The True Horror Began On Friday 13th

I was sitting in maths and it was completely impossible. The questions were ridiculous, I didn’t see how you could use letters in math, they should at least keep them separate. I cleared my throat and lay my head down on the desk, scribbling on my arm with my biro. The girl who used to sit next to me had sufficiently moved after she realised about the Mr. Way thing, she thought the whole charade was disgusting.

I wrote Mikey’s number out on my arm five times, trying to remind myself I should ring him to ask what was wrong with him yesterday. He sounded so blunt, so tired. I thought maybe he could have had a rough night but wouldn’t he of just said that from the beginning? I continued to scribble out random doodles on my arm. The man I was drawing turned out to be some horrible vision of Gerard so I quickly turned it into a Legolas/Wolvewerine character, ending up slashing it out anyway.

I let out an exasperated sigh, irritated with the scratching of pens that cursed the room. I was tired as well, I hadn’t slept perfectly last night. I was too cold and every time I scrunched up into a ball my ice cold feet would hit my relatively warm thighs and I’d be back to square one, shivering like a Eskimo.

Nights like them annoyed me senseless; they just reminded me of Gerard. You couldn’t be cold if you slept with Gerard, even if it was boiling hot he’d still wind himself around you like a snake. I think he thought I‘d move if he didn’t tangle himself extremely complicatedly, like he had a spout of ASD. I hated thinking about all Gerard’s habits, a ball of sticky virus clung to my throat which I could never swallow.

I don’t think I’ve ever met a person that can say X-men’s dope, with genuinely meaning it, not just trying to be quirky.

I swallowed a few times, my eyes weakly falling across the classroom and too outside into the street. I caught a glimpse of a black smudge standing against a tree crossly, a sketchbook perched in their hand and a pen writing away in the other. The person glanced up and stared back, giving me a peculiar tingling feeling to run around my waist.

I looked to the front of the class instead, successfully managing to swallow the tacky lump that had been trapped in my wind pipe.

“So you reverse the symbols and -2 because +2 -around the other side!” Mrs. Garland said like it was a magic trick. I swiftly let my gaze travel back over my shoulder, the black smudge from the tree now sufficiently gone. I squinted, narrowing my eyes and searching the area again. The school bell suddenly rang, making me jump out of my seat, and I quickly disguised it as I just wanted to get out of the class quickly.

I rushed out form the room, ignoring the sniggers that followed my steps. I walked to my locker and let it swing open, I hated lockers with a pure passion. I then grabbed my mobile and dialled in Mikey’s number which was engraved heavily into my brain.

“Hello?” he asked gruffly.

“I-It’s Ren,” I said, he coughed under his breath.

“What’s up –aren’t you supposed to be in school…? It’s like Monday?” he questioned confusion evident in his voice.

“I am in school, I have a break you’re allowed to use your phones,” I said cautiously, gnawing on my thumb nail, “Listen, can we meet up today? After last class?” I asked, “I haven’t talked to you in ages and I was thinking we could maybe get a coffee or-“

“I got stuff to do today,” he intervened.

“Oh… o-okay. Well maybe tomorrow?” I asked him.

“Maybe,” he said, “I’m feeling a little sick actually –I think I might just call this week through,” he chuckled nervously.

“Have I done something to upset you?” I murmured, “I just –you seem a bit distant.”

“Really? You haven’t so just don’t worry yourself, but uh…” he began, “I don’t really know how to put this but I think you should stop calling me. I think we should just call this whole ‘thing’ we have going quits,” he said. My cheeks turned pink and my eyes glazed.

“I t-thought we were friends though?”

“Yeah… Ren listen sweetie –I just. It’s weird and the only reason we met was because of Gerard. He’s gone now and he’s not coming back anytime soon so I wanna just cut this off. The relationship you and Gerard had was illegal anyway? I think you need to move on forget about me and my family. And erase my number from ever being used,” he chuckled cautiously.

“But. I don’t understand. Mikey you’re the only person I can talk to right now-“ I started, my voice cracking, “I kinda need you,” I whimpered, “Y-y’know?”

“Sweetie, I know. You think you need me. You don’t though,” he said softly as I leant against my locker, thick trails of hot throbbing water rolling down my face, “Goodbye,” he muttered softly.

“No Mikey wait-“ the dialling tone cut me off and I slapped my phone shut, pushing my thumb up against he bridge of my nose to try and relieve some of the pressure. Snivelling, I convulsed once, my toes curling inside my shoes and my face crumpling.

I walked down the corridor, round the corner and out through the glass doors, quivering all the way. I didn’t know how much I needed Mikey until I realised I wouldn’t be able to talk to him anymore. I trudged round the corner and wept against the wall, my shoulder scraping nastily as I slid down the stones to the floor, my thighs tightening when they came in contact with the cold, cement ground.

I stopped snivelling stupidly and pulled myself up, wiping myself down before walking into the courtyard, oblivious to the probing eyes that followed me.