Competition Twenty-Two Highly Commended: Johnny’s a Fighter by Heather D Haigh
It was a tiny lie.
I never held another man’s cheeks between trembling palms and kissed their lips, allowing them to kiss mine—never pulled another close and down and down and down, the breath ripping through my chest, to the rhythm of midnight hoofbeats, thundering, thundering, thundering—never wrapped my arms around another man’s back and clung on and on and on.
It was a white lie.
One. None. Almost the same. Why’d Johnny have to ask?
Why’d he have to ask that way?
Because I was the prize.
Like the trophies he polishes wordlessly, that glint in his eye saying he remembers every move, every blow, every triumph.
It was a dark lie.
Dark as gaps between neon strobes, dark as a gothic rock beat, black as kohl and leather, black as falling and falling and falling and falling / black as paint on a drummer’s walls / black as a panther poster tacked to a ceiling / dark as wormhole eyes / dark as death.
Black as sin.
Dark as Johnny’s rage.
It was a huge lie.
Johnny’s a winner. He’s been slapped down, knocked out, punch drunk—always drags himself back to his feet. Respect. He never takes it lying down, would never submit. Not Johnny. Johnny fights—fights harder, till his muscles scream—fights with everything. Johnny would never flop like a dazed fish.
It was no lie. That’s not what I called it.
I never said yes.
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Heather is a sight-impaired spoonie and emerging working-class writer from Yorkshire. Her work has been published by Fictive Dream, The Phare, Free Flash Fiction and others. She has won competitions with New Writers and Globe Soup and has been nominated for Best of the Net.
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Photo courtesy of Heather D Haigh
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