I’m having fun with this one.

We’re already on Day 2. I’m amazed at how easy coming up with short short stories has been so far. I kind of like writing vignettes for RPG stuff and this is sort of what it’s like. Speaking of- I have lots of RPG stuff in the mix right now. I’m shamefully past deadline on one project. (I have not forgotten.)

The Day 2:

Focus

#FlashFicFeb Day 2

Charlie kept thinking to himself, “Gotta keep punchin. Gotta keep swingin. Gotta get my guard back up.”

Then there was a loud thump on his left ear. Was that a foot? Is this MMA? Is that the ceiling?

Charlie thought back to his first ever day of boxing. It was a private lesson in his dad’s buddy’s basement gym. He did a little weight training and learned about cardio. He never even strapped the gloves on the first day. Dad’s pal Jim was an expert trainer, though. Charlie remembered thinking about all the trophies on the wall.

“Speed. Power. Focus.” Jim’s words echoed in Charlie’s head from a later lesson.

Wait. Focus? Where are we? Oh, Jeez! That’s the ref. Gotta get up. Gotta stay focused.

Charlie struggled to his feet and shook off some of the many cobwebs. “Gotta stay focused,” he thought.

He answered the ref’s request to continue with a big nod, trying to appear as coherent as possible. For whatever reason, the ref was convinced Charlie was okay to continue. Although the ref did politely remind Charlie that one more of those and he was going to call it.

Charlie’s opponent was a big dude named Downtown Brown. The guy had a wicked right hook. In fairness, the guy had a wicked everything. Charlie was puzzled how this guy wasn’t considered a heavyweight.

Charlie came back out swinging. This time he could hear his trainer, Jim’s oldest son, yelling “Stick and move! Don’t try to stand your ground or this guy’s gonna kill ya!”

He was right. Charlie remembered the fight footage of Downtown Brown’s last three fights. All knockouts. All within the first two rounds. What round was it?

A large red glove connected dead center of Charlie’s face, and everything went black. The mat came right up to greet Charlie’s motionless body. The white towel flew up over the top rope and everyone rushed in to make sure Charlie was still alive.

My Flash Fiction February page can be found here. Sometimes I’ll only be posting excerpts. Other times, the whole story if it’s short enough. I’m here to tell you, 500 words is a walk in the park most of the time. Staying under 500 is a challenge for me.

Part of my ambition for #FlashFicFeb is to do some fanfic stuff and relate some things to RPGs. My first story was actually a brief arc from a Cyberpunk story. Good times. More to come.