Short Story: Big Bad Red

Above is a picture of Big Bad Red. Short stories are a lost art because they typically generate little money for publishers. Many of us self-publishers and indie writers hold short stories so dear because they can be dense with meaning while giving love to ideas that won't translate well to a novel. They also help flesh out ideas for larger works. A character may shine as a short story protagonist, and their appearnace in your longer projects will be even better with that character development behind them.

Big Bad Red

Staring at her dingey mirror, she sat in a small dressing room, stroking her blazing red hair behind her ear to reveal bruised skin and healed scars. She took it all in slowly as she thought to herself, “one more night.” It was always one more night, but saying it helped it go down easier. She tied her hair into a tight bun to keep it out of her face and taped her healing cuts closed so they wouldn’t open again.

              She thought of her grandmother; she could never let her know how she has been paying the bills. Part time jobs at minimum wage hardly kept the electricity on, let alone medical expenses and heat in the harsh city winters. New York City turned out to be incredibly unforgiving, and this was the only way they could survive. This city sucked the hope from her eyes, slowly replacing it with ferocity and despair. 

              The past six years rushed through her head as she stood up and took one last look at the picture of her grandmother taped to her mirror. She did this every night that she worked. “Just one more night.” She jumped up and down a few times to focus, then reached for her bottom drawer. Pulling smelling salts from the drawer, she cracked them open and breathed in deeply before reeling back dramatically. “It’s show time.”

              She walked through the concrete hallway as the rumbling music and cheers slowly intensified, and the ground tremored beneath her feet. The crowd chanted something repeatedly, but she couldn’t make it out until she crashed the heavy door labeled “FIGHTERS ONLY” open, revealing a forest of people cheering her name, “Red, Red, Red!”

Red stepped out of the fog, and colorful flashing lights Danced over her. She was wearing a black and crimson red silk robe, red sports bra, and compressions shorts. In big bold letters, a sign raised behind her with “Big Bad Red” written in bold crimson letters.

              Red marched through the forest of onlookers as they branched out patting her on the back, encouraging her to press forward. Red’s heart was beating out of her chest as she entered the haphazardly constructed ring.

The music stopped, the lights went out, and the crowd went silent. A slow heartbeat filled the room with a synchronized strobe flashing with each beat until a loud click echoed through the underground stadium. The spotlights illuminated the stage and revealed a towering man covered in dark grey hair. His camouflage leotard struggled to contain his muscles. The crowd cheered, “It’s The Wolf, It’s The Wolf,!”

               Red has never fought a man in the ring before, let alone an opponent twice her size, but the grand prize for winning was $15,000, and that might be enough to get her grandmother out of this succubus of a city.

Red and The Wolf made eye contact as the announcer introduced the two. The referee went over the rules with them briefly, they touched gloves, then returned to their respective corners.

              When the bell rang, The Wolf roared, charging toward Red with his arms wide open. Red sprinted toward him and slid between his legs at the last minute, kicking the back of The Wolf’s knee before popping back to her feet. Laughing, The Wolf twisted violently and connected a left hook into Red’s side. She fell back and rolled away to keep her distance.

Desperately searching for a way out, her eyes darted around the ring, but the cage walls closed them in. She stood with a determined grin and huffed at The Wolf, waving her arms to goad him. He took the bait, charging Red, but she leapt from the ground and flipped over him as he crashed into the wall. Like a whirlwind, Red spun and jabbed three spots on his back, and The Wolf’s arm fell limp.

              He looked back angrily and started throwing wild punches with his right hand, hitting Red three times. Her bandages fell to the ground, and blood dripped to the floor. She faltered back to avoid The Wolf’s rageful flurry, and just when she saw an opening, she spit in his eyes. As The Wolf wiped red spit from his face, Red rolled on the ground, grabbed The Wolf’s ankle, and kicked upward into his face, and careened to the ground.

Red’s adrenaline gave her invigorating strength. She saw a flash of her grandmother in their dim apartment. Willing to break any limit she had to give her grandmother a life she deserved, Red channeled the animosity this ruthless city filled her with and twisted The Wolf’s ankle until she heard a loud crack.

              The Wolf howled in pain, and the referee waved his hands with a loud ring of the bell. Alternating waves of guilt and elation poured through Red as she was crowned the winner of the grand prize. She had never felt proud of fighting in underground arenas, but raising her hand in victory against The Wolf felt like an impossible dream. The crowd chanting her name stretched a smile across her face.

              She stepped out of the ring and charged through the forest of people. Busting the door open, she hastily packed her things in the dressing room, including the $15,000 cash prize and the picture of her grandmother, then sprinted through the midnight air back to her shoebox of an apartment.

              She bolted into her apartment door yelling, “Grams, we did it,” but there was no response. Nudging the door open, she crept into the bedroom and saw her grandmother lying asleep with a small phone illuminating her face. Red smiled, walked slowly to her grandmother’s bed, and grabbed the phone. Her heart dropped into her stomach when she saw what her grandmother had watched before falling asleep: a video titled, “Big Bad Red Breaks The Wolf.”