You have ten.

You don’t know ten.

You don’t know who, when, where…

What’s happening?

Ten?

You’re looking at the ropes. There’s no faces outside of them anymore. You’re trapped in the moment, in the here and now, in the ropes. You don’t see anything outside of the ropes. Maybe it’s the natural response of your body, attempting to focus you on the threat that’s only feet away. Maybe you’re just concussed, damaged, and you can’t actually see beyond the ropes. All the ropes are telling you are is you’re down.

You should be hearing something right now. Your corner. The ref. The count.

You don’t know much of anything though. All you know is you want to move, you want to be up. Not because you hear someone shouting, your corner, your friends, your family. You just want to get up.

You’re not thinking about time…

There’s no count?

No numbers…

Numbers..?

You’re not thinking in numbers. You’re not thinking as you. You’re not thinking. You’re going off instinct.

Instinct doesn’t let you stay down breathing for six, seven, eight seconds when you’re down. Instinct doesn’t know you have six, seven, eight seconds… can’t hear those seconds, you can’t hear those seconds. Instinct knows there’s a threat, one that just put you on the ground. It doesn’t know about the rules. It knows survival.

Now the fight is fight versus flight.

First you’ll need your feet. Maybe it’s “2" or “3,” maybe you don’t know. You didn’t hear one number.

Logically you shouldn’t be up yet though. Not because you’re some unrelenting force that can’t be kept down, some animal, something more. No, logically you shouldn’t be up yet, because you know this scene. You’ve seen it, shouted at it, whether in a fight or on a screen. If you’ve already gone down you should be making the most of the count. You should be on a knee, breathing getting your bearings until eight. Logically…

Logic isn’t there though, but thank god some part of you still is. If only nature was left flight would have won… You’d have been pulling yourself through the ropes as you pulling yourself to your feet. Naturally that would have made sense. Thankfully man doesn’t always respect nature. Who could respect that nature.

Some part of you is still there though, so you’re still there. You’re still standing. Even in your shame, even when broken down to your natural instincts, you still have some part of you. You’re still there.

You’re still…

Okay?