"You are not my son!!"

He heard it once. But perhaps, too caught up trying to console the sobbing woman in front of him, he did not react to it.

She was most likely in pain, right? After all, losing a loved one was not an easy thing to take all at once and for his mother, losing her husband and a child all in one day certainly would cause a few screws to loosen.

He tried to approach her again, get in closer. He placed his hands on her shoulder, barely containing his own sobs as well. He had just lost his younger brother and father. They had gone fishing that day and on their way back, news came that both were involved in an accident and died on the spot.

The only reason he had not gone a long was because he had extra studies to do if he wanted to keep up his grades. And he was motivated to get a good grade because his father promised him a favourite game of his if his grades improved. Well, now he knew he could say bye to the game for sure because his father was now dead.

For him, it was more than a blow. But being only ten years old and processing loss and grief while simultaneously trying to cope with being the man, as his father would always tell him before leaving for his work, he knew it was his duty to calm his mother down.

"Mom, please... it's okay. We'll get through this," he whispered, his voice trembling.

The woman pushed him away forcefully. "Don't touch me!" she screamed.

Just then, the door came flying open and in came an older woman. It was Nana, his grandmother. She had heard the news and rushed over as quick as possible.

Nana was his mother's mother. She immediately rushed to his mother's side, consoling her and asking a series of questions.

"What happened? How are you holding up, dear?" Nana's voice was filled with concern.

His mother could not answer except sob in Nana's embrace. He too could feel a little dry thing on his throat, this was due to all the suppressed tears he was holding back.

His brother was gone. His father was gone.

Weeks passed, after the funeral and his mother had changed completely towards him. She became an alcoholic and was always in a bad mood. She stopped cooking and doing the basic things a mother should help her son do.

He knew he had to step up to the plate. She was still mourning, it was a lot to take in and despite how she treated him, just like his father always said, he was the man.

He had to clean after her mess and occasionally was put in harm's way as well as she never could pick herself up. One time he nearly burned the house down trying to make dinner for himself as his mother hadn't returned him for over three days.

Things were getting really bad in the house.

Nana came to visit occasionally to see how they were doing but all she ever met was her daughter in a sad heap of alcohol.

"You need to pull yourself together," Nana would say, her voice stern but clearly, she was worried.

But those words never seemed to get through. Matter of fact, nothing ever seemed to get through to his mother except the alcohol she gulped and the lavish late nights she'd keep, returning with numerous strangers, men he had never met.

But he was too small to understand all these things. Yes, he missed his father and brother dearly, he never really did understand why his mother would just suddenly change like that.

The maltreatment got worse. It was like his mother had changed completely, no longer whom he knew.

This continued till he was twelve and one fateful afternoon, she came rushing through the door. She had just picked up his report card and flung it at him.

"You're useless! Just like your grades!" she spat, her words slurred from alcohol.

She was yelling, claiming he was a waste of time and resources and all he ever did was eat her food and waste her money.

He knew he never had the bright spot in his head for education. This caused him to get bullied in school by teachers but he never brought this up to his parents because his late brother was the complete opposite of him at school. He had the best grades and did magnificently well. Talking about these things made him feel like he was trying to make excuses for being inadequate.

But that was the thing. He was in fact, failing and badly.

Matter of fact, he knew getting into college might just be the point where he'd be stuck forever and keep respawning like those hard video game levels.

His mother never failed to remind him that her only child who should be alive was dead and she was left with one that she never wanted to begin with. Those words hurt him a lot.

She would start to thrash things around and from the looks of things, he could tell that she was about to spiral out of control once more.

Eventually, Nana, after trying her hardest had to come take him from his mother, fearing his mother was going out of control.

Nana took good care of him and made sure he never lacked. She never talked down to him or made him feel unwanted.

On occasions, he had tried to get through to his mother but she wanted nothing to do with him.

"Leave me alone! You're not my son!" she would scream, slamming the door in his face.

When he finally turned eighteen, Nana told him the truth. He was adopted when his adoptive mother had issues giving birth. Meaning that his young brother was not even his blood brother and his father and mother weren't his biological parents.

"You deserved to know, sweetheart. But remember, you're still family to me," Nana said softly. As sweet as that felt hearing Nana say it, he couldn't help but feel sad.

Now that he knew the truth, it all started to make a lot of sense now and why she resented him so much. He has decided to stop trying, fearing that his mother's threat to call the cops on him will some day stop being a threat.

He continued going to school but now in Nana's house. She got him to do extra home lessons to pick up on his grades but even he knew he was a failed prospect. No matter how hard he tried to study so as to make Nana proud, it was like his brain was clogged and nothing got in.

But while in his grandmother's house, he had found something in the attic on one of his leisure hours. In a small crate, he found a bunch of supplies. An old advertising paper of two boxers squaring up for a fight. Some white tapes and the thing his eyes felt most drawn to, an old boxing glove. Apparently, it belonged to his grandfather, Nana's late husband.

He had put it on. It felt right, felt just ...right.

Who cared if nothing was in his head?

What if there was something in these hands?

And with how things were going, surely anyone could get them!

That was when it came to him.

He was going to be a boxer!!!

"Nana," he called out, excitement in his voice for the first time in years, "I think I found my calling!"

Nana smiled, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Whatever makes you happy, dear. Just remember, life's gonna throw punches at you. But you? You're gonna punch right back,"...

Yeah...

He was going to smack life back twice as hard with his fist!

....

In a small apartment, a young man jolted out of bed as his alarm clock went off.

"Shit...shit...shit!!!" He chanted as he swung his legs to the ground, running straight for the bathroom just adjacent his bed. He had overslept again and of all days, it just had to be his big day!