The War

Eric the Observer

An Hour Ago-
I sat on the on a bench in the cafeteria. Jack and I were talking. We don't get to talk much because he usually spends his lunch with Josh rehearsing lines in the theater. I'm surprised they even let him in. The Drama Club doesn't like people distracting them from their rehearsals.

I was telling him about a new carving I was making. A lizard. "Yeah, so I was late and ended up with the bad knife that never sharpens right and it ended up working out because it made beautiful and realistic groves on the lizard. It's almost done. Tell me about your day."

Jack replied, "I had an essay due for Ms. Renard, today. Josh was supposed to help me with it because I'm failing History and this essay was my last chance to get a passing grade in her class." He continued, "But he wasn't there when I got back to the dorm yesterday. He wasn't in the library either. I even checked the theatre. Ms. Witchell yelled at me for bringing up the name of such a disgraced student and kicked me out."

"Wait you were in Drama Club?" Eric questioned.

"No. Josh convinced her I was. Anyway, he was nowhere to be found so, I had to write the essay by myself. Ms. Renard failed me and gave me detention for wasting her time. Yay."

Then Carlos walked in. I knew this because whenever he walked in the room became silent for a second and people started whispering to each other. I swear, it's been 8 months and people still haven't found something new to gossip about. Granted he always gives them something to talk about. He walked through the lunch room with his shaggy, uneven haircut to complement his beat-up combat boots. He wore his torn up leather jacket, a gift from his grandmother that he wore on occasion with to bring him luck. The rips in the sleeves gave way to an intricate tattoo that covered his entire left arm. It also gave way to the many scars on his right.

In general, people stay out of Carlos' way. He's quick to anger and very skilled in combat. He considers me a friend, but loathes Josh even more than I do and for some reason avoids Jack. I doubt that I will ever really understand Carlos, but I do as know that he hates being the center of attention and that people make him nervous.

No one really saw exactly what happened, but at that moment Daniel and Carlos collided. Daniel being the skittish person he was, panicked and his signature blue flames came to life on his fingertips. The fire raced up the sleeves of Carlos' jacket. I watched, horrified, as what was left of his grandmother's gift disintegrated as the blaze engulfed it. Daniel stood there frozen in shock and unable to control his creation.

I could see the panic rising in Carlos' eyes. They were flashing. He tore the keepsake off. Thankfully the wave of blue died after consuming the leather jacket. The flame resistant shirt he wore for training was signed with only a few holes in it. I released a breath of relief a little to soon and choked back a chuckle as Carlos swore under his breath looking at his ruined shirt. Everything seemed fine. Daniel stared at the floor. Probably both terrified and ashamed.

Then Carlos looked down at his jacket. It was burnt to crisp. He kneeled down and picked up the jacket. It began to crumble in his hands. I made a silent plea that he would just walk away. He never does but I really hoped he would. Then his eyes became really deep. A navy blue that I could just barely see the pupils in. His eyes began to well up with tears. Slowly the sorrow turned to outrage. Carlos tore what left of the leather jacket to shreds, realizing that everything he once knew was gone.

His gaze fell Daniel. In my head, I begged Daniel to run. Daniel was easily one to fastest kids in school and while not as tiny as Jack, was small enough that he could probably sneak away. He didn't run. Of course he didn't. He stood there motionless while my roommate stood up. I was too far to do anything, but I looked at Brian. He was much closer. And he never liked Carlos. And Brian always protected Daniel.

Of course, when Carlos took a step towards Daniel, several students began to scream and holler. Their cries sharp and piercing. Brian cupped his hands to his ears. The noise was clearly hurting him.

"You!" Carlos said with a hiss, "Are going to pay." Then the water pipes above us in the ceiling burst. Students ran for the exits. I didn't see Brian anymore. He probably got trampled in the flood of teens. A few people, like me, stayed where they were. Jack was under the table. Probably avoiding the water pouring from the ceiling. Electricity crackled every time a drop of water splashed on his skin.

Carlos took another step towards Daniel. Carlos paused. Daniel didn't run. He remained perfectly still. I don't know if he was in was shock or fear or perhaps both, but Daniel stayed motionless. It was a mistake, on his part.

Carlos raised one of his hands, keeping the other clenched tightly, and the water came to life. Carlos directed his wave at Daniel, the flood washed the boy into a lunch table. Carlos walked up to him. Water wrapped around Daniel like vines that lifted him up into the air. "I'm sorry," he whispered as he was thrown, hard, into a wall, the blow rendering him unconscious.

Carlos fell to his knees and relinquished control over the water. The deep blue retreated and his eyes lightened back the light blue coloring they carried before. One of his hands were still clenched. The other hung at his side. "I'm sorry." Carlos cried. Tears poured down his face even as guards, who never got involved in our lives, except to clean up messes we made, dragged him away.

Guards came for us too. I remember them roughly yanking Jack out from under the table. I remember the bruises their right grip on my arm, left behind. How others cried, terrified of my friend. Most of all though, I remember one them picking up Daniel's lifeless form and carrying him away.

Avian awoke. She dragged him out of his bed. The floor Alyssa had entered on had completely collapsed. There was no way back. They were trapped. Alyssa held Avian close. She heard the ceiling above them groan. The section of the attic that was above them was about to fall, Alyssa made another split second decision, and pushed her brother through the wall separating them from outside. As Avian fell to the ground, The ceiling collapsed on top of Alyssa. The last thing she saw was her brother's deep brown eyes.