Lost in the Love Letter

ch. 11 - live a little

When she found the note, she had just parked into the driveway at home. It was taped to the back of her backpack. She gently took it off, and unfolded it. It read:

Live a little. Meet me at the black building on the corner of Boston Avenue and Baseline Street this Friday after school if you're up for something... fun.

Mandy's stomach did a flip. Although it wasn't signed, she knew this was from Hunter.

FLASHBACK: (*Mandy = Amanda)

Instructor: "Okay guys today we're gonna get in the big boxing ring today and do a couple of timed matches."

7-year-old Amanda: *whispers* "The big ring? We've never done that before... you're trapped when you fight, and there's nowhere to go."

8-year-old Hunter: "Oh c'mon. Live a little. You wouldn't be scared if you were a good boxer" *he chuckled and nudged Amanda's shoulder*

Amanda: *she frowned a little bit* "I'm a good fighter what do you mean"

Instructor: "Amanda, Hunter, since you two seem to be very chatty, you can be the first ones to go."

Amanda widened her eyes and stared at Hunter; he smirked. They exchanged a competitive glare, and put on their sparring gear. They each crawled up into the big ring and took the corners opposite of each other. The instructor started the 2 minute timer and signaled for them to start.

Amanda charged to meet Hunter in the middle and greeted him with a straight left punch to the nose. Hunter stumbled back and grew angry. He ran toward Amanda and started swinging and flailing his arms at her. She dug her face into her gloves, attempting to take cover from the punches. Tears began to run down her face.

Young Amanda: "Stop! Stop!"

Instructor: "You gotta keep going, Amanda. Hunter I wanna see clean shots from you. No messy hits; it will end badly if you keep throwing these random punches."

Amanda's tears quickly turned to rage. She launched her arm out as hard as she could, trying to push her way out of the corner. She kept hitting and hitting until Hunter fell back and began to cry too. The buzzer rang, finishing the match.

They both turned away from each other, flustered with emotion. Their faces were red, and Amanda's curly hair completely came undone from her ponytail. Amanda caught her breath while wiping away the leftover tears, and went over to Hunter. She offered her hand out to help him stand up. He was still red in the face, but took her hand and squeezed it hard out of anger. She pulled him up, ignoring his glares, and stated:

Amanda: "See, I can live a little."

– Flashback finished –

Present:

What does he want? Do I go? What building is that?? Wait... Friday is tomorrow.

Mandy was overwhelmed with curiosity. But also in denial. She thought - maybe the note could've been from Dominic, and the words in the note were just a coincidence. But either way... she knew she was going to go.

*Time skip*

On Friday, school had just ended, and students were pouring out of the classrooms. When Mandy saw Dominic that morning, he hadn't hinted at anything referring to the note, so she assumed it wasn't him. But Hunter wasn't in school today, so she was just all around confused. She decided to drive by to see where/what the location was, and then she'd choose whether or not to go in.

When she arrived at the corner of Boston Ave and Baseline street, she saw a small building that was painted black. She couldn't see the sign yet until she pulled into the driveway. When she parked, she read the sign:

"Martial Arts Mayhem"

Oh my God. What is this?

It was the name of her old MMA studio. Mandy was so confused, but intrigued. There was only one other car in the parking lot - a clean black Silverado truck that looked brand new. She knew it was probably Hunter's.

She stepped out of her car and approached the building. The front, where the door was located, was one huge window, so you can see the whole thing inside. Mandy slowly leaned into the windows, looking around. It was a little hard to see because the lights were off, so she headed to the door. The door was unlocked, even though the sign said it was closed.

She went inside and had entered one big open room, with two black doors along the back wall. The room had punching bags along the left wall, one huge room-length mirror on the right wall, and royal blue mats on the floor. There was also a boxing ring in the middle back. It looked so similar to the martial arts studio she grew up in.

After taking it all in, she saw a figure stepping out from a door in the back, behind the ring. He came out wearing a plain black t-shirt, that perfectly sculpted his arms. He had black pants that went along with the set of his gi. It looked like the same exact uniform they used to wear as kids, except without the gi jacket, and with a way taller and more muscular body. He looked up, saw Mandy and let out a small smile.

Hunter: "I'm glad you showed up."