Rise of the Blood Moon

Survival

  I was just a normal boy, living in the prosperous, peaceful Elderwood Village. As the name suggests, our village was surrounded by the Elderwood Forest, a vast, bountiful forest full of life. I was the only child of a family of woodworkers, and my father made a  very successful living out of crafting furniture from the abundance of high-quality trees in the forest.

   My mother died when I was 4, so I don't remember her. According to my father, she died of a sudden illness. It's just been my father and I for the past 16 years, but he does everything he can to provide for us. My dad knew everyone around town, and everyone liked him. He was the type of person who was friendly to everyone, and you couldn't hate him if you tried. 

  However, I was different in almost every way from my dad. While he was arguably the most sociable and outgoing person in town, I was the complete opposite: taciturn and antisocial. My dad could go up to complete strangers, offer them a drink, and chat them up for the entire day. On the other hand, I preferred to stick to my books for company.

 I wasn't always that way, though. When I was younger, around 12 or so, a group of kids came up to me one day and asked me if I wanted to play with them. Being naïve and trusting back then, I accepted. Whenever we bought snacks from the vendors, or whenever we went on rides at the fairs, they would always make me pay. I didn't really care about it, as I thought they would pay for themselves eventually. But one day, when I came back to the playground from the bathroom, I heard them laughing loudly. Curious, I decided to eavesdrop on them. 

  "Wow, Y/N is so rich. He pays for all the snacks each day and doesn't even blink. He's loaded with cash."

  "Yeah, I know right. The best part its, he doesn't even know we're using him for the money. HA!" 

  "Yeah, the little kid probably thinks we're actually his friends because we want to."

  "HAHAHAHH! Who would want to be friends with that freak! He's a loser no one likes! I heard his mommy died because he was such a bad kid!" 

  As I listened to their conversation, I felt my heart shatter. Silently and carefully, I sneaked behind them. 

  "So that's what you really think of me, huh. All along, you were all using me, because my dad is rich."

  They jumped back out of shock from hearing my voice. 

  "Uhh, hey man, could you repeat yourself? I'm not quite sure what you meant by that, haha" Jeff, the leader of the group, nervously laughed.

  "No need for words, let's speak with our fists." I was boiling with rage, furious and deeply hurt by my "friends" betrayal. 

  I dashed at Jeff, instantly up close, and I socked him hard in the jaw.  I didn't falter, as I gave him a right hook and jabbed him in the face. 

  "GAAAAHH!" Jeff cried out in pain. There was blood smeared all over his face, and he was missing a couple of teeth. I smirked in satisfaction at his pain. Now he would know a fraction of the pain I felt. 

  "Y-y-you b-b-bastard!" Jeff howled at me. He was panting angrily, and he looked absolutely livid. 

  "Get him, boys!" The other members of Jeff's gang: Mark, Bob, Joe, and Tom charged at me. 

  I easily outmaneuvered them, and I kicked Mark in the kneecaps, causing him to howl in pain and fall down, clutching his knee. I sidestepped Bob and Joe's tackle, and I ran at Tom, tackling him to the ground. I punched him a couple of times, and dragged him by the scruff of his neck.  Just when Bob and Joe got back up, I threw Tom into Joe, knocking them both down. I jabbed at Bob, and then uppercut him, causing him to go down hard. 

  "You bastards, get out of here NOW. If I ever see your sorry faces again, I'll do more than give you a bloody face and a couple of missing teeth."  I glared at them, attempting to restrain myself from beating them up more.

  "Y-You FREAK! T-This isn't over yet!" Jeff yelled at me, as he was being supported by Joe and Tom, who were the least injured out of the 5 of them. With a final glare, Jeff and his gang left. I sighed, as I sat back down on the grass. There was no doubt they would go crying to their parents. It wouldn't matter though, since my dad could just make them drop the case. He has huge influence over everyone here because of how successful his business is, and he's good friends with the mayor.

  However, the bastards would definitely twist what happened and portray themselves as innocent victims. And everyone would definitely believe them, with how popular they were, whereas I was the school loner. But I didn't even care anymore. With that betrayal, I decided to close off my heart to others. After that day, I became the talk of the school. I heard the whispers, as they called me a freak and a psycho. I even saw Jeff and his little gang acting innocent and heartbroken over my "betrayal", and as bad as their acting was, everyone believed them. From that day on, I became shunned by the other children. 

  Oddly enough, my father didn't even question me when he heard of the news. He simply stared at me, and told me he believed in me, and would support me when no one else would. That day, I cried the last time for over 5 years, and started walking down the path of solitude. I aced all my classes, got perfect marks on all my tests(aha, I wish I could), and started helping Dad with his job. Every day after school, I would come home, eat dinner, and then go outside with an ax and chop wood, so Dad could save some money by not having to hire lumberjacks to do it for him. 

  Life went on like that, day by day, year after year. I spent , and repetitive, but at least it was peaceful. The gossip had died out a long time ago, and now people simply evaded me out of fear for ending up like Jeff and his gang.

  I didn't have any friends, but it was what it was. I would much rather be alone than deal with two faced bastards like my former "friends".