Ethan woke up to a thunderous slamming against the windows near the front of the building, he barely had time to react when he heard one bursting apart in a hundred shards. His feet carried him faster than his mind would comprehend to find a rock with a small strip of paper tied around it’s uneven surface with a piece of wire. He crouched down to pick it up with a cautious interest and noted how sloppy and awful the handwriting was on the stained paper. He knew the general message even when he hadn’t read the words yet. Ethan sighed at the sight and set the rock by his side before standing to his feet with the filthy paper clutched between his fingers. ‘Get out’, a simple warning and a cruel request. He’d been having trouble for months when the neighbourhood grew filthy with criminals, despite their awful requests to leave their territory, he refused.

He started the boxing club especially for the kids trapped in those awful circumstances and he’d be damned if some no good criminals chased him from his purpose. Ethan wasn’t a vengeful person or even a violent one at that. He was the hero the kids needed, the one person they could trust and run to if they needed to. He stepped out through the barred doors and found himself glancing at the dark landscape of the coming dawn with distrust and unease. He turned the corner to the alley where the broken window faced, drew his arm back and threw the rock inside with a soft sigh before turning on his heel to leave the bastards be.

When he did however, three familiar, angry faces blocked his path. Ethan knew he could very well beat them down if he had to but he didn’t want to. They relied on violence and wrath while he preferred inner peace and lack of regret. He’d protect another without a second thought but he couldn’t manage to protect himself in a ditch effort to show them he meant no harm to them. Still, the lanky man with a skull bone tattooed over his exposed chest slammed a fist into his face and he heard the man’s fingers crack. Poor technique. The second blow came from an empty beer bottle in the hands of a heavy man who didn’t have a hair on his head, the glass cracked and cut a small laceration at his temple. It was hardly something to worry about but it bled like it had cut through the hard borders of his skull.

The third blow was a heavy kick at his stomach and after that the hits just kept coming. Ethan protected his face by holding up his arms and trying ass best to keep their fists from inflicting too much damage. Still, he didn’t fight back. He didn’t want to hurt them, he wanted to live by the words he taught the kids. Violence didn’t need more of itself to solve the problem. Time ticked by horribly slowly and the punches bruised and hurt his flesh. Eventually, they grew bored and spat at his feet before leaving him with another clear warning to leave. He stayed quiet and solemn with a hand at the bleeding cut before leaning back against the wall of the alley. His breathing was hard and fast, he could feel anger boil within but he had a knack for keeping it under control.

Ethan softly banged his head against the wall in frustration, he felt so utterly alone in his crusade for the right thing. He hardly had the energy to really focus on the world around him. The sun was slowly illuminating the nooks and crannies of the filthy alley but he still couldn’t focus enough to notice that he wasn’t entirely alone in that small portion of the cruel world he’d grown so accustomed to.