Deadly Knives and Permanent Scars

I twisted the light blue lighter around in my hands. After leaving school, I began to head home only to run into the same kid who I had saved and almost threatened in the span of a few hours. I didn't even say anything to the kid as I walked past, but I felt his eyes on me before he said something that was still echoing in my mind:

“You shouldn't push people away who want to help you. That's how you end up alone.”

After that, he stamped out the cigarette that he had been previously smoking, running into his house and leaving behind an unlit cancer stick and a lighter. I knew mine had been running low as of late so I snatched the one he had been using up before walking home; just my luck, I live a couple of streets away from him.

The kid was strange though... I didn't know his name, but something about him intrigued me. It wasn't every day that I stood up for some random stranger that Matt was attacking... and it wasn't normal for me to actually show my emotions in front of someone other than Kara.

I heard my father stumble around the living room, muttering something along the lines of, “I'm out of fucking liquor,” before I heard the front door slam shut. I knew he had went out to head towards the liquor store to pick up a couple more bottles and truthfully, it made me happy that he got out of the house.

Sliding off my bed, I pulled out a cigarette, lighting it and taking a puff before exhaling the smoke. I unlocked the door to my bedroom, walking into the slightly trashed house before rummaging the fridge only to find that we had week old leftovers and expired milk.

“Shit,” I muttered, not being used to actually looking for food in my kitchen. I never spent much time at home due to Dad's state of mind and I was beginning to question what he had been consuming besides alcohol.

Glancing over at his recliner, I saw a small pile of pizza boxes and the styrofoam containers of ramen noodles before rolling my eyes. Of course those weren't healthy meals for a forty-some year old male to eat on a regular basis, but I didn't bother with it; it wasn't like I walked through the front door anymore; I knew the perfect technique to crawl through my window.

Taking another puff off my cancer stick, I wandered back into my room, checking the time before pulling on my jacket and opened up my bedroom drawer. When I got home, I added Matt's knife to my collection and I picked through them for a moment before choosing one to take out with me; night would be approaching soon and I had no idea when I was going to get home.

I locked my room, flicking my cigarette into my father's nearby ashtray before walking towards the front door. I couldn't remember the last time I had left through this entrance, but it didn't matter, all I knew was that I was going to need a few drinks to get the old woman's and that boy's words out of my head.

See, the reason I shut everyone out when I was younger was because what happened to my mother. As I had told that woman, my mother disappeared without a word when I was four and as I slowly grew up, when I asked about her, I was told not to meddle with the past. When Father and I moved to the house we currently live in, I had to switch to a different junior high since I was in a different district. I lost a lot of my friends, but that was only the beginning to me becoming a loner.

The sky was a set of vibrant above me as I began walking towards my usual club. I tried to avoid the street that, that boy lived on as I made my way there and the moment I got to the door, the bouncer let me in; he didn't even dare card me anymore since he knew my face fairly well. At the moment, there weren't many people there since the night wasn't even here yet, but that didn't bother me.

Walking towards the bar, I took a seat and pulled out my wallet, throwing a couple of dollars on the counter before muttering to the bartender, “Give me a vodka and Red Bull.”

It didn't take long for the guy to hand me my drink as I began to scope out the dance floor as it was slowly filling up. Since it was a weeknight, it was mostly people in their mid-twenties, coming to let their work woes away, and I had learned quickly that there were rare to get into bed with.

I sighed loudly, turning on my phone and playing a game as I took a sip of my drink every once in a while. I promised I wasn't going to end up like my father when it came to alcohol, but I indulged every now and again; most of the time I drank water or something that would be considered “tame.”

After downing three more drinks - two screwdrivers, and a kamikaze - it was almost eleven and I finally made my way to the dance floor. My eyes watched out for people who were mostly alone, but sometimes I would talk and dance with a group of a couple of people.

A few girls approached me, but I wasn't too interested in them. Lately, my preference had been men and finally when I spotted a red-haired guy that I was about to approach, someone caused me to stop dead in my tracks.

Sitting over in one of the booths was the boy with a mixture of blue and black hair, a drink in front of him. To be truthful, I didn't know how old this kid was, but I got the vibe that he didn't belong in this type of club because of the types of people who typically swarmed around it.

He turned around, finishing off his drink before heading towards the floor and I wanted to run to him, stop him from dancing with someone who was going to take advantage of him, but I realized that I was one of those people in reality... That didn't stop my body from unconsciously moving towards him.

“It's you,” he said, eyes cutting over to me once I was standing next to him, my hand on his shoulder before my mouth moved on its own, saying, “Would you like to dance with me?”

What are you saying Jasper? You know that you should get away from him. What are you doing? Have you had a couple too many drinks? You typically hold your liquor so well.

He tentatively accepted the offer and I put my hands on his waist, his resting on my shoulders as I looked down at him. The bandage was still on his cheek and I knew that he was going to have a scar from Matt's cut; at least he'd look like the rest of the kids that hang around here.

The two of us moved around in a slow circle, completely opposite to the rest of the people here as his lips were pulled in a tight line and I could feel this hands sweating slightly. A faint blush dusted his cheeks as I said, “What are you doing in a place like this? You're what, sixteen? Maybe seventeen? This isn't the place for a boy like you this late at night. Trust me; I know.”

His blue eyes looked away as the club lights lit the two of us up in different colors and I saw him chew at his lip before he said, “I got into a fight with my mom and needed to get out of the house. This is the first place I came upon while walking around and it seemed fairly decent.”

A soft chuckle left my lips as I said, “Well, it's not, kid. I'm sure you're new to town and after being attacked by a person who thinks is stronger than me, I hope you've figured out by now that this is the bad side of the city. Around here, we're known for fighting, high crime, and drug deals in dark alleys. You've got to watch your back and I'm warning you of that now.”

“Why are you even telling me this, Jasper?” He asked and in the back of my mind, I questioned how he knew my name before I muttered, “Newbies need to know what's going on. You're not the first person to be given this kind of information from me, kid.”

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled away from the boy for a moment, looking to see that I had a missed call from my dad before slipping it back out of sight. I didn't care for what he said so I just simply sighed, looking down at the boy once again before saying, “How about I buy you a drink or two? Fights with parents suck and needless to say, you look like you need one after what you've been through today.”

He nodded his head and the two of us walked over to the bar as he mumbled, “I'm Sorcer, by the way. Sorry I didn't introduce myself before.”

I shrugged it off saying, “I'm sure someone told you who I am, but anyways, I'm Jasper. It's nice to meet you, kid.”



“You're cute,” I whispered in his ear, watching him shiver. The music was playing loudly in our ears as it was past midnight. After I had thrown a few drinks into him, he loosened up, got really clingy, and I could easily tell that he was drunk. I, on the other hand, was still slightly sober, but I had, had enough to not care what the people around us were thinking.

He gasped and a smile spread across my lips as he was grinding against me. My head was rushing back and forth as his cheeks were a vibrant shade of red, my knee slid between his legs as I could clearly see his erection through his tight pants.

Sorcer looked up at me with heavily-lidded eyes and I smiled before he slightly moaned, “J-Jasper, I want you to kiss me.”

That was the moment that my brain shut down. I stared at the younger male with wide eyes, letting go of the tight grip that I had on his hips and stepped away. He looked at me, shocked that I had let go before trying to question why. I didn't say anything though to him before shaking my head and walking off, trying to get out of the club.

“Jasper?!” Sorcer yelled as I watched him get lost in the sea of the crowd as I darted out, my hand wrapped around my knife as I walked out onto the street. I could still hear the boy's voice behind me as I started heading home before ducking down an alley to make sure that he wouldn't find me.

I leaned against the wall, trying to catch my breath and figure out what the fuck I was doing back there with the younger male. I wasn't going to use him, but at the same time I just wanted him... and that wasn't normal for me; that wasn't the Jasper that I knew

My rule was to not get close to people and I had always upheld it.

“Well look what we have here, boys?” I heard a voice say and I looked over to see a rough looking man who had to be in his thirties. I noticed that he was blind in one eye, a Glasgow smile scarring his face, as two men were following close behind him. They held their own knives close to them and I sighed, knowing that I was getting myself into.

“Fucking hell,” I muttered, whipping out my knife.