The Attack

It started out like any other night. It was the Saturday night before Thanksgiving. My friends Greg & Sean came over for some drinks before we were to go out dancing. It’s kind of the ritual for us to pre drink at someone’s apt & normally it’s mine. After a couple of hrs we headed over to Bartini to meet the rest of the crew. Like usual there was drunken dancing & working the dancefloor with my girl Nicole. By the end of the night I was tired & as usual talks of going to the diner came about. Nicole, Scott & Danny (the dj at Bartini) were going to go to a nearby diner & I said, “I don’t wanna be a fat ass at 4 in the morning by eating. I just want to go home.” There has been plenty of nights where the booze has gotten the best of me & I wasn’t sure how I got home. This wasn’t one of those nights. Just a little buzzed & I just wanted to go to bed. So I left them & started to make my way home. I’ve made the walk a million times before considering this has been my ‘hood’ for most of the years I’ve been in NYC. I’d only walked a few blocks from Bartini & had turned on 48th & started to walk east when I heard my phone ring. So I pulled it out of my coat & saw that it was Nicole calling. I figured that it was them just trying to convince me to turn back around & meet them. I hit ignore & went to put my phone back in pocket when I felt someone grab me from behind.

For a moment I thought it was Scott or one of them being overly aggressive. I know how we can get after drinking. But the moment quickly fleeted when I felt a fist punch my right jaw. Another hit to the side happened & I managed to get away from the attackers grasp. In the quick moment that I saw him I could see he was a white guy with brownish short hair & looked in his 20’s. He went to swing again & I ducked & then I began to fight back. I got in some punches but very quickly & from behind someone sucker punched me in the head. A few more punches & then I kneeled over. At some point I must have dropped my phone & I’m assuming the 2nd guy grabbed it. They ran off & I was left in a kind of s shock. The whole attack lasted probably less than a minute & maybe even 30 seconds. For a moment I remember thinking ‘Did this really just happen?’ & then as I was looking down on the ground for my phone I saw blood dropping all over my shoes & jeans. I reached up to my nose & looked at my hands covered in blood. I reached back at the back of my head & felt wet as well & all I could think of was this was where I had a tumor.

In my semi state of shock I walked back to 10th Avenue to get a cab. One immediately stopped & he drove me to the hospital. They immediately took care of me. I’m assuming I looked a little rough with blood covered jeans & face & I’m pretty sure I was freaking out. X-Rays were done & the police were called. By the time they came I had made a couple calls to the only numbers that I could recall in that moment. In tears I left a message to Larry & Jordan telling them what had happened. I remember wondering just how did this happen & I was also worried that something would be broken. I also thought about how this was going to screw up my Thanksgiving & I was already in a slight depression because the next day would be the anniversary of Jason passing away. Needless to say it sucked. I found out that neither my jaw or my nose was broken & it wasn’t fractured. The police haven’t really been any help either. All I have is a case number. As a few days passed the bruises started to appear. The largest of them is the one on my bicep which is still there but fading. My jaw was swollen & I looked like a chipmunk & there was a black & blue mark under my eye. The worst thing physically has been my mouth. It’s now been 3 weeks & it still hasn’t healed. I’ve not been able to eat many things except soup & mashed potatoes & a few other things that don’t involve much chewing. With each day I hope I’ll wake up & it will feel better. So far no. The dentist says my mouth is in ‘trauma’ & I’m like no shit! I’m fucking hungry.

For days I avoided talking about it to even some of my closest of friends & only now seem to find the time & energy to write this blog. Talking about it isn’t the easiest because the main thing it’s left me with emotionally is anger. For a couple days I was afraid to leave the house which then lead to anger because I thought how dare any one make me feel this way. I’ve been here 10 yrs & I’ll be damned if any one has that power over me. So what I’m left with is anger. I want these 2 assholes to get what’s coming to them. I wouldn’t feel bad if they were dead actually. It’s hard to know that I have these kind of feelings about people I don’t even know, one in which I didn’t even see. I just want them to feel the pain that I’ve now been feeling for 3 weeks. As I sat at the hospital having to give my account to the officers one told me, “We don’t normally say this to victims but it’s probably a good thing you fought back.” I was a little confused & in my state at that moment all I could think of was they left me much worse off then I left the one asshole. Later I found out that that night there were a string of incidents that occurred & one guy was strangled.

Going through this was not easy but I do realize it could have been so much worse. As always I try to think positively. During the whole incident nothing was ever said by the 2 people. We’re assuming it was all over an I-phone. Tis the season for bad things to happen & in this economy I guess people are desperate enough to do anything. I’m just waiting to feel better than ok & I’m looking forward to being able to eat anything I want. I’m so sick of soup honestly. But I’m glad I was able to walk away. My friend EJ said, “I’m calling you the Unsinkable Mr. Padron.” Because I may be knocked down for a little bit but you can best believe I’m just come back harder.