Shattered Glass

Fights

Imagine a person who is with you almost all the time and is very much interested in fighting you. In fact, this person looks for every and any excuse to start conflict with you. Can you picture that person? For me it is the reality of having a younger brother who is love with mixed martial arts. We are constantly fighting, despite living on the second floor of an apartment building. My mother's request seem almost futile at this point; "Don't make a mess" no longer registers quite like it used to since we both started watching the MMA. 

Our battles were epic. Both of us know a good amount of Jiu Jitsu, and my brother knows some Muay Thai and Taekwondo from watching it. Even though he is younger, my brother is already freakishly my size at the tender age of fourteen. This creates a fighting atmosphere that is an intense amount of fun. We often spar in the living room because of the all the space to jump around.  However, when you are throwing each other around without a cage, no amount of space is enough. 

One fight will be remembered by not only the memories in our head, but also by the ones scarred on my brother's arm. It was the day before New Year’s Eve and my mom was out of town for business. This basically signaled a free for all fight without a single word being exchanged. We were going at it, kicking and punching and tackling. Then all of a sudden, I side-kicked my brother too hard and he went sprawling backwards off balance. As he fell he began reaching his arms back, aiming to grab hold of anything to slow his plunge. In doing so he rammed his elbow directly into the glass widow behind him. Once he got up the wounds were already dripping with blood. Not only did I have to clean up blood from the floor and my brother's arm, but I also had to figure out what to do with the broken window in our living room. It was not a good day to be left in charge.