Fight Night
Smack! I remember the thud following the force to her face. She laid there with no movement. We had paused to see if she was still alive before making any more comments. Even Bria hesitated before she ferociously walked away from the scene. At this point, I thought the fight was over. As a truck approached in the mist of the chaos, the high beams from the headlights reflect the oozing blood coming from her nose and mouth. She stood semi-confident across the street. Over the loud rap music and bass, I faintly heard her say, “I want my ‘one’ again.” Those are the words I did not expect to hear her say.
It was summer time of 2011. A time of the year I stayed out during late nights and woke up late in the noon. I had a routine of hanging out with my 17 year old cousin Bria in Hopewell. We usually made up our day spontaneously. However, this particular day was planned pretty well. On this day, we made plans to go watch her boyfriend play in a football Scrimmage. She planned to go with me and four of her friends. I was always the younger one out of the bunch, or what everyone else called me “the baby”, so I never really said much when they conversed among each other. Most of the time I did not say much because I usually did not know who or what they were talking about. Only a few times I would recognize a name here and there. The days I hung out with Bria, were always my exciting days. There was never a dull moment with her. Still, like any regular day that we hung out, this day still did not turn out as planned.
We arrived at Merner Field around 5:00 pm that day. As we walked around the track I could hear the faint sounds of clashing helmets followed by the masculine grunts in the middle of the football field. However, the sound of my cousin and her four friends’ voices were most vivid. They were being loud and jocular as usual. They made fun of anyone they could think of or see in front of them. Bria made fun of one of the football players and how they always breathe like they needed and inhaler but had no asthma. Another girl made fun of the football coach’s bald head, making me and the others laugh hysterically. In the mist of us joking, one of her friends named Kiana burst out “Oh yeah! Bria, Ebony has been going around saying she is looking for you and she wants her ‘one’”. I did not take her seriously the first time, being that we were all just laughing and joking a few seconds ago. I do not think that anyone took Kiana’s statement serious.
Around 5:30, Kiana’s phone begins to ring violently. She gave a disgusted face before answering the phone and then says, “Hello?” About twenty seconds later I heard her say, “aight,” and then she hung up the phone. We all looked at Kiana, waiting for her to tell us who it was on the phone and what was going on. Then she looked at Bria and said, “That was Ebony and she said she wants her ‘one’ tonight”. After hearing that, everyone was in absolute disbelief. Everyone knew not to mess with Bria. She was like a pretty little cat that would always beat the dog if it provoked her. She always won, losing was just not in her nature. No one could grasp why this girl would really want to pick a fight with Bria. Yet, Bria still did not take her seriously, and neither did I.
As time has passed by, we all brushed Ebony’s duel call off and continue watching the football scrimmage as planned. It is around 6:50 now and everyone is about to head out of Merner field. At 7:00pm we were all looking to figure out what was the next move. Neither one of us wanted to go home and be bored. So we ended up sticking together for a while and agreed on meeting up at Bria’s house in Langston Park. Around 7:15 Kiana’s cell phone rings violently again. However this time, it is a different person calling about the same subject. She did not even hang up the phone before relaying the information. While she clutched the phone to her ear, she turns to Bria and said, “This boy named Ron Ron is saying Ebony wants to know where you at so she can get her ‘one’.” We all turned to look at each other, then we looked at Bria, waiting for her response. Then Bria said, “Tell her to come ‘round Langston Park”. Kiana relayed the message and then hung up the phone.
It is now around 7:30pm. The other girls were on the porch waiting for Bria to change from her dress, to her battle clothes. In the middle of changing her clothes, Bria’s phone began to vibrate. She answered the phone quickly, and said, “Who is this?” followed by the slang term “aight.” and then hangs up the phone. The call lasted no longer than 15 seconds. After she hung up the phone, she began to jump up and down with excitement. It was as if she anticipated on this night. Although, that could not be it, because there was no preconceived notion before this night. Not too long after the phone call, my cousin Kesha, also her mother, came and asked her, “Who are you about to fight?” I had to tell her everything while Bria was still preparing herself for the fight. Then Kesha tells Bria “Oh well, don’t go to nobody’s house. If they wanna fight you, they need to come to you.” As Kesha spoke to Bria, she never gave one response. I answered every question that she asked. As I watched her every transition, it was as if the world around her was dead. She became blank, seemingly incoherent of everyone around her. I was trying to talk to her as she stormed out of the noisy medal screen door, but I was like a ghost to her. I could tell that her focus was elsewhere.
It is now 8:00pm. Everyone was outside waiting for Ebony to come to Langston Park and waiting for Bria to come out of her house. The whole entire neighborhood came out to watch the match. As I walked outside, I could see multiple silhouettes walking toward my cousin’s house. I realized that it was Ebony and her crew. My heart began to race as soon as I saw them. There were so many of them, I thought we were about to have a civil war. She stood in the middle of the street, confident with her white tank-top and black leggings. She looked about 190 pounds and three inches taller compared to my cousin who looked about 130 pounds. I honestly thought that my cousin was going to get hurt. As she stood in the middle of the street, I could faintly hear her say, “ain’t no talkin’.”About 30 seconds later Bria and Ebony charged for each other like sumo wrestlers. Bria, somehow took her body and slung her to the ground like a ragdoll. After she slung her, she instantly took advantage by sitting on her and pounding her in the face. Every hit to her face sounded like a hammer to the pavement. Ebony tried to fight back but she had no chance. I could hear everyone in the neighborhood shouting and telling Bria to let her get up. So then everyone gets them to fight again by separating them for a round two. I thought the fight should have been over, but it was not.
The second time around, everything seemed to happen exactly the same way. Whereas, this time, they ended up fighting between two cars with Ebony’s head close the curb of the sidewalk. While Bria was thrashing her face to a pulp, I began to feel bad for Ebony. I thought that Bria was going to kill her. I wanted them to stop fighting. More so, I wanted Bria to stop beating on her. Luckily, Kesha was outside to supervise the fight. Soon Kesha also felt that she was beating her too badly. In an attempt to break up the fight, Kesha grabs one of Bria’s hands to tell her to stop. Unfortunately, Ebony thought it was a perfect opportunity to hit her back, while still under the restraint of Bria. After she hit her, Bria became monstrous. She began to mercilessly hit Ebony over, and over, and over again while screeching in a demonic tone. Everyone’s voice that I heard throughout the scene became silent. Finally, Bria decided to stop and got up off of Ebony, allowing her to climb to her feet. This time, I really thought the fight was over and everyone was going home now. As soon as Ebony got to her feet, Bria smacked her back to the pavement one last time. We all paused to see if she would get back up or lay there motionless. Bria even hesitated before walking away in satisfaction. After about 20 seconds, Ebony finally got back on her feet. I was surprised that she was able to withstand any other movements after the beating she took. Not to mention how amazed I was that she called for a rematch, picture that.
Gladly, Bria never gave her that rematch either. I assume she figured that there was enough damage done to Ebony as it was. Ebony went home afterwards too. No one called the police that night. Even a couple of weeks went by without any law enforcements getting involved. Until, one day, Ebony’s mom went to talk to my cousin Kesha about the event that occurred. They carried on a civilized conversation like any normal adult would. Kesha told Ebony’s mother everything. A couple of days later, police came to issue her a court order. I would assume that anyone would know what happened to her after her court appearance. Kesha took the fall and went to jail. All in all, she did not have a choice because she was the only adult at the scene that night. Although Bria did most of the damage, she could not take any charges because she was a minor and she was in her residence. I will never be able to explain that night to anyone in any greater detail more than being in that moment. There was a time I feared for myself that night. There was a time I feared for Ebony that night. There was a time I even feared for my cousin Bria that night. Anything could have happened to any of us. We could have been in a brawl, one of us teenagers could have went to jail, or even worse, someone could have died. On the whole, by experiencing that unforgettable night, I do not think that I will ever see myself calling anyone out to a fight. In addition, I most definitely will never underestimate anyone.