The Art of Hide-and-Seek, A modern horry story Options

[redsrock]

This is something I started to work on last night. Please tell me what you think, because it's really important to me. I'm still writing "Takes of Teir", but this is a side project, though just as important.

[big]The Art of Hide-and-Seek[/big]

Part One: The Calm Before the Purge

Chapter One

What’s the point in loving someone if they don’t love you back? It’s pointless, not to mention a burden. To love someone, but not be loved back, is the worst thing someone can go through. It eats at your heart and your soul until there is almost nothing left to nibble on, stopping from killing you just so you can live in misery. It’s like waking up on Christmas day, expecting to receive hundreds of presents, only to receive a mere few that you didn’t even ask for to begin with. To put it simple: love, much like life, is a umbrella seller.

I should probably tell you the girl whom I love so dearly, because if I don’t then what’s the point? I would just be rambling on, and nobody likes a rambler. Her name is Katrina Stansky. She and I are freshmen at the same college, Tinesville Community College in Tinesville, Indiana; Southern Indiana actually, just a few miles northwest of the Mississippi River, the part that flows through Louisville Kentucky. I love Katrina because I have since I can remember. It goes all the way back to my sophomore year in high school. We were taking a test in history, I think over the fifty states. I had just barely spoken to here before then, and as we took the test our eyes met. We both smiled. Or, I guess she smiled. Mine was more of an awkward stare I suppose, but that doesn’t matter. After class I asked her if she wanted to go see a movie with me. I had barely spoken to her yet I asked her on a date, something I had not been able to do with any other girl before. And to my amazement, she said yes. We dated off and on for several months after that, until we finally decided to call it quits, for several reasons that I won’t get into. I realize it was only high school puppy, but it still meant something to me.

But unlike many relationships, Katrina and I have actually become best friends. It was kind of awkward at first, and it still is to this day, but I am so glad it happened. I have a couple other friends that I like to hang around with, but Katrina is different. I don’t know if it’s cause she’s a girl or what, but I can talk to her about literally anything. I can’t do that with anyone else. And even though I’ve been satisfied with just being friends, I’ve always wanted something more. I had an appetizer of what it was to have a girlfriend, and ever since that I’ve wanted the full course meal. Some guys would want only the dessert, but not me. No, I am a proud gentleman of sorts, something Katrina likes to point out all the time. And throughout our close friendship, I’ve never once told her that I still have feelings for her…that is, until yesterday.

Yesterday was different for me. I think it had something to do with the Green Bay Packers demolishing the Dallas Cowboys and I was simply overexcited, not thinking before speaking. Anyway, I told her how I felt while walking to the park with her, and she turned straight around and headed back home without uttering a word. I was left standing on the sidewalk by myself, slack jawed and eyes wide with surprise. I didn’t even mean to tell her about it, it just slipped out. And now I’m sitting in my friend’s room, Brian Beerad.

“Just forget her, man. There’s other fish in the sea.”

Please excuse my friend’s cliché; he uses that one a lot for some reason, mostly because I think he knows it gets on my nerves. “You don’t understand, I don’t even know for sure how she feels right now.”

“Well, you said she just walked away, right?” I nodded. “That’s not exactly a good sign, man. Don’t you think she would have said something? I mean compassion, Jena is always nagging me about somethin’. To me, silent is a man’s worse nightmare. Just forget about her, dude, for real.”

Brian was the only one who knew I still had feelings for her, other than Katrina herself. He was my best friend, and he has been ever since my freshman year of high school, in which we both came from two different schools than everyone else in our small class of freshmen back then. But despite our friendship, it was still hard to talk about girls with him, mostly because he thought he was a stud, and I barely even went out with one girl my entire life. He’s more of the lady’s man, while I’m more of…well…just a man. He used to play the field, but he’s settled down with his girlfriend Jena for a couple of years now. I wouldn’t be surprised if they married. Of course, to do that Brian needs to get off of his boat and go to school, or at least get a job. I tried to get him to go to college with me, but he’s too lazy. Brian works with me at Movie-Mart, and for some reason he thinks he’s going to be manager some day, and he shouldn’t waste his time with school. I think he’s just too lazy, and so does Jena.

“No, I can’t just forget about her. It’s not easy like that.”

“Well sulking around like a goddamn baby isn’t gonna help, man. It’s depressing you know,” he said, strumming at his acoustic guitar he got for his nineteenth birthday just a few months ago. He was already pretty good. Of course, I didn’t know a think about guitars. Suddenly he stopped playing and he snapped his fingers. “I got! Come with me and Jena tomorrow night to the Forest of Fright!”

“Forest of Fright?”

“You know…that scary forest where people dress up as monsters to scare people?”

“Oh, yeah. I don’t want to go and spoil your alls’ fun though.”

“You won’t be, because Jena is already bringing Lacey. You can just sort of say you’re going with her. No big deal, man. How about it?”

I stuttered, because in truth I didn’t really want to go. I never did enjoy going to places like that, and I also don’t like Lacey. She’s nice and all, but just a little too preppy and stuck-up for my taste. “I...I don’t have a whole lot of money to waste. Gas isn’t getting any cheaper.”

Brian laughed. “And neither are your lame boat excuses. You’re going, man, and I’m paying!” he proceeded to pick up his cell phone and call Jena. He told her I was going, and that Lacey and I could go together. And that was that. I was going even though I didn’t want to. I guess I shouldn’t be too agitated. He’s only trying to cheer me up after all.

When I went home that evening, Pete, my pet beagle, was scratching at the back door; so I let him out to take a piss, and then I popped in a couple of nacho cheese Hot Pockets into the oven. After I graduated high school my parents moved to Florida, just as they had planned to once I was “out of their hair”. I didn’t care, I had been working at Movie-Mart for the past couple of years and they had bought me a small home in a not so small neighborhood filled with thugs, bugs, and people who do drugs. I didn’t care about that either because I rarely ventured around the neighborhood anyway.

After I let Pete back in my Hot Pockets were ready, so I retired to my sofa in the living room and watched Comedy Central for a couple of hours. I don’t exactly remember what happened after that, but the last thing I do remember is waking up to the sound of my phone ringing to the tone of Saferwaters, an excellent song by my favorite band, Chevelle. I answered the phone, and what I heard was the sweet voice of Katrina. It was sweet because it was her, and certainly not because of her tone.

“We need to talk,” she said before I even had to time to finish answering my phone.

“Okay…well, let’s talk.”

“No, we have to talk in person, Jake,” she replied, this time with a harsher tone than before. I didn’t quite like that.

“Okay, but umm….it’s a little past midnight right now.”

“So? It’s Thursday, and we don’t have school on Fridays. Just come over, Jake.”

“Alright, alright. Gimme about fifteen minutes, I need to…I need to let Pete out one last time. I fell asleep and-“

“Quit stalling, Jeff,” and then the connection ended.

I sat up from the couch, crumbs covering my shirt and dried up cheese sticking to my chin. I didn’t let Pete out, because all he would do is bark at anything that he thought was staring at him, which was pretty much anything and everything. I had to switch clothes and clean up a bit. I wasn’t going on some fancy date, but I didn’t want to talk with Katrina with cheese on my chin. Plus, she was lactose-intolerant anyway and I didn’t want to freak her out. On the way out the door I heard Pete whimper from behind, his eyes twitched up, not knowing what to think. He wasn’t used to me going out this late at night. Neither was I. Nor was I used to the stern voice Katrina had just given me. This will be the first time I’ve spoken with her since telling her that I still love her, even though it’s barely been a full twenty-four hours. I don’t want to talk to her right now because I am scared. I’m scared she’ll say something to hurt me. Probably not intentionally, but girls sometimes have a knack for knifing at a guy’s heart. At least that’s what Brian says.

I walked outside into the cold night. Late October was generally a cold time in Southern Indiana, and this year was no different. Just a week away from Halloween, and already that goddamn Jack Frost is nipping at my nose. And truthfully, I wouldn’t mind the cold if it weren’t for the fact that baseball season was coming to a close. But then again, football started a while back, and the weather is perfect for football. I remember playing tackle football with my friends when I was littler, in an old field with seemingly miles of open space. We had a blast, playing until it was dark, and sometimes even later when the old lights decided to come on. Katrina played too sometimes, but we couldn’t tackle her. Not that I would let anyone.

I got in my Cincinnati red 05 Grand Am, complete with a sweet looking spoiler and some nice dark silver rims to go with it. My Grandma bought it for my sixteenth birthday. Most of the other guys around town were quite jealous, especially Brian, even though he wouldn’t admit it. And it’s not because a Grand Am is the fanciest car in the world or anything like that; it’s just that traditionally, kids in Tinesville are expected to pay for their own car by means of a job, cutting grass, or something else. This isn’t to say I’m a spoiled brat, but I just got lucky I suppose. My grandma is still alive, but she moved up to Oregon not too long ago to live my ailing aunt, who has been battling a bad case of pneumonia for several months now.

After starting the car I turned up the music a bit, which is to say only consisted of Chevelle songs. I am pretty much a Chevelle super fan, which to me is pretty cool. There are some other songs I listen to, but they’re mostly old Queen songs that mostly only Brian and I can appreciate. Most people in our town like to listen to rap music, which I hate with a furious and intense passion. Everybody knows you can’t spell crap without rap, so I’m not sure why people listen to it. I bet if I did a study, I could somehow prove that rap lowers your IQ. But now I am rambling again. Back to Katrina, who thankfully doesn’t like rap.

Katrina, like me, lived in her own house; expect her house was actually a small apartment for one person. Ironically, her apartment was probably nicer than my house, but of course it does help that she lives in the richer part of town in the northwest. She’s not a snob like most of the others though, because her family wasn’t exactly the richest while growing up. In fact, her father was a drunk that died when she was eleven after an accidental drowning, and her mother passed away when she was thirteen after a horrible car wreck. After her mother’s death, Katrina’s old uncle moved up from Tennessee to take care of her. He died just about six or so months ago actually, but left Katrina a shitload of money. She used some of it too pay for college for the next two years, and then put the rest in her savings account, which she uses solely to pay her apartment rent every two months.

Once I arrived I looked up at the tall thirty-story apartment building. Katrina’s room was on the tenth floor, the last one on the right. I looked up to her room and saw light shining through the windows. That’s when I noticed she was standing at her balcony. She rose up, for one frightening moment I thought she was going to jump off. But it was just the chilly wind playing a trick on me, and she hurried inside her room, no doubt waiting for me to knock at the door. So I climbed the stairs inside and made it to her door, knocking quietly twice. Almost as soon as I knocked, the door swung open and Katrina was standing there, wearing some green pajama shorts and a pink Chevelle t-shirt that I bought her a couple years ago. It looked so sexy on her.

“Hey,” I said, trembling with fear. There was something about her tonight, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. She didn’t exactly look angry, but more…I guess more confused than anything. “Umm…what did you want?”

She never once took her eyes off of mine, and she had neither a smile nor a frown. “What do you think, Jake? What could I have possible called you this late at night for? What could have possible caused us not to talk to each other since yesterday morning?” Her tone was suddenly harsh, more than stern. I didn’t like it, and I could see she knew that. “Just come on in,” she said.

I walked inside and sat on her black leather couch, right next to her two cats, Smuffle and Sam, two sneaky cats that usually jumped out from random places just to scare me. She had the television on, watching some old show. I think it was I Love Lucy, I’m not sure. She went into the kitchen for a second, and then came out holding two Snickers bars, one that she tossed to me, which was a horrible sign. For some reason we both liked to eat Snickers while talking about something serious. I don’t know why, we just do.

“You don’t love me, Jake.” She sat down on the chair across the room, munching down on the candy bar. Usually she takes small bites at a time, but right then I just saw her munch off half the bar! She looked at me, never taking her gorgeous blue eyes off of me. And then she repeated, “Did you hear me? You don’t love me."

“Yes, y-yes I do. I told you that yesterday,” I stuttered.

“You told me that, but you didn’t mean it. You love me as a friend, not for the way you think you do.”

Not the way I think I do? What the hell was that supposed to mean? I’m pretty sure I know how I feel. Who was she to tell me otherwise? “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Katrina. You’re not making any sense. I’ve loved you for a long time now. Even when we broke up long ago I never stopped loving you.”

“Jake, we are only nineteen years old! What do you know about love, hmm?”

What do I know about love? I know what I feel, I know that! She thinks I’m acting like a child, and apparently she doesn’t think I loved her back when we actually dated. I couldn’t believe it. I tell the girl I love her, and she says I am lying! What kind of great compassion is that? I don’t deserve this. No, I don’t deserve it at all. I’ve been nothing by tremendously nice to Katrina, and now look. She’s treating me as if I’m some stranger whom she doesn’t even know.

“Well…well what do you know about love?” I yelled in defense. I wanted to lash out furiously, but I was more mature than that. I stayed calm.

“I don’t know anything about it, but I’m not saying I do. Listen, Jake, you’re taking this the wrong way. I’m not trying to be a smartass, I’m just trying to make you see the truth. You never loved me, because we were only highschoolers, Jake. We are best friends, not lovers!”

“But…” I begin, but then I stopped. After all this arguing with myself…perhaps she has a point. I never thought about it before. Maybe I didn’t like her. Maybe it was still puppy love, just as I had said it was back in high school. “But I am attracted to you, Katrina. You’re smart, beautiful, nice-“

Then she interrupted me. “So friends can’t be smart, beautiful and nice? Come on, Jake, think about it! If you really have loved me over these past couple of years, do you really think you would have been able to go this long without telling me? No, of course not! You’re too emotional for that to have happened. I am as close a friend as you have, next to Brian, but since I am a girl it is somewhat awkward to you. And that’s fine, I understand. In the beginning of our friendship I thought I liked you to. But the more and more we hung out, I realized you were my best friend. Best friends don’t go out with each other, Jake. It only ruins everything.”

She was right. She was right, and I just realized it. At that moment I no longer had any feelings for her, at least not in the way I had a mere few minutes ago. I can’t explain it, but it’s like a light had just shined through my mind or something, forcing me to see the truth Katrina was talking about. She was right….we were best friends, not lovers. “I…I guess you’re right. I, well I…I don’t know. I guess the awkwardness thing you said was true. And I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

“Of course not,” she said, and for the first time tonight, smiled. “I hope you’re not mad at me, Jake. I just don’t want you to suffer over something that isn’t even real.”

“No, I understand now,” I said, and I really meant it. “It’s okay, I’m not mad at all. I’m just glad we had this talk tonight.”

We talked for a few more minutes about pretty much nothing. Then we said our goodbyes and I walked to the door. She patted me on the shoulder right before I left, and I turned around. “Thanks for coming, Jake.” I nodded and then turned back around. But before I could leave she called for me again. “Oh, and I think there’s some cheese on your chin.”

********************

“So you two are okay now?”

It was the next morning, and Brian had come over to my house to watch an re-run of the University of Kentucky football game that wasn’t on TV yesterday. “Yeah, we’re fine now. I realize that I don’t really love her.”

It sounds so awkward to say that. All these years I’ve loved her so much, or at least I thought I did. Now I know the truth, that she is only an extremely good friend. So strange…

Brian gave me a weird look and shook his head. “You’re weird as compassion, man. But that’s okay. You ready for tonight?”

“I guess, since I wasn’t even given a choice.”

“Ah, shut the hell up!” he laughed. “Besides, you shouldn’t even me sad anymore, right?”

“But I don’t even like haunted houses.”

“Good, because this is a haunted forest.”

I rolled my eyes and continued to watch the game. Kentucky was at 17-6 with a few minutes to go in the third quarter. Thanks to ESPN I already knew Kentucky was going to win 24-14, but it was still fun to watch. Pete liked it whenever we watched sports, because whenever we’d cheer he’d howl along with us like he actually knew what was going on.

Brian left around noon, and because I didn’t have to work on Fridays I decided to take Pete on a walk through the park downtown. I would have asked Brian to go, but he did have to work, till eight o’clock. When Pete and I arrived at the park another dog and his owner were walking through as well. It was a poodle, one of those ones that looked all fancy and whatnot, with its owner looking just as fancy. The man wore an expensive coat with expensive pants to match, and when he saw me in my raggedy Cincinnati Reds hoody and faded out gray sweatpants, he scoffed and started to walk ahead faster. What a prick…

When Pete and I got back home it was nearly two o’clock, and I realized I hadn’t locked the front door, and it was half-open. My heart stopped at first, thinking perhaps someone had broken in. I walked inside carefully and quietly, only to find no one in the house whatsoever. Nothing was broke or out of place, and the back door was locked. I chalked it as me leaving the door open, but then I heard a high shrill from my bedroom. It was Pete. I ran in as fast as I could, only to find the dumb dog barking at the mirror that was positioned right beside my door. He wasn’t even barking out the window like he usually did, but rather was literally barking at himself.

“Pete, you silly-goose! That’s you!” He began to growl a low growl, so I picked him up and took him until the living room, where we watched some Comedy Central, “The Colbert Report” to be specific. It was my favorite show on that channel, because Stephen Colbert was absolutely hilarious.

A couple of hours later I got a call from Brian, who told me Mr. Frank, the manager of Movie-Mart, was letting him get off early. He told me to get dressed, and that we were heading for the Forest of Fright at six o’clock, rather than nine o’clock. I put on a pair of jeans and a Reds t-shirt, along with the Reds hoody I wore earlier in the day. Soon the doorbell rung and I left with Brian to pick up Jena and Lacey.

[redsrock]

Chapter Two: A Forest of Frightening Surprise

When Brian and I arrived at his girlfriend’s house, she and Lacey were already outside, sitting beside each other on a country-decorated wooden swing on the porch, laughing like all girls do whenever they see something even the least bit funny. This time it was Brian tripping while getting out of the car, and almost landing face first in the grass. It was rather funny I’ll admit, but Brian didn’t think so.

“Yeah, it’s funny that I almost broke my goddamn nose,” he said bitterly. “Do you two want to go or not?”

The two girls lifted themselves from the swing and ran over to the car. Jena and Brian kissed for what seemed like an hour, like they always do. I guess I can’t hide that I get a tad bit jealous when they do that. And before last night I would have imagined Katrina and I doing the same thing. Not anymore though. That was all over with.

On the entire way to the forest, we all played the ABC Game. It was a game in which we would use words from billboards and automobiles to spell out words using the alphabet. We split each other into teams, with Lacey being my partner. And surprisingly, she wasn’t nearly as annoying as I remember her being in high school. She was actually extremely friendly to me, as if we were best friends or something. Though it could have been that Jena or Brian told her to. But it didn’t matter to me; at least she wasn’t acting like the stuck-up brat I used to know. I guess high school afterlife changes people for the better. Once we were roughly five minutes from the forest it was already dark, having taken us a few hours to simply get to it. A large bonfire gave us our only light, and when we actually turned into the parking lot my stomach lurched, and I almost threw up on the spot.

“Are you okay?” Lacey asked, scooting closer away from me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just something caught in my throat.”

That was complete great compassion of course, and she probably knew it. The truth was that I was downright scared, almost to the point of pissing my pants. Through all the fun I was having I forgot about my fear of getting scared. All the crazy bastards trying to scare me were going to have a field day. I knew I wasn’t going to stand a chance, and the fact that we only had four people in our party and it was pitch dark wasn’t going to help, either.

“You’re scared shitless, aren’t you?” Brian whispered to me while we were waiting for the girls to come out of the restroom, just having finished paying for entry.

“No, Brian, I was joking when I said I didn’t want to go,” I said sarcastically, staring straight into the forest, unable to see a thing but able to hear all the screams that tore at my heart like a sharp knife. Even though I knew nothing bad would happen, I was still scared to death. It was like that funny feeling you get in your stomach while riding roller-coasters, only ten times worse.

Brian laughed, picked up a rock, and chucked it into the distance. “It’ll be fine, man. At least Lacey seems like she’s having a good time with you,” he said while poking at my ribs, then brushing back his dark blonde hair from the front of his face.

“She’s being nice because you and Jena told her to, Brian. I’m not stupid.”

“Dude, you think Jena and I told her to be nice to you? That’s ridiculous.”

“It is?” I asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, man, it is. I swear to god we didn’t say anything. Maybe she just likes you. That wouldn’t exactly be a bad thing, you know.”

Finally Lacey and Jena appeared from the restroom and we were ready to go, and I didn’t have to listen to Brian’s obvious hints any longer. Before entering the forest I took one look back at the parking lot, almost thinking about chickening out. But then Brian punched my arm and told me to stop lagging behind. I took one last look at the bonfire, and then we at last walked into the forest.

*******************

It started out well enough I suppose. For the first few minutes we walked along a dirt path to the music of Halloween. I kept thinking of Michael Myers jumping out with his enormous butcher knife ready to slice my head off, but thankfully it never happened. At the end of the path was a replica of the house in The Chainsaw Massacre. The same music continued to play as we made our way into the creaky old house, filled with so many replica items that I felt as if I was actually in the movie. We were getting close to the back exit out of the house when suddenly we heard a deep and muffled laughter from upstairs. Seconds afterwards a chainsaw revved up, and Brian screamed, “Oh compassion, he’s comin’ goddammit!” and then ran out of the house like a scared little girl. It was absolutely priceless. I was laughing too hard to even be scared.

The three of us ran out as well, but not nearly as fast as Brian. We laughed for a few seconds and waited for Leatherface to appear, but he did not. It must have been one of those loud video recordings or something. It sure sounded real enough. Of course, I’m glad it wasn’t, or else I would have done the same thing Brian had done.

We walked along another dirt path, this one only a few feet wide, with a wall of bushes and trees to our sides. There was no music this time, only the cries of those ahead and behind us, as well a few hoots from some owls flying overhead, probably laughing at all the people getting scared of literally nothing. Soon we reached an old barn, with white spray-paint on the closed door reading “One, two, Freddy’s coming for YOU!” Apparently this was the lair of Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street, my least favorite monster from my least favorite scary movie. I never did think he was scary as a child, only annoyingly unfunny.

We opened the barn door and walked inside to a light of roughly ten lanterns spread throughout. Hanging by its neck by means of a long rope from the ceiling was a dreadfully fake body. I almost laughed it was so ridiculous. I walked up to it myself and poked its plastic face. “What cheap material,” I exclaimed in disappointment. “They could have at least-“

Suddenly from behind a few tall barrels of hay, jumped out someone dressed as Freddy Krueger, which scared the compassion out of me. He ran up to me, his face just inches from mine. I could see every scar detailed into the mark, and I was greatly impressed by the artistic design. I could also smell his putrid breath, but I don’t think that was supposed to have been part of the costume.

“Whatcha mean it’s fake?” the man underneath the mask said in a horribly inaccurate Freddy voice. I actually laughed at this. “What’s so funny, kid? How about I cut your ears off and use them as drink coasters? They sure look big enough!”

The man roared with laughter, as did everyone else, myself included. I have to admit, that was pretty funny. We left the barn and apparently the night of fright was over, because the bonfire could be seen, as well as the many cars parked off into the near distance. It was a very short journey, and one that wasn’t even close to being near its worth of fifteen dollars per ticket, something Brian was exceptionally pissed about. Brian, Jena and Lacey had to go to the restroom, so I waited outside for them, leaning up against a wooden fencing that circled what looked to be the remnants of an old pigpen or something. I was whistling the tune of an old Queen song when I spotted someone familiar in the distance, and then someone not so familiar. It was Katrina, and she was holding hands with some guy I had never seen before. Suddenly the two began to kiss, and I immediately felt angry, betrayed, and jealous all at once. I wasn’t so much as falling in love her again that as I was angry that she had not told me she was dating someone. Besides, I didn’t even knew she would be here tonight. I know it’s none of my business, but then again, there are certain things you tell your friends, especially in our case. Why should would just walk around kissing strangers I don’t know, but I was about to find out.

I walked over to them and separted their lips and tongues apart. The two obviously didn’t know what was going on, and Katrina didn’t even realize it was me at first. “Jake? What the hell are you doing?”

“Me? What the hell are you doing kissing this warrior? Do you even know him?” I asked, paying no attention to the man she had been kissing. Honestly, I didn’t even know exactly what he looked like just yet.

“Of course I hamster cave know him, Jake! I’ve been going on dates with him for a couple of weeks now, in case you wanted to know! What the hell is your problem?”

I could feel my hands grip together tightly in angry. She had been sneaking around it seemed. “So I guess you just forgot to tell me this, huh? Why didn’t you tell me last night when you called me over?” I yelled angrily.

“Last night? the man to the side asked, in one of those tones that made it sound as if he was trying to act tough or something.

“The last time I checked, Jake, I didn’t have to report to you for permission on everything I do! I didn’t want to hurt your feelings last night because I knew how sad you were. I just…didn’t want to hurt you. Maybe I should have told you, but that doesn’t give you the right to be a jerk!”

“No, don’t tell me you’re going out with some dude I’m never even see before!” I said sarcastically. “I don’t care, I’m just a nobody!”

“Sounds to me like you’re jealous,” the man said.

I turned around and he had a sly smirk spread about his face. His eyes were brown, just as his short cropped up hair. He had an embarrassingly thin set of chin hair, and was wearing all Hollister clothing, including a Hollister ball-cap as well. “Shut the hamster up!” I said to him bluntly, then turning my attention back to Katrina. A crowd had now formed around us three, and I could almost feel their glaring stares. I was about to say something to Katrina, but before I could do anything the man swung me around and punched me in the jaw, sending me sprawling to the concrete floor. My jaw hurt tremendously, but I tried not to let it bother me. I got up and swung my right fist at him, but missed tremendously. He laughed and then grabbed me by the collar, throwing me to the ground with ease. It would have helped if I had actually fought before. The man kneeled down and grabbed me by the collar again, ready to strike once more, but from out of nowhere he was tackled by Brian. Brian landed a few good shots to the pretty-boy’s face before some of the crowd got into the action.

There were two of them, both wearing the same type of clothing the pretty-boy was wearing. Obviously they were friends of the pretty-boy, and I got up from the ground to help my own friend. I kicked one of them in the balls, and I didn’t care what people thought of it. While he fell to the ground in pain the other guy was wrestling with Brian on the ground. Pretty boy was standing now, his nose bloody and already a bruise forming under his left eye. He was panting heavily, with the angriest expression spread about his now not-so-pretty face. He charged at me and swung his right fist, hitting me in the stomach. I doubled over in pain, and then he kneed me in the nose, blood immediately spouting from both nostrils. I was now lying on my back, blood covering my eyes and face. Someone shouted something and everyone took off running. Suddenly Brian was at my side, helping me up. He, Jena, Lacey and I ran to the car, speeding off before anyone could stop us.

********************

The entirety of the following morning was spent with an ice pack on my jaw and nose, and a whole lot of ice-cream eating. I can’t complain about the latter part, but my injuries were keeping me from enjoying myself. My nose wasn’t broke, at least according to Brian. He didn’t think my jaw was either, but I kept hearing clicking noises if I moved it a certain way, something that I had never been able to do before. Oh well, it wasn’t hurting near as much with the ice on it. I just hoped both injuries would go away in a matter of weeks.

The fallout with Katrina had begun, and the first battle had taken place last night. She called me up on my cell phone and apologized for what her boyfriend -whose name was Anthony- but also said that I was the biggest jerk she had ever seen, and that she never wanted to talk to me again. What a great compassion apology. I didn’t care; my friendship was over with her for good. Thinking about that hurt at first, last night when I was trying to go to sleep. But now I’m over it. It’s just all so weird though. Within a couple days I’ve went from loving someone to downright hating them. Then again, that obviously means something. It means that I never really loved her to begin with, and therefore I have to give Katrina a victory since she’s the one who told me that in the first place.

I also expected to get a call or visit from her boyfriend and his friends, but so far they hadn’t showed up. It was still early in the morning though. Lucky for me Brian is by my side, and also lucky for me, he can actually fight. He used to be big into skateboarding, and he had gotten into so many fights with people, mainly because back then he was somewhat of a punk.

“How’s the nose feelin’ now?” he asked after gulping down some of his chocolate ice-cream. Thankfully he came out of the fight unscathed for a most part, save for a tiny scar under his right eye.

“It’s okay. My jaw hurts more than anything. I think it is broke.”

“Nah, it’s not broke. I would be able to tell. If anything it’s a minor sprain, which in that case there’s nothing to do but wait and let it heal. Remind to not let you get into anymore fights while I’m away,” he said, playfully punching me in the shoulder.

“Yeah, well…I don’t know what happened. I just saw that prick and went after him. Sorry again for getting you involved.”

“Don’t sweat it, man. You know I still like a good fight now and then. Goddamn ceiling…I swear to god, man, I hope he shows up again. This time I won’t let his dumbass friends get in the way. One of the motherfuckers caught me under the eye.”

I wasn’t sure if I wanted Anthony and his friends to come or not. One side of me wanted to beat his brains in. But then the other side of me knew that Brian would have to do the fighting, because I sure the hell couldn’t. And how low would that be, me getting my friend to fight for me? Besides, I don’t want him to get any more involved than he already has. Jena is pissed at me enough as it is.

“How’s Jena taking it? Is she still as mad at me as she was last night?”

“No,” he said bluntly, without looking at me.

Last night she chewed my boat up the entire way home, not that I blamed her. She said I could have gotten Brian and myself thrown in jail, which was very true. Still, the anger she showed was something that I had never seen before. It had even been more passionate than when she and Brian get into their little fights they have so often. I think what scared her most was that she was reminded of how Brian used to be, before they went out. In the past, he got drunk a lot, and his temper often flared. After Jena got hold of him though, he changed, no doubt by somewhat of a force from Jena. It’s funny to think about it. Brian tries to act like a hardass sometimes, but deep down inside he will do anything for Jena. Not that I’m saying that’s a bad thing, quite the contrary. It just shows how much influence she has on him, and how much they love each other.

At around ten o’clock Brian said his goodbyes and left to go to work. He usually had Saturdays off, but for some reason he had to work this particular Saturday, but I forgot why. When he left, I laid down a bowl of food for Pete, and then went for my hoody. I wanted take a walk through the park by myself, just to think about what’s happened over the past couple of days. Katrina and I used to walk through the park all the time, and you could pretty much call it out ‘thinkin’ spot’. Not anymore though. That’s all over. As I was walking out the door Pete came running to me, pawing at my leg to come with me. He never liked when I left the house at anytime. “No, boy, you can’t come this time. Eat your food.” I shooed him away gently, and then left the house, making sure the door closed all the way this time.

Like yesterday, the wind was blowing wildly, making an already cold day even colder. The weather really wasn’t that bad, but the wind made it absolutely miserable. And I don’t even remember being so windy when Brian had left just a few minutes early. Damn wind probably waited for me to come out. I walked to the park in no time, and then started on the slim stone path, stopping to take a look at the many statues spread throughout. My favorite was a statue of George Rogers Clark, because he was holding a rifle in one hand, and an old Indian-made horn in the other. It was really cool looking. The actual plants were neat as well, because there were so many of them. You really had to give it up to the Jones family for all the work and time they put into the park. Most of the plants had been dug in by them themselves.

When I got to the middle of the park, guess who was sitting there on a bench reading a book? None other than Lacey, dressed in a pretty maroon parka and a pair of black sweatpants, but the expensive kind, not the raggedy kind I always wore. I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to her, and I really didn’t think she’d want to talk to me either, since I still believed that Jena and Brian forced her to be nice to me. But before I could continue on unnoticed she turned around and saw me. To my surprise, she said hello.

“Hey, Jake.”

“Hey.”

Silence for several seconds, awkward silence mind you. It was one of those times when you just wanted to dart away and never come back. Weird, huh? Finally she broke the silence. “So, how are you feeling?”

“Okay, I guess. Hey, if you don’t mind me asking, is Jena still pissed at me?”

She laughed. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. There’s probably some stuff we should talk about. Do you have a few minutes?”

Stuff we should talk about What the hell did that mean? She was talking as if we were best friends. “Sure, I have a little bit of time to spare.” I walked over to the bench and sat down beside her. I noticed she was reading Tommyknockers, by Stephen King, my personal favorite book by my personal favorite author. “Nice,” I said, pointing towards the book she was holding at her chest.

I think she thought I was talking about her boobs, because at first she gave me a strange look as if to say, ‘Oh my god, you creepy pervert’. Thankfully that look didn’t last too long. “Oh, yes, my sister gave it to me. I can’t really get into it. He’s just…I don’t know.”

I wanted to tell that she was too dumb to appreciate the literary god King was, but I decided that probably wasn’t the smartest thing to say. Besides, I should be cutting her some slack. I keep talking about how bad of a person she is, yet ever since yesterday she’s been nothing but an angel to me. “Sometimes his reading takes a while to appreciate. But really, he’s a master of his profession. That book there is actually my favorite by him. Salem’s Lot is really good too though.” Silence for another few seconds, and then it was my turn to break it. “So…you said there’s something we should talk about?”

“Oh, yes. Are you okay from last night?”

What? That simple of a question? Couldn’t she have just asked me while I was standing up? I mean jeez, she pretty much asked me that already. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just upset is all. I wish Brian wouldn’t have gotten involved.”

“Yes, it was awful last night. And just between you and me, Jena was so pissed when we dropped you off. She started screaming at Brian, like I’ve never seen her before. It was really bad.”

“One of their fights again?”

“No, this time was different,” she said, looking at her expensive clogs. “She actually started crying at one point, and Brian told her to stop acting like such a baby. She went off on him then, telling him he was just gonna end up a drunk again. He slammed on his breaks after that, and told her to get out and walk. I went with her of course. When she walked me to my house she left to go to her own, and I don’t think she and Brian have even seen or talk to each other since.”

Holy hell, Brian never told me that. “Damn. That really happened?”

“Yeah. But like I said, it’s between you and me, okay?”

“Of course.” I was about to ask her why she was being so nice to me all of a sudden, when in the past she was pretty much a class-A umbrella seller. But then her cell phone rang. She answered it, and after a few seconds, she screamed, “What? Are you serious?” Her face was full of shock, and then she began to cry, and she mumbled into the phone. “I-I’m on m-my way.” She hung up the phone and threw it into her purse. Then she looked at me all teary-eyed, her makeup smearing horribly. “Jena’s been in an accident!”