I clench my jaw as the tears come pouring down my cheeks, my poor eyes obviously unable to contain them anymore.
This is happening… and it’s my fault. Haze and Kendrick stare at each other in silence, ready to attack. I hold my breath, waiting for the first move.
Then, the inevitable happens.
Haze takes the first punch.
Kendrick easily dodges it, but when Haze lands a bigger, harder one seconds later, he’s not so lucky. Kendrick groans and steps back, struggling to maintain his balance. A single punch like this would be enough to kill me. His eyebrow’s already bleeding.
Kendrick’s fists then turn into white-knuckled weapons that send Haze flying to the ground. Two seconds later, he’s back on his feet, rushing toward Kendrick and tackling him. Before Haze has the chance to attack, Kendrick knees him in the stomach and elbows him in the face.
I’ve never seen anything so horrible. The crowd clearly doesn’t agree with me, cheering in satisfaction at this display of horrific violence. It’s all happening so fast, it’s hard to keep up.
One more punch, one more kick.
It feels like it’ll never end.
Next thing I know, the tables have turned and Kendrick’s under Haze. Both their lips are cut open. Haze’s nose is bleeding, and Kendrick’s eyebrow isn’t doing much better.
Straddling him, Haze repeatedly punches him in the face, over and over again. Kendrick tries to dodge his punches but fails miserably, his arm dropping to his side in defeat.
He’s not strong enough.
If Haze keeps this up, he’s going to kill him.
I can’t stop a loud scream mixed with sobs from escaping my lips at the thought. I don’t care what happens to me. Kendrick doesn’t deserve this. As if my intentions are written in the sky, strong arms surround me from behind before I can step into the circle and put an end to this madness.
“Winter, don’t!” Will shouts, struggling to hold me back.
“No. Stop. Let me go,” I beg, the hysterical tears stealing my sight away from me. I’ve never fought harder.
I scream again, but this time, it cuts through the piercing shouting of the crowd and echoes among its roar.
Haze hears it.
And he looks up.
It feels like time stops when our eyes connect. He’s staring at me. I’m bawling my eyes out and fighting Will like my life depends on it. In that moment, when he sees me cry in despair, color drains from his face. For a short instant… for just a second…
I recognize him.
The Haze who protected me from Ian when he had no reason to. The guy who took me to the end of the world just so I could look at the stars. The guy who once admitted to me that he was afraid of spiders on a dusty school rooftop and helped me get out of a motorcycle helmet that was stuck on my head.
He’s still in there.
It seems to happen in slow motion. He looks at me and says a million things without opening his mouth. He nods.
It only lasts a second. It’s almost nothing.
But I see it.
It’s like he said, “It’s okay, I got this.”
We’re brought back to reality when Kendrick takes advantage of Haze’s distraction and takes one hell of a swing at him. I feel relieved and guilty at the same time, which is something I never knew was possible. I distracted him and stopped him from hurting Kendrick, but now he’s the one getting beat up. Kendrick’s on top of him, hounding him with punches. Haze doesn’t fight back.
Why isn’t he fighting back?
He doesn’t get up, covering his face with his hands in an attempt to protect himself. He’s not on the offensive anymore. He’s defensive. Kendrick gets up, kicking Haze in the stomach recklessly. Both of them are bloody messes at this point.