A Fighter's Miracle Part 1

Smoke tickled the nostrils of 12-year-old Moses Swift as he snored in his sleep. Then, unconsciously, he turns to the other side, and the smoke followed him burning his eyes. He bolted up, hitting his head on the board above him as smoke circled him in an embrace. He coughed, glancing around in the semi-darkness as screams of fire from above and around him jolts him fully awake.

Crawling out from the cellar, he was sleeping, grabbing a quick glimpse of the Sun sneaking up from behind the hill. Her light was exploding behind the clouds, mixing red and yellow with white fluffy clouds, turning the sky into a fiery orange hue. Birds soar across a beautiful atmosphere, welcoming the Sun as it raises, sharing its light, allowing them to see their meals of fishes clearer beneath the semi-clam Caribbean Sea.

Two men were rushing towards the house with buckets of water. They saw Moses as he exited the cellar, and one of them shouted, "You started the fire!"

Moses tried to run, but they grabbed him after dropping the buckets of water. More persons came with pans and other containers with water. The two men started beating him, pulling him away from the house as the fire devour the wooden structure and its contents.

'I didn't start any fire," Moses wailed. "I was sleeping under the cellar when the smoke awoke me."

They continue hitting him, pains exploding all over his body until someone pulled him away as he faints. Then, awaking in the hospital, his right foot and left arm in a sling. His head, stomach, eyes, and jaw exploding in agony. For the next two weeks, his mother and the police were the only visitors he had.

Weeks later, he was discharged to the Glenville Home for Boys. Feeling as if he was in prison, he escaped after one year. Unfortunately, freedom didn't stick too long with him; he was caught and returned one month later. For the next six years, Moses fled five times but was always caught and returned. Finally, he was released on his eighteenth birthday to face the world.

Returning home, his mother gave him dinner and told him goodbye. Everyone believed that he was the one who started the fire that destroyed Mr. Gibson's house. Mr. Gibson was a blind eighty-year-old with no family in the community. Everyone assists him.

No one wanted to help or employ Moses, and he was banned from the area.

With limited education, a few dollars, and only the clothes on his back, Moses left to meet life. He has to steal to eat, and he slept where he could when he could. He did odd jobs, just for food. A shelter nearby gave him several pieces of oversized clothing. Mr. Hayes, a tailor, allowed him to clean his shop, paying him with alterations. Then it became a regular job.

He befriends four other boys, who were homeless too. They drank a lot. Moses didn't drink. His mother and step-father were alcoholics, and his step-father would often beat him, his mother, and his five other siblings. Moses was the fourth child and the only one who fought back. Knocking down his step-father for hitting his mother, she turned on him, so he ran away and hid under Mr. Gibson's cellar.

He couldn't comprehend his Mother's reaction. Finally, fear prevented him from returning home, and he fell asleep under the cellar.

The boys would often tease him because he chose to remain sober, which resulted in many fights.

Three days later, four of them met in the park. Orville, the oldest, was twenty years old, reaching six feet four inches tall. Moses was the smallest, a few inches under five feet, but feared by all of them. Years of fighting his siblings, step-father, Mother, the boys in the Home, and life, he was nicknamed 'The Fighter.'

"It's Christmas Eve," Orville planned his first robbery. "He has a lot of money because it's his busiest time of the year. So I've been watching the store all week."

Nickleson Liquor Store was family-owned and run.

Moses was convinced. Orville gave him the 9 mm Glock pistol saying, "It's 12:39 P.M, and he delivers a lot at this time of the year, so not many people would be inside."

They waited in the car as Moses entered!

Twenty minutes later, Orville and Jack entered the store. Moses wasn't there!

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.