Change or Die

With Libby and Matt out for the morning, Lacey dragging Johnny around for shopping, Charlie doing god-knows-what, Jimmy probably accompanying her, and Brian being Brian, I was left with Stevie. Well for the first few hours of the day anyway. Indy kidnapped him after lunch and wouldn't give him back to me. I didn't mind, really, I just felt bad for Zacky. I mean, it was still funny, but I think he feeds off of her attention or something. He looked so depraved. And worried.

The three, or should I say four, of us were gathered in the living room, with Stevie on the table, while Indy stared at him and occasionally nudged him with her finger. Zacky would tug on her sleeve from time to time to try to get her to at least look at him, but to no avail.

You know, I was doing alright. I was greatly amused by this interaction, and I think things would have been okay if What's-his-face didn't decide to disturb us with his presence. His eyes landed on Indy and he picked up Stevie.

"Hey--what--Brian!" Indy protested, holding her hand out to him. Brian sighed. "Indy. This is a rock."

"Nu-uh! Stevie is Lexie's friend!" she argued back, crossing her arms.

"Stevie is an inanimate object that wouldn't care if Lexie, or you, bursted into flames. And died."

That was totally uncalled for. And so I told him that. "That was totally uncalled for, dick."

The jerk ignored me and then rolled his eyes and tossed Stevie back onto the table. "You're so stupid at times, Indy," he muttered. What the hell? It was one thing having to deal with his poor attitude but why would he pick on Indy like that?

"Hey, woah!" I retorted. "You're being even more of a prick today. What the hell--"

I was stopped short by Indy's sniffling. Her big brown eyes filled with tears and Zacky panicked for a moment, not knowing what to do.

We all just watched her, fearing what would happen next. Her bottom lip trembled and before I knew it, she burst out crying, saying she wasn't stupid and that Brian was the stupid one and that she hated him and that he was a big meanie and that she hoped he would choke on his food since Stevie wouldn't care for him either. I kind of had to agree with her.

Zacky wiped her tears away, but it was useless, really. As for dick head, he just stood there looking kind of dazed. I didn't think he expected her to snap at him like that. But then again, I wouldn't know. Maybe she was always like this when she was upset.

"I hate Brian, Zacky." she cried. "Make him go away."

It was an order. And Zacky knew it. He turned to me with pleading eyes and I sighed. Brian was such an idiot.

"Indy," I started. "How exactly do you want Zacky to make Brian go away?"

"I-I don't.. I don't know!" she wailed. Okay, so I wasn't helping at all. That much was apparent.

"Make him go away! Make him go away!"

"Zacky," I said to him. "Why don't you go upstairs and calm her down? I'll take care of ugly over there for you."

He shot me a grateful smile and picked Indy up. On the way out, he glared at that other guy and shoved past him. Good job, Zacky. Good job.

"What now?" Brian said. "Are you going to lecture me?"

"Actually, yes." I replied.

Before waiting for him to say anything, I went on. "You should know better than picking on Indy like that, dick. I mean, Indy of all people? What the hell has she ever done to you? And now another person in the house hates you. Oh wait, make that three more people, 'cause I'm sure you're not exactly on Zacky's good side at the moment, either, and Stevie hate you, too."

"Stevie's a fucking--"

"Who cares?! We all like him better than we like you! You're a jerk, Brian. And what the fuck? Do you feel satisfied when you annoy other people? Fucking sadist. No wonder why people choose rocks over you."

I was starting to get pretty pissed off. And I think him being near me was part of the reason, so I got up and decided to leave when Zacky came back. I saw puncture wounds in his neck that were already healing and assumed he fed Indy and put her to sleep.

Brian sighed again. "Listen, Zack--"

He was cut off by Zacky slamming his fist against his jaw. The force of his punch caused him to stumbled backwards a few steps and fall.

Cereal head groaned. "Goddammit, Zacky! That hurt.."

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "No way."

He had busted his lip and was bleeding quite a bit around his mouth. I guess it would hurt, but he still deserved it. A lot.

Zacky gave him a dirty look and went back upstairs without another thought. I looked back at Brian and shook my head. "You honestly can't say you didn't see that coming."

He shrugged. "I guess not." Then it got quiet.

Wow. That must have been, like, the most civil conversation I've had with him. Ever.

I was about to go upstairs, too, and maybe check on Indy, but I asked, "Hey, when's--"

"Brent coming back? A few days, don't worry. You'll be with your lovely little boyfriend again soon." he interrupted.

I scoffed. "You are so jealous."

"Jealous? More like sorry. I don't get why he likes hanging around you so much. He usually doesn't go for ugly girls." he smirked, looking away for a moment to check his reflection in the mirror that was conveniently left on the table.

I breathed in deeply and grabbed Stevie from where he was previously tossed aside. I now knew why fate had brought us together. It was for this very moment. With all my might, I threw him at Brian and hit him hard on his head. It was one of the best times of my life.

"Fuck! You little--" he didn't bother finishing his sentence and got up instead and proceeded to chase me. My moment of glory had disappeared just like that. But he had a nasty little wound on his forehead that went with his busted lip quite well. Me and Zacky should form some kind of tag team. But enough of that. I was about to get killed!

This time, there was no one to save me. He caught up to me and pinned me against the floor. I was getting kind of scared. If looks could kill, I would have been dead the moment Stevie came in contact with Cereal's hard head. Actually, if looks could kill, he would have died from Zacky a little while earlier. So if looks could kill, I'd be okay right now, not trapped on the floor, fearing for my life. Lovely.

"You're gonna get blood on my shirt, ass."

I know I probably should have been nice or begging him to spare me, but it was all I could think of at the time.

"I don't think you should be worrying about your pretty little shirt, Princess." he spat back at me.

I decided to scream then, hoping to catch at least Zacky's attention. Brian was a step ahead of me, though, and pressed his hands against my mouth. "Don't even think about it."

So this is how it's gonna be, huh? I'll die in the hands of the vicious Cereal. I feel sad that a wheat product is gonna kill me. Who would've thought? Cereal killer. HAHAHAHA.

The fact that he may actually kill me was starting to sink in. I wasn't expecting Matt, Libby, Johnny, or Lacey to come home until after a few hours. And who knew with Charlie and Jimmy? Zacky was probably going to stay in his room for the rest of the day with Indy and Brent would not know of this dastardly act until much later.

It was a nice life. I thought. Farewell cruel world.

I felt Brian's other hand wrap around my neck. My eyes widened. Holy shit.

Even though I was in no position to escape, as he had my arms trapped under his legs, I thrashed and kicked, wanting to get the fuck away from him. This was scary.

"I finally got you." he whispered. "I'm finally getting rid of you and there's no one here to stop me. Had any fun, Princess? I had the time of my life with you."

Since there was no way for me to respond, I shut my eyes and decided to pray.

Dear God: I'm sorry for not recycling that one time in college. I'm sorry for cheating on my science test and for refusing to do volunteer service. I'm sorry for lying to my dad about my grades and all the other lies I've told in my life. I won't apologize for being rude to Brian because he deserved it. I know I don't believe in you, but please let me go to heaven. I think you owe me that much for pairing me up with the biggest fucktard ever. Oh, and I'm sorry for my bad language.

As soon as I had finished my little prayer, the pressure in my neck disappeared and I thought that I had died. But he was still on top of me and I could still feel his hand on my mouth.

"Girls make everything harder." he mumbled, getting off of me. I stared at him as he started to walk up the stairs and into his room, mouth open. "D-dude? What the--"

"You're crying." he called back, closing his bedroom door shut.

Confused, I touched my face and realized with a start, that I was crying.