want?” Ricardo’s face went from smiling to serious.

  “I have no choice,” said Ben.

  The boy that Ricardo was training before Ben returned from the drinking fountain.

  Ricardo pointed at John. “You will be with him working on your ground game. Once again, great job, kid!”

  Ben is in one corner and Rick is in the other. They both already had tape wrapped around their hands as well as their 4 oz. martial arts gloves on. They both had already done a quick warm up. Ben is now in his workout clothes. Ben had taken his clothes out to his car and locked it up since his wallet is in his pants.

  Ricardo got into the middle of the ring. “On your set, get ready, go!”

  Rick charged forward with many body shots. Ben, once again, despite taking several brutal body shots, is holding his own.

  “Hit him, Ben!” Ricardo thought to himself, am I watching déjà vu all over again.

  Ben finally countered with a couple of body shots. It was the first time in either fight that Ben had thrown a punch. Unfortunately, the body shots did little damage, and Rick followed up the shots landed with a beautiful shot of his own, but instead of targeting Ben’s body, he went after Ben’s head. The shots landed caused Ben to stumble back a little, but he was able to stay afloat. Ben kept his composure and threw more body shots. For whatever reason, Ben still wasn’t throwing with full force. He seemed to be really holding back. It’s understandable that he wouldn’t want to burn all of his energy quickly, but he didn’t even seem like he was trying to truly hurt Rick. Basically, the punches seemed to be thrown to keep Rick at bay with his distance. The horn sounded and both men went to their corners.

  Rick, similar to the first fight, refused to sit down. He stayed standing up, prancing around like a mad man. Ben sat down and waited for Ricardo to sound the horn, which he did seconds later.

  The second round began like the first round with Rick landing many shots mostly to the body. Ben was trying his hardest to imagine Rick as someone he hated, but all he could imagine was the same face that is coming at him like a roaring lion, which of course is Rick’s face. Ben finally threw some body shots, but once again, refused to throw any head shots. Rick began working his punches like poetry, with a nice rhythm of body and head punches.

  “If you want to ever come back here again, Ben, I suggest you show me something!” Ricardo shouted.

  Ben’s breathing became heavier, it is apparent that cardio was still a concern of Ben’s. Of course, eating up Rick’s punches wasn’t helping matters. With Ben running out of air, he realized he had to go for the kill. Ben began trying to throw head punches at Rick missing wildly both times. Rick came back with a nasty uppercut that knocked Ben down to the mat. It looked like a devastating blow.

  Ricardo had his hands on the horn and was about to blow it, only to see that Ben is able to recover enough to pull guard.

  Rick got on top of Ben and began trying to throw head shots. Ben is able to block most of them, and the one’s that did land, didn’t fully connect, as Ben was able to contain them.

  Ricardo blew the horn. “One more round, fellows.” Ben grabbed a 12 oz. of water that is by his chair and drank a large sip as he’s sitting down. He looked over at Rick. Rick looked intensely at Ben. Rick, once again, wouldn’t take a seat between rounds. Ben is finally able to change and distort his mental image of Rick. He began seeing Rick as the rapist that raped his sister. Ben could feel anger lighting up inside of him. It is the trigger that he so much needed.

  Ricardo sounded the horn. Ben, though tired, felt fully rested. He came out landing three vicious shots to Rick’s face. Rick was a little dazed but still had his wits.

  “Looks like I’m going to have to get serious,” said Rick.

  Rick came back and landed a few clean body shots. Ben could hear his stepfather’s voice, “It’s your fault that your sister got raped!” As Rick came in for an uppercut, Ben got out of the way and began teeing off on Rick’s head. He landed shot after shot showing no mercy. Rick’s face turned to the drunk driver that killed Ben’s father. Ben kept the image he seen in the newspaper of the drunk driver and the smug look the man had. Ben’s anger is that much worse now. He cocked back his right arm and came full force with it to Rick’s face. Rick’s vision became very blurry from the brutal hit, and it caused him to stumble backwards. Rick ran to the other side of the ring trying to both catch his breath and get his vision back. Ben chased after him. Both threw punches at the same time. Rick’s is a half hearted punch, as he is completely gassed out. Meanwhile, Ben still seeing Rick as the drunk driver that killed his father, is able to put all the power he had into his right fist. As soon as the punch landed, Rick’s body went straight down to the mat, knocked out cold.

  Ricardo sounded the horn and jumped into the ring racing over to Rick. He took the mouth piece out of his mouth. Rick is not moving. “Hurry up, someone! Call the ambulance!” Ricardo shouted. Many people raced to Jim’s office.

  Rick’s eyes opened just a little. Ricardo put his hands on Rick’s arm. “Help is on the way.”

  Ricardo turned his attention over to Ben and walked over to him. Ben looked down feeling sad for knocking out Rick “cold.”

  “I’m sorry for this,” Ben said.

  “Sorry for what? This type of thing happens. Anytime you step in the ring, there is always a chance that you can have this result,” said Ricardo. Ricardo looked over at Rick to see that he still wasn’t moving much then turned back to Ben.

  “What happened out there? Something came inside of you that I had never seen before out of you. It was as if an exorcism happened, and a mean spirit took over your body for that third round,” Ricardo said jokingly.

  Ben laughed for a couple of seconds, and then his face went back to being serious. “I want to thank you for training me,” said Ben.

  “No problem at all. You still have another week ‘free’ if you want it,” said Ricardo.

  “Don’t think that I will need it,” said Ben. Ben then turned and walked out of the ring and headed for the exit door.

  “Take care!” Ricardo shouted to Ben. Ben kept walking without turning around as he headed to the exit.

  Ben and his mother are watching “Saved by the Bell.” It is Friday. Ben’s mom is smoking from her crack pipe. She inhaled and then exhaled, which caused her to cough a little bit.

  “That’s it of the crack. Your father is going to be so pissed,” said Tina.

  “He’s not my father,” said Ben.

  Please, don’t start, Ben,” said Tina.

  Just then there was a loud thud. It was the front door.

  “That’s him now,” said Tina. Tina got up and walked to the kitchen to see Bill.

  Right away, they began yelling at one another.

  “Did you get the crack?” Bill asked.

  “We don’t have the money for tha
t right now. I don’t get paid ‘till next week. I still have some weed left,” said Tina.

  “I don’t want no damn weed. Did you spend all the money on pain killers? You fucking whore!” Bill screamed.

  Ben knew it was only a matter of time before Bill got into one of his drunken rages. Ben quickly got up from his chair and walked quickly to the kitchen. As Ben is walking in, Bill let him know right away he wasn’t welcome.

  “Listen, punk, your mom and I are having a conversation. It’s best that you get to your room right now!” Bill shouted angrily at Ben.

  Ben just stood there as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Ben is a little nervous but for the most part very confident.

  “What are you, fucking deaf? Get to your room right fucking now!” Bill shouted with his finger pointed at Ben.

  Bill walked over to Ben getting in front of Ben’s face.

  “I’m going to give you to the count of three to go upstairs. If you don’t do as you’re told, you will be sleeping right here on the kitchen floor, knocked out cold!” Bill exclaimed. “One… two…three…”

  Bill went to punch Ben in the face, only to miss wildly as Ben moved to the right, which was way outside of Bill’s range. Ben charged in putting his head against Bill’s waist. Bill weighed a lot more than Ben, but Ben used his left ear/head against Bill’s stomach and took him to the ground.

  Ben began parading bombs to Bill’s face. The more Ben punched, the more anger and rage filled up. Bill’s face is becoming a bloody mess. Tina rushed over to Ben trying to get him off. Ben wanting to please his mom got up.

  The thirty-eight-year-old Ben is punching his pillow in his prison cell. He keeps punching it for several seconds, and then as if feeling he’s being watched, stops. Ben turned around to face his audience.

  “Well, nice to see you all again. I guess you can see I got a little carried away. I somehow thought Bill’s face was my pillow,” said Ben. Ben laughed. “Things were never the same after that. My mom loved that fat bastard more than me. She kicked me out shortly after that. I was forced to stay with my grandparents.”

  Ben sat at a dining room table with his grandfather on his right side and his grandmother on his left side. The year is now, 1993. There is a cake in the middle of the table that had 19 on top of it.

  “Happy birthday, Ben! Your grandfather and I are so proud of you for joining the army,” said Ben’s grandmother.

  “They threw my ass in infantry when I was your age, but you have a chance to get into a good career these days, that will help you when you get out. You can retire if you want in twenty years, if you choose to stay in,” said Ben’s grandfather.

  “I actually am going into infantry,” said Ben.

  “But, why Ben? You could do something more useful? Why would you want to do that for?” said Ben’s grandmother.

  “All my life, I’ve been afraid of everything and everyone. I don’t want to ever be like that again. Infantry will keep my body and mind very sharp,” said Ben.

  “Well, you are a damn fool, but you got guts, kid,” said Ben’s grandfather.

  Ben and his grandfather laughed at those words.

  “Are you going to go to college while you’re in?” Ben’s grandfather asked.

  “I haven’t really thought about that in all honesty. I’ll be in four years. So, maybe down the road, who knows,” said Ben.

  Chapter 8

  Four years later, 1997- Ben is at a shooting range on an Army base. He has an M-16 in his hands and is awaiting instructions from the sergeant in charge of the shooting range. There were twenty-five other soldiers on the range. There is a paper silhouette target of ten black figures of different sizes that the soldiers had to shoot. They were only allowed to shoot a target four times. So, altogether, there were forty shots. Sgt. Bishop is in the charge of the shooting range.

  “How are all of you ladies doing?” Sgt. Bishop asked.

  “Hooah, sir!” All the soldiers shouted while standing at attention.

  “Are you ready to all get experts?” Sgt. Bishop shouted.

  “Yes, sir! Hooah!” The soldiers shouted.

  “Everyone, get positioned! The first twenty rounds will be from the stand-up position,” said Sgt. Bishop.

  All twenty-six soldiers loaded their magazines with twenty rounds just as instructed.

  They all then put their magazines into their M-16s and gently pushed it to make sure it was locked in. They released the charging handle forward. They then tapped the forward assist. They then placed the M-16 on semi-automatic.

  “Ready, set, go!” Shouted Sgt. Bishop.

  Ben decided to begin to aim at the smaller targets first. He breathed in and exhaled after he shot. He did this for every target. Breathing is so critical while shooting. Ben shot only the five hardest targets. He decided he would save the easier ones for last. He breathed in slowly and fired between each shot. Ben imagined the targets as the drunk driver that killed his father as well as the rapist that raped his sister. It helped Ben stay steady and determined not to miss one single shot. Ben shot the twentieth round, just as Sgt. Bishop shouted.

  “Seize fire!” Sgt. Bishop shouted. People that didn’t shoot all twenty rounds were “shit” out of luck.

  Everyone placed their weapons on safe, removed their magazine, and then locked the bolt in the rear. Everyone then placed ten rounds into their M-16, repeating the exact steps as the first time.

  “Everyone, get into a crouch position!” Sgt. Bishop shouted as he waited for several seconds until everyone was ready. “Ready, set, fire!”

  Ben felt a little bit more comfortable in a crouched position on his right knee on the ground. Ben now had only the easy targets to shoot. In the past, Ben would always shoot the easiest targets first, but at that time, he was only interested in qualifying. He is more interested in getting “expert” this time than anything else. Ben felt at ease breathing in and shooting. He then exhaled again after each shot.

  “Seize fire! Seize fire!” Sgt Bishop repeated it twice as some soldiers didn’t stop. They were cheating the system a bit, as they were all supposed to get the ten shots fired in the allowed time given.

  “You will now all shoot lying down for your final ten shots,” said Sgt. Bishop.

  Everyone reloaded their magazines one final time. After everyone had their M-16s ready, Sgt. Bishop gave instructions.

  “Ready, set, go!” Sgt. Bishop shouted.

  Ben didn’t need to at this point pretend the targets were anything else but targets. They were after all, the five easiest targets of the ten. Ben just had to worry about getting too cocky and arrogant at this point. Ben inhaled and then shot while exhaling slowly. Ben’s body and his mind were at ease as Ben finished the last of his rounds.

  “Seize fire!” Sgt Bishop shouted. He only had to shout it once, since many people shot quickly, as most soldiers figured that they already had scored high enough to qualify. Ben, on the other hand wasn’t looking to just qualify, he wanted perfect which meant “expert.”

  “You will all stay behind the white line until I write written scores on each and every one of your targets,” said Sgt. Bishop.

  Sgt. Bishop returned. “Before everyone races to see their score, let me clarify how the scores rate. 23 out of 29 is a marksman; 30 out of 35 is a sharpshooter; 36 out of 40 is an expert; and anything under a 23; you will have to return to shoot again. You all can now check your scores.”

  Most people raced to see their score. Ben walked slowly. Although Ben only needed a 36 for an expert, Ben had gotten a “39” his last time out. He really wanted to be perfect this go around. As Ben got close, he seen his score, “40” and got excited.

  “Yes!” Ben shouted excitedly.

  An older soldier next to Ben noticed his score. “Great job, kid! I only got a 32.”

  “Well, that’s a good score, too!” Ben exclaimed.

  “Well, I’m retiring in about a year, so it really doesn’t matter anyways.”

  “Congra
tulations!” Ben said proudly to the much older soldier.

  “Yeah, it’s time for me to enter a new life doing something else.”

  Ben is in Colonel Edwards’ office. Ben had just completed his four years of active duty. Ben stood at attention and put his right hand to his forehead to salute the Commander. Colonel Edwards returned with a proper salute to his forehead. Ben waited until the Commander’s right arm came down to finish the saluting process before bringing his down. Ben is back at standing “at attention.”

  “At ease,” commanded Colonel Edwards. Ben moved from ‘at attention’ to putting his hands behind his back. “Are you sure you want to get out?”

  “Yes, sir, I am,” said Ben confidently.

  “There’s a $20,000 bonus for reenlistments right now. This is a golden opportunity for you,” said Colonel Edwards.

  “Yes, sir, I completely understand. I, however, think it’s time for me to start and enter a new chapter in my life,” said Ben.

  Colonel Edwards starts laughing. “What is it with you young-ins? May I ask what you plan on doing in the civilian world?”

  “Not quite sure yet, sir,” said Ben.

  “Well, you have twenty-four hours to change your mind. I hope you see the light, son. I would hate to see you go. You’ve been an excellent soldier! Please, give this some thought,” said Colonel Edwards.

  “Yes, sir! Of course I will,” said Ben.

  “You are dismissed,” said Colonel Edwards.

  Ben put his right hand to his forehead so he could salute the Commander. He waited for the Commander to do the same. After the Colonel put his right arm up to salute, Ben waited for the Colonel to bring his right hand down. When Ben seen the Colonel bringing his right arm down, he then brought his right arm down to finish the saluting process. Ben’s saluting days were now over.

  Chapter 9

  Three months later- Ben is at a bar called “Rusty Nail.” Ben took a seat at the front counter of the bar. It is a slow night. Only two other people were sitting at the bar and three other people at a table. The rest of the bar is empty.