CHAPTER 14
"Wake up, boy!" A rough voice shouted. Miguel's eyes blinked open. He was back in his old house in Ecuador, and he could hear his father's shouts coming from downstairs. Miguel slowly stumbled down the stairs and saw his father in the kitchen, cooking something over the stove. As Miguel walked into the kitchen, he immediately almost retched. The kitchen smelt absolutely horrendous, like it was filled to the brim with rotten meat. Miguel's heart was pounding at the sight of his abusive tormentor.
"Made you breakfast!" His dad called. "Man, you was tossing and turning all damn night! You still afraid of the dark, aren't you?"
His dad chuckled and grinned sadistically at him.
"Oh, you remember when your mama went to nursing school?" His dad remarked as he stood over the stove. "You made me leave your closet light on, but you still cried your little bitch ass to sleep, didn't you? Yeah, you did."
Miguel glared daggers at his father, who had just poured the contents of the pot into a bowl, and then brought it over to his son.
"Get it while it's hot." His dad said, tossing him a spoon. Miguel didn't move. He just scowled at his father, who smirked wickedly at him. "Well, go on, son. You need to eat. And I fixed it for you. It's good."
Miguel looked down at the food and slowly, with trembling hands, he took a bite of the undercooked meat. The blood squirted in his mouth as he bit down, but he nearly broke his tooth when he bit down on something HARD. Miguel groaned in pain and slowly took the hard object out of his mouth and looked at it. His heart dropped to his knees. In his right hand, he was holding a gold charm necklace, and it was one he was extremely familiar with. At the end of the thin chain was a small charm with a short, three letter name: Sam!
Miguel threw up at that point, and he stared into the pot and began to see things. There were hairs in the meat dish his father had cooked up - not short, dark ones like his and his fathers, but long, flowy light ones like Sam's. NO! No way! Suddenly, the rotten flesh smell in the kitchen got a whole lot stronger, and it seemed to be coming from the fridge.
"Don't worry, boy!" His father giggled as he watched his son throwing up. "I got plenty for leftovers in the fridge!"
Miguel stumbled to his feet and practically sprinted into the kitchen, and over to the fridge. He swung it open and there, lying before him, was Sam's dead corpse. Miguel nearly collapsed at this point, and his throat started to close up. Gasping for air, Miguel clawed at his old asthma inhaler that was in the top shelf of the kitchen, but it wasn't there.
"Looking for this?" His father asked triumphantly, holding the inhaler just out of Miguel's reach. Convulsing on the ground, Miguel felt dark spots dance in front of his eyes, before he finally lost consciousness…
"NO!" Miguel shouted as he woke up with a start. His face was drenched in sweat from his nightmare, and his heart was pounding. But he was okay. He was lying in his own bed in California. He was safe. Sam was safe. Everyone was safe.
Tears rolled down Miguel's cheeks. Threedays. Three days he hadn't slept a wink without being shot awake by nightmares of his dad. The conversation he had with his dad over the phone was still etched in his memory and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't forget about it.
3 days earlier…
"D-D-d-dad...?" Miguel stammered. He heard his father chuckle over the phone and even that was enough for Miguel to retch in panic and fear. That laugh was the exact laugh his father used to make whenever he was physically beating Miguel and his mom.
"Ahh… so you remember me." His father remarked.
"How do you have this number?" Miguel demanded, but the shakiness in his voice severely undercut his tone. His father chuckled.
"Oh, come on, Miggy, you know I'm a pretty… resourceful man." Miguel's father replied. Miguel murmured in agreement. He did know that. His father was a gang member in Ecuador after all. "You know, boy, I'm surprised. I would have thought you would have forgotten me at this point, with the speed you and your mom left. Leaving while I was at work without saying goodbye? That's cold, Miggy. That's cold."
"THAT'S COLD?!" Miguel exclaimed, his voice finally transitioning from shock to anger. "You abused me and my mom! You hit us! You do that and you have the fucking nerve to say that my mom and I fleeing for our lives is COLD?!"
"I don't know why you hate me so much for that. If anything, you should thank me."
"Thank you?" Miguel asked, perplexed.
"Yeah. I taught you how to be a man. I taught you how to deal with people. I taught you how to not take shit from anyone. How to… persuade people into doing what you want."
"I'm sorry… what?!" Miguel snapped, disbelievingly. "A man doesn't beat up his innocent kids!"
"A man does what he needs to do for him and those around him to succeed." His father corrected. "Look, Miggy, I'm not trying to rehash old issues. I wanted to call because I'm in L.A and I wanted to see you."
Miguel's hand almost went limp again when he heard that part. His dad was in L.A?!
"Stay the hell away from me." Miguel growled. His father merely laughed again at Miguel's weak tone.
"Now, now, Miguel, let's not make this a bigger thing than it has to be. I wouldn't want things to get… violent." His dad remarked. "But I'm afraid I must see you, so if that's what it needs to come to, so be it."
After Miguel's father's threat, the call lapsed into silence for a few moments as Miguel took in what his father said.
"I am staying at the Starlight Motel in Pasadena." Miguel's father eventually continued. "I want to see YOU, not your mom, not the police. Just you, alone, one hour, and I leave town in peace and you never have to hear from me again. You have one week to come see me, before I am forced to look for you myself. Think about it. See you soon, Miggy."
"No, wait… dad!" Miguel snapped, but his dad had hung up the phone…
Back to the present day…
Miguel slowly rolled out of bed and into the bathroom, taking a shower and washing the sweat from his face. As he stood in the shower, tears rolled down his cheeks, disguised by the running water. All he wanted to do was curl up in a ball at the corner of the shower and wait for this nightmare to be over. He thought him and his mom had gotten rid of that man from their lives when they had fled Ecuador. How had he found them? What was he going to do? He had to go meet with his dad. It was the only option. He knew the lengths his father could go to if he didn't. He could come after his mom. He could come after Sensei Lawrence. He could come after Sam. No! That was too horrible to think about! He would go see his father on the last possible day.
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That morning, Miguel and the others were at training, and Miguel was absolutely exhausted before they had even started. He hadn't slept in three days, and having to train harder than ever due to his sudden addition to the All-Valley wasn't helping one bit.
The group were standing in the Miyagi-Do dojo and were preparing for some light sparring.
"Okay, Demitri, Miguel, step onto the mat." Daniel called. Miguel and Demitri stood up and walked into the center of the dojo, facing each other and bowing. They were supposed to fight with minimal contact so Miguel's shoulder wouldn't get in the way. Besides, Miguel mainly used his legs anyway.
When Johnny and Daniel began the match, Miguel and Demitri circled each other slowly. Although Demitri was infinitely better than he was before, he wasn't quite Miguel's level. Sure enough, Miguel managed to take him down with a scissor kick tackle. As he stood over Demitri, ready to help him to his feet, his dad's words rang through his head.
"A man does what he needs to do for him and those around him to succeed."
Before Miguel knew it, he blinked and suddenly, right below him was not Demitri, but his dad. Miguel's eyes widened and suddenly, all control went out the window. He forgot all about Demitri. He just saw the face of his torturer. Miguel was soon sitting on top of Demitri, beating up every inch of his friend's body, ignoring the scared shouts of everyone around him. A couple of moments later, Miguel felt himself roughly pulled off Demitri and he found himself face-to-face with an alarmed, angry looking Johnny.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Johnny shouted. Miguel took a couple of deep breaths and suddenly, his rage dissipated. He blinked again and his father was gone and in his place was Demitri, who was stumbling to his feet with the help of Daniel. Miguel put his head in his hands. His temples were pounding, another consequence of his lack of sleep.
"Fuck this." Miguel spat, before walking out of the dojo, leaving everyone looking at each other, perplexed. What the fuck had just happened?
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Later that day, Miguel was sitting on the roof of his compound, having skived the rest of training, when he suddenly heard footsteps walking behind him. Miguel turned around to see Johnny, who looked considerably less angry than he was before.
"Hey. Can I sit?" Johnny asked. Miguel nodded and Johnny sat next to him at the edge of the roof, their feet pressed against the top of the side wall.
There was a brief silence for a moment, during which Miguel could tell Johnny was dying to ask him about the day's events, and finally Johnny broke the silence.
"So what exactly happened there?" Johnny asked. Miguel sighed and shrugged.
"Just doing what you taught me. Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy." Miguel replied, spitting the last phrase of the mantra rather viciously. Johnny looked at him and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Yeah, in Cobra Kai. But that was a mistake." Johnny stated. Miguel closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"What if it wasn't a mistake?" Miguel murmured. Johnny was even more confused now than ever.
"Um… what?" Johnny asked.
"What if it wasn't a mistake?" Miguel repeated, louder and more confidently. "What if that's what we've been missing? Why Cobra Kai is going to top us. They have the killer edge that we don't. We need to incorporate more of Cobra Kai's strategy if we want to stand any chance of winning this tournament."
"Miguel… you don't mean that." Johnny stammered, his eyes wide in alarm. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from his student. Miguel shook his head.
"I do." He snapped. "Maybe… maybe we're fighting on the wrong side, Sensei."
"What do you mean?" Johnny asked.
"What if we go back to Kreese tomorrow, and ask to rejoin Cobra Kai?" Miguel said. Johnny's jaw dropped to the ground. After everything Miguel had been through at the hands of Cobra Kai students, there was no way in hell he was being serious!
"Oh come on! You're joking, right?" Johnny laughed, nervously. Miguel didn't. He looked deadly serious.
"Not at all." Miguel replied. "I showed mercy, and it's coming back to fucking bite me now. Maybe it's time to try another tactic."
With that, Miguel got up and walked away from the roof and back into his apartment, leaving a terrified Johnny to dwell on what he had just heard. Miguel was clearly more traumatised by Robby than he ever let on, Johnny thought. Miguel had shown mercy to Robby in the school fight, and it was all coming back to bite him. However, little did Johnny know, Robby was the least of Miguel's worries. Miguel's fears and questioning of Johnny's new show-mercy tactics came because of an experience that happened 4 years ago, at the hands of someone who was staying in a motel in Pasadena…