SQUASH MATCH
By Christropher Elieson

Sarah Sarfati sprinted towards the ring, determined to put on a good show, since this was her first wrestling match. Along the way, she heard a few taunts from the crowd, but no cheers. The taunts consisted of catcalls such as, ‘wimp’ and ‘loser’. Sarah was taken aback by such words, but she did not respond to the fans. She could not afford to let her emotions get the best of her.

She climbed into the ring and looked down at her white boots. Sarah, a teenage girl barely out of high school felt surges of anxiety and excitement running simultaneously through her. She took a deep breath and looked towards the aisle. Who was her opponent going to be?

The ring announcer called out her name and she raised her hand in acknowledgment. She removed her ring jacket, revealing a one-piece rainbow coloured bathing suit.

And then, out she came, her opponent.

Sarah’s heart skipped a beat when she saw her. The ring announcer referred to her as the Beast. The Beast stormed down the aisle, ignoring the fans. She was a huge middle-aged woman who wore blue jeans and a black heavy metal T-shirt.

Sarah trembled as the Beast came into the ring and posed for the crowd. Beast stood over Sarah by at least one foot and one inch and she outweighed her by at least two hundred pounds. Sarah considered running away, but decided against it. She had a job to do, after all.

Sarah withered and backed away a few steps as Beast scowled at her, contempt blazing from her eyes. The bell rung and Sarah took a deep breath. She narrowed her brow and charged full steam ahead towards the Beast. She bounced off of Beast’s stomach and landed on the mat. Beast walked towards her one step, apparently unfazed.

Sarah quickly got to her feet and ran towards the ropes. She bounced off and again charged towards the Beast. Once again, she bounced off of her stomach and landed onto the mat. What was she thinking? What could she do to get Beast off of her feet?

Sarah got up and, out of desperation, advanced towards Beast again and this time, attacked with an alternating series of kicks and punches, all aimed at her legs and stomach.

Sarah gasped as they had no effect on her. Beast scrunched her face in annoyance. Sarah now had to get away! There was no way she could defeat such a bigger, taller, and older woman.

Sarah turned away and began to run. She had barely taken two steps when all of a sudden, she was jerked backward. Sarah stumbled backward but something held onto the back of her bathing suit, preventing her from falling. Panicking, Sarah attempted to jerk away and even reached behind her to loosen the grip of whatever was holding onto her.

Sarah looked up and discovered to her horror that it was the Beast who had grabbed her. What was she going to do with her now?

Sarah did not even have time to shudder as she was bent over backward. She gasped as Beast raised her right arm and dropped it across Sarah’s stomach, driving her to the mat. Sarah did not even have a second to absorb the blow as she felt something collide with her head.

Sarah shook her head violently to clear it, but she was pulled to her feet. Air rushed out of her lungs as Beast’s knee collided with her stomach, followed by a heavy blow to her back, driving her to her hands and knees.

Sarah was pulled her to her feet by her hair and she was half-dragged towards the corner. Sarah gasped as she looked at the turnbuckle. Before she could react, Beast slammed Sarah’s face against the top turnbuckle, causing her vision to blur.

Beast turned Sarah around and forced her back into the corner. Beast forced Sarah’s chin up and called her both a ‘wimp’, and a ‘loser’, slapping her face after each insult. Sarah could not disagree more as she was now helpless. That feeling was reinforced with a knee to Sarah’s gut. Sarah barely managed to stay on her feet by gripping the top rope, albeit with a weak grip. Was it a mistake to sign up for Pro Wrestling?

Sarah looked up to see Beast charging towards her, full steam ahead. Sarah cried out as Beast crashed into her, nearly crushing her ribs.

As Beast stepped away from the corner, Sarah fell to her knees, in the worst pain in her life, but that was not all for her. Her opponent grabbed the back of her neck and dragged to the middle of the second rope. She moaned as Beast draped her head and arms above the rope. As her head was lifted up, she saw a group of teens sitting in the front row. Fortunately, she did not recognize any of them. It would have been humiliating to have been woman-handled in front of her friends and former classmates.

“Now, this wimp is gonna smile,” cried the Beast.

Sarah whimpered as Beast inserted two fingers on either side of Sarah’s mouth and pulled back, stretching the lips as far back as they could go. Sarah flailed her arms about as she screamed and screamed in pain. Through it all, she could see and hear some of the teens screaming in horror.

To Sarah’s relief, Beast released the hold. Sarah received a kick in her already-sore ribs that caused her to roll off the rope and onto the mat. At this point, she was so drained and exhausted that she simply wanted the match to be over.

Sarah was slowly pulled to her feet. She whimpered as she placed one hand on her throat and the other on her sternum. Sarah screamed in horror as she was lifted up above the Beast’s head. She gave little kicks and shook her head slowly, pleading with her opponent not to drop her. The shouts of the fans did not help her any.

Sarah was in the air for what seemed like an eternity, her eyes fixated on the mat below. She gave a small scream as Beast unceremoniously dropped her face-first to the unforgiving mat below.

Sarah groaned and tapped her feet lightly as her vision darkened and the shouts of the fans started to fade into obscurity. The last thing she remembered before passing out completely was her opponent’s weight dropping down on her back.