Lightning Strike

Something like a lightning strike startled Laura.

She was lying in bed. Her eyes wide open.

Now wide awake, she looked at the clock next to her bed. 4:38 am. Even for her, that was too early.

But today was not a normal day for Laura. Today was the day she had worked so long for.

She stood up, no sleepiness left, and looked out of the large window next to her bed.

It was dark, but there was no sign of a thunderstorm. "Was it just a dream? Everyone knows the feeling of falling in a dream and suddenly waking up, but I don't feel that was it.", she thought.

The sky was dark but the city was brightly lit. She was in a hotel in Las Vegas. Laura lived in Germany and could not get used to this sight. Lights of hotels, big signs and casinos illuminated the night. It was true what was said about Las Vegas. The city that never sleeps.

In the reflection of the window she saw herself. Her blond, shoulder-length hair was tousled after the short night. Her blue eyes and her rather serious manner earned her the nickname Ice Princess. She didn't like the name, but she was a professional fighter. It was good for her to have a nickname.

In the distance she could see the lights of the Grand Garden Arena. That's where she was going to have her first title match today.

Her opponent was the Russian boxer Anastasia. Her nickname was Red Queen, and she was undefeated for many years. Anastasia was Laura's idol. They had met many times in the past, just never in the ring. The first time they had a sparring match in preparation for one of Anastasia's many title matches. Laura lost badly. But it was a good experience for her because on that day she became aware how far the top boxer was ahead of her. There were several friendly talks after that. They became friends and chatted a lot. Every time after a match they congratulated each other.

And today was finally the day. Finally they would both face each other in the ring. She had waited many years for this opportunity. The world title match she had worked her whole life for. Laura had fought on big stages before but this time was different. Now she would fight at the top for the first time. She was excited.

Now it was time for her guilty pleasure. She had dedicated to her strict diet, daily training and her whole life to boxing. But there was this one thing she would not give up. A cigarette and a coffee in the morning. Her trainer would kill her for it if he ever found out. But it was part of her daily routine for a long time now and she didn't want to miss it.

She was about to stand up as,

ring ring

She looked at the display of her phone.

Her manager Donald called her.

She wasn't in the mood for a conversation with him because she knew why he wanted to speak with her. But if she just ignored the call she would have to listen to it over and over again. In that case he was like a child. But it worked.

So she answered the call.

"Hi, Donald"

"Hey Laura, so you're already awake. I couldn't sleep either." he said in a worried voice. That was unusual for Donald.

"I had a strange dream," she looked outside again, wondering if it was really a dream.

"I'm not surprised, you must be excited. Laura, I'm calling again about the issue from yesterday."

Almost 7 days ago, blue phenomena, as they were called by the media, appeared in the world. They were like walls and nobody knew what they were about. There were rumors that some people could pass through these walls. But no one came back. There was even a video of a man going through the wall. But with today's technology, almost everyone agreed that it had to be a fake. Nobody knew exactly what these things were. Some people were talking about aliens, but it wasn't the right time for Laura to think about it. She had to focus.

One of these blue phenomena has also appeared in Las Vegas. Even the National Guard came to the city with the military and cordoned off the whole area. As a result, many people left the city because they were afraid. Also for Laura's fight many have given up their tickets. The stadium should be full, but it looks like only about half of the seats will be occupied.

Donald, who was the manager for Laura, of course didn't like that since the income would decrease. He was not a bad guy, it was his job to take care of the finances, but Laura was still annoyed.

"Don, I know how you feel about this, but I have been preparing for this fight for many months. There is no way I would ever miss this chance."

Surprisingly, Donald laughed.

"Just as I expected, I guess there is no point in trying to convince you."

"Yeah" Laura simply answered. She had expected a discussion, but Donald was well aware how Laura must feel about today's match.

"Okay, so I will see you later at the stadium right. You should try to sleep again. It's still early and you have to be in your best state today."

"I will give it a try", Laura lied.

"See you later."

Click.

Laura sat back by the window and leaned back in the large and surprisingly comfortable armchair and lit her cigarette, sighing contentedly.

After sunrise Laura left her hotel and headed straight for the gym. She wasn't tired and had a lot of time to collect her thoughts just staring out of the window for hours.

But she also felt like she still had to make some preparations. Her trainer advised her not to train today so she doesn't waste any energy she desperately needed for today's match.

But she decided that a light warm up would help her get rid of the tension.

When she entered the training center, no one else was there. Only the receptionists greeted her with a smile. She didn't know why it was empty and was surprised. Maybe people were still afraid of the blue thing, or maybe her manager rented the whole training field for today and no one else was allowed to enter. Wouldn't be the first time. She decided on the latter.

The large room was unfamiliar to her. Almost unpleasant. She was used to the training rooms in Germany, which were much smaller.

In the room there were hundreds of punching bags, four boxing rings and all kinds of training material. Some of them looked really strange and she had absolutely no idea how to use them.

Finally, she saw a familiar face. Her coach walked around the large room with a suspicious look. He had to feel the same way she did. It was uncomfortable.

Her trainer was something like a father figure to her. When she saw a boxing match for the first time as a girl, she was immediately excited and wanted to try it. In the next gym she met her future trainer for the first time. He immediately recognized Laura's talent. He trained other people, but no one was nearly as good as Laura. From that day on she was always there for him and together they made it to the top. Almost.

On the outside, the ice princess always seemed very cold, but when she saw him she had to smile.

"Good morning Peter, how are you?"

"Hey Laura. I was looking around and I still can't get used to all that stuff."

"Yeah, me too. Most of it is unnecessary anyways." She looked around and sighed.

Only then did his expression change.

"Nervous?" he simply asked.

"I hate to admit it, but I'm not going to lie either," she answered honestly.

Peter's laugh boomed throughout the whole room. He was always very loud but, while she found it rather annoying with most people, she could stand it with Peter.

"What about you?"

"I won't lie either. I'm nervous as hell."

"So you wanna do some light exercises today?" he asked after a short break.

"Yes, I need to calm down and need some distraction."

"Okay, but don't overdo it. You know it's not necessary and you need all of your energy later."

"I know," she replied and headed for the locker room. She was about to ask why he was here. But she knew the answer. He also needed a distraction..

Outside of boxing she usually wore a black business suit, but only in her boxing clothes she felt really comfortable. She put her hair in a ponytail and put on the light clothes she would also wear in the ring.

She bandaged her hands and went straight to the punching bag, skipping her usual warm up. She usually started by running a few miles but that would exhaust her body too much.

.

Laura focused on the punching bag, as she had done thousands of times before. This time, however, it felt different. She felt an incredible power in her fist. It was like her fist was going to explode.

She threw a quick jab at the punching bag and her fist went through it as if it were made of paper. While she still had her hand in it, the sand was already running out of the two gaping holes.

Peter was still in the room and heard the loud bang.

He hurried to get to Laura who was standing next to the bag in confusion.

"What happened?" he asked with a worried face.

"I only punched the bag," she answered confused.

"Ah, so that's the infamous American quality." Peter laughed out loud "Let's end it here for today. Before you break anything else. We should have breakfast first and go over our tactics again."

Discussing tactics. Most boxers didn't like this part but Laura knew how important it was. Boxing is a game of highspeed chess, where you need to think at least one step ahead of your opponent. Most beginners don't understand this and fail early. Laura learned this as a child, and her calm way of analyzing her opponent got her ahead quickly. Even when her opponent was physically superior, she won many fights that way.

Still, Laura was a little disappointed to stop training already, but she felt good. She looked at her hand and back to the punching bag.

What is this feeling? I don't feel like I could lose to anyone today. Nobody can beat me.

She knew there was a fine line between self-confidence and arrogance. Arrogance has ended many careers. But for this moment, she liked the idea of being invincible.

She smiled and walked off.

Peter stopped for a moment, turned around and looked at the punching bag.

There was a clean hole. That couldn't just be due to the quality.

Puzzled, he looked after Laura.

"Well, whatever." He shook his head.

He turned away and followed Laura.

"Wanna do some sightseeing?" he suddenly asked, "some fresh air would be good for you."

She couldn't help but laugh at that, earning a raised brow from Peter.

Laura wasn't convinced at first, but she knew that it would help her ease her mind.

The streets were already much busier than they had been a few days ago. She arrived a few days ago to avoid jetlag. But the atmosphere had changed since she first arrived. In the beginning a lot of people were scared by the blue walls. She couldn't blame them; if she weren't distracted by her fight she might have left the city by now.

But now people were laughing in the streets again like nothing happened.

The usual Las Vegas atmosphere has returned.