Five Seconds After Death

Pay your respects to the ravens

"So you heard about the party next week? It's gonna be at Stella's place her parents are out of town that day,"

Zach tried to pretend he knew who Rod was talking about.

"You should stop by," Rod smiled at him, but there was something behind his eyes that made Zach uneasy.

"Oh and make sure to bring some of the stuff" said one of the other boys, Lewis. Rod elbowed him, but kept smiling.

"We're not going to stay at the party very long, just dropping in to see if any of the girls want to come. We're gonna race up to an empty stretch of road near where the mine used to be!"

Zach just returned his smile and nodded.

"You do have a car right?" said a different boy, Mike.

"Of course he does!" said Rod, turning to him.

"With all the money from your brothers.. Um, other job. You've got to have your own car by now right Zach?"

He looked down at his lunch, a peanut butter sandwich and two pickles.

"Well, no. I'm still using my moms Porsche" said Zach.

Mike scowled clearly not buying any of the bullshit Rod was spewing earlier. "This is who you want to invite? The guys a loser man, he's not going to give us anything!" Mike half whispered to him.

Rod glared at him, his persistent smile fading. Mike immediately shrunk into himself, fear present in his face. "Shut up," said Rod harshly.

You probably couldn't tell right away but Rod had been held back a year for flunking 11th grade. It was present in his stubbly face, now that he sported an almost complete mustache. If you looked into his eyes though, you could definitely feel your skin crawl when he stared you down with that dark stilted expression.

The fourth boy standing behind the three finally spoke up.

"Hey, guys. Why don't we just leave him alone? He's clearly not interested in going to some dumb party."

Rod was about to give him a death glare as well, before stopping and looking back at Zach. That smile appeared again.

"You're not interested? That's fine, just have to say it then."

There was an edge in his voice that wasn't there before.

Zach had a strong urge to run from them. All four of the boys were a lot taller than him, especially the guy in the back.

Zach couldn't remember his name.

"What? You forgot to speak English, or something? Cause I sure as hell don't speak Chinese," scoffed Rod. The other boys chuckled.

That just about did it for Zach. Luckily the bell rang and they were all pushed back into the crowds of kids heading to class.

Zach took his things and disappeared into the stream of bodies, before Rod had a chance to grab him.

Walking home from school Zach felt his blood boil.

He was pissed off with Rod and his douchey friends, but he was more pissed off for not standing up to him. He could never act on it.

Because I'm weak... Because I'm indecisive... Because I'm- Fuck.

He kicked a rock on the road, and decided to take a short cut through the woods to get to the main street quicker. The highschool was old and definitely out of the way from the rest of the town.

I should forget about them. Tomorrow I'll eat my lunch at recess and just head to the library right away at lunch. Those idiots wouldn't be caught dead in a place with more than one book. They've probably only read porn magazines, or the back of a cereal box.