Murderer

Chapter 11: Brendon

It seemed like every time I stepped into school after his disappearance, I became more of an outcast. I felt like an alien, like I didn't belong here anymore. Ryan was the only one keeping me from total embarrassment and loneliness, and without him I am fish in a sea of sharks. People I knew avoided eye contact with me, and the others would giggle and talk about Ryan and I behind my back. The cruelness of this world was so visible now.

When I got to my locker, I noticed that my shoe was untied. I bent down to tie it and when I finished, I stood back up only to be unsurprisingly slammed into the lockers. A pair of hands grabbed onto my shoulders and flipped me the other way against my will so I could see the person who did this to me. Only it wasn't just a person, it was a group of popular guys. They were on the school's football team, I believe. One of them had their girlfriend with them, his arm was around her. She looked surprised at what they had done.

"Oh look, it's the loner. What's wrong? Your best friend isn't here to help you?" he teased, as the group of guys broke into laughter.

I stood there frozen. I wasn't one for fights, and I didn't want to make the situation worse. I just wanted them to just laugh at me and leave. I was the laughing stock of the school, I knew that now. The nerd who spends all of his free time searching for his best friend, his only friend. I had previously passed out missing flyers in front of the school which I guess was a bad idea for my social reputation. Any who, I just wanted to crawl in a hole and not come out until Ryan was found.

"I don't believe your friend got kidnapped. Who would want such an ugly thing that bad? I wouldn't get arrested and put in jail for that thing. He probably just got lost on his way to mommy's house!!" he said, laughing immediately afterwards along with his friends. The girl looked slightly taken back at what he had said until her boyfriend nudged her, and I saw her fake a smile.

I could feel the blood boiling inside me. Nobody talks about Ryan like that. They made him out to be a monster, which he isn't. I knew damn well he was kidnapped, and I wasn't about to let this guy talk about Ryan as if he was stupid. Nobody is allowed to talk about my best friend like that. Somebody has to defend him while he is gone. I tightened my jaw and clenched my fist, staring the guy in the eyes as I bit my lip.

"What's wrong, did I say something bad about your dumb friend?" he chuckled.

That was when I lunged at him at full force, planting my fist in his face. He stumbled a few steps backwards, his hands on his face. I could tell his friends were startled for a moment, but then they gave us space. An individual started chanting "fight, fight, fight" like you see in the movies, and everyone followed suit. Great.

I looked at the guy, he was two times bigger than me but I could feel my adrenaline kicking in. For Ryan, I thought. I will beat the shit out of this guy for Ryan.

When he regained balanced and eyesight, the boy lunged at me. Before he could slam into me, I flattened myself against the lockers like a starfish as he tripped and fell on the ground. I grabbed his shoulders and shoved him against the lockers. I took another punch at his face, this time hitting his nose. I heard the cracking of bone from his nose before I was kicked in the gut, my ass being slammed onto the ground, hitting the back of my head when I fell backwards. He was going to slam my face in, so I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Stop!" I heard a girl's voice say.

I opened my eyes and turned my head, only to find that the girl from earlier had finally gotten out of her boyfriend's tight grip of her shoulders. I heard him groan and look away as if he didn't even know her. She looked back at him and rolled her eyes before starting to walk again toward us.

"Josh, get off him, you're going to get kicked off the team if you get in a full fledged fight with him and you know it." She nagged at him.

"Shut up, Leslie. This punk hit me, twice. He deserves to get punched right in his stupid face." he insisted.

"Look, I'm not going to stop you, but this is an idiotic decision. You deserved to get punched and you know it." she claimed, crossing her arms.

"Bitch." He breathed out, before clubbing me in the face one time before a security guard could peel him off me.

When I got home from school, my mother ran up to me in full freight of the sight of the bruise on my face.

"Oh Brendon, what happened to you? Were you in a fight? Do I need to talk to somebody's parents?" she asked.

"You should see the other guy." I could feel my lips curl as I gave a hard stare to whatever was in front of me as I passed her, walking out the backdoor and into the woods.