Silence Falls

In the third week of another activity Hermanni was in the process of designing, he was approached by Cris and Demitria with a concept of their own that they had plotted. The two had championed that this time the frolic would be an innocuous battleground, their weapons of choice stringently reduced to water guns, and nerf-guns. Hermanni thought their aim was sensational when he heard it, and heartily appointed himself the task of assembling the mandatory protective apparatus, and weapons.

After an hour and a half later, everyone was harnessed and ready with their holstered guns. In the last thirty minutes, Cris had added some black lights from Hermanni’s nightclub vision to make it into a black out game. Everyone was thrilled to join in, even Hermanni. In seconds, airy foam bullets, cool water, and various colorful beams of light were being dispatched from their guns in a flurry while they scattered about, dodging, diving, and hunting for their targets. Hermanni was having a blast with this particular exercise and had almost believed nothing disastrous could come of it.

Unfortunately, within two hours the game was terminated to a standstill due to a piercing scream followed by pandemonium coming from the second floor. The others converged speedily up the stairs to find Alexis leaning against the wall with a hand on her head and a panting Cris holding Bam back from her.

“Jesus Christ, what the fuck happened?!” Bert barked, evoking the two male’s attention.

“Bam, came out of nowhere and hit Alexis on the head with his gun, laughing like a complete fucking psycho!” Onika furiously snitched from where she sat beside Alexis who was completely befuddled as to what had transpired.

“Shut up, and stop calling me a psycho! I’m not a fucking psycho!” Bam clamored in defense, his voice laced with intimidation as he pointed a menacing finger at her.

“Are you fucking serious!? How hard did he hit her?” Otep interrogated, not listening to Bam as she sped to Alexis’s aid and gently eased her onto her back so she could relax her pounding head on Otep’s lap.

“Pretty hard from what we saw. He then tried to hit Demitria when she came out from behind a corner right after! Fortunately, Cris came up from behind him in time to stop that raging lunatic from pouncing on the rest of us!” Natasha unraveled, glaring daggers behind Bam’s back. Hermanni sat beside Otep with a healing hand over Alexis’s blow, so he could relieve her suffering.

“STOP CALLING ME CRAZY!” Bam roared, turning around so rashly that it alarmed Cris and triggered his reflexes to go off without his control. With a resounding whack, Bam wordlessly crumpled to the floor, passed out from the impact to the back of his head.

Everyone gaped at Cris while he simply stood there in a state of shock from what he had done. He had been so on edge because of the ambush that he had panicked under the hazardous temper Bam had demonstrated and it resulted in him hitting him with the butt of his gun. Staggered, Cris dropped the water gun from his hands and stepped back from Bam’s unconscious body, his blue eyes whizzing between the others in horror. “Oh my god, please tell me I didn’t just kill my cellmate!”

“Nah, I’m pretty sure he’s just knocked out.” Bert surmised, stepping closer to check just in case. As soon as he felt for his pulse and located it’s steady rhythm, he nodded in affirmation to the others.

“Oh Jesus, thank you!” Cris praised, running both hands through his long brown hair right before he began to pace anxiously. “I had no idea what came over me! He was getting so mad and I-I was terrified he was going to hurt somebody else! I guess I lost it and...hit him.”

“Cris, it’s okay. You didn’t do it on purpose.” Demitria comforted him, stepping into his path and hindering him from continuing. “Don’t blame yourself.”

“She’s right, Cris. Bam probably would have attacked one of us next for all we know. Come to think of it, someone’s ass was definitely gonna get hit by him considering how all these events have been turning out.” Connor brought up, sparing a glance to Bert who gave him a firm nod. Nodding back, he stooped down to pitch Bam’s body over his shoulder like he weighed nothing.

“Wait, so what happens now?” Cris inquired shakily, his eyes monitoring Bert, and Connor who walked right by him toting Bam away. “Are you putting him to bed while the rest of us get everything down here back in order again?”

“Don’t worry about Bam. Focus on assisting Alexis instead.” Bert instructed him over his shoulder. “We’ll return shortly and vote on whether or not we call it a night or not.”
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Hermanni let out a low sigh from where he covertly observed from across the mall his two friends imprison his other friend. Bam had some severe mental issues, they all knew this for a fact. Hell, even Hermanni didn’t feel much sympathy for him when he found out what atrocity he had perpetrated on the defenseless Alexis. Bam had struck a family member, an innocent female. Perhaps, Hermanni should have reviewed this idea of a sprightly gun fight being a safe activity. Alexis had been sabotaged because of it.

This can’t happen again, he told himself as he watched both Bert and Connor ditch the unconscious Bam locked in the Electronics Store before strolling over to the black gates himself. There had to be some way he could nick the facade of Brandon Margera without rudely prying into his brain for feedback. He had to pacify the tortured boy’s affliction before he became completely unhinged and ended up killing someone.

Hermanni glided through the thick metal bars much like a ghost would and made himself comfortable with his TVs and books until his guest came too again.
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After a few minutes of tossing and turning, Bam fluttered his eyes open to the roving lights blinking off a legion of soft spoken televisions. Oblivious of where he was, he browsed the room until he identified a book reading Hermanni perched on a mound of pillows in the center of the room. His lips had parted so he could demand where he was when his memory came back full circle to the battleground earlier. He had struck Alexis and in turn...someone had clobbered him from behind.

Growling to himself, Bam felt behind his head for the small bump there. He didn’t once ask himself why his head wasn’t thumping as a result of the blow when he grumbled out. “What the fuck happened?”

“You completely lost your mind and harmed your friend.” Hermanni answered him nonchalantly, cognizant that he had awakened. Behind a vacant expression, he masked his disappointment in him well.

Bam got back onto his feet again and ignored a momentary smog of dizziness to shoot a glare at Hermanni for stating he lost his mind much like a deranged person would. Why the heck did everyone have to call him crazy all the time? “Hey! I’m not fucking crazy! You got that straight?!”

“You could have fooled me.” Hermanni countered, shutting his book to stand up and confront Bam. “Brandon, you knew very well when this mental illness first began that there was something defective going on inside you. As the days passed and your meltdowns became more frequent and volatile, you were no longer able to call to mind the man you once were anymore, were you?”