Post by Johnny Valentine on Sept 15, 2010 17:12:52 GMT -8
Hello! my name is Johnny Michael Valentine.
I’m 35 years young.
I am the Red Team Leader of the Anomaly Unit.
The Rhyme and Reason
[/right]I was born February 6, 1975, on a snowy night in Boston, MA. At least I was told it was snowy. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. My mother, Flores Valentine, stayed at home to raise her three children. I have a younger sister, Maggie, and an older brother, Benji. My father, Michael Valentine, was a Detective for the Boston Police Department. A third generation cop and one of the departments best detectives. I grew up in home that was all about my father’s job. My father the hero. It was a pretty apple pie life, full of skinned knees and childish pranks. I was never above torturing my baby sister, not much has changed on that front.
My childhood and teenage years were boring. No different from the kids that lived down the street. Until one night during the last few weeks of my senior year of high school, and just months away from following my brother in the Police Academy. Some friends and I had had been out late, but what met me at home was worse than being out past curfew. It was like walking into a living nightmare. Two squad cars that weren’t my father’s own sat outside our house. Automatically a mantra started to set off in my head: he was alright, just hurt . . . he was going to come home. It was the last time I’d be that naïve ever again, because it was nothing more than a delusion.
No sooner had I walked in the door than I knew. The air was thick and my sister had dived into my chest. My father’s partner’s wife was sitting on our cough holding my mother. I couldn’t’ find Benji, but I had a feeling I knew where he was. No one could blame him for being gone. My father was dead, and the reason was wrapped up in a mystery and cryptic answers. It would be years before I got any answers at all.
After that night my life took a turn. I couldn’t face being a cop, and that mean losing my brother’s respect. My life was turning out to be like nothing I planned it to be. Just, after what happened to my father I couldn’t blindly go forth. For months afterword I just drifted through life, now knowing. All I had was the anger of not knowing. Of losing the man who had been hero and my idol, and it pulled me farther and farther away from my family.
Finally a friend found me a job at his uncle’s auto shop. Working with my hands helped, but it didn’t stop the anger that seemed to boil over in my chest. Then one night it seemed there was at least one more twist in my life. Hal, my boss, had asked me close up. It was nothing new for him to do it. He had a family to get back to, I didn’t. I took the long way home that night through the abandon part of town since my brother was coming to dinner. Yeah, I still hadn’t moved out. My mother needed us.
This part of town was usually quiet this time of night. Every so often a few kids might be getting up to some sort of small trouble, but all and all I was normally left for my thoughts. I was usually late every time my brother came to dinner. Person could only be called a disappointment to his dead father so much before the punches stopped being pulled. Tonight thought, my little detour wasn’t as quiet as normal. Movement caught my eye and my head snapped in the direction at seen it. Wondering if a few Hermits had found a warm place to sleep in the empty factory and surrounding buildings now that it was getting colder. A couple of sorry little Hermit wasn’t what I caught site of though.
A couple of normal looking guys were moving toward the empty factory. I may not have decided to grow up and be a cop, but I was my father’s son. So, I decided to get just a little better look. After all there didn’t seem to be harm in it.
The Start of Something New
[/right]As I walked into the door the noise nearly made me go deaf. Even now I'm not sure how many people where in there that night. All of them yelling, laughing, and drinking as the stood around the factory. Some of them grumbling as they passed me, but I could never make out what exactly they were saying. I moved with the crowd since I had no idea what was going on around me. The air was thick with cigarette smoke and it burned in my lungs. People moved around me but didn't ever seem to really see me. It was all starting to make my head hurt.
It didn't take long for us to reach the heart of the commotion. Everyone seemed to be moving around it like a pulse. The smoke was heavier here and the yelling was louder, but not it seemed their yelling had a purpose. There were hands in the air waving cash around, but I couldn't see what exactly was going on. All I could see was a sea of heads. So I started to shove my way through the crowd making my apologies as I went.
When I finally got to a place I could see my jaw probably would hit the floor. A large area was roped off in the middle of the crowd. The rope seemed to serve to keep the crowd out and not the fighters in. Oh, that's right I said fighters. Now, I grew didn't exactly grow up in civilized society. I'd seen, and been a part of, my own fair share of fist fights. After my father died my temper was on a short leash. I stayed until they started to kick us.
For days what I'd seen at the factory had been in the back of my mind. As I worked on the cars in the shop or went through my day. I found myself spacing out here and there, never really sitting still. The next thing I knew a had nearly passed and I'm back at the factory. I was there to watch, it was what I told myself as I walked in. Maybe even putting some money down on a fight. Funny how life never stops surprising your.
Before the night was over I found myself inside the boxing ring. The details how I managed to get in were fuzzy since I'd had my fair share of the beer, and what exactly happened inside the ring. What I do remember is that I got my ass handed to me. It didn't stop me from coming back again and again. I knew what I was doing couldn't be healthy for me, but my world had fallen apart in the last year. Now something was starting to make sense in my mind. I finally was starting to feel whole again.
