Buttercup | r. tozier

↠ mike hanlon

My head kept hitting the stones below repeatedly like a drum. Yelling out more curses and slurs at me, I was helplessly beaten down to the rocky ground by Bowers and two of his friends. They continually jabbed me with their elbows and kicked me with their feet.

As my vision began to blur a bit, I looked to the other side, and there was a creepy clown with white and red make up. While Bowers resumed on striking me, I saw him waving with me with a chopped-off arm flinging in the air. I stared in terror at the clown before another guy landed another hit on me, turning my back to the ground.

I then looked at Bowers face to face before we both got into a brawl. I struggled to hold on to my ground as I tried to get him off of me. As Bowers was about to throw a rock onto my head, everything seemed to get worse for me until...

A rock smashed Bowers on his head, giving me a surprise and a sense of relief at the same time.

"Nice throw," a voice that was of a boy could be heard nearby

I then crawled on my fours while the cold waters continued to flow south. I could feel anxiety filling my heart as Bowers and his cronies were still hunting me down as though I was an animal. Not long after I reached the other end, I could see a group of kids like me; there were five boys and two girls holding some rocks to be precise.

Bowers broke the silent suspense. "You losers are trying too hard. Sure do you. You just gotta ask nicely."

The boys and girls looked towards him and his gang with vexation. Then a plump boy loudly screamed, crying out something similar to a battle cry. With his might, he hurled a rather large rock towards Bowers like a shot-put athlete.

Bowers and his cronies backed off for a while, seemingly to not expect a throw from the boy. I watched the others from the grassy corner, seeing two girls flung their stones towards the gang at the same time before the boys followed the two. After seconds of being targeted by the seven kids, the gang finally regained their standing and picked up some rocks to fight back.

Another boy with big dark glasses yelled before he got hit on his head by a rock, "ROCK WAR!!!"

A rock war had thus been declared between Bowers and us eight. Rocks were being aimed and hurled furiously like cannon balls used in many battles and wars. When I finally got my composure back and joined them, I took a rock near the river bank and threw it hard, managing to knock down Bowers to the ground.

The "war" went on as we kept on launching rugged stones at the gang, whose two members managed to flee this rocky chaos that they had caused in the first place. Stan cleaned my back off the dirt while the others stared at the front as Bowers got up before most of us retreated back to the bushes.

A girl with waist long hair stepped a foot forward, emanating a serious aura around her. With her arms crossed, she then asked Bowers not long after.

"Are you done with us now, Bowels?"

Her voice was soft, and yet its tone was stern, causing Bowers and even me to tremble.

"Fuck no, Gooky..."

"Leave her alone and go blow your dad, you mullet-wearing asshole!" the boy with glasses shouted and put up his middle fingers to the air before he and the girl joined us behind the tall grasses to the grasslands where the sounds of truck cargoes could be heard from behind.

While walking among the grasses, I said, "Thanks guys, but you shouldn't have done that. Bowers will be after you guys too."

"Oh you mean Bowers? He's always after us," the boy with red shorts said back.

"I guess that's one th-th-thing we have in common," the stuttering boy stated.

"Yes son, welcome to the Losers' squad," the boy in a Hawaiian shirt confirmed, seemingly knowing that we have the same enemies.

I then asked, "Thanks, but guys, what are your names? Mike's my name by the way."

The boy who stuttered introduced himself before pointing out the others, "I'm Bill. Th-that's Eddie, Bev-Beverly, Ben, Stan, Richie, and Jasmine."

"Mike, you can call me Jaz," the raven-haired girl said, this time in a much more soothing way.

"Oh okay," I replied before realizing that I had meat to deliver to the butcher, "I better get busy by now. I see you guys some time, okay?"

They all agreed and said goodbye as I went over to where my bike was.