12. The rebound from the adrenaline…
Today’s Prompt
12. The rebound from the adrenaline spike left her drained of all energy.
400 Creative Writing Prompts Workbook Story Prompts for Journaling, Blogging, and Overcoming Writer’s Block Compiled by Debra Chapoton All rights reserved Copyright © 2020 by Debra Chapoton
Response
“Enough!”
Sensei’s call rang through the dojo, causing Jenny to glance over to him while Kyle, sweating profusely and limping rather noticeably, practically fell over at the sound of his master’s yell.
“You,” sensei pointed at Kyle, “sit. And reflect on this experience.” Jenny wondered if sensei thought he would and even if he did, if he had the capacity for self-reflection needed to learn lessons from their match on his own.
“You,” sensei now pointed at Jenny, “will spar with me.”
Jenny suddenly wondered if she’d gone too far and angered the sensei. Kyle’s clear misogyny and arrogance led her to drag out their match and maybe embarrass him a little. She assumed he’d forfeit after she demonstrated just how much more advanced she was than him.
She was wrong.
He’d fought and fell, fought and fell, and continued fighting long after it was clear to everyone in the dojo that Jenny was a far superior martial artist than he was. Yet, he refused to stay down or leave the ring. Jenny felt the moment pass when ‘teach a lesson’ became ‘humiliate the asshole,’ but didn’t know how to end it quickly without risking injury to Kyle, either bodily or certainly to his pride.
On the one hand, Jenny was glad the sensei called a halt before it had become ridiculous. On the other, his tone of voice was not friendly or supportive when he announced that she would be sparring with him.
She returned to the center of the ring where sensei stood patiently waiting for her, hands at his sides. With an inscrutable expression, he stared her down, apparently waiting for her to initiate. She folded one hand over her other fist and bowed over it, keeping her eyes on the sensei the whole time. Sensei likewise folded his hand over his other fist and bowed his head. Eyes never leaving mine. The niceties out of the way, Jenny stepped forward.
Sensei immediately sank into a low fighting stance and without any warning launched one of his feet at Jenny’s head. It sailed past her, just in front of herd nose. I recalled how Kyle had made a similar kick that missed my face, but this time the miss was by sensei’s choice, not mine.
I swear there’s a gleam in the old goat’s eye.
He’s clearly trying to return the favor of teaching me a lesson, since I’d taken it upon myself to teach his student a lesson. Now I began to sweat.
Every exchange we had, sensei mirrored what I’d done to Kyle only now done to me. Including the starp punch to the thigh which left me also gasping in pain on the mat. Sensei offered me a hand to stand up.
There was definitely a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
It took everything I had not to get my ass handed to me and still I could tell sensei was holding back and toying with me much like I had toyed with Kyle. It wasn’t a fun feeling. What felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few minutes, later, Sensei called again, “Enough!”
Jenny didn’t collapse to the ground (go me!, she thought) but it was close. The rebound from the adrenaline spike of facing a true master left her drained of all energy.
Sensei and I bowed to each other again and just before he dismissed the class to the locker room he leaned over next to me and whispered “nice job.”
Whether he was referring to her performance against him or her performative match with Kyle, she couldn’t tell.
