Burning You Down

I tried to listen to the teacher, I really did, but my mind kept drifting back to other things. School was just so boring, especially now when I had Vic, and he was sitting right beside me, but I knew I couldn’t even touch him, because here, in public, he wasn’t Vic anymore, he was (or at least that’s what everyone thought) Walt. I had to treat him like I treated my best friend. Ever since last night I understood exactly what he meant when he said that demons basically attract humans. I don’t know why I hadn’t felt it before, but I did now, and it wasn’t a good feeling, trust me. It was like being addicted to something and needing it desperately all the time, but not being able to have it.

I guess Vic was feeling it too, though, because soon after the classes had started, he leaned closer, pretending to be quietly asking me something about the exercise we were doing. This was pretty far from the truth, actually…

“Let’s skip the rest of the classes and go to your house and have some fun.”, he whispered in my ear, smirking a little.

I can’t disagree, the offer was more than tempting, but I didn’t want to break the rules again because of him. We could wait until the end of the day.

“I’m not skipping any more classes, I told you.”, I whispered back, giving him a reproaching look.

“Damn, you’re really fucking boring, you know that?”, he rolled his eyes, looking a little annoyed.

“Maybe I am. I don’t care. I prefer to be boring than getting expelled.”, I frowned and sat back on my chair, letting him know the conversation was over. Now I was a bit irritated with him and all my enthusiasm had gone to hell. Vic didn’t give up that easily, though.

“Someone’s grumpy today.”, he noted and grinned. “Let me cheer you up.”

Before I could protest, he put his hand on my knee and slipped it across my thigh. I quickly pushed it away and looked around, to make sure no one saw. Since we were sitting at the very back, though, no one was paying us attention. We were safe.

His hand returned to my leg and he ran it up and down, the whole time watching me. I tried to act unamused, but truth was it sent pleasant shivers up my spine right away.

“Stop this.”, I hissed.

“Stop what?”, the demon asked innocently and moved his hand up, slipping it between my legs. I gasped soundlessly, secretly enjoying it, but I wouldn’t let him know that.

“Stop it!”, I repeated and moved his hand away again.

“Oh, come on, we both know you like it.”, he gave me a suggestive wink.

Damn, that fucking creature! I’m never sure if I want to punch him or kiss him. I liked him, and hated him at the same time, God, he was confusing.

“Of course I do, but not here.”, I shot him a glare, being completely honest. “So fucking stop, okay? You’re embarrassing me.”

“I am?”, he giggled a bit too loudly, finally getting the attention of a few of our classmates.

“Yes, you are, so shush and behave!”, I nudged him lightly. He wasn’t going to give up this easily, though, because instead of leaving me alone, he tried to tickle me. I didn’t know how he knew I was ticklish, maybe it was just a lucky guess, however, I grabbed his hands and held them so he wouldn’t be able to reach me. Someone on the front row chuckled. Yeah, I guess watching our little fight could be amusing.

Unfortunately our art teacher seemed to have noticed our struggle as well, because she raised her voice.

“What is going on back there?”

Mrs. Matthews was young, fit and pretty, and she was from that kind of cool teachers that always mock at their students, but the students love them anyway. She had an awesome sense of humor and she had her own ways of presenting her lessons. Cool thing was, she didn’t bother us with boring facts, instead she was trying to teach us of a creative way of thinking. Because of her, Art was one of my favorite classes at school, along with music and literature. Anyway, she’s not so sweet at all when she gets angry, and I had the feeling that this was the case.

Vic gave her the innocent look only he was capable of.

“Nothing, Miss Matthews.”

“Mrs.”, she corrected him, giving him a long suspicious look. Yeah, I suppose Walt was supposed to know that, so it must’ve seemed a bit weird he didn’t.

“Oh, my bad. Maybe it’s because you’re so pretty that you look like a “Miss”, Miss- um, I mean, Mrs. Matthews.”, he gave her a charming smile. Oh, smooth.

I lightly kicked him under our desk and gave him a meaningful look. Yeah, go on, keep hitting on our teacher, Vic, that’s a fucking good idea… Mrs. Matthews didn’t seem to like it either. She was one of the few teachers Victor hadn’t slept with yet, and probably never would, because although he wouldn’t admit it, even he respected her too much to do it.

“Is that so?”, she raised an eyebrow slowly. “…You know what, I want you two to stay after the classes. I need to talk to you. Especially you, Mr. Fuentes.”

“Yes, ma’am.”, he nodded, still with this small smirk on his face. I kicked him again and mouthed soundlessly:

“Behave.”

Victor just rolled his eyes at me and sat back on his chair, returning his look to the teacher. She watched him for a few more seconds and then turned to the class, renewing her speech about the Renaissance or whatever she was talking about today.

We didn’t need to wait for too long before the bell rang and Vic immediately got up, grabbing his bag with the few textbooks he bothered to bring, if he brought anything at all. He leaned across the desk to me, who was still sitting, and murmured in my ear:

“You, me, bathrooms, now. I’ve become impatient.”, he winked and licked his lips, holding back a chuckle.

His voice was low and commanding and I sensed that he wasn’t just asking me anymore. He was ordering me. Oh, okay then. Not that I complained. His words made my cheeks turn slightly red, though, I couldn’t help it. Anyway, even though I was good at hiding it, I had gone eager as well. It was almost painful, being around him and not being able to have him.

Before I could reply anything, I felt someone stand near me and I looked up to see Mrs. Matthews watch us with her arms crossed. She wasn’t looking very happy.

“Don’t hurry so much, boys. I hope you didn’t forget what I asked you during the class?”

“You said you wanted to talk to us.”, I murmured, looking away. I hadn’t forgotten, of course, after all, it happened only about ten minutes ago, but I just hoped we’d get away with it. I didn’t see what much we had done anyway, at least I hadn’t. We just struggled a little, but this happened often, in almost all the classes, so I thought it wouldn’t be such a big deal. I mean, we’re not seven years old or something. At our age no one really pays attention to the lessons anyway. We were teenagers. We weren’t supposed to be respectful and the teachers knew this, so most of them didn’t even bother to try to make us listen to them.

“That’s right, I want to talk to you.”, she nodded and leaned against our desk. I watched as the rest of the class left the room, leaving us alone with her. She waited until all the other students had left and then turned to Victor. “What’s been going on with you lately, boys?”

“What do you mean?”, I quickly asked, before Vic could speak up and say something stupid and disrespectful that would piss her off.

“You know what I mean.”, she shot me a slightly disappointed glance, pushing a strand of her blond-ish hair behind her ear. “What’s with all the lying, not writing homework and skipping? You’ve never been like this, in fact you’ve always been two of my favorite students. What changed? Especially with you, Walter. You’ve been so different lately. You’ve never acted like this before. I know there must be something wrong. So, what’s up?”

“Look, Mrs. Matthews, I…”, Vic started, but she interrupted him immediately. Hell, that lady really wasn’t buying his shit, was she!

“Where have you been the last week?”, she shot back. “You didn’t come to school. Your friend Kellin have been covering you the whole time and saying you’re ill, but I know this wasn’t it, because, unfortunately, Kellin is still a good student, and a horrible liar.” I saw a hint of a smile on her lips. “Come on. Spit it out. I’m trying to help you here, I’ve been worried about you and about your future.”

Victor shot her a small glare, so quickly that I doubted she even noticed, and then he let out a deep sad sigh and for a second I was almost convinced that it was genuine. Of course, it wasn’t, and I knew it, but he was such a good actor, dammit.

“It’s just that… I have a lot of problems at home.”, he looked down at the ground, seemingly upset. “My parents get in a lot of fights, also, my grandma’s sister died about a month ago… Last week my cousin committed suicide, and at some point it just became too much. I guess it’s just been a hard time for me.” He scratched the back of his head just like Walt usually did when he was upset or nervous. I wondered if the demon did it on purpose, to be more convincing, or it was something like a reflex left from my friend, because after all, this was still his body. Whatever the reason was, at the moment Vic looked and acted like Walt so much that I almost believed it was him. “I’m really sorry, Mrs. Matthews. I’ve been going through a lot of stress lately and I don’t want this to lower my grades, but it seems it just does. I’m also sorry about dragging Kellin down with me, because yeah, I know I’ve been a horrible influence for him. I promise, if you give me a chance I’ll try to fix this. Yeah, I admit, there’s no excuse for my skipping last week. My parents don’t know about it… But, please, don’t tell them, please? They’d be pissed off…” He finally looked up at her and his eyes were full of tears. How did he do that?! His story couldn’t be more fake than this, but his reactions looked so real! “…Please?”

I swear, if that woman didn’t go soft and sweet after seeing him like this, I’d call her a cold blooded bitch. Even I, who knew that Vic was lying about all this and he faked everything, felt the urge to hug him tightly and comfortingly.

“Okay. It must be hard for you.”, Mrs. Matthews sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry Walter. If you ever need any help, let me know. Alright?” She put her hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, thank you… Thank you, Mrs…”, the demon wiped a tear away and nodded slightly.

I shook head slowly. Yeah. Professional liar. I bet that if I left them talk for a bit longer he’d end up getting her into bed, the whole time playing the part of the poor depressed, misunderstood boy, who just needed someone to hold him in their arms, or some bullshit like this. His story wasn’t even this convincing, at all, it was quite stupid and cliché, actually, but there was just something in his intonation and facial expressions that simply made you believe him. If you don’t know who and what he is, you wouldn’t even doubt in his words. If someone else was at his place, though, I bet Mrs. Matthews wouldn’t buy their bullshit.

“Can we go now?”, I quietly asked, a bit afraid I might ruin the moment and make her angry again. She just nodded, though.

“Yeah, go. You’re going to be late for History class. Hurry, boys. And, Walter, if you need some… professional help, let me know, I’ll see what I can do about it.”

“Thanks, but no… I’ll be fine.”, he smiled weakly. “Thank you again.”

I smiled thankfully and before Vic could say anything else, I grabbed him by the wrist and led him out of the room quickly, muttering another ‘thanks’ to our teacher. So we were out of trouble for now, thanks to his lying abilities. Yeah, it was definitely good to have a demon on your shoulder.

* * *

After school I left Vic hang out alone for awhile (knowing him, I was sure he could find himself something fun to do… hopefully not involving him flirting with other people, because yeah, it might be stupid, but I was jealous and I wanted him all for myself) while I drop by Jesse’s place. He was out of the hospital now, finally, but he still stayed at home and barely went out. He said he didn’t go to school because he hadn’t recovered completely, but in my opinion he was perfectly fine – yeah, he had a scar or two, but that was about it. I think he was just afraid that his attackers might get him again, which only made me believe that they study at our high school… Yeah. That was a lead. Or not really.

I’d usually come to see Jesse here a few times a week. He had changed a lot ever since our first conversation there in the hospital and he was slowly returning to being the guy he was before all that bullying shit. He stopped talking to his asshole “friends”, dumped all the bitching and started acting really nice, actually. Jesse’s never been as close to me as Walter was, but he’s always been one of these friends you can always have fun with. He always had some good ideas about what we could do to pass our time, and he was fun to talk to, even though his sense of humor was a bit rough and rude. I had started to remember why I used to like him before. Underneath all the confidence and mean talk he was actually a sweet guy… certainly not the sweetest, yeah, but sweet, sort of.

This time I hadn’t headed to his house just to see him and have fun with him. I was going there for a totally different reason. I needed to talk to him about something very important.

Thing is, when I went to the hospital, I had an idea, but back then Vic and I weren’t in the best of terms (and the kiss came soon after it, so a whole week of no talking to each other followed), besides I didn’t dare to ask Jesse many questions. Now, though, we had gotten kind of close and I could try to ask him a thing or two more…

I stood at the front door and I hesitated before ringing the doorbell. Jesse must’ve been expecting me (and of course, I had called him to tell him I was dropping by after school), because the door swung open only a few seconds later. My friend was looking a bit sleepy and grumpy, but as he saw me he smiled slightly.

“Yo, Kellin.”

“Hey, Jess.”, I patted his shoulder and came in without waiting for him to invite me. I already knew the house well enough anyway – after all, the party Vic and I went to was here. Now, without all the sweaty, drunk, dancing teenagers and all the spilled alcohol, the place was really nice and tidy, it pretty much looked like any other expensive fancy house I had seen in the magazines. I suppose that after the party, Jesse’s parents weren’t amused and decided to put everything into order. I could only imagine how pissed they probably were.

“How’s it going?”, Jesse led me further in, past the wide living room (now the huge stereo was gone; I wondered where they had moved it and why), and towards the stairs. His room was on the second floor, just like mine.

I shrugged casually. “Fine. V- Um, Walt and I had some trouble at school today but it’s all good now.”

It was hard not to call Victor ‘Vic’ in front of others. I just couldn’t get used to it, no matter how hard I tried. Even though Vic and Walt basically had the same face and body, the demon gave it this certain… Vic-ness. He just somehow made this body fit him, changing it slowly so his soul could feel comfortable inside of it. He had this weird demonic human-attracting charm, and combined with all the new gestures, facial expressions, smirks, and the quite changed voice, it turned my best friend into an entirely different person. That’s why I didn’t have trouble with getting used to think of him as “Vic”. Problems came later, when I had to pretend he’s not Vic in other people’s presence.

“Trouble?”, Jesse raised an eyebrow at me. “What kind of trouble?”

“Doesn’t matter.”, I cut him off. I wasn’t in the mood to discuss this, besides, this wasn’t what I had come here for. I thought it wasn’t a good idea to go straight to the question, though, so I decided to keep the conversation going until the right moment. “We’re out of it now. How about you, how are you?”

“I’m alright.”, he opened the door of his room and came in. I followed him inside, throwing a look across the walls, covered in posters of rock bands and some rap singers or some shit. I’m really not into rap music, so I had no idea who they were, and honestly, I didn’t care. Everything in Jesse’s room was shiny and brand new – starting from the stylish furniture, going through the super modern computer, the playstation, the huge TV that covered half of the wall, and all that jazz, and ending at his guitars (all three of them). It’d be usually a bit messy, but it looked changed today. There were no clothes scattered around, but the wardrobe was opened and empty as well. The other stuff was pretty much untouched, but I spotted a few boxes in the corner. Was Jesse moving to another bedroom or something? I was curious to know, but I decided not to ask yet. “The usual.”, he continued. “I’m trying to catch up with the stuff they’ve worked on at school while I was gone. I’ve missed so much material, it’s just fucking discouraging.” He sat on his bed with a sigh, pushing a few open textbooks that covered it aside. I raised my eyebrows. Jesse studying? That was new for him. He’s never been a good student. As I’ve already mentioned, the only times he bothered to write some homework, he copied it from me, or simply forced me to write it for him.

“This must suck.”, I nodded sympathetically and after taking a minute to look around I choose to sit down on the floor.

“Whatever. Fuck school, I don’t wanna talk about school.”, Jesse declared, took one of his notebooks and tossed it across the room. It landed right beside the bin and missed it only by inches. I giggled. He pouted a bit, but I knew he was amused as well. “School is fucking depressing. I’m glad I don’t go anymore.”

I shook head. That was his usual sassy talk again, but I knew that: first, he didn’t really mean it; and second, he had been talking like this for so long that it was probably impossible for him to get rid of his fuck-the-rules attitude. I didn’t mind it, though, because sometimes this kind of acting reminded me of Vic, and it was one of the few… okay, maybe not just a few things I liked about the demon.

“Whatever.” Suddenly he grinned. “By the way, how’s your boyfriend?”

I let out an irritated sigh. He kept picking on me because I spend so much time with Walt, or, well, Vic, and even though he got the boyfriend thing right (…sort of? Were Vic and I even boyfriends? I mean, yeah, we slept together, but I’m not sure if he really understands the concept of having sex only with the person you actually like) However, it still pissed me off. It was none of Jesse’s business who I’m dating, and even though I knew he was just teasing me, it never failed to annoy me, and I didn’t really feel like discussing this with him at all. I had to change the topic and get to the more serious stuff now anyway.

I gave him a warning look and let out a deep sigh. “First, he’s not-”

“…your boyfriend, and second, it’s not my business. Yeah, I know.”, my friend chuckled, seemingly amused. “You’re really funny when you’re angry, you know that?”

“I’m not funny! And I’m not even angry!”, I protested. “I’m just annoyed, because you’re being an asshole again.” I punched him lightly in the shoulder, not really meaning to hurt him, only teasing him. He pretended that he didn’t even notice.

“Ow, what was that?”, he looked down at his shoulder. “Hm, I could’ve sworn I felt something… Maybe a mosquito bumped into me.” He grinned and added: “You hit like a girl, Bostwick.”

“Fuck you.”, I rolled eyes, even though I was holding back my laughter. I’d better dump the bitching, though, because I had an important conversation to have. “Whatever. Jesse, I gotta talk to you about something.”

“No shit, man.”, he snorted out ironically. “Come on. Don’t make up excuses to change the subject.”

“That’s not true! I just need to discuss something with you.”, I crossed arms.

“Okay, okay, whatever. I’m listening. What is it?”

“Well, I know you hate talking about this… But I just can’t get it out of my head…”

He gave me a sort of bored, but knowing look. “…You’re going to ask me about that accident again, aren’t you.”

“Um, actually, yes.”, I gave him a guilty smile. He let out an irritated sigh and even before he replied I knew what he was about to say.

“I told you not to ask me this stuff!”, he snorted out. “Please, just stop, okay? I’m not going to tell you, or anyone else, anything. I thought you understand.”

“I do, but Jesse, hear me out…”

“Nope. Don’t be annoying, Kellin.”

I let out a sharp, quick sigh. “Look, just listen. I think I know a way to get these people, who hurt you, and give them what they deserve. You just need to tell me who they are and I’ll do the rest.”

Translation: my plan was to send Vic to kick their asses once I find out who they are and teach them a lesson or two. My friend didn’t look really convinced, though.

“Oh yeah? What are you going to do? You’re going to scout them?”, he said ironically. “Thanks for offering me help, Kell, but I really don’t need it. I’m fine. We’re moving soon anyway.”

“Moving?”, I repeated dumbly. Now it all made sense – the packed things. The half-empty house. “But… but where? Why?”

“Well, I can’t stay here, right?”, he said sharply.

“Why not?”, I insisted. “You know, the ones who hurt you… you can report them. Y’know. To the police. And if you’re afraid to do that, you can tell me, and I’ll do it my way…”

“What are you up to?”, Jesse suddenly twisted the subject, not completely changing it, but moving it away from my questions a bit.

I hesitated. I wasn’t sure if I should tell him about Vic. I mean, yeah, Vic and I were… close now, but our agreement stayed. I had promised I wouldn’t tell anyone about his true nature.

“…You’ll find out.”, I replied unconvincingly, and then continued: “So, why are you moving? And where are you going?”

“Illinois.”, he replied with a shrug. “My grandparents live there and we thought it would be safer for all of us to go there. My family doesn’t fully understand how dangerous it is for me to stay here, but I tried to explain, and…”

“I don’t understand.”, I interrupted him, slowly tricking him into telling me what this is all about. “It’s all over now. Why are you still scared? Why would your attackers come back?”

“They might not…”, Jesse shook head. “But I’m still scared they might.”

We both went silent, thinking over what we had said so far. I spoke up first:

“Jesse… Why don’t you want to tell anyone what happened? It’s not only that you fear the people who hurt you. There’s something else. So please, tell me.”

He looked at me, seemingly unsure. He was hesitating.

“…Okay, but promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

I almost smiled. Yes! Finally.

“Of course I won’t. Come on, tell me what it is.”

Jesse sighed helplessly and now looked almost desperate. I gave him a sympathetic but encouraging look and waited for him to start talking without urging him. Finally, he began slowly:

“The night of the party… That night I got really drunk. So maybe what I saw- I mean, I thought I saw, might not be true. I haven’t told anyone, because they’d think I’m nuts and they’d send me to the hospital or something… Not that I wasn’t in the hospital, though… Anyways. After you and your buddy Walter left, I returned inside to get another drink, and then I went to take a piss. Y’know. The huge amount of beer I had drunk needs to get out of my system somehow.”, he laughed, kind of nervously. “So, I come in the bathrooms, and what do you think I find in there? Two guys, gotten some girl in the corner and… touching her, and stuff… At first I was like, okay, sorry, because it’s pretty normal for people to make out in the bathrooms at a party like this, I mean, they weren’t the first and won’t be the last. I almost apologized and went out, but then I figured there must be something wrong, because the girl seemed to be crying. So, this guy, the taller one, turns around and looks at me angrily. He didn’t seem to do much to her, he was just holding her, while the other one was trying to undress her or something, I don’t even know. Anyway, he turns around and he’s all like ‘Hey, dude, get out of here, we’re busy, go pee in the garden’ and he motions at the door. I could’ve go away, but I just, like, snapped, I’m not sure if it was because I wanted to help the girl or because that guy’s attitude pissed me off, but whatever the reason was, I, like, went all crazy and punched the guy, and then I tried to get the other boy off of her…”

I was listening to him carefully, biting my lower lip. Yeah, I totally understood his reaction, probably I would do the same if I was at his place.

He continued:

“That’s when all gets… all weird, and blurry… It was like something tossed me across the room, but I don’t even know how it happened… Maybe the second guy pushed me, but it didn’t seem like it… maybe because of the alcohol… and, and, and, and then it was like I couldn’t move, and the shorter guy let the girl go, and came to me and smirked at me… and…”

* * *

The shorter guy approached slowly, smirking slightly. I struggled to break free, but for some reason I seemed to be pinned to the wall. I couldn’t see who was holding me. Ah, that damn alcohol…

“Shh. Dude. Chill.”, he spoke up, still smirking. “Don’t be all angry and shit. It’s not like we’re doing something that bad.”

“What… You’re not… I won’t…”, I mumbled and groaned angrily, trying to break free, but the invisible force seemed to keep me to the wall. Well shit.

“Oh, what was that? Are you trying to object? Mm?”

I stared at his face, trying to focus my eyes on it. He was quite handsome, about my age, with short brown hair, combed to the side. His brown eyes were sparkling devilishly. His friend, the taller one, was just wiping the blood off of his face; I had managed to hurt him, not too badly, but almost breaking his nose. His dark brown spiky hair had a few blond strands in it, but his hairstyle was a bit ruined now, after my punch had sent him into the wall, making him hit his head. I hoped it hurt.

The shorter guy calmly stood in front of me and scanned me. He didn’t seem to care much about his friend’s bleeding nose. Maybe they weren’t friends after all. Not that I gave a fuck anyway.

“You’re Jesse Lawson, right?” It was more like a statement than a question. The guy seemed intrigued. “I know you. I’ve seen you around at school… You’re that asshole that always picks on the younger students and shows off with his shiny clothes and shiny i-Phone or whatever you call that thing these days.” He grinned unhappily. I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t like where this conversation was going, even though he was right, I really was an asshole and I knew it. I still wanted to see what he wants, though. Suddenly he made a bitter face. “I’m sick of people like you. You’re not even truly bad, you just want to be feared so you could be respected. You just wanna be popular.” The boy shook his head. “Well. Never mind. Now, what should I do with you? I could let you go and then finish what I started, but I’m almost certain that you’d try to play a hero and you’d try to stop me. Ugh. Fucking boring. You’re all so predictable. However, if you try to stop me I might end up having to kill you, and I really wouldn’t mind, but it would get me in trouble.”

What, was he threatening me?

He turned to the spiky-haired friend.

“What do you think we should do, Jack? Should I break his neck and finish this?”

“Well, we’re in his house.”, the other boy started hesitantly. “I don’t like the idea of killing someone in their own house, it would be impossible to make it look like a mugging gone wrong. I don’t know, man. Don’t do it.”

They were seriously discussing my possible death, weren’t they. Now my anger was replaced by slight fear. Even my tired brain could realize that I was in danger and some serious shit was going on. Now I didn’t even think about saving this girl – the one who had curled up in the corner and started sobbing again. Yeah, and I know this is selfish and terrible, but in moments like this people only care about their own safety. I just wanted to get out of there. Preferably alive.

The shorter guy sighed, looking kind of disappointed, and spoke up again, looking at me while he was actually speaking to the other boy: “Then keep an eye on him while I finish my business, would you?”

“Yes, right away.”

Even through the fog of alcohol, confusion and fatigue, I could tell that it was pretty strange how the tall boy obeyed the other one. It was almost like he could control him… Weird. This situation had begun to seriously freak me out.

“No, I don’t want to stay here, let me go, I promise I won’t tell anyone!”, I managed to groan, my words blending together.

The boy ignored me. He grabbed the poor crying girl by the arm and made her stand up, and then pinned her to the wall the same way he had when I entered. The other guy held me to the wall as well, but at a safe distance.

“Just stay calm and everything’s going to be okay.”, he murmured to me. I glanced at him angrily and my eyes met his. He was looking at me almost pleadingly and he seemed kind of sad and… scared? What was he scared of?

“I… I don’t want to die…”, I mumbled weakly.

I’m not totally sure what happened next, I must’ve passed out for a few seconds, but a muffled cry brought me back to reality, my eyes flickered back open and I finally realized I need to do something.

I don’t remember how I broke free, but in the next moment the tall guy was on the floor and I was running for the door. I felt two hands, much stronger than they should’ve been, grab me from the back.

“Let me go!”, I yelled and desperately struggled with the other one, trying to hit him and push him away from me.

His grip turned out to be tighter than I thought, though, because when I pushed him, I could hardly move him a bit, and my punches didn’t seem to impress him much either. What was he, made of steel or some shit like that? Hell, if I had done this to anyone else the least I could get would be a scream. But he didn’t even flinch. It was almost like I couldn’t hurt him. Of course, it should’ve been my fault only – maybe I had gone weak and it was just my tired brain that thought that the guy was invincible or something. Whatever it was, I had to give up soon, because I couldn’t do much. I just managed to piss him off.

The boy named Jack stood up for the second time, looking a bit dizzy. The other guy tossed me across the room and I fell on the ground, hitting my elbow. I think I might’ve broken my arm.

“Go check if someone heard anything!”, my attacker ordered.

Jack only nodded and disappeared outside, leaving me alone with the boy that had started to really fucking creep me out. Once his friend was gone, he turned to me, his eyes sparkling with anger.

“Do you seriously think you can hit me and get away after that? Are you really that stupid?”, he hissed. Suddenly he looked somehow changed – much taller than he first seemed, his eyes had gone darker, his eyebrows threateningly furrowed above them. The image in front of me blurred for a few seconds, but I could’ve sworn his eyes flashed like fire… I don’t know. I was just hurt, tired and drunk.

I knew one thing for sure, though. I was screwed.

I don’t remember much after this moment. I only remember a few things, a few weak, fading, confused memories.

I remember a voice. The guy was talking to me, but I couldn’t tell what he was saying. I guess I was in shock. I suppose he gave some explanation about why he was intending to do to do to what he did next.

Then I remember pain. A lot of pain.

I remember the sound of my bones breaking. I tried to fight back, I really did, but I couldn’t do anything. The boy was much stronger than me, and the more I tried, the weaker I felt, until I just gave up.

I remember I saw the crying girl sneak out of the bathroom while the guy kept hitting me, but he was too busy with me to pay her any attention.

The pain completely blurred my vision and I couldn’t see anything anymore. I threw up and my vomit mixed with my blood, sweat, tears and saliva. Was I crying? I guess I was crying. My cries faded into the loud music, though; it was impossible for anyone to hear me, I was helpless, I was alone, I was abandoned…

…Back then I thought I was going to die.

Suddenly, the kicks and punches I was receiving were interrupted by a cheerful melody. It repeated a few times, echoing in the wide bathroom, and after a deep, irritated sigh, the weight of the guy on me disappeared. I realized what was going on. His phone was ringing.

The melody stopped and I supposed he hung up, but in the next moment his voice broke the short silence:

“Yes?... Hello, father. No, I’m not- Yes. Yessir. I’ll be right there… I won’t be late. I promise… Yes, right away.”

The quiet beep let me know that the conversation was over and I heard the footsteps approach again. I was too scared to open my eyes, but I felt him kneel next to me and lean down until his lips were almost touching my ear.

“I would be glad to finish you, but I have to go now. Consider yourself lucky… but also know that I’m not done with you yet. I’ve made a deal only for one, but my father would be pleased if I take two of you.” I could sense the smirk in his voice. He made a pause, as if he was enjoying the thought of taking two of us, whatever that meant. “…And if you tell anyone about this, I will kill you. Remember – I know where you live.”

He chuckled and stood up, giving me one last kick, and then headed out. I didn’t know where the other guy, Jack, had gone, and honestly, I didn’t care, I was just glad he wasn’t here and I hoped he wouldn’t come back.

As the door slammed shut I passed out.

* * *

I was listening to Jesse’s story, staring at him, studying him carefully. I could tell he made up some parts to make it sound more dramatic, besides, if he really was that drunk it was impossible to remember the conversations that well, but that was okay. It was something else that intrigued me.

“So you’re saying his eyes sparkled in a weird way?”, was the first thing I said after he finished talking.

“Um, I thought I saw that, yeah, but I told you. I was drunk, man, I don’t know what I saw for sure. Maybe it was just the reflection of the lamp or something. Maybe it was my imagination. Truth is, I was so fucking freaked out that I might’ve imagined most of that shit.” He suddenly remembered he’s Jesse Lawson, Mr. I’m-Not-Scared-Of-Anything, and added: “I mean, I wasn’t exactly freaked out, I was just confused, and in pain, and that guy was some tough bastard. He was so asking for it and if I was sober I would totally kick his ass, of course, but I just-”

“Jesse, hang on.”, I interrupted his speech, now excited. “What happened to the girl? Do you know who she was? Maybe she could help, maybe she can witness against the guys who hurt you! We could, like, find that Jack guy, at least you know his name and know how he looks like, and through him we’d find the other one too, and then we can charge them with battery and attempt of rape and murder! We can do this. We should.”

“I… I don’t know man… I don’t know who the girl was, I couldn’t see her well, and I couldn’t remember her well… I don’t think I had seen her before.”, he shook head helplessly. “I don’t know her.”

I sighed and leaned back against the wall, trying to think of some way to get these boys. Of course, I could always ask Vic to find them and he would gladly do it, but I wanted to find a legal way to catch them.

“Okay then… We could try to find Jack then, and if he studies in our school as you said it wouldn’t be that hard…”

Suddenly Jesse laughed sharply and unhappily.

“Oh, Kellin, I know who the guys are. I found out right after I went out of the hospital. Y’know, I could observe the other boy’s face quite… closely. I memorized it well.” He shook his head. “But I prefer not to get myself in any more trouble. After what happened I realized how easily my life could slip away. I don’t want to die, Kells. And when he said he was going to kill me, he really meant it. He can do it. And he will, if he finds out I’ve been talking about this.”

My eyes widened. “So you know who they are? Tell me!”

“No, I can’t!”, Jesse gave me a terrified look. “I shouldn’t! How can I be sure you won’t tell anyone? No, no, no. I should’ve kept my mouth shut from the start.”

“Oh, come ooon!”, I groaned. “You can trust me!”

“I know, I just… I can’t. Sorry.”

“Okay, then let’s talk about that conversation the guy had on the phone. He talked to his father, right? What did he mean when he said he can bring him ‘two of you’?”, I changed the subject, moving to the question that bothered me most.

“How am I supposed to know?!”, my friend exclaimed. “Hell, maybe I didn’t even hear it correctly! I don’t know what he meant, and I don’t care! I just want to get out of here. I have no intention to dig any deeper. I’m moving and I’ll be safe. Period.”

I opened my mouth to argue some more, but I gave up. It was pointless. Instead, I changed my tactics:

“…Just tell me who they were. I won’t tell anyone, I promise. I just want to know… I just want to know who to hate.” I looked him in the eyes. “Please, Jesse.”

He stared at me for a few seconds, obviously determined to end the conversation there, but then he looked away. I seemed to have made him change his mind.

“Alright… Do you know who Jack Barakat and Alex Gaskarth are?”

END OF CHAPTER 14.