Fiend

After school that day, I was about to leave with Aaron to head home. On our way out, I saw Liam, Jason and the other jocks were walking to the locker rooms. I had a feeling in my gut that something was wrong and I was sensing that it was with Liam.

“Aaron, come with me.” I deliberately whispered to him.

“What? Where are we going?”

I took his hand, “We are going on an adventure.”

So by adventure, I really meant that we were going to travel through the school’s air ducts.
And hopefully with the help of Aaron’s height, we were going to be able to get into them.

“Okay so I believe something is wrong with Jason. Come on; give me a lift so we can get into the air ducts!” I pulled him towards the nearest vent in the ceiling.

“Okay, first of all, you expect me to help you after you ignored me for a week? Marina, I’ve been trying to get in touch with you. You don’t answer your phone, you don’t invite me over, you didn’t even say “hello” to me once this week! Did you forget that I exist or am I just unimportant to you now that you have a guy in your life other than me?”

I knew I deserved this from him. I have been abandoning him this past week. I truly did feel terrible for doing that to him. He was my best friend and the only person who was there for me through everything. I have been a horrible best friend to him as I’ve completely ignored him and focused more on myself and Jason.

“Aaron, I’m so sorry. I-“

“Save it.” Aaron shook his head. He was stubborn and didn’t like to hear other people’s side of the story. “Let’s try to “save” Jason. What do you think is wrong with him anyways?”

“My gut is just telling me that something is wrong. Aaron, please, we need to hurry.” I pleaded with him, something he knew I usually wouldn’t do no matter the situation.

He was fast to act as I stood up on his shoulders and took down the vent. Quickly, I worked my way into it and pulled him in as well. I thanked God that I went to a school where they lacked active and on patrol workers.

We crawled through the vents, trying to find our way to the one that would lead us into the men’s locker room. After a few minutes, I heard familiar voices becoming clearer and in the distance.

“We’re close, Aaron!” I murmured.

“Whoopee.” Aaron was unfortunately still upset with me so he wasn’t as enthralled with this journey.

It’s there! I stopped and Aaron almost bumped into me. I looked down the vent covering and saw that the guys were a few inches away from it. I heard laughter and saw what I was afraid of. Jason and the other jocks had Liam surrounded. In one prompt movement, Liam was bonded with his hands behind his back by one of his team mates.

“Guys, I’m your friend!” Liam yelled.

“Friend? More like a pain in my ass.” Jason laughed as did the others.

“Jason…we’re family.”

“If we were family, you would have been dead. Wouldn’t you?” Jason tilted his head to the side that’s when I became horrified. He had a switch blade in his hand. He was going to stab Liam?

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Liam tried to free himself from the guys grip, but it was no use.

“I am a better man now. I don’t need anyone to boss me around or babysit me. I don’t need you anymore, Liam. With you out of the picture we can actually get someone useful on this team.”

“I know this isn’t you talking, it’s the drug you’re taking!”

I looked over at Aaron who had a terrified look on his face.

“What do we do?” Aaron hissed at me.

“We got to get out of this duct and into that room! Try to call 911!” I motioned for Aaron to crawl as fast as possible in the other direction. If we fell out of the vent covering in the room, Liam would have been killed on the spot.

Aaron and I crashed out of the duct and onto the school floor. Unfortunately this time, faculty was around.

“Hey! You two stop!” Mr. Dientman’s yelled at us.

“Aaron, stay here and call 911. I got to go and see if Liam is still alive.” I whispered so that Mr. Dientman did not hear. Aaron nodded in agreement and I raced off, running as fast as I could back to the men’s locker room. This was one of those times were I wished I wouldn’t have started smoking. My lungs felt like they were on fire, about to combust with the next step I made. I was also in terrible shape as my body wanted to collapse after 10 seconds of running.

When I reached the door, I immediately ran in and yelled for them to stop.

“Marina, no!” Liam shouted.

“Marina. Welcome to the game.” Jason grinned and looked at me. “Now, I call this “Obey or Die” and the only way you can win is to obviously, obey.”

I slowly tip toed over to Jason, “Jason, stop this. You are not this person.”

“You don’t know anything about me and don’t act like you do.” I gasped as he pointed the knife to my neck.

“Ja-Jason, I d-do. I k-know that you and L-Liam are best friends. A-and have b-been since you were little.” I held my hands up.

“How do you know that!” He screamed at me.

“Liam. Liam is your best friend. Look at him, really look at him.” I motion towards Liam, who was battered and bloody. “Look at what you guys are doing to your friend. You’re hurting him. You’re hurting a part of your family, Jason.”

“He’s not my family! No one is!” Jason pushed me away again. This time no one rescued me. My elbows skidded on the tile floor. I cursed under my breath but kept my calm.

“You’re going to die, Liam. Put up his hand!” Jason ordered.

As Jason was reaching out with the knife, I leapt up from the floor and wrapped myself around his back. I couldn’t take seeing another person die in front of me.

“No, stop this Jason. Come back.” I had tears in my eyes. But I felt his hand come down to his side.

“Liam?” Jason spoke. His voice was breaking. He looked at his hands, one holding the knife. He dropped it in shock. “Oh my God, what happened?”

“Jason, you’re back?”

“Let go of him!” Jason commanded. I let go of Jason’s waist as I stood there and watched them hug.

“Jason, I just want to let you know that the cops are coming.” I spoke slowly so I could gauge Jason’s reaction.

“What. Why?” Jason really didn’t remember what happened. Neither did the other team mates. Liam and I glanced at each other, sharing the same concerned thought.

“Well, you tried to kill your best friend,”

“No, I didn’t!” Jason’s eyes widened like he was a cat about to catch his prey.

“She’s telling the truth, Jason. You guys held me captive and you wanted to stab me. You said I was useless.” Liam was hurt over what Jason had said; he had every right to be.

“Liam I-“ Jason was speechless. He ran all 10 of his fingers through his hair. Out of frustration, Jason punched the glass window of the gym teacher’s office. He shattered it to pieces, the shards cutting open his knuckles.

“Well, it looks like I’m the one bleeding now.” He smirked and looked over at me.