What Lies Beneath

Chapter Twenty-Six: Greyson

From the moment that Greyson was born he was trouble. Even as a baby he would bite and scream at anyone who came near him. As he grew older, things didn't really change. He mainly kept to himself. He didn't like people.

On the first day of kindergarten he got sent home with a note pinned to his chest. It was filled with harsh words from the school and at the very end in large red letters it said that he was EXPELLED!

After the note, his parents decided that it was best to home school him. Which is exactly what they did until they heard about a boarding school in Germany for troubled teens. He was exactly fourteen when they sent him there. The tuition was expensive, but they could afford it. Especially if the school would fix their son.

The school was run like a military camp. The boys were required to be up and dressed at six a.m. They were to eat at six forty-five and if they missed breakfast they would have to wait until lunchtime.

Greyson's days were filled with angry men yelling at him in German. Not many of the teachers at the school bothered to learn their student's language. Instead all the students were required to learn and speak German on a constant basis. He hated every minute that he was there.

It didn't help matters, when a few of the upperclassmen decided to turn him into their own personal punching bag after class one day. It didn't really have anything to do with him, it was just that they felt like hitting something or someone and he was the first person that they came across.

Greyson didn't see them until it was too late. He had been sitting under one of the trees outside his dormitory reading a book when the shadows of the three older boys blocked out the sun.

Before he could even speak, the boys began flinging their fists and feet at his body. The only thing that he could do was lay on the ground and wait for it to be over.

The beating lasted for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality, only lasted about an hour. The only reason that it stopped was that the boys got bored and decided to move on. During that relentless hour of torment, Greyson watched the onlookers and silently pleaded for someone to help him, save him.

He wasn't the most popular kid on campus, in fact almost no one knew his name. Most of his days were spent in quiet solitude. However, that did not excuse those who pretended that they didn't see.

After the boys were gone Greyson found that any movement in his body caused more pain, even breathing was a challenge. So instead of picking himself up off the ground, he tried to lay as still as possible. He even eventually fell asleep.

When he awoke in the morning, he was in a white room with needles stuck in his arm. He didn't feel much pain, but that didn't matter. There was a mirror on the wall opposite of him and in it he could see what those boys had done to him. His face was swollen and almost unrecognizable. His right arm was in a cast that went all the way up to his armpit. His left wrist was wrapped in a loose bandage. His abdomen was wrapped with a similar white bandage. His left leg was suspended in the air and encased in plaster as well.

For the first time in a long time he felt anger build up inside him. How could they have done this to him? Why didn't anyone stop them?

It wasn't until the next day that someone from the school came to talk to him.

The stern man berated him with questions that he was unable to answer. He didn't know why those boys came after him. He didn't know why nobody tried to help him.

In the end, the school said that there were no witnesses therefore it didn't happen. When he heard that it was like something inside of him snapped. He wanted to kill them, all of them. How could the school let them get away with what they had done? No, he would not stand for it.

That night as he slept, he dreamed of trapping everyone inside the school and lighting it on fire. In his dream he stood outside the dorm of the three boys and watched as they screamed from their fifth-floor window. He even laughed as one of them tried to escape by jumping out only to die from the impact.

When morning came, he watched the news as they reported the mysterious fire that had started sometime during the night. There were no survivors. For the first time since he was born, Greyson smiled. He didn't know how or even what had happened, but his wish had been granted and it was the best thing in the world.

Greyson spent the next year or so recovering in the hospital. On the day that he got out he decided to pay a visit to the ruins of his former school.

He walked the entire campus. He didn't stop until he got to the spot where his favorite tree once stood. The entire campus was just charred remains of a hell he once knew, but where he stood now, his once favorite place, he felt the weight of everything. It was in that spot that he finally broke down and cried.

He cried because of what happened to him and because of his wish that had destroyed so many things. He wept for all the innocent lives that were lost, but in the end, he could not bring himself to cry for the people who had caused him harm.

It was there on that spot that a man came to him and gave him a letter. A letter filled with a chance for happiness, or so he thought.