Choosing My Battle Novel – Faith I lay inside the rubble of my shop. The bomb had gone off just as I was locking up. I had no idea why or where. There was ringing in my ears, but I could hear a bellow. “Ellie?” Ellie was the bosses girlfriend. She was the reason I’d locked up late tonight. But she’d been and gone. I heard a phone chirp, and some mumbled voices. “Wings! It’s OK, she’s home. Blaze just called.” I heard a sigh of relief from above me. “Hey, doesn’t Faith run this store? Could she be here?” The voice continued. “Nah, she just works here.” I heard my boyfriend Wings say. I heard a scrunch as a boot came into view. “Hey boys what happened here?” “Hey Match, not sure. Ellie had a late appointment, but she’s safe.” Wings spoke. I tried to call out, but it hurt, and I couldn’t breathe properly. The boot moved, standing directly on my little finger.
I whimpered, before it stepped off and another weight landed on my chest. “I’ll leave you to it, Match. Might be connected to the club.” The weight came off and I managed to draw in a breath. “Did you hear that?” Matchstick’s voice asked sharply. He was VP of the club, but probably here in his emergency response fireman position. There was silence as they listened. I drew in a breath to call out, but Wings spoke as I croaked out a sound, drowning me out. “Nope, can’t hear a thing. I’ll leave you to it. I’m getting a drink in before I get home to Faith. Need something before she bores me with her chatter.” Someone grunted, and I heard footsteps walking away. Then bikes roaring away as another set of footsteps slowly crunched around the rubble. I tried hissing out words again. They stopped, and the person crouched down. “There you are. Hi Faith, don’t worry sweetheart, I’m here, and I’ll get you out of there.” Matchstick’s yellow eyes peered into mine, as he found my hand and squeezed it. “Medic required, trapped female under the rubble.
Lacerations, possible crush injuries.” He said confidently into a two way radio. “You’re OK now, we’ll get you out of there.” He said confidently to me My breath caught in relief. “Its OK Faith, I’m not leaving you.” “Wings.” I managed. “Yeah, he was just here.” “Stood on my finger, then me.” Matchstick sighed. “Let’s get you out of here, Sweetheart.” Little did I know he didn’t just mean under the rubble. Slowly they peeled away the lumps of stonework from me. Matchstick stayed with me, keeping me calm, telling me what was happening, until they finally got me on a stretcher and carried me into the waiting ambulance, then into surgery to stop the internal bleeding. “Is there anyone we can call? Anyone you want with you when you wake up?” “No.”
I replied to the nurses. Wings I sat in a booth with an arm around a club girl, chatting to the boys, when Ellie came in with Blaze, our President “Hey Wings, have you heard from Faith? Is she OK?” “What do you mean?” I dropped my arm off the girl. “The shop! She was closing up after I left. I heard that there was an explosion. She said she had a bit to do before she closed up. ” I stood up “When did she leave? Didn’t she leave with you?” “No, she had a bit to do afterwards. Haven’t you heard from her?” She repeated. I pulled out my phone and called her. The others waited while I paced in time to the rings. No answer. I called again. “She’s probably down at the police station getting something to claim the insurance.” Ellie said hopefully. I frowned.
“Why would she do that?” “She owns the shop. God, Wings, don’t you pay attention?” I turned and headed for the door. “I’ve got to go.” I snapped. The house was dark and uninviting as I pulled up. My heart sank, but I had to make sure. Her car was in its place, but seeing as she often walked to work, that didn’t mean anything. I unlocked the door and called out as I entered. There was no answer. Then a shadow rose from my couch. “Took you long enough.” Matchstick walked towards me and shouldered his way past me. “Come on, I’ll take you to the hospital.” He said over his shoulder. “How is she?” I asked “You stepped on her.” He replied. My mind went blank and I stopped. “What?” He took a breath but kept walking. “She was under that bit of stone formwork that you stepped on to talk to me. She was the sound I heard.” He said over his shoulder. ” if you want to have a chance to see her, you’d better hurry.” I scrambled after him. “She’s hurt really badly, Wings. I don’t know about her hearing, but she could barely speak. There was definitely internal bleeding.
I don’t know what else seeing as I left her in the hands of the medics. But what I want to know is.” Matchstick turned and looked at me. “How come you didn’t know she was there, but you knew Ellie was supposed to be there?” “She’s my cousin. I keep an eye on her. Make sure she’s OK.” I explained as we reached the pick up. He grunted as he switched the vehicle on and moved out. “I personally try and keep my cousin away from you, but it didn’t explain why you didn’t check upon Faith. She works there. Even if she hadn’t been there, she would have needed you.” He talked in a calm voice, but there was a side of frustration as always. “What would you know Match?” I finally snapped. He swung his eyes over to me. The ones that looked like they belonged to a wolf or something “I lost my Ol’Lady because I didn’t take notice . Because I listened to bad advice. Because I was as selfish.” He faced the road again, “I’ll give you some good advice. Ignore the club girls. Put your Ol’Lady and her needs and wants first. You don’t want to lose her like I did.”
Faith I could hear the beeps of machines through my warm haze. I was floating, my thoughts disjointed. “What’s the story with this one?” “Brought in by the fire brigade. That beauty shop down on 8th Street was hit by a bomb blast. She was caught in the rubble.” “More than caught in the rubble by the looks of it. Did we manage to get all the dirt out of her skin before we bandaged her up?” “Most of it. Some was too embedded. We’re just going to have to watch for infection.” “Poor girl, let’s make her as comfortable as possible. Is anyone waiting for her?” “She said no, but that cute fireman is out in the waiting room for her. You know, Lovelace.” I heard the hums of appreciation. “Hmm the Monk of Lovelace. Are we sure he’s not gay?” “He’s not gay, I asked him.” A new voice joined the gossip circle. “Did you? What did he say?” “He looked sad, and then said he’s just getting over his wife divorcing him” The speaker sighed, “I offered to help, and he just shook his head.” “Bummer, wait, do you think this one is his ex wife?” I tried to laugh. I’d just learnt more about Matchstick than anyone in the club. He was secretive to a fault about personal life before coming to the club.
All I knew was that he’d meet up with a student teacher called Amber every week, but she was banned from club facilities. She was a regular at the shop for Mani, Pedi, and wax. And spent a lot of time complaining that she only had the student body to choose from because her cousin banned her from the club bars. Apparently the student boys weren’t up to her taste, but the club boys were out of bounds. “Hey Faith, can you hear us?” Apparently my failed laugh got their attention. “Can you open your eyes?” I opened them to see the nurses crowded around me. I licked my lips. For some reason they were dry. “You guys know more about Matchstick than I do.” I whispered. My throat was sore. “Matchstick?” “The Monk of Lovelace.” I explained. That was probably a better name for him. But he glared at anyone who suggested changing his road name. The most popular one around the club was Inferno. “Is it really that small?” The blonde one at the back looked disappointed. I went to laugh, and instead got hit with a stabbing pain. “Careful, you have three cracked ribs, and a broken pelvis. They managed to stop the bleeding, and luckily no organs were damaged. You got very lucky.”
I breathed shallowly. “No, don’t do that. Breathe as deep as you can.” The nurse corrected me. “And don’t bother answering Jess.” I smiled this time. “I wouldn’t know anyway. He’s just a friend.” “Relax, breathe carefully, let the pain ease, it will go.” “Thanks Mr Lovelace.” I took in a careful breath, and as Matchstick said the pain started to fade. We were on the move, and I slowly realised that my hand was being held. I slowly opened my eyes and looked to see Wings beside me looking over my body in horror as he paced beside me. “The wall fell on me.” I said quietly as we crashed through another set of doors. ” I was trapped, I couldn’t hear anything.” Crash” then someone stood on my little finger.” “Yeah that’s broken too.” Jenè added, as she wheeled me into a room, and spun me around into place. “Then that person stood on the stuff that was on top of me.” I continued. Wings looked more anguished. “Then Matchstick found me.
Matchstick saved me.” I turned my head slowly to look for Matchstick, who returned my look. His face was clear of emotion, but I thought I could see laughter in those eyes. He gave a quick wink as I felt Wings drop his head onto my hand. “It’s all part of the job, Faith.” Matchstick replied. “It’s the good part of the job when the people you save survive. I hope there was no one else there. I could only find you.” I shook my head. “Only me left, I just locked up and was about to walk home when, boom.” I held Matchstick’s eyes as I asked my final question. “Why me? Was I a target?” “I don’t know,” he lied. His eyes told me yes though, as did his slight nod. A shiver ran through me.