Brad put his ear buds in as he boarded the subway for his daily commute home. He was lucky this day. There was a seat for the forty minute ride out to the suburbs. This was rare so he felt pretty good about himself. Among the usual commuters there was a group of young men speaking very loudly making the other passengers uncomfortable. He saw they were passing around a bottle and were taking turns looking up from the conversation they were engulfed in. They seemed to be looking over the passengers. Something about them made Brad feel uneasy.
After ten minutes into his podcast Brad had practically forgot about the young men. He was so involved in his program he barely noticed one of them standing right in front of him with his back to him. The youth turned around and motioned for him to take out an ear bud.
Brad obliged. “Yeah?” he asked.
“You got the time?” The youth asked.
With an icy feeling in his stomach Brad looked at his watch. “5:45” he answered.
“That´s a nice watch, man. You don´t worry about anyone taking from you?” the youth asked.
“Not a bit” Brad answered feeling negative electricity in the air. He was being honest. Brad was an amateur fighter with at least ten fights under his belt and endless hours of sparring with trained athletes.
Brad went to put the ear bud back into his ear when the youth said “Not so fast, man. I´m not done talking to you”
“Well, I´m done talking to you” Brad said as he continued to put the ear bud back into his aural cavity.
The youth smacked the hand sending the ear bud flying as far as the cable would allow. Brad instantly stood up. The youth was considerably bigger than him. “I don´t want any problems. I am just trying to get home” Brad said.
“I don´t want any problems either” the youth said. “Just that watch”
Brad was a small man. He looked like an easy target to intimidate, especially in his work attire which was a button shirt with a sweater pulled over and some khaki Dockers. The youth was banking on the fact he could scare the watch off of Brad’s arm.
“Please, buddy, just go back to your friends. We can pretend this never happened” Brad said almost whispering as to let the youth save face.
The youth dropped his right arm and Brad instinctively knew what was coming. It did. A very sloppy right hand slowly made its way towards his face. Brad easily avoided it by barely slipping it and followed the movement with a short elbow to the youth’s neck. This dropped the kid on the crowded train forcing people to cram to the sides to avoid the hulking, falling body. Brad remembered the friends. How would he handle them was his only thought. The kid was down and probably out of the fight because the wind was completely knocked out of him.
As he saw the youth on the floor of the train struggling to breath he made a decision. Passengers were on their phones frantically calling the police. Brad promptly mounted the youth´s chest and started pounding his face into a pulp with an avalanche of elbows. He looked towards the kid’s friends and realized his plan was working. They were paralyzed with fear. They saw his technical ferocity and did not want any of it. Thankfully the train came to a stop and the doors opened.
As the terrified passengers flooded out of the car, a mix of police and subway security burst in. It was a horrible sight. A scrawny business man was on top of a thugged out kid whose face was not even recognizable as human. The police cuffed a protesting Brad. “Tell it to the judge” was their only retort as they read him his rights.
Because it was Friday night, Brad had to spend the weekend in jail. He could only see the judge on Monday. Due to the severity and violence involved, Brad was kept in a cell to himself. He was without human contact, save the brief moments a tray of food was passed through the door.
Monday finally came and Brad was led down the corridor to see the judge. He was disoriented and disheveled. His sweater was thrown over his arm and crunchy with the dried blood of the youth he had beaten.
As he stood in front of the judge he asked what he was being held for.
“For now, attempted murder, possibly murder. The kid is not doing so well” the judge informed him. “Tell me your side of the story”
Brad told him every minute detail. The judge nodded the whole time.
“Well, I tend to believe you, son. Two others in that kid’s group ripped off a couple of wallets. One even smacked an old lady because she had nothing to hand over. I just have one question. Why did you beat the kid so badly?”
“Your honor, I was afraid of his friends attacking me. I felt if I scared them it would keep them at bay. It did. I saw the terror in their eyes and it kept them back” Brad answered. “The same way the kid tried to use fear to get my watch, I used fear to protect myself from his friends”
“Fair enough” the judge said. “You´ll have to go to court regardless”
“I understand” Brad said as his heart sank.
A few months later Brad had his trial. He hired a good lawyer. The charge was manslaughter. The youth did not make it. After a highly publicized trial Brad was exonerated of any wrong doing. It was ruled self defense. After the trial Brad decided to take his life savings and start a martial arts gym. It specialized in self defense.
By Ryan 
“avalanche of elbows” I love that. 🙂
Thanks. Though I can assure you I wrote that without consciously plagiarizing, it was written in the moment, I cannot assure you of its originality. I watch a lot of MMA so it might have been uttered by Joe Rogan or Bas Rutten at one moment or another! Thanks for reading and commenting!
Either way it painted a vivid picture for me! And you’re welcome.
Excellent story. I loved the ending.
Thank you so much for reading and then kind words as well. I usually don’t do happy endings. It’s not on purpose, they (the stories) just go bad, but this one didn’t. I liked it too. Thanks again!
You’re welcome! My pleasure.
Always carry a handbag so you can hit the culprit over the head when they laugh at you for… carrying a handbag. A great told story Ryan. You haven’t lost the writing touch in your much-missed absence!
Thanks brother. I have a lot going on right now but I feel I HAVE to get back. I´m so glad you are still around.I was under the impression you were going to step out for a while. Glad you didn´t! Hugs, buddy!
Thanks for the follow and I read the story.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed.
I have mixed feelings on the subject. I don’t like violence but there are times when it is necessary. This was one of those times.
That is a pretty healthy attitude for sure. Of course we could yearn for a violence free, Utopian existence but as long as we inhabit these flesh and bone monkey bodies, that won´t happen. Again, I thank you for taking the time to read my humble story and for commenting. I really do appreciate it.
Really makes you think. I get so angry when victims are made into the culprit in situations like this. You should never have to defend defending yourself, especially when you tried to prevent it in the first place. Nicely written.
Thank you very much. I live in Brazil. This syndrome of defending the attacker is huge here. They romanticize criminals and justify to the high heavens why they are violent. It is sickening. This was the impetus to the story. I was out running sans ear buds as to let my mind wander. This story was where it went! Again, thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I really appreciate it.