(3) Bar Fight

"What the hell am I doing here?" I asked myself...

Sitting on a long bar chair, with my sixth beer almost gone...   The bar was not so crowded yet...  I came early in order to avoid any confrontation with the bodyguards due to my age... They let me in without any questions... I knew that they hated to see the bar empty... It had been nearly two hours since I was in... And people had started to show up... The rhythm of the music was also changing from soft tones to energetic tones... I could see a red-dressed amazing blonde was moving step by step to the dancing floor... I was sure this spark would ignite the fuel and the dancing floor would be full of human flesh within hour or so... If I had been at the entrance door at this moment, the bodyguards would be kicking my ass out.

But the question was hanging there: "What the hell am I doing here?"

I should have been at home, working for the national university placement exam... This was my only chance to run away from this town... From this hell... This small dirty labyrinth... I knew I would definitely lose my mind if I stayed here... I  had seen quite number of people stuck in this labyrinth... I knew how they hated to live here; but every time they attempted to go out, they came back with their tale between their legs... And most of them became what they hated... Fucking assholes... Fucking everything and everybody they encountered... They fucked their wives, their mistresses, their customers, their employees, their friends, the wives of their friends, their countryman, the visitors coming to their shops and hotels...They fucked the lives of their off-springs, infecting them with the same sickness...  And this dirty labyrinth continued to feed these monsters with more body, from all around the world... To feed their lust, their love of money, their cruelty... I hated this place...

But the question was still hanging there: "What the hell am I doing here?"

I was feeling that, like a horror film, the labyrinth was a living being... Feeding you with her poison and the poison was addictive... Once inside you, it was searching your soul, finding your weaknesses, and hooking you to the labyrinth from your weaknesses... And the labyrinth was resourceful for the human weaknesses... Flesh bodies for the lust, money for the greed, drugs for the pain, synthetic joys for the melancholy... Once you were bitten, once you got the poison, it was almost impossible to escape...

Suddenly; a soft, polite voice interrupted my deepening thoughts... "Would you mind if I sat next to you, my friend?"...  It was a short, middle-aged  man... Wearing a suit, instead of jean & t-shirt... The first thing hitting my recovering brain was that: "He must be gay..." This would not be the first time I was targeted... And I started to think appropriate words to defuse this potentially ugly situation for me... But the man just sat down next to me without waiting any response and quickly ordered two beers from the bartender... Then returned to me and smiled: "Don't worry my friend... I am not gay as you thought..." After a small laughter he completed his words: "As a matter of fact, I am here for women...  Beauties taking your mind to the high heavens!!!"...

I was not a talkative person but he was quite chat-starter... In couple of minutes, I learnt that he was a salesman for a beverage company... Always on the roads...  Works hard until late but visits bars to feel refreshed... A real love-bug... Not married of course (I remember he underlined: "God forbid!".)  Suddenly he stopped, got a few sips from his beer and asked: "What about you?". After a small silence, I introduced myself briefly and then talked about my theory of "labyrinth"... I was expecting to impress him but he gave me a mouthful laugh: "I thought that you were a kind of weirdo when I first saw you in the bar... Now, I know I was right!"...  I got offended a little bit but he immediately noticed and added: "Don't get offended... I like weirdos.."

After that point, he completely lost his interest on me... We just fell silent... I noticed that his eyes were scanning dance floor and some time later fixed on a target: The blonde which fired the dancing spree..

The blonde was, at most, in her mid-twenties.. She was one of those exceptional beauties... Long, smooth legs... Boobs: not too big, not too small... Just in divine proportion, making them unbelievable... And her face... It was the most inviting face I had ever seen... Like a mysterious door glowing in the mist and promising you heavenly adventures...

She belonged to much more classy places than this dirty hen-house... But there she was... Dancing on the floor with her procovative moves... At some point, I thought she was hired by the bar owner to get attraction... But later, when I saw some bartenders and bodyguards dancing around her to get her attention, I was pretty much convinced that, it was not the case...

I quickly scanned the bar... And saw that all men in the bar were fixed to her... Having dreams of her... I could almost hear their voices... Howling like a wolf... Bellowing like a bull... Roaring like a lion... Some of them, that has enough courage or enough thirst, were trying to impress her with their moves on the floor... Trying to touch her... to dominate her... But she was not giving in to anybody... Letting them to show their talent with a few moves and then pushing them away with very nice transitions... She was really the untouchable queen of the dance floor... A fire demon with an angelic beauty...

Again, my thoughts were interrupted by the salesman for the second time with a solid laughter... He put his hand to my shoulder and pointed at the front part of my jean with his other hand: "Watch out my friend! The labyrinth is getting into you!!!"... Then I realized that my male organ was awaken and creating a small tent in the front part of my jean...  I blushed in that moment but he continued: "Come on boy... Let's show these rednecks how to dance! And let's get this bitch... Believe me, she will screw two of us in one shot!"

I smiled at him and replied: "I am just a fool boy... Probably a worse dancer than those rednecks...  And do not want to ruin your show.. Just go and get her, tiger!"

He laughed again and said: "I love your honesty, boy! Wish me luck then!"...

He jumped to the dance floor like an old powerful gladiator returning to the arena... He was not as energetic as the younger boys but had more educated moves... Using much more delicate figures, slowly he reached at the best performance on the floor and got the attention of the blonde... They started to dance together... She was performing the most seductive figures on him and he was trying to reciprocate... A few minutes later, I saw that some of the bartenders and bodyguards jumped to the dancing floor and they "danced him out" almost forcefully... There was no an open aggression but the intent was clear... They wanted him out!

The salesman tried to argue with them shortly but he did not insist... Stopped dancing and sat back next to me... He was quite angry... "Stupid assholes!" he murmured! "Have you seen how they get me out! Jealous bastards!"..

I told him: "Forget it.. It's not worth it... She is a classy bitch... I don't think she considers any male in the bar a real match for herself... She is just having fun with us... Showing the carrot a little bit and then kicking you out as you believe you are the chosen one!"  He replied in disbelief: "Yeah... yeah..."

After that point, the salesman was in rage... He ordered beers one after another... (I also got my free share from his drinking spree...) He was continuously complaining from the staff of the bar... "Jealous bastards... I could be having her in my bedroom now... Fuck them!!!"... I told him again, to forget the incident, not to talk aloud about the staff... But he was like a raged bull; after the start of the charge, it was not possible to stop him...

I still cannot fully grasp how they moved us outside of the bar so fast! It was like a couple of superman had carried us out in the speed of light... I knew what would be coming next and I was trying to remember the advice of  my uncle: "If the fight is unavoidable, you should hit first! Hit to the points where you can give enormous pain... Like the nose or the balls..."

But my comprehension of time and matter was completely distorted by the massive alcohol in my blood... Just as I was trying to move my fist for the first blow, I noticed that the fist of my opponent was already moved, approaching to my jaw in slow motion...  It was like, it took a couple of minutes for the punch to arrive at my jaw... In the mean time, I could go and brew me a coffee to refresh myself... But I couldn't move, my body was frozen or was not carrying out the orders sent by my brain, which is running in an incredible speed...

After the first hit, the blows continued like rain from all directions... It was not possible to stop all of them... A few seconds later, I realized that there was no point in resisting and maybe I could utilize another strategy to survive... I let myself down, and played dead on the ground... It was not a complete success, but at least they left me alone after a few kicks to the stomach... Then I had the chance to look at my friend... He was courageously fighting back but he was really in a very bad shape... At least four guys giving him a hard time and he had no chance of winning... I stood up and shouted: "Enough, you will kill him... You cannot take pride from beating two drunks..."

I was not sure, whether my words had any effect on them or they had already realized that the guy would go into coma...  They stop attacking the man... And one of them, the one with a clean face, helped me... We carried the salesman to his hotel and he disappeared instantly... I was alone in the night... Every part of my body was in pain but I could not go home with my deformed face... I was not ready for my mom's outcries or my father's or uncle's interrogations! I went to the nearest park, found a bench and laid... I had no energy left to do anything else... The thought of death crossed my mind, before I fell asleep...

The next day, I was waken up by two police officers... It was early in the morning and I did not feel like to stand up but the two policemen took me to the police station without showing much kindness... When I entered the station, I saw a few familiar faces waiting for me in front of the police chief... The salesmen and bartenders were there, some of the bodyguards were there, I think the bar owner were there... The police chief was smoking silently with his razor-sharp eyes focused on me...

I was seated in front of the police chief... He asked me directly, without any introduction: "Mr. XXX, this gentlemen here is claiming that he was beaten by these bartenders and bodyguards together with you without any legitimate reason... He is declaring you as his witness... What do you say?" (Of course, he was rougher than this.. But I found difficult to translate his words as they were...)

For a few seconds, there was a silence in the room... I could hear the other voices, unrelated with the scene... A type-writer in the next room... The annoying buzz of a fly... The chatter of some people in the corridor... But everybody was looking at me, waiting for me to say something...

I suddenly started to talk: "No, these are not the guys who beat me... I was beaten by my friends because of a girl issue..." The salesman was in shock  and was not able to talk yet! The chief officer was angry and shouted at me instantly: "Don't lie to me... If you don't know this man, how come he knows your name?" I spoke calmly: "I met this man in front of the bar... I wanted to enter the bar but the bodyguards didn't let me in because of my age... I spoke to this man to get me in but he refused... Instead he bought me a beer from the nearby liqueur shop and we drank together outside having a small-talk... I told my name to him in that conversation"...

The salesman was in total rage: "I cannot believe this!!! Are you hearing what you are saying? Don't you see what they did to us?... We are ruined, looking like hell because of these bastards and are you defending them right now?"

The chief officer yelled at the salesman: "Be quiet and calm, otherwise I will let you taste our prison cell for the rest of the day!"  He then turned to me and asked one more time: "Are you sure, boy?" I nodded silently... After that he talked to all of us with a threatening voice: "OK then... Mr. Salesman, you had no witness and I have nothing to do with you until you find one... And you Mr. Bar Owner, I do not want to hear even one more complaint from your bar... I will gladly close your bar for at least a month without any second thoughts! Now, get the hell out of here... I have more serious business to follow!"...

The salesman was not cooled down yet... He again started yelling: "I don't understand what kind of man you are... Are you crazy?? You disgusting freak!!! I hate this town... Everything is turned upside down here... Everybody is nuts!!! I disgust this hen-house, this shit, this dirty labyrinth!"

With his last words, the salesman stopped talking and was bursted into laughter... He laughed hysterically until two officers took him out of the station...

When I got out of the station, I stood frozen for a while... I didn't know what to do... The sun was rising and it would be intolerably hot soon.. Then, my steps took me to the same bar... I sat to the same chair... One bartender brought me a beer, without waiting for the order... I silently and slowly drank beers in the remaining of the day, with my deformed face, as if nothing happened...