CHAPTER 26
Miguel decided to not knock on Johnny's door that night. He really wasn't in the mood for a confrontation with Robby - he was too exhausted for that. So he turned around and walked back to his own house, grabbing the spare key from where they hid it, and he unlocked the door, before stepping inside.
Miguel smiled faintly as he stepped into his dark living room for the first time in nearly a month. He was home. Back in the house he loved so much. Just meters away from the people he loved so much. Faint snores from his yaya's room and his mom's room told him that they were both already asleep, and Miguel didn't really want to wake them. After all, he really wasn't in the mood to explain to them everything that had happened to him either, so he decided to quietly sneak over to his room. Taking off his dirty shirt and then stumbling over to his bed, Miguel was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.
But it was a far from restful sleep for Miguel, because as soon as his eyelids closed, he heard a loud BANG as his bedroom door swung open. Miguel groaned at the sudden intrusion, assuming that it was his mom or Johnny. Why? Why now? He just wanted to fucking sleep! Why couldn't they leave him alone until the morning?
"What?!" Miguel grumbled into his pillow, slowly opening his eyes. He rolled onto his back and slowly lifted his head up. When he saw the silhouette in the doorway, his heart stopped. His blood ran cold and he felt any color in his face drain away in an instant. He very nearly threw up as he found himself staring up at none other than his father.
"Hello, Miguel." Manuel grinned sadistically at him. Miguel's heart pounded like a bass drum. How the hell had his father found him?! What the fuck was going on?! Miguel stumbled out of his bed, unfortunately being tripped by the bundle of blankets he had wrapped around him, and his father merely laughed heartily as he watched his son desperately struggle to even stand up, let alone face him.
Miguel eventually managed to stand up, and he forced any fear he had deep down inside him as he stared into the cold, unblinking eyes of his father.
"MOM! YAYA!" Miguel yelled, desperately shouting to them, praying they would hear him and get help. Or even better, his father would realise and turn on his heel and run. Unfortunately, Miguel wasn't that lucky. His father was not fazed at all, and merely continued to chuckle and give Miguel a smile that stretched from ear to ear.
"They aren't coming. I already got to them." Manuel remarked. Miguel's heart dropped. No! No, no, no no, no! No way!
"No! No, you're lying! You're lying!" Miguel yelled, though a small part of him knew that it was true.
"Am I? Hey, Carmen! Rosa! I'm about to kill your son!" Manuel called out into the empty apartment. When there was no reaction, he turned back to his quaking son and shrugged. "You see? Gone. Squished like bugs. Like those mosquitos that all you want to do is swat them and…"
"Hey." Miguel growled angrily. "You don't talk about them like that."
Manuel giggled and licked his lips at his son's fury, thoroughly enjoying this.
"You ought to be nicer to me, Miguel. I had planned on just coming here, killing you, and then leaving, but if you keep disrespecting me like this, I might… I just might lose my temper. And well… you don't want me doing that."
"You know, I'm going to say whatever the hell I want actually. Not like you can kill me twice, you old-ass bitch." Miguel spat. Manuel's smile didn't fade at all, eagerly enjoying the mental high-ground he had on his son, and he tutted at him.
"Now, now, Miguel. Don't be like that. I do happen to know that there are other people in this city that you like. That gringo who lives across the compound from you. You love him, don't you? And that hot girlfriend of yours… mmmmm, I really wouldn't want something to happen to that pretty face of hers."
The obvious threats wiped away any iota of fear in Miguel's system, and he stormed closer to his father.
"You listen to me, viejo and you listen good. You will not lay a finger on them or I swear to God…"
"You'll do what? You're about to die, remember?" Manuel reminded him, smirking at him. "Face it… I. Own. You…"
With that, in another show of dominance over his son, Manuel spat at him. He literally spat, a glob of saliva landing right on the side of Miguel's cheek. Manuel watched carefully to see Miguel's reaction, and when Miguel remained frozen and didn't do anything, Manuel smiled wider and nodded.
"Yes… that's it. Exactl…"
Manuel never got to finish the word, as Miguel suddenly lunged at him. However, when Miguel was but an inch away from his dad, all of a sudden, a bat materialised in Manuel's hands. Miguel's eyes widened and he tried as hard as he could to stop, but momentum continued to carry him towards his father, right into a vicious swing. The sound of metal connecting with skull filled the air, a sickening CRACK which very nearly caused Miguel to black out right there. But unfortunately Miguel didn't have the luxury of dying in a peaceful, immediate way. He was still very much conscious, just too in pain to move, so he was forced to feel the full impact of his father raising the bat again and again and again, letting loose a barrage of vicious blows that spanned every inch of Miguel's body. All the boy could do was curl up into a foetal ball and take the hits, praying that sooner or later the angel of death would release him.
"Come on, Miguel! Not yet! You can't die yet! You don't want me to go after that girlfriend of yours next!" Manuel yelled, giggling and laughing hysterically at the sight before him. "Come on, Miguel! Get up! Get up! Get up!"
Each time he taunted with those words, he punctuated them with a slamming swing with the metal baseball bat, which caused any possibility of Miguel being physically able to get up to go out the window. Closing his eyes, Miguel knew all he could do was wait for unconsciousness to relieve him.
"GET UP!"
For some reason, this time, the voice sounded a lot more distant. And it didn't sound like his father much either. It almost sounded like…
When Miguel's eyes snapped open again, he found himself once again in his bed. Breathing a massive sigh of relief, he realised that none of this was actually happening. It was just a dream. He was home. He was safe. Miguel's eyes turned to look out the window and he saw light streaming in through the window. It was morning already. His nightmare had somehow lasted the whole night, and it was time for him to face the reality of being back in the Valley again.
"GET UP!"
Recognising that voice instantly, Miguel's head shot up, and he saw Johnny standing in his doorway, Carmen right beside him.
"You're home and you didn't tell us?!" Johnny bellowed, undecided whether he was just delighted Miguel was home okay, or furious that he hadn't said anything to anyone yet and had just snuck inside. Miguel nodded and slowly rolled out of bed, facing his mom and sensei for the first time in a while.
"Yeah, I"m really sorry I didn't say hi to you guys last night when I arrived. I was just exhausted and I… what?" Miguel's voice trailed off as he eyed his mom and sensei's horrified expressions on their faces. He was perplexed for a moment, more so when he saw his mom's eyes fill with tears.
"Miguel…" She whispered, hurrying over to him and placing her hands gently on the sides of his neck. When Miguel felt a sudden stinging sensation, he realised what had put the two of them in so much worry. Miguel was still shirtless having slept that way last night, so Johnny and Carmen saw that every inch of his much more muscular upper body was covered in a combination of bruises, scrapes and gashes. Some of them were from training with his father over the past few weeks, but most of them, mainly the maroon-purple bruises all over his neck, were from the fight he had had with Manuel a day ago.
"He did this, didn't he?" Johnny growled in a voice so abnormally low for him that it was terrifying. "He did this. I swear to God, I'm going to go to Juarez and I'm going to rip him apart limb from limb."
"Woah, woah, woah, Johnny stop!" Miguel exclaimed, catching his former sensei, who had already turned towards the door, ready to go full Rambo mode all the way to Mexico. "Look, guys, I'm fine."
"Fine?! You call this fine?! We need to go to the police!" Carmen exclaimed, her hands still gently pressed against some of the various marks on her beloved son's body. She couldn't believe that her ex-husband, vile as he was, could go so low as to do something like this. The choke marks on his neck… Carmen was a nurse so she had seen a few domestic abuse victims. Their marks were nothing compared to the ones on Miguel's neck. His bruises clearly told the tale of someone who had tried to murder him in cold blood.
Miguel gently removed his mom's hands from the sides of his neck, and he pulled her into a reassuring hug.
"Look, mom, trust me, I'm okay. Johnny, please don't go to Mexico. Manuel doesn't know where I am, so as of right now, I'm safe. I just don't want you or anyone else to risk anything trying to go after him. Is that okay?"
Carmen and Johnny stared at him, uneasily, for a few moments, before the two reluctantly nodded and Miguel felt his mom pull him into another crushing embrace. Miguel's body was still not healed after the fight so he felt flashes of excruciating pain run through his body as his mom hugged him, but he forced himself to ignore it and hug his mom back. All of those feelings he had had in Mexico - that his mother was keeping him from his dad for her self-interest and not his - well he had been totally wrong. She was the one person in this world who truly had his best interests at heart 24/7. They had moved to the States because she had a dream of him having a better life than she did. She had sacrificed SO MUCH for him his whole life, and he would be indebted to her for that for the rest of his life. He just couldn't believe there was a small part of him that had ever considered staying in Juarez with that maniac as opposed to being here, with the people who truly loved him.
When Carmen finally let go of her son, Miguel then turned to Johnny, who shockingly pulled him into a very not-badass hug. Miguel hugged his sensei before stepping back and facing the two of them again, both of whom still in shock to see Miguel there. They were beginning to lose hope that Miguel would ever be coming back, but clearly something shockingly horrible had happened to bring him back.
"You look like you've been training this past month." Johnny remarked, pointing at Miguel's vastly stronger chest, arms and abs. "Guess I can no longer call you a scrawny, malnourished piece of shit. Oh well, at least there's more of you now to hit."
Miguel chuckled and rolled his eyes at his former sensei's dumb comment.
"So you ready to rejoin Eagle-Fang? Ready to whoop some Cobra Kai ass? We have some new recruits and I tell you, Miguel, with you back in the dojo, we'll be by far the strongest dojo in the Valley!"
Miguel looked down and winced as he saw Johnny's hopeful expression on his face.
"I, um… I was hoping I'd have a bit more time home before I tell you this and you murder me, but um… I'm not going back to Eagle-Fang."
Johnny's eyes widened in shock as he stared at Miguel.
"Um… what?" Johnny snapped. "You joining Miyagi-Do with that pinhead Larusso?!"
Miguel shook his head.
"No, I, uh… I'm not joining any dojo. I'm done with Karate, Johnny…"