The Shadows Share

By Eric Garcia

The Shadows Share is a collection of short stories

• Language: English
• Publisher: DIM Publishing
• Release date: Apr 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9780578687650

Book preview

Introduction

Most people tend to run away from that which scares them. Whether it be something external that they fear like a natural disaster, an animal or someone wishing to do them harm. But more than running from something external people try so hard to run away from what’s inside of them.

They try so hard to suppress the dark sides of their being/psyche. Unwilling to admit that in the balance of existing as a human being you have to embrace both the side of you that gives you light, hope, happiness and all the other delightful feelings and you must also embrace the shadow side. The side of you that you always hide from people. The side of you that is most honest and stirs up much needed reflection from within. 

Why is it then that we suppress our dark sides? Why can’t we let that shadow side live from time to time in a healthy and productive manner? Is there a way for us to let it out in a healthy manner?

People tend to forget that all of nature lives in duality, lives in balance, lives in both the dark and the light, so why should our psyche be any different.

Learning to let our shadow selves come out and teach us some much needed lessons from time to time can be healthy. For if we continue to deny its existence, it will force it’s way out soon enough.

Own your shadow, give your shadow its share of life. 

1

Punch-Drunk

Quiet fits of rage and visions of red willed him to being the alpha male that his friends, family, team and coaches knew he could be. Too bad he didn't have the same opinion of himself that his loved ones saw immediately after he put on the gloves for the first time.

He was cool, calm and collected during his normal everyday life and daily routine, however when a hard, heavy, clenched and bad intentioned fist made un-welcomed contact with any part of his body, the calm, serene gentlemen turned into the beast that was undefeated in all of his professionally sanctioned fights.

The tenacious nature of his brawling style proved to be too much for his 31 straight opponents who all swore that they knew how to beat the man who only came forward, head down, fists flaring and without any real finesse. A brawler with an abundance of heart and even greater power is how the reporters described him. Punch drunk with no vision of life after the ring is what his family described him as being. They hoped that one day the lessons of head movement, footwork and defense that were the primary focuses of each training camp will somehow reveal itself in the ring when it mattered. Their hopes went unanswered and this brawler with raw skill and power went undefeated in his many years of prizefighting.

However, this isn't the story of the undefeated brawler with adoring fans who couldn't care less about being able to spell his name when he finally decided to hang up his gloves. This is the story of how a man drunk off of his own physical power and sense of invincibility came to lose his grip only once, but one time too many.

One night, one fight, was all it took for this beloved champion to have his world turned completely upside down. He was in for a fight he never expected to have, he met an opponent he had never prepared for nor had any reason to prior to this meeting. This brawler finally met his match and in the last place he ever expected to.  

After his wins in the ring our beast of a fighter enjoyed celebrating his victories with his fans, family, friends and management. The routine had come to be—fight, shower, meet with the press, dinner, drinks and then home to make love to his beautiful wife. She always said he made love like a ravenous yet gentle God after winning a fight only a few hours before. I guess the lack of a woman's touch for 12 plus weeks will make a God out of any man when the time finally comes to fuck.

His drink of choice was a Macallans neat and if he was feeling a certain way about himself he would upgrade to Johnny Walker Blue Label. 

He was always extremely grateful for all he attained and possessed as a result of fighting, always humbled by his adoring fans who would ask for photos and autographs while he spent time with his loved ones. Gracious in obliging to the photo, handshake, quick comment requests that would always turn what was supposed to be an hour meal into a three or four hour event.

This was the type of champion the people wanted, this was the type of champion they had in this man. Amongst other fighters he was both loved and envied. Envied because they knew that if he got what he wanted he deserved it and if he didn't he would be able to manage without it; the latter was an extremely rare occurrence because through it all, he was content. Loved because he treated the sport he dominated with the utmost respect and paid homage to those who came before him and appreciated the level of talent that would follow him. He loved his fans, his lifestyle, his satisfying meals and calming liquor. He loved the spoils of his victories and was sometimes intoxicated by praises that were showered upon him.

On this certain night the man he fought in the ring did a great job throughout the entire build up to the fight of selling it by trying to entice our champion into a battle of words and getting under one another’s skin. He bragged and boasted about how over-rated and talentless our hero was. At the press conferences he would chastise and berate the champion but he would go even further and insult the man.

A man has his limits, and on the actual night of the fight, our champion reached his in the ring and delivered a savage beating that ended the fight early in the third round, disappointing our hero as he wished to continue the beating for as long as possible. When asked why he took so long in a humorous manner from the media, our champion said he wanted his opponent to eat his words and suffer for prior things said. When asked why he said such things, the beaten loser was unable to comment due to a broken jaw and facial cuts that demanded immediate attention. The post fight routine went on as usual— shower, meet with the press, dinner and drinks and then this was where it all went wrong.

Already drunk off of his victory his insatiable thirst for retribution led to him further indulging in expensive liquor. By letting this specific opponent get under his skin he remained unsatisfied with just physically beating him down. He was angry with himself for having let this clown get to him.  That kind of embarrassment isn’t curable with an ass whooping.

He tried to drown it away and in doing so lost his sense of self and let the demons surface. So much so that the restaurant had to ask the champion to leave due to rambunctious behavior.

Angered and belligerent he went home to his wife where she was waiting after having left him earlier as a result of an argument at dinner. Upon entry she confronted our champion as she had done in the past on rare occasions when he would get out of line with her.

She was no pushover by any means. An educated woman with confidence, intelligence, sass and swagger that would make any man alive proud to have her attention for even the shortest amount of time. Her life had led her to become a force of a woman, adapting to chaos, surviving ruin and peril and always finding ways to reinvent herself into a stronger, better, more complete person.  She needed nothing and no one and would not stand for disrespect directed towards her or anyone close to her for that matter.

Words were spoken louder as the conversation turned into an outright argument. Arguing with a drunken champion fighter is not advisable nor is it the best thing to do at three in the morning but our heroine needed to get her point across and make her man understand that he cannot treat her in the manner he did this evening.

Trying to make his way past her during her speech to him she placed her hand on his chest to try and stop him. Upon contact he reacted with a fierce, malicious and powerful right hand that sent her clear across the cocktail table in the living room. Drunk off alcohol and now rage he pounced on his most beautiful trophy and continued to deliver punch after punch on her.

After a while the noise turned to silence, only the thuds of punches pierced the silence.

Moments