The Fight Within Read Online Free Page A

At this point, it felt like the ‘Ground Hog’ movie. The shit was redundant, and he’d had it up to here.
    He slammed the lid to his computer closed, pushed the damn thing aside, and curled up into the fetal position, hands wedged between his thighs as he gave a farewell to his state of alertness and said ‘hello’ to a land full of irresistible Zzzzssss…
    *
    The following morning…
    “And you bet your fucking ass I did!” Sean cackled as he moved around his miniscule, cluttered kitchen, preparing to take care of his morning routines. The off white sink was chock full of filthy glasses with remnants of milk and chipped, spaghetti–sauce-stained ceramic plates donated from dear ol’ mom when he’d moved out all those years ago. “I told you that was my only damn day off, Kyle! Come on, man!” He wanted to beg, but he simply couldn’t stoop to that level, at least not today. The fucker knew how he felt about this game, which surely should’ve been enough to put some fire under the guy’s dragging feet.
    “I got ’em, Mr. Mahoney!” Kyle teased, a carefree, easygoing flair in his tone—as if not a damn thing mattered in the whole world. “It’s a done deal. “Relaaaaxxxx! Just hold your horses!” His best friend snorted. “You’re becoming a real pain in the ass, ya know that, Sean? Hell, ya didn’t even ask me how my deal went!”
    “How’d your deal go?” He reached for the green Palmolive soap and dabbed a bit along the thin cloth.
    “Yeah, like you really care. That didn’t sound sincere.”
    “Kyle, are you on your goddamn period? You wanna cuddle?” he teased, met with steely silence. “Sincere?” Sean scoffed. “You must be sitting over there with a tissue in your hand dabbing at tears while you watch Lifetime. Bitchified!” He cackled. “Gotta call the police. My boy Kyle here has been robbed of his X chromosome and his goddamn nuts!”
    “Well, you didn’t even ask me about it. You knew it was important to me. All you wanted to talk about was the damn tickets.”
    “I asked ya! Want to hear it again? I’ll send over a box of tampons to ya, too.”
    “Yeah, yeah, very funny, man. Look, on a serious note, Sean, don’t you ever think about anyone else other than yourself anymore?”
    “Of course I do. Don’t try to sidetrack this conversation; we were talking about baseball tickets first. And what the hell is that supposed to mean anyway? Yeah, I think about others!” He gulped, feeling a bit defensive once he realized Kyle was serious. This wasn’t some show. The discussion had turned down a dead end street, and he wanted out before it was too late.
    “Sean, seriously! Let’s have a man to man, heart to heart, alright?”
    “It’s too early for this shit…don’t have the time.” He turned on the kitchen faucet and rinsed the soap residue off his favorite Superman decorated cereal bowl. The cartoon etched along the thing had faded with time. Superman was slowly disappearing. What to do? What to do?
    “You call me all the fucking time asking me to do this and that, just like with these damn tickets. You know I can get my mitts on them, man, but you never offer anything in return, Sean. You weren’t like this when we were kids. Maybe you’ve turned into an unappreciative, kick boxing fuckhead in your old age.” He laughed.
    “Fuck you, man,” Sean chuckled as he sifted through his wooden rack of seasonings, looking for the black pepper he’d purchased a few days ago. “I do shit for you all the time. Like what about that discount gym membership I talked Tony into givin’ to you, huh? And what about those coupons I got from joining that cost-saver group, huh? I gotta pay dues; it’s a membership…like you need fuckin’ coupons you rich bastard… I’m the one that needs fuckin’ coupons!” he quipped.
    “Yeah, but I gotta ask. It would be nice for a change to see you just give to someone without wanting anything in return like you used to is