Chapter 2
Date April 28, 2013
My Age At The Time 18 years old
Fuck, how my head hurts this morning. I really should quit drinking, I told myself as I summoned the strength to get out of bed. Looking into the mirror I could see I was still a mess, my hair was rough and my eyes red. I stumbled to the restroom and undressed for the shower. The cold water ran down my neck waking my mind up slowly. I remembered the fight I watched at the bar and the people in the white room. I got frightened when the old man saw me, but the truth is I was intrigued. I wasn’t getting anywhere with this dead end job anyway, maybe I could join them and earn a little extra.
It was crazy, I admit, but I was an eighteen year old girl trying to provide for my family. So I returned to the bar… in the morning… on a Sunday… there was no one there. And so I returned again twelve hours later and asked the bartender if I could talk to the old man. The bartender looked at me like there was something wrong with me but he told me to go to the back. I already knew where he was talking about, the small white room. It made me nervous to approach the room, unguarded and alone. Was I really doing this? Am I going to ask a man who hosts a fight club to give me a job? I knocked on the door and a moment later I heard the old man’s voice.
“It’s open” he spoke with a fluent American accent.
I opened the door and walked in “Hi, my name is Sisi”, my English wasn’t as good back then.
“Oh, sorry. I was expecting someone else, hello Sisi. M’name’s Jim” he replied quickly. “How can I help you?”
“I watched the fight yesterday, I was wondering if I could apply for the role?”
Jim burst out laughing “It’s not an act! Don’t call it a role!”
“Can I fight?” I tried to ignore his laugh
“Sheez, you’re all business.” Jim stood up to check my build “You know that you can get seriously hurt right?”
“I know, but it pays well right?” I asked back, hinting that I need the money.
“You could make a lot of money if you win, but I’m warning you. I don’t think you’d last long against my girls”
It’s true, I had never fought anyone this way before. “Let me try,” I insisted.
Jim sat back down, clearly thinking it through “Alright, you’ll have to sign some papers releasing responsibilities for any injuries you might get while fighting. What are your terms for payment?”
I looked at Jim confused, I thought he would have a package ready. “What deal do you have with the others?”
Jim looked at me as if he was disappointed I was making him work “You’re small, thin. So I won’t let you fight men and you shouldn’t provoke any of the bigger girls. You’re going to get hurt a lot, so you’ll need enough to cover medical. The average medical bill for a fight is around three thousand pesos and one fight can earn around forty thousand. If I give you forty percent to you and your partner each then… I can pay you around fifteen thousand a fight”
I stared at Jim with a smile that I couldn’t hide fifteen thousand was much more than I was expecting. I didn’t care about how I was going to get the money anymore if I was going to make more in a day than I did in a month. One look at Jim and I realised I needed to hide my excitement from him. Things went quickly from here, he prepared the contracts the next day and I signed willingly. My first match was going to be on Saturday, against one of the smaller girls. He told me to prepare myself and reminded me that this was going to be a fight and not a show.
Date May 4, 2013
My Age At The Time 18 years old
This was my first time in the pit and I was nervous. My heart seemed to race and I was already starting to sweat as the bright lights shined down on me. I wondered if I looked good, if the lights complimented my body like the fighters before me. There was no way for me to know. I joged in place for a short time, trying to get a feel for the ground. It was firm but a fine layer of sand might prove to be slippery if I wasn’t careful. There was a lot of thought that went into my outfit, I made sure I wasn’t wearing anything that was loose. It just seemed like common sense to give my opponent less to grab. I stretched to make sure I wouldn’t over exert my muscles but it was interrupted midway through by a door opening on the other side of the pit.
A brown skinned girl with long straight hair walked through, her lips gently painted red and her eyes piercing. So this was my opponent, she was about the same height as me but she was clearly a little heavier than I was. She walked with an air of confidence, posing several times on her way to the middle. She must be used to being the hot girl, but no matter how the crowd cheered I couldn’t see it. To my surprise she waved at me and smiled as we got nearer to each other. When we were close enough to talk she shouted out to me “Hey! I’m Amy . You ready?”. I looked back at her and nodded for the fight to begin.
Me (Sisi) on the left and Amy on the right.
With that a bell rang from the speakers and it was official. For a moment Amy and I stood staring at each other, I wasn't sure what Amy was thinking but I was too nervous to make the first move. She must have realized how I felt because in two steps she was suddenly close enough to grab one of my arms and pull me off balance. Inexperienced, I didn't do much to try and maintain my balance. Instead I thought that I could use the momentum to ram my body into her abdomen. But before my shoulder could connect with her abdomen I felt the hard smack of her fists hit the back of my neck.
Immediately I fell to the ground, barely breaking the fall by using my arms. My knees hit the hardest as I felt the stones work their way into my skin. This was the first time I had ever been hit and despite everything I had done up to this point, I was just now realising what I was doing. I looked up at Amy, knowing my eyes were full of terror. It was a terror that Amy didn’t seem to care for as she grabbed my ponytails and swung her shin into my ribcage. I coughed harshly at the ground as the impact of her kick made it hard for me to breath. As I tried to look up again I realised she was winding up to kick me again, so I lifted my arms to protect myself from her onslaught. With this my body collapsed on it’s side to the ground, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight so I tried to crawl away. Amy simply followed me and then planted her shoe on my back. I tried to scream but I couldn’t get the voice out of my chest, my ribs just hurt too much. The match was going to be short and she was clearly going to win, it was only made more and more apparent and before the winner was declared I fell into darkness only to wake up in the white room an hour later. Jim seemed to be scolding Amy, but another calmer voice spoke down to me “You’re not going to last long fighting like that”
