Mystery Boy

•13•

I can hear the tremorous gush of blood in my ears; my whole body paralyzed from his repulsive touch.

"Tyson, haven't you done enough.." I barely croak out, carefully crafting my words and watching my tone. One wrong word is enough to set him off.

"First, you punch me in the nose. Second, Levi starts siding with you. And now, my dad lets you off with just a suspension? After what you did to me, you should be fucking expelled!" He turns me around by clamping on my cheeks. "Tell me, Frankie. What did you do? Did you seduce him? Guilt trip? Blackmail?" He slams my back into a wall, gripping on my hair with pure rage. "TELL ME FRANKIE! WHAT DID YOU DO HUH! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO COME AND WRECK EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE ALL THE FUCKING TIME?" He lands a solid slap on my already butchered face; the force of it causing my previously broken nose to start bleeding again.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, FRANKIE! YOU DON'T CRY, YOU DON'T LAUGH, YOU DON'T SCREAM OR ANYTHING! I HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN YOU SMILE, NOT ONCE!" He kicks me to the ground and pulls my face up, leveling his face with mine. My blurry eyes barely register his tear-stained once. "....what is wrong..." He removes his hand from my hair and gently caresses my cheeks. "Why do you even...exist?"

Tyson, I always underestimate you. Every time I think he's lost it, he surprises me again by going, even more, insane. At this rate, even an insane asylum won't be enough for him.

"Haven't seen me smile? Haven't seen my cry? Whose fault do you think that is, Tyson? WHOSE FAULT DO YOU THINK THAT IS!" I get up from the floor, the anger and absolute absurdity of the situation causing my entire thought process to go mayhem. "Since the day I was born, you and your stupid lot have been making my life hell on earth!" I push him hard on the chest but his 6'3, 190 lbs self doesn't even budge.

Footsteps resonate from the stairs adjoined to my door. From the sound of it, it's probably the old evil witch. I'm more surpried that Tyson registered the footsteps while being in the state that he is rather than the fact that my step-mom was rushing to "check up on me."

"FRANKIE, WHAT IS THAT NOISE! YOU BETTER NOT BE TAKING OUT YOUR ANGER ON  MY PRECIOUS FURNITURE," the witch screams, banging on the door with her delicate puny hands.

"This isn't over, you'll get what's coming for you." With that, Tyson jumps out from the slight opening in the window, leaving me here to deal with my step-mom's wrath.

I was busy making a mental note to bolt the windows when suddenly my door busts open with Ms. Earl holding the doorknob that is now completely detached from the door. She looks at the mahogany door lying on the floor and back at me.

"That's your fault by the way. You aggravated me and forced me to kick down the door." Ms. Earl looks around my room, completely ignoring my bleeding nose and messed up hair. When she's satisfied with her inspection, she brings her eyes back to me and grimaces. "Clean up your mess - pointing at the broken door - and make sure to wake up extra early tomorrow to fix everyone's breakfast." She leaves with her flip flops slapping the floor, still holding on to the broken doorknob.

••••

The next day I decided on not going to class. The reasons are obvious. Not even someone as dumb as I am would be brave enough to show my face in school after aggravating Tyson like that.

I sit on the swing with earbuds in, blasting music so loud that the entire park can hear it. I mindlessly start rocking back and forth on the swing when I hear rustling from behind me. A chill shiver runs down my spine and I hesitate on looking back at the intruder.

I gather up the very little courage that is left of me and slowly turn around.

"BOO!"

I shriek in surprise and fall back on the swing, my butt cushioning the fall. Levi starts laughing like a maniac, clutching his stomach and letting out whale sounds.

"So you do plan on killing me! I almost believed your act of innocence, you asshole!" I say, referring to the near death experience he gave me. I stand back up and try to punch him lightly on the arm. His maniac laugh settles into a huge grin and he catches my wrist mid air. He pulls me in with my caged wrist and brings his lips close to my ear.

"You can't touch me, Frankie."

He pulls away from my ear and glances down at my very obvious broken nose, all signs of his huge grin vanishing immediately. He lets go of my wrist and moves to sit on one of the swings.

"How did you know I was here," I demand, although I already know the answer to that queston. Memories of me punching Tyson for the first time in front of everyone and running back here to take refuge flashes through my mind.

"I know you always come here when you want to hide from reality," he says with a sense of confidence in his voice. "I know you better than you think, Frankie."

For some reason my stomach does a little flip. But not in a good way. This annoyance in my stomach gives me a feeling of unease rather than enjoyable butterflies; like some kind of catastrophe is right around the corner and your body is trying to alert you.

I look at Levi's stormy blue eyes, reading the emotions that his face never shows. The blues in his eyes swirl in calm waves, expressing comfort and kindness. But if you look deeper and from the perspective of someone who's life was made into a living hell because of those calm waves, you can see a brutal monster awaiting in those treacherous waves; waiting for its new prey to devour and subside its hunger.

My stomach always clenches with unease when Levi is beside me. I am completely aware that trusting someone who hurt you is never a good idea. But for someone who spend their whole lives seeing only the monsters in people's eyes, I am finally going to allow myself the luxury to only see the calm waves.

I can only hope the waves don't deceive me right into the monster's belly.