Chapter 46 - Epilogue

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The end of the summer came round far too early for Ewan’s liking. Along with Dylan, Anna and Mac he’d been training every day under the strict tutelage of his father and although it had involved a lot of hard work and bruises Ewan had never been happier.

Mr Hargreaves had been right, the impact of all the physical effort had helped to transform Ewan. His posture had improved, his physique had become a lot more defined, his strength had gone off the scale, he hadn’t had a single asthma attack and he felt more confident than he’d ever been. The others had all seen dramatic improvements as well but not on the scale of Ewan’s.

Ewan was running an errand for his father and he was literally running it, choosing to complete several laps of the local park on his way to his grandfathers house.

As he came round a clump of trees Ewan stopped abruptly, ahead of him were a group of boy’s that he hadn’t seen in several weeks and stood slap bang in the middle was Mackie.

Even at this distance Ewan could see that Mackie and his gang were up to no good. The group surrounded another young boy who could easily have been Ewan just a few short weeks before. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on Ewan when he realised that they were standing in the exact same place that he’d stood in when Mrs McTavish and her dog Fluffy had come to his rescue.

Knowing what he had to do, Ewan smoothed his clothes down and walked straight up to the gang. As he got closer he recognised the boy trapped in the middle as Simon Ball a slightly built lad who had transferred to their school the previous year. Ewan felt his anger rise as could see that Simon was on verge of tears as Mackie and his cronies continue to bait him.

Without stopping Ewan walked up the edge of the gang and greeted Simon by name. The sudden intrusion took the gang by surprise and they naturally parted to allow Ewan to move forward and stand next to Simon.

Mackie was the last to notice Ewan until he was standing almost directly in front of him.

“Ah, there you are Simon, I’ve been looking for you, is everything ok?” Said Ewan

Simon was visibly scared and wasn’t sure what direction this new development would take, “err, hello, err, Ewan, we, err, they, err” Simon said, the fear evident as a stutter in his voice.

“Oy Wu, we wuz just having a friendly chat, so why don’t you, just…” Mackie started to speak then he realised on an instinctive level that there was something very different about Ewan Wu.

“Mackie.” Ewan said, almost as a dare, keeping eye contact with him.

“Been working out Ewan?” Mackie said as he noticed the muscle definition and quiet strength that Ewan exuded from his posture.

“Something like that.” Ewan said, not breaking eye contact with Mackie. “I think Simon want’s to go now. Don’t you Simon.”

“Err, yes, I’ve err, got to get back home.” Simon said.

“That’s right, I saw your Dad earlier and said that he was expecting you.” Ewan said, his eyes unflinching still focused on Mackie like a laser beam. Ewan allowed his body to relax but was still conscious of the remainder of the gang as they’d begun to spread out giving room to the altercation that they were sure was about to take place.

The standoff continued, Mackie was unsure what was going on, but realising on a subconscious level that he probably didn’t want a part of it.

“Is there a problem with that?” Ewan asked, again throwing out the question as a dare not only to Mackie but also to the rest of the gang.

“Err, no, no problem, we wuz just saying…”

“Glad to hear it. Feeling better? Last time I saw you you’d had a nasty tummy ache.” Ewan said deliberately interrupting Mackie to throw him even more emotionally off balance.

“Err, yep, I’m a lot better thanks, it was nothing, just a misunderstanding.”

“Glad to hear it”, Ewan said. Still not taking his eye’s off Mackie Ewan reached out and put an arm around Simon’s shoulders and lead him away from the group which again instinctively parted to allow them to leave.

As he left the group, Ewan stopped and turned to face Mackie.

“Mackie?”

“Err, yes”

“See you around later then”, Ewan paused, “mate…” The implication evident.

“We don’t come round here that often.” Mackie said as the group moved closer together as if for mutual protection.

Ewan and Simon walked off back the way Ewan had come.

“Wow, Ewan, thanks, you were, awesome, that was…”

“That was what happens when you stand up to bullies,” Ewan said. “They always back down if you look them straight in the eye and project your confidence.”

“Where did you learn to do that?” Simon asked, “the last time I saw you, I thought Mackie was going to…”

“I’ve had a good teacher.” Ewan said, “It’s amazing what some proper kung fu can do for your confidence.”

“Wow, where’s the class, do you think I could come along? Would you teach me?” Asked Simon eagerly.

“You know what.” Ewan paused in thought for second “Yes. I think that would be a great idea. Come round to my Dad’s shop tomorrow morning at eight o’clock.”

Ewan stopped and watch Simon head off smiling to himself. Out of the corner of his eye Ewan thought he saw a figure wearing a long black overcoat nod before disappearing out of sight.

The End.