《Tom the Fighter》


 Welcome to the Neighbourhood

    It was a cold night in April in Jamata, Thomas Kurt was sitting on a bench in Hog Park, also known as the Train Park.


    His train was coming after 1 hour. He liked being in that Park. He''s gonna really miss that.


    It was his last night in this city, he was moving to Gerja, a city in the coast. It was a student city, with two excellent universities: Tark University and Jok University.


    Thomas was enrolled at Tark University, and he''s gonna study Bachelor Mathematics there.


    The best thing about that park, was that it contained a good spot for sky observing. Thomas had always liked seeing the stars, that gave him the ambition to study physics but Mathematics is for life.


    Gerja was too far from Jamata, the travel by train required at least 7 hours, that was why Thomas was prepared and bought a sandwich from the local Fast Food called the Shnib.


    Shnib was a famous Fast food restaurant in Jamata, almost everyone in town buy from him. Thomas always liked the Shnib, he¡®s gonna miss that too.


    Still 40 minutes to go, Thomas needed to kill time, so he went to the Lake and watched the ducks and other birds swim.


    He sat on a bench near the Lake to watch the ducks, at that moment he started remembering the Past: What he always did in this Park and in this Town, his secret Places, his Crush who he never expressed his love to her. But also he was thinking about the Future: what he¡®s gonna study this semester, how he¡®s gonna decorate his new room and what¡®s the first thing he gonna do in Gerja. He starts fantasying about his Future, his neighbour, maybe she¡®s a hot girl who will end up in his bed at the end of the day, or maybe a serial killer who is gonna kill him at the end of the day. Well the first option is too far from reality: he have social anxiety, if his neighbour is a hot girl, it¡®s almost sure that he¡®s not gonna speak with her for like a year.


    There was a sound of someone running at the Park, it scared Thomas for a moment , but it was only someone he knew running . It was Jyra, Thomas¡®s classmate last year.


    She approached him and stared at him.


    ?Oh hello Thomas, I didn¡®t know you go to the Park at night¡°


    He looked at her eyes with a slight smile on his face


    ?Well, I usually don¡®t, I¡®m just waiting for the train.¡°


    She looked down


    ?Ow, so the rumours are right? You are leaving the town?¡°


    ?Eh, Yep, I¡®m moving to Gerja, I¡®m gonna study there¡°


    She looked at his eyes


    ?Nice, it¡®s a cool city, full of students and stuff¡°


    he nod up and down


    ?yeh¡°


    They stared at each other for a moment.


    ?So you run every night?¡°


    ?Neh, only when I¡®m bored at night and when I can¡®t sleep, well I can¡®t sleep at night, I¡®m a night owl. I just love the Dark.¡°


    He looked at her while pretending to be surprised


    ?Ow cool, me too, but I don¡®t jock¡°


    she said very quietly


    ?Ok,¡°


    They stopped talking for a moment while both of them were looking down.


    And then Tom looked at her


    ?Where are you gonna study?¡°


    She replied while pretending to be happy


    ? Jakery University, it¡®s not too far, I may even not leave the town and go to the faculty with the train, it¡®s only a 30 minutes trip.¡°


    He seemed a little surprised and replied to her


    ?I thought you were gonna enroll at Tark or Jok.¡°


    ?I was, but then I didn¡®t want to move too far.¡°You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ?Understood¡°


    ?So when is your train?¡°


    ?after 20 minutes¡°


    ?It¡®s 10 minutes walk to the station, you mind if I walk with you ?¡°


    ?Nah, let¡®s go¡°


    They started walking together to the station,Tom was carrying his Suitcase which was making a loud sound because of the floor, that was why they were silent for that moment but when the floor changed she said to him


    ¡°are you gonna visit us every week?¡±


    ¡°Hell no, the trip from Gertha to here is 7 hours, Maybe monthly but I¡¯m not sure.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, OK¡±


    ¡°So, are you gonna live in a dorm or something else?¡±


    ¡°in a dorm, a mixed one.¡±


    She look at his eyes and said with a smile that refer to a future regret.


    ¡°Nice, you may even get a girlfriend in the first day in Gerta¡±


    he laughed hard


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that would happen.¡±


    ¡°Why? You are cute and Pretty.¡±


    ¡°Thanks but still I don¡¯t think I¡¯m gonna get a girlfriend, I think, I don¡¯t want that now.¡±


    ¡°hmm¡±


    It was not very hidden, that she had crush on him, and Thomas really know that, but he didn¡¯t care.


    Even though she was a pretty and smart girl, but Thomas already had a crush and he didn¡¯t have any feelings for any other girl beside his crush.


    ¡°Your train is after 10 minutes, I¡¯m gonna leave you here, and continue running at the Park, good travel.¡±


    ¡°Thanks¡±


    They hugged each other.


    ¡°Goodnight¡±


    ¡°Goodnight¡±


    She distanced herself a little and start going away while starring at his eyes and she said very quietly ¡°I¡¯m gonna miss you¡±


    He sat on a bench in the station waiting the train to come while Jyra was leaving the station looking to him with a smile on her face. She really wanted to tell him that she loved him but she just could not but that doesn¡¯t mean that if she told him that would change something, he already know that she¡¯s attracted to him.


    The train comes.


    ?Train to Gerja is at Track 2 and it¡¯s going to departure in 10 minutes, please all passengers who are willing to travel to Gerja or any Stop cities, enter the Train. Your Company Trackonito.¡±


    Tom entered the train, his Ticket was valid in the Second Class, he could sit anywhere in that Class.


    It was the very early morning Train so relatively it was a empty.


    Tom found a good spot and sit there, opens his Laptop and start watching a movie, one movie won¡¯t be enough to kill all the time he¡¯s gonna spend in this Train, the Travel need approximately 7 hours, that was the time for atleast 3 movies.


    Good thing he already downloaded 2 movies and 5 seasons of his favourite serie, that should cover more than 50 hours, It¡¯s clearly that they weren¡¯t only for this trip.


    The plan was to watch movies and series until he arrive to destination but that wasn¡¯t the case, he didn¡¯t sleep all night and as the sun comes up, he got more sleepy, he always slept at that time of the day. He was very different from common people, The sun¡¯s light drains his energy and made him tired and sleepy.


    So he slept for more than 5 Hours after watching a 2 hours movie, the sum of the time was enough for the Train to arrive to Gerja.


    ¡°Final Stop, please everybody out!¡±


    Tom packed his laptop and exited the Train.


    It was a new city to him, the first thing he did was looking at the map.


    He needed to either walk 2 kilometres to arrive to his new apartment or get a cab or take the Subway.


    Again it was a new city to him, so he wanted to start his Journey with a walk Home.


    At first, everything was fine and as soon as he entered his Block, he found a Robbery going on. Three dudes were robbing a Girl, they wanted to get her things from her, and to do that, they threatened her with a knife, but the Girl didn¡¯t care about that.


    Tom was looking at them scared, but suddenly the girl kicked the Dude with the knife in his balls and throwed his knife away. While the other guys want to grab her, she jumped and kicked them both in the chest with her feet, she knocked the first dude down and then the second and finally the third.


    Tom was there watching, could not do anything, he was shocked.


    The girl stared at him with a smile on her face and then she approached him and said while looking at his suitcase¡° Welcome to the Neighbourhood¡±


    Thomas went up to his apartment, before he could open his door, his neighbour approached him.


    It was a girl in mid 20, she lives in the adjacent apartment. She knew that her new neighbour was coming today, so she prepared a welcome gift, it was just a salt jar, it¡¯s a tradition in the country she came from.


    ¡°Hi new one¡± she said to him


    ¡°Hello¡± he said ¡° you live in the adjacent apartment?¡±


    ¡°well yeah, I¡¯m your closest neighbour¡±


    ¡°Are you a serial killer?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so¡±


    ¡°nice¡±


    he opened the door and entered his apartment


    ¡°nice meeting you¡±


    he intended to close the door but she stopped him ¡° this is for you as a welcome gift¡± she gave him the jar and then she said ¡° My name is Julie by the way¡±


    ¡°Ow sorry, thanks and my name is Thomas¡±


    ¡°Nice to meet you Thomas¡±


    ¡°Nice to meet you too Julie¡±


    Yes the dialogue was awkward.


    Thomas didn¡¯t stay too much in his new apartment, he just put his suitcase on his bed and went down to eat at a nearby restaurant.


    He wanted to make a tour in the city and buy some groceries but he was too tired, so he went to sleep just after eating.

 Decorating the Apratment

    He didn''t sleep too much, 2 hours was enough to rest. He had a new apartment and the first he need to do is buy things for the apartment.


    So he went to the closest Mall which he found it using an app. There in the Mall he entered a shop called ''shoka shop'' which sells basic equipments and Furniture. He got himself some Nails, a hammer, a drill, a flower pot and some paint.


    Then he went to the Supermarkt and bought some Milk, bread, Yagourt, Beer, Tomato can, and Mayonaise.


    And he headed back to his apartment, but as he entered the building, he found Julie next to the Mail Boxes, she was getting her Mails.


    "Hey Thomas" she said


    "Hey" he wasn''t looking at her, he was looking down as he walk beside her.


    "Want some help?"


    "Nah I''m fine, thanks"


    he didn''t stop walking toward the stairs but she stopped him before reaching it.


    "So, there''s Party tonight in the building, I think it would be great if you come, to meet the people who live here, you know and make new friends."


    "I don''t know if I''m gonna make it, sorry, I have plans ... huh ... I mean I''m tired from traveling and I want to rest more"


    "Ok, it''s your call but anyway if you change your mind , the Party is at the Top of the building, on the roof."


    "Thanks for the information"


    Thomas walked the stairs quickly , he didn''t want her to stop him again because he had too much work to do like decorating his new apartment.


    But first he gotta eat. Even though he went to the supermarkt but he didn''t buy anything that could make him full, so he decided to go to a restaurant again. that was the second time that day.


    He went to a restaurant named " the Shelby". Here you can find home made sandwiches but they were made in a restaurant.


    He ordered a tuna sandwich, it''s a sandwich with tuna , vegetables and some spicy sauce.


    It was good. and it made him full because the sandwich was a three quartels of a baguette.


    After eating lunch, he went back to his new apartment, he had several wall, which were not painted for a long time. The last person who rented the place didn''t care about that neither the Super.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    So he had to do it himself. First he put some papers on the floors, it was all newspapers and magazines.


    then he started mixing the paint with water, and painting the first, then the second and at last the third. he called it a day, he''s gonna finish it tomorrow.


    Now, Thomas had to go to the Fish Market to buy some Fish. He liked fish, Dorade was his favourite


    He changed his clothes, took his keys and headed to the Market.


    Unfornatunately for him, there was no fresh Dorade. Anyway the Price of Dorade was too high that he could not afford it , so he''s gonna have to settle for another kind of fish. He choosed the cousin of Dorade, the Salpa Salpa AKA the Golden line fish.


    He got himself one kilo and then he started walking back to his apartment. in the way he saw a nice Restaurant, but he could not enter there with the fish. He had to come back later if he want to get Dinner there.


    He entered his building. This time he didn''t find Julie, he found someone else but still a girl.


    She was an average sized girl and blond with blue eyes. he walked beside her saying in a very light soud " Hello"


    But still she heard that so she said back " Hello" with a smile on her face.


    As he started to walk the stair, she said to him " so are you the new guy?" he looked at her eyes and said "yes". They stared at each other without talking for about five seconds and then Thomas continued walking the stairs to his floor.


    The girl thought about that strange moment for a moment and then went to her apartement.


    She lived just above him.That''s she wanted to know something about him. She didn''t want to live above a noisy person. the small conversation between them proved that he was not.


    Thomas put the fish in the down part of the Fridge which is the Freezer, and then he went out again to go to the restaurant he saw earlier.


    It was a restaurant situated in a corner of a street. It wasn''t too far from Thomas''s place and just infront of the restaurant, there was a bus station, one of the linies of that station was the linie which Thomas was using everyday to go to the subway station and then to his Faculty.


    The Mathematics departement wasn''t in the centre of the town but uptown, and Thomas was living downtown. Rent uptown was too high for him.


    The restaurant wasn''t like the Shelby, it was more fancy but the prices were a little higher. Thomas ordered a Fried chicken, some fries and ketchup.


    He did eat well that day, but he knew that it''s only for that day because it was his first day in this town. He didn''t have the means to eat everyday outside.


    It was already late when Thomas arrived home, so he headed to his bed and slept.


    The next morning, he woke up and fixed himself breakfast and continued painting his apartment.


    He had five more walls to paint. It was very possible that he was gonna finish them today.


    But of course he didn''t. something happenend while painting. the stick broke. so he had to buy another one.


    He took his keys, locked the apartment and left the building heading to the Build store.


    In the way, he met his Super on the streets


    "I thought you were painting your apartment"


    "Yes I''m but the stick broke, so I''m going to get another one."


    "Well don''t, I will give you one, that''s my job as a Super, you know"


    "Ow, ok"


    They went back to the building, and they went downstairs, there was a Tools room there.


    The Super opened the door and grabed the Paint stick an gave it to Thomas.


    Thomas went back to his apartment to finish decorating.


    After three hours it was over.


    He wanted to reward himself, so he made a nice lunch. He made Lazagne and then watched some episodes of a new serie.


    At 4pm that day, he took two Salpa Salpa from the freezer and let them defrosting. He''s gonna eat them that night..

 The Girl with Martial art Skills

    Three hundred meters away from where Thomas lived, there was a building, where a girl named Hofa Hins lived.


    These events occured one day before Thomas had arrived to the City.


    Hofa woke up late that day, noon had already passed. She had a nuit-blanche or in english she was awake all night. She works as a PI ( Private Investigator) and she had two cases to work on, one about Daniel Portman and the other about a John Doe stalking a girl. She worked the night before on the stalker, she didn''t find any leads, so she switched her focus on Daniel as the case sounded easy. His wife Lolita Portman had a feeling that her Husband is cheating on her, so she wanted to be sure and hired Hofa.


    Hofa took a shower and ate something she made very quickly then she opened her laptop and started searching about Daniel, after some long searchs about where he spends his time, she found an adress which Daniel often go there. It was his best friend adress. She went there hoping that she find them and start following him until he meet his misstress. But unfortunately she didn''t, also his friend was not home.


    But He was there one hour ago with Daniel. Hofa found a Homeless in the neighborhood so she went and asked him about Daniel, she showed him his picture and said :" Did you see this guy?" he said " yes" she put the picture in her purse and said " Do you know where he went?" he didn''t say anything but he asked for money with his hand in exchange with the information, Hofa opened her Purse and gave the Homeless man Ten Youra. " Does this make you open your mouth" she said, " yes" he said, she said angry " SO TELL ME WHERE HE WENT" he said " He was with a woman, I think they are married and they went that way".


    She didn''t thank him, and went in the direction he told her but she found herself next to two roads and so she asked another Homeless standing nearby "Did you see this guy?" he noded " Where did he go" He pointed the way with his finger " thanks " she said, and she walked that way.


    After some minutes, she found herself in a Park, and Daniel was there alone. Hofa watched him for thirty minutes and then he left the Park heading to the Cinema. There he met his misstress and they kissed each other, and that what Hofa photographed.


    Unfortunately, he found out that she was following from the Park. So he made some calls to make some guys stalk her and then try to steal her purse.


    But she knew about that, so she decided that she should not go straight home and spend the night walking around the City and then she stayed in a Cafe Shop.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    She ordered a Cappucino and sat on a chair next to the Window to see if there was someone waiting for her to go out. But she didn''t find anyone. Anyway she didn''t want to leave the Cafe Shop and stayed there almost all night.


    After some hours, she thought that it was safe to go home now. She left the Cafe Shop and she went home. In the way there was two men following her. She didn''t find out but then when she was close to her apartment, a third man showed up and stopped her. " Give me your purse" he said and then the other two men ran towards her and catched her.


    "Leave me alone" she said to them but they didn''t and started trying to reach her purse but they could not. At that moment Thomas arrived to the city and he was around the block.


    One of the men showed a knife and shouted " Give me your purse or I''m gonna shoot you" she said " Shoot me ? you have a knife not a gun" " Whatever, just give me the purse or I''m gonna stab you" he said. She said " well that sounds correct" and then kicked his balls and threw the knife away and then she kicked the other guys and knocked them all down.


    At that moment she saw Thomas standing 30 meters away watching. She saw that he had a suitcase so she said to him " Welcome to Neighborhood" and then she left the scene and went back to her apartment. First thing she did was uploading the photo in her laptop, encrypting it and send the encrypted file along with a link to the Wife with a message saying " Pay me and you can see what I found out".


    She didn''t wait too much. Only one hour took the wife to pay her. Happy with getting paid, Hofa ordered a Pizza.


    While waiting for her order, she started playing a video game on a console. It was a game called Gol, It''s a First Person Shooter. a game about a faction taking over the City of Gertha, the game had the same map as the City and almost the same buildings. It was a popular game in the City and it was played as a similator for Taxi drivers.


    After twenty minutes, the pizza guy was infront of her door, she opened the door and gave him a tip but he didn''t leave, he kept staring at her. And then he gave her a note. it was written on it. " You played with the wrong Person but don''t worry I won''t hurt you because I have a job for you, details later"


    It wasn''t Daniel Portman who send that but another Person, the boss of the man who stalked the girl ( the first case).


    She ate the Pizza and then she went to sleep. It was already morning.


    Hofa was not a normal PI, she was talented in Martial Arts, she mastered Kung-fu when she was fifteen and Kenjutsu when she was sixteen, she had a sword decorating her apartment, she never used it but she might soon.


    When she woke up, she went to her friend''s Dojo to practice her moves. There she found a guy who approached her and he said " Hello, Mademoiselle Hins, Do you mind if we talk in private?" she nod and they went outside the dojo. he said " I believe you got the message from the Pizza guy, right?" she said " Yes, you are the one who send it?" he said " No, it was my boss, who is going to hire you, can you please follow me to the car?" She followed him to the car and he drove her to a place outside the City.