Arms up, shielding his face, and eyes tightly closed shut; Julian sat on the ground, leaning up against the side of a building, quivering. Around him he could hear distant, panicked voices and quick footsteps, but he dared not look. Suddenly, he felt someone firmly grab his shoulders. He immediately opened his eyes in shock and felt his body move automatically.
"Aah! I'm sorry!" A voice shouted.
Julian flinched as though someone had snapped him out of a trance, and he saw that pinned beneath him was a squirming red-headed man lying front-first on the sidewalk. The man in question, dressed in a windbreaker and skinny jeans, had his right arm pulled behind him, and his left arm pressed to the ground. Julian's knee was also digging into the man's back, completely immobilizing him.
"Please... Let me go, I'm sorry!" The man shouted once again.
Startled, Julian jumped off the man without hesitation. "I...I'm so sorry! Are you all right?" He immediately asked; unsure of why he had restrained the defenseless man.
The man swiftly sat up, holding his right arm, and moved away from Julian.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." He was understandably agitated. "I just wasn't expecting to be eating pavement like that," he continued while rubbing off dirt and dust from off the side of his face.
"Man, I'm really sorry! You, uhm, startled me and I just reacted...I honestly didn't mean to..." Julian pleaded.
"No no, don't worry about it," the man reassured him. "Besides, I probably deserved it." His eyes wavered and his head lowered.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well…" The man replied as he stood up. "I... Almost hit you with my car."
"What?" Julian exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yeah...That car over there is mine." He pointed past Julian who turned towards the indicated direction. On the opposite side of the street there was a silver sedan that had driven onto the sidewalk and had hit an electrical pole.
Julian froze. He stared at the dented car and his hands began to tremble once again.
"Luckily my air bag deployed, but I didn't care. I got out of my car as fast I could to see if I had hit you and saw you over here. After that, you know the rest. I'm just glad that--"
Both the man and Julian's attention turned towards the sound of an ambulance arriving. No longer solely focused on the car, Julian saw the state of the rest of the street. He was shocked to see that the surrounding area was practically destroyed. Parked cars had been displaced; broken glass from shop windows and garbage from trash cans littered the ground; Women, children and men were helping each other. Some were injured, some were crying or yelling, some were in a state of shock, and some recorded the events on whatever electronic device they had. Several electrical poles had also fallen to the ground; the glass surrounding their lights smashed and thrown about the pavement. One, unfortunately, had even fallen into a building. However, that wasn't the pièce de résistance. The real spectacle of the disaster was the ditch-like crevasse that stretched from one end of the street and trailed off down the other end.
Julian then noticed a bike wheel sticking out from the crevasse. Somehow it seemed familiar to him, so he stood up and ran over to it.
"Hey, where are you going? You should stay put until the paramedics come over!" The man shouted with concern as he watched Julian run off. He didn't respond, so the man followed as to keep an eye on him.
As Julian looked down into the crevasse, which was filled with muddy water from an exposed and broken water main, he saw his now damaged green bicycle. The bike framing was scratched, its back wheel was bent, and a piece of denim fabric was caught in its gears. Julian looked down at his pants to see a chunk of the bottom-left pant leg ripped off. He looked back at the bike and his eyes suddenly widened - like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice cold water on his back - as his mind cleared and the memory of what had happened came flooding back to him.
~~~
Forty-five minutes earlier, dressed in the standard, white fencing gear, two opponents squared off. One wore a blue arm band, while the other wore red. The fellow with the red arm band was trying his best to defend himself against his opponent who kept relentlessly striking him, but once he saw an opening he went in for an attack. Sadly, his opponent had predicted that and easily disarmed the man. He then quickly pointed his foil towards his chest. Coach Samirah blew her whistle.
"Penalty! Marcel wins by default," she called out.
"Damn it!" Julian yelled as he removed his helmet and lowered his foil.
"Don't ‘damn it’ me, Julian. Disarming your opponent isn't a legal action, you know this."
"Whatever."
Samirah shook her head before announcing that practice was over.
Marcel removed his helmet revealing his very short hair as though he had just shaved it. Sweat dripped down the sides of his face. He gave Julian a nasty look before grabbing his gear and storming off.
Julian was about to do the same but was stopped by Samirah.
"Julian, what have I told you about taking your frustration out on the others? You didn't actually think I wouldn't notice, did you?"
"Actually, you said that it’s good for me," he shrugged with a smirk.
"No no no, don't you twist my words around. I said it's fine to take out your stress here, but not at the expense of breaking rules and breaking spirits. You know just as well as I do that Marcel is a good fencer, but because of your antics he doesn't think so. He's a sensitive guy."
"Look Samirah, it's not my problem if he's not up to my level. Fine, I'm sorry that I disarmed the guy, but don't expect me to go easy on anyone." Julian ended the conversation, grabbed his gear and left.
What am I going to do with that boy? Samirah asked herself as she watched him leave.
Julian walked out of the town’s sports' center and slid down the staircase railing. He was in a pretty good mood now that he had destressed. He walked over to the bike racks where a sole green bike stood and unlocked it. While he was pulling it out, however, he was surprised to find Marcel standing behind him.
"Oh hey, Marcel."
"What the hell was that?" Marcel asked, furious.
"What was what? Oh, you mean the duel? Okay, I may have gone a little overboard, but I saw an opening and took it."
"I'm not an idiot, Knightly! You planned that! You knew I would go for that opening!"
"Ho ho, you sure you’re not one? 'Cause you did fall for it," Julian scoffed.
Marcel ran up and pinned Julian to the side of the building.
Julian let out a sigh. "You know there's an easy solution to your problem, right? Just up your game. Simple as that." His words were filled with arrogance as usual.
Seeing that he wouldn't get through to him, Marcel gave up and let him go.
"You're such a narcissistic prick..."
Julian gave a shrug as he fixed his shirt and got on his bike. "By the way, next time you touch me like that, I'll flip you on your ass."
With that said, Julian rode off with a smirk, leaving an angered Marcel behind. However, after a certain point, his smile faded as he contemplated his actions.
Instead of going straight home, Julian decided that he'd go visit Connor. As he was halfway through an intersection, the earthquake hit. The rumbling of the ground made his bike wobble and shake uncontrollably until he was knocked off his bike. Slightly stunned after the fall, Julian tried to slowly lift himself off the pavement, but the intense shaking stopped him from regaining his balance. It also didn't help that his pant leg had gotten caught in the bike gears, preventing him from moving without dragging his bike with him. So, he decided that the best course of action would be to stay put until everything calmed down. The rumbling increased and, as he looked to ground next to him, he saw it split and make its way down the road like a slithering snake. At that same moment, Julian was lit up by the headlights of an oncoming car. A silver sedan had harshly turned the right corner to avoid the rift, but the sudden change in direction sent it straight towards Julian. At the sight of the car, he tried to get out of the way, but the intense shaking, and his bike, stopped him from moving fast enough. The car spun to its side trying to avoid him, but it was too late. Its path had been chosen. Julian could feel his heart rate skyrocket as he watched the headlights of the car engulf him in their white glow. He tried to move again, but the sudden memory of his bus wreckage flashed in his mind, paralysing him with fear. The last thing he saw was blinding white. After that, everything just seemed to blur like a camera in motion until it all went dark.
That's when Julian opened his eyes and found himself pinning a stranger to the ground.
~~~
"Hey, are you okay?" The man asked as he lightly tapped Julian's shoulder.
Julian snapped out of his flashback with a gasp. He was sweating, his breathing was heavy, and his body was shaking worse than before. He slumped to the ground. The man, not knowing what was going on, tried to talk to him but Julian wasn't listening. There were too many questions that were travelling through his mind. He needed to think; he needed to calm down; he needed to get away from the chaos. So, in a panic, Julian stood up and started running.
"Wait, hold on kid!" The man shouted, but his words fell on deaf ears as Julian ran out of the man's sight.
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