Somewhere! (Hunaak!)

by Abbas, Ibraheem

  I carried Malak out of the ring and kissed her between her eyes wiping away her pain.

  “I will win Malak! No one can beat me! You know why? Because I will fight for you Malak!” — I said to Malak.

  I felt as if I was exploding in anger. I turned towards the ring and shouted:

  “Jack! Get ready! I will send you to the junkyard of damaged scrap!”

  I think the giant who had this dumb icy face understood my comment and expressed his anger with a terrifying leap towards me, thankfully I was faster than he was, I jumped to the side as he fell with his entire weight on the ground, at that same moment the green bar appeared above both of us, I took advantage of his struggle to get up by jumping high up and falling with my entire weight on my knees in his back. His green bar only lost a sliver, while my keen shattered with pain. He stood up and forced me to lose my balance as I fell of his back. He sent his steel foot flying towards me which covered my chest and stomach and threw me a few meters backwards. That single kick took off half of my bar. I fell to the ground shaking, just as he ran towards me. One more hit like that and it would end the fight in his favor. No! This will not end in his favor! Never!! For your eyes Malak!! I did not jump to my feet, I let him come closer and in the last moment, I jumped, more like, flew and flipped around him. In the fraction of a second that I had spent in the air, I conducted a complete area sweep of him. I saw that his weakness point was where his neck met his shoulders. This was the only area not covered with plates and wires appeared as he moved.

  Those wires were the only thing that I could damage in this armored machine! I took the decision in a blink as I landed on his back. I rode him and held on to his neck and clothes. He could not get to me with his hands as I moved fast. As I gathered my strength, determination and anger in my palm, I let it loose in a sword like stab to the side of his neck, it sunk between a group of bars and wires as I felt the bones in my palms shatter between them but I did not care, I grabbed them and pulled a bunch of them out, one of his eyes made a smothered explosive sound as smoke rose from it, and the bull rampaged as he swayed beneath me while I held on to his neck. Despite the dire pain in my palms, I went back again in his neck to smash more plates and pull more wires. The rhino decided to throw himself backwards to squash me underneath his steel torso. I won in the agility battle as I leaped in the right moment. I watched his body fall while I was in the air. My brain was working so fast that I could see all the details in slow motion, this time my weight landed on the right place… right on his weakness point!

  As he fell, his head slammed into the floor and I landed on the unshielded bars of his neck shattering it. As my foot sunk into it, I made Bruce Lee’s famous cry that I had seen so many times in his movies.

  The green bar vanished and K.O. appeared again. I turned towards Mr. Bruce and said sarcastically as I felt my fest that was torn in pain:

  “Jack needs a lot of spare parts! You will need to buy a new mechanical bull Mr. Bruce!”

  “I like your sense of humor, it raises your moral, but that is not enough!” — Mr. Bruce added.

  He removed his shirt as he came closer to me. His muscles tightened and hardened and between every two muscles on his body, a new muscle appeared. Just as if he was a bronze statue! Above him appeared the green bar that I had no idea if I could even budge! Especially while I was in this miserable shape after two ruthless fights… No No No! I will not be beaten! I will crush him! Even if he was Bruce Lee!

  His stone muscles teased me to start with a flying side kick towards his chest, but the bronze suddenly turned into quicksilver as he moved from my way with speed and ease. He returned the bronze to slam into my back throwing me to my face and eating up a large portion of my green bar.

  “That is right! The fifth lesson: You must be flexible like mercury, yet solid like steel… But you shall never defeat me in the battle of speed!” —, Mr. Bruce said as if he was reading my thoughts.

  I knew that I had to perform the successive strikes that I knew by heart. I began… only to quickly regret it! He avoided each of them with ease. He knew the timings perfectly and all were lost in the air. The moment that my swing kick missed his face, he launched a destructive punch, I tried —in vain— to block it but he skillfully twisted his arm around mine and almost broke my elbow as he hindered its movement. I then punched him with my other arm. This was a dumb move as he fixated my other arm in the same way, and now I could not move and my face was directly in front of his. He looked at me as I tried to hide my pain.

  “You are mimicking my moves Husam! Lesson six: it is idiotic to think that you can beat your enemy while you imitate him, while you follow his moves and style, you must surprise him with your own style, you must invent a thousand new moves every time he figures out one of yours!” — Mr. Bruce added.

  He slammed my nose —that was already bleeding— with his forehead. More blood gushed and did not give me any time to feel my pain just as he slammed his forehead again and again smashing my teeth. At this point, my green bar had turned red. He was about to finish the fight with a knockout by his forehead but I used my weakness and his strength to tip the balance. As his head came forward towards me, I spat my blood and teeth forcefully at his face —surprising him— he let go of my hand to wipe his eyes that were now covered in my blood and were poked by my teeth, I did not wait for him to understand what had happened, I jumped onto him and threw my hook hold towards his eyes directly, I felt his two soft eye balls under my index finger and thumb. They were the only soft part of his body.

  “Surrender to me Bruce!! Surrender!” —, I shouted as I almost popped them out.

  I think it was crazy to ask someone like Bruce Lee to surrender. His green bar was shrinking as I squeezed on his eyes, but he was able to punch into my right arm and forced me to release one of his eyes. His move made me hold on even tighter to his other eye and apply even more pressure with my thumb into his pupil. His pupil was my last hope to defeat him, especially given that my bar only had a sliver that would disappear if he touched me again and that’s exactly what happened… he screamed his famous scream as he hit my arm that was holding his eye and moved back half a step and pushed forward with a side kick towards my chest. Although he did not open his eyes yet, I tried to avoid that kick, but I was no more lucky than that punching bag… I flew backwards and with that my bar vanished and K.O appeared to announce Bruce Lee’s victory… Mr. Bruce stood as he rubbed his eyes from the extreme pain he still felt. Malak bolted towards me to examine what remained of my face.

  “Husam you truly amazed me!” — Mr. Bruce said with an envious tone.

  He reached out to help me stand up and I put on a sarcastic smile given that I was missing my front teeth.

  “Every bone in my body paid a hefty price to achieve that amusement… and at the end I still lost!” — I added.

  “And who said you lost?” — he replied.

  “Ask that ugly K.O.!” — I shouted.

  “But your sarcastic smile proves otherwise…” — he said.

  “I hope next time it would be a real victory smile with my teeth!” — I added.

  “A sarcastic smile is a double edged sword, it gives you victory if you lose, and makes you lose if you were victorious! Listen Husam, the battle was yours! Your only mistake was that you did not poke my eyes when you had the chance!” — Mr. Bruce added.

  “Allow me to figure out the sixth lesson: It is stupid to miss out on any chance!” — I added.

  “It is stupid to hope that you would get more than one chance! You fought me as Bruce Lee, with everything that Bruce Lee means to you. An unbeatable fighter, a hero you had never hoped to meet. If you had considered me a real adversary you would not have hesitated to poke my eye and win the battle, and I admit that I had exploited that point to the extreme, I knew you would hesitate, otherwise I would have surrendered immediately! And that is the seventh lesson” — he added.

  He then looked at me after he had stopped rubbing his
eyes that had turned blood red.

  “Lesson seven is that you should end a battle with the least possible losses! The best won battles are the ones you win without ever fighting them! The enemy vanishes if you turn him into a friend! And the worst battles are the ones you lose everything even if you win! Your enemy might destroy you even if you defeat him!” — he added.

  “Yet, we must prepare for every battle with full strength!” — I added.

  “Victory is not for the strongest… but for the most worthy… I could not count the times that I faced those who are far stronger than I was… yet I beat them… today you beat me Husam!” — Mr. Bruce added.

  “I will take this as a complement from the king of the art of fighting!” — I said.

  “I left your world before I even started on my path… before I achieved a fraction of what I aspired to!” — he replied.

  “Yet you remain the legend Mr. Bruce Lee!” — I said.

  “Do you know who I owe the most for all of that?” — he said.

  “Are you hinting to Yip Man? The legend that taught you martial arts?!” — I asked.

  “You know a lot about me Husam, but the real credit goes first and foremost to the one who made me decide to go to Yip Man and gain interest in martial arts!” — Mr. Bruce replied.

  Curiosity was killing me to find out who that great person might be, the one that inspired Bruce Lee, but before he told me he let out his eighth lesson:

  “Listen Husam, every great person finds themselves in an instant… an instant embodied in a word, tune, laugh, tear or a look… the potential greatness inside us awakens in an instant… he who truly deserves that greatness never allows that instant to pass without changing his life… my entire life had changed the instant I received my first slap!” — he added.

  “A slap?!” — I asked.

  “Yes… a slap I received as a thirteen year old boy, I could not defend myself, I could not block it, and I spent the rest of my life working hard so that I would never receive another slap” — he added.

  My brain could not comprehend that there was someone who could slap Bruce Lee— the unbeatable man of steel—.

  “I owe that scamp who slapped me!” — Mr. Bruce added.

  “Talent always receives slaps, it explodes in them if it did not destroy them… I had missed a lot of slaps, and I will not allow myself to miss any more! I understand your eighth lesson Mr. Bruce and I will become an unbeatable fighter!” — I told Mr. Bruce.

  “Martial arts are neither in the strength nor in the movement of muscles. Martial arts are the control of the energy of the body and soul and releasing it instinctively wisely and with control! Let your body speak with the same flexibility and energy and spontaneity as your tongue does!” — he added.

  “Was that lesson nine?” — I asked.

  “Lesson nine, Husam, is that those lessons and arts are not for fighting alone… but for life as well! Do you remember how many times you have faced physical battles in your life?” — He asked.

  “Two or three times, when I was a stupid kid!” — I responded.

  “It is stupid to learn to fight for juvenile battles! The real battle is the battle of life! You must fight it with your high fighting spirit and convert those arts to life skills that help you face your circumstances no matter how they might overtake you! Martial arts are a philosophy that uses all of your energy and capabilities to figure out what you are made of and allows you to control it, speak for it and deal with it throughout your life’s hardships!” — he added.

  I was pumped up as adrenalin increased,.

  “I think it is about time for a new fighting legend to emerge!” — I replied with full confidence.

  “I hope that legend succeeds in creating more legends! It is selfish to measure your success with what you achieve; real success is in how far your influence will go, and the people that you help change their lives!” — he added.

  “This is the tenth lesson!” — I said.

  Malak took my hand, Mr. Bruce smiled as he bid me farewell.

  “The tenth but not the last… you will find out the rest of the lessons yourself Husam!” — Mr. Bruce added.

  We left the warehouse and the echoes of Bruce Lee’s sidekicks returned whilst the fighting lessons rumbled my motivation and soul.

  (9)

  Anything but mother!

  Death is one of life’s most mysterious and realistic events. At the same time, death is the biggest motive for life as we stubbornly hold on to it… in fear of death! While death is also the biggest obstacle in life, we do not enjoy our adventures in life because of our anxiety of death!

  Now, while I realize that this was just an instinctive premonition, being terrified of death is an animal instinct ingrained in our depths only to sustain our procreation!

  He amongst you who objects to my words, let him imagine himself in an experiment —such as the one I am on— where he considers death to be his only hope to return to life. It will then become a goal that he strives to!

  Death, my dear audience, is but an inevitable step, we fear it because it is unknown to us, it would erase our memories of what came before the moment we pass through it!

  “Ice cream!” — I said breaking my own mental introspections.

  Actually, it sounded more like “Iathe-cream!”

  That is how I broke the silence as we were on our way back to the city. Malak was driving the car while wearing black sunglasses to cover her swollen eyes from the punch I gave her earlier. While I threw my body’s broken bones on the seat next to her, I picked up my notebook which thankfully wasn't torn during the violent battles earlier that day!

  I tried to write down Bruce’s lessons with the fingers that I still had some ability to move with my left hand. My handwriting was incredibly distorted.

  “Ice cream? You want ice cream?” - Malak asked.

  “Yeth, for my teethhhhz pain!” — I slurred words in pain.

  She laughed as she turned the car towards the beach where we found a bunch of antique European-styled cafés.

  “Ath you wi-th… I will find you the betht Iathe cream plathe!” — she responded mockingly.

  As we entered one of those cafés, I realized it was an almost exact replica of the heart Milano as it would have looked in the middle of the last century. There were wooden tables and chairs set as semicircles around the ice-cream tanks. At the center stood a girl that became surprised when we walked in. I thought she was surprised by the traces of the violent battles we had been through, but I found out that she was happy because of me specifically being there.

  “Mr. Husam is here! I cannot believe it!” — the girl yelled.

  One of the things that I missed from my world was seeing girls of limited but reasonable beauty! I missed them so much! From the moment I sat foot in this world I was shocked by the beauty of every girl I saw! This exhausted me emotionally! I gazed her a smile and a passing joke.

  “I am plain Hutham, without (mithter) Hutham period! In the fleth and broken bonthe” — I said in my still slurry pronunciation.

  I didn’t know if this beauty from Milano had smiled because of my joke or my slurry lips. I was certain that my charm did not appeal at all to Malak. She let go of me after she had been supporting me on her shoulder. I quickly lost my balance and I leaned onto the cold glass panel where the aromas of fruits and ice-cream flavors that you could not even imagine were pouring out from! Damn that Baskin Robbins bucket that I would pay a fortune of my salary for and would dissolve before even my stomach would finish its welcoming ceremony! The girl came closer to me with a friendly smile.

  “Would you like a cup of cone?” — she said.

  At this moment, I really needed a set of teeth. I thought teeth were given their name from the strong phonetic relation that it had with the sound th that you are forced to make every time you try to make the sound of an S if the front row of your teeth was absent!

  The problem was that I did not notice that
awkward point until I tried in vain to force the letter S to come out from between my tongue and gum.

  “A cup of courthe! Dithregard the cone becauthe of my teeth!” — I said to the girl.

  The poor thing tried hard to contain her laughter from the view of my broken teeth and the contained laugh spread into her face’s blood forcing it to wear a vinous scarf despite its brown color; but Malak did not contain her laughter as she let it out loudly in revenge for her jealousy and said:

  “Make him an athhhortment to your tathte, and put it in a cup!”

  I sat next to her, her jealousy faded as she examined my injured hand, ribs and knee skillfully as she said in terror and anxiety:

  “Your bones are really broken! Do you really not feel any pain?” — she asked.

  “I sure do feel some pain!” — I responded.

  “Some pain? Anyone in your place wouldn't be able to stand it!” — she replied.

  “Praise the lord!!” — I said.

  The ice cream arrived and interrupted us as the girl placed the cup in front of me… but it looked more like a goblet although, let me be more accurate: it was a bucket of ice cream! A glass container crowded with ice-cream scoops, decorated with an assortment of berries, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, strawberry… and every other thing that ends with berry! It was all drowned in a storm of a creamy cloud, the smell erased my memory of the smell of blood and reanimated my shattered fingers, I dove into that bucket and did not take a breath until that last scoop of berry had vanished!

  “I will cancel our appointment with Mr. Lucas and Dr. Ginzo” — Malak said.

  “Why?” — I asked.