Mark's day

Friday morning, six am, Mark is alone at Apex running the heavy bag; on the seventh rep of a level-change combo his lead foot catches the seam where the rubber mat has curled up near the bag mount and the ankle rolls. He goes down on his right knee and his left hand catches the bag chain — the bag swings back and the bottom corner clocks him across the left temple, opening a small cut above the eyebrow. Mark sits on the mat for ten seconds, touches the blood, stands up, and finishes the round, then trains the next three rounds lefty to keep the cardio honest. At seven-thirty Rob pulls up and tells Mark that the Northside kid from last Saturday's inter-gym has put the sparring footage up on the Northside group chat, tagged Voss, and Voss has shared it on his story with a single flexed-bicep emoji. Mark doesn't answer; he finishes his water, tapes the cut tighter, and walks out past Hannah, who is pulling up for her session with the Dandenong winner's mouthguard still hanging from her neck — she sees the tape, asks 'you sure,' Mark says yeah, and drives home. The ankle is swelling by the time he reaches his street.