Ding. Ding. Ding.
"Remember to finish reading pages 50 to 89 and complete the answer packet I gave you earlier. It's twenty percent of your grade and it's due Monday at 4 pm, no later. Dismissed." Mr. Griffin waved his hand as he finished giving out our homework. Half of the class let out groans at his instructions, a few even going as far as cursing the man out.
Writing down his instructions so I won't forget, I packed up my bag before heading towards the door to head home. I didn't need to visit my locker, I had grabbed everything I needed before this period. It was wise to avoid going to my locker, Keon and his friends were most likely hanging around there waiting for me.
I couldn't afford to get beat up today, the injuries I suffered last night were still there and any more would hinder my life, leading to yet another beating for messing something up. There was that, but there was also the fact that Keon and his buddies like to take their time with the beatings. They enjoyed hearing sounds of pain and the sight of blood.
Usually, I would just get the beatings over with, Keon despite being how he is, only beats me up once a week, the rest of the week is full of verbal harassment and a few shoves here and there but nothing quite hindering. I appreciated that my parents hated when I came home after four, and if I were to be beaten up every day then I'd surely get in big trouble every day with my parents.
Today was Friday and so far Keon and his friends hadn't given me my weekly beating, meaning they would surely do so today. A small part of me hoped they wouldn't, hoped they had a small change of heart and decided to be decent human beings and leave me in peace. Unfortunately, I've always had back luck.
"Hey f*ggot! I bet you thought you got off spot free this week." Keon's voice echoed through the halls, which seemed to grow silent despite the crowds of teenagers trying to get out of the small building at once. I tried to ignore him, picking up my pace to hurry outside. For once the overcrowded hall's were benefiting as I was easily shoved forward by the crowd.
But as I said, I had the worst possible luck.
A heavy hand placed itself firmly on my shoulder and tugged me back, the force of the tug causing me to be jerked back and right into the brick-like chest of a certain jock.
"Oi, I know you heard me you piece of shit." I stiffened up when I felt his arm wrap around my shoulder, one of his friends, Duncan, I believe, also placed his arm around my shoulder. The two of them successfully caging me between them, cutting off my escape route on both sides, their grips on my shoulders made it impossible to move forward as well.
"Tried to run away, now did you?" Duncan laughed out while tightening his grip on me, right over a fresh bruise, leading to me flinching. I guess he took my flench of pain as one of the fears and smirked. "Aww, you scared?"
Hearing this, Keon bent down a bit to look over at me, "I bet he is, I would be scared if I were in his place too. But then again, I'd never been in his place I don't think bottoming for another dude would fit me." His minions laughed at his words, but I didn't quite get what was so funny about what he said.
He was awfully touchy for a straight dude, and out of the five of them, he seemed to know the most about how gay intercourse works, along with the terms. Either he is deeply devoted to bullying the only gay boy in the school, or he has a hidden secret, in the closet perhaps?
I was suddenly shoved into a locker, the impact causing my ribs to begin throbbing once more. I small groan escaped my lips as I held onto my ribcage in pain, "The fuck did you say?" I was confused as I looked up at the red-faced Keon. His friends were laughing on the side as they pointed at him.
"He called you gay dude!" The only blonde in the group said as he smacked his knee.
"But he does have a point though, how do you know so much about f*gs? You got something to tell us, bro? Do we need to get stalls in the showers?" The one with the buzzcut raised an eyebrow at the now shaking from anger Keon. Based on what they are saying, I must have accidentally spoken my thoughts out loud.
I paled a bit at the realization, Keon hates anything gay and being called the one thing he hates the most must have really hurt his pride. "Like hell I am, this f*aggot probably wishes I was. He must want to suck my dick or something, sorry to break it to you but only interested in the female gender, yanno breast, and vaginias, both things you don't have." As Keon spoke, Duncan leaned over his shoulder seemly hyping him up in his speech.
Not gonna lie, by Duncan doing this only made me think the two of them had something going on.
A punch caught me by surprise as I struck against my cheek, pain flying to my jaw making me forget the pain in my ribs. "Do you have a death wish? Keep calling me gay and I'll grant it." Keon spat out, balling up his fist and sending another punch, this time towards my stomach.
My breath was stuck in my lungs for a moment, I couldn't properly breath as I choked out coughs. When I was finally able to breathe again, it only came out in pained gasps.
"Keon and I are just friends, maybe you wouldn't understand that though you fucking loner." Duncan followed up, his own fist coming into contact with my right cheek. Looking up, I noticed the two of them were bright red, but the question was, it is from anger? Or rather from embarrassment?
My question was left unanswered when I felt the two of them landing blow after blow on my already beaten and bruised body. Unable to stand up anymore, I flopped down, curling myself into a tight ball to avoid further injuries to my fount.
This went on for a while, the other three minions striking in a few blows before it all stopped. I didn't dare uncurl myself though, I made that mistake once before and never will I do so again.
I heard the sound of someone spitting before I felt a wet spot on the part of my back where my hoodie had ridden up. I cringe in disgust at the feeling but didn't say anything. I heard the sound of people walking away, causing me to loosen up thinking they were finally satisfied with the beating and were heading home.
But like I said, my luck is shit.
I cried in pain when I felt my hair being pulled in a tight grip. The hand clenching at my hair jerked back causing me to look eye to eye with a glaring pair of green eyes.
Keon.
"You little shit, you've gotten bold. Thinking you can talk to me like that." The black-haired jock spoke out, before pushing my head until it banged painfully against the locker. He did this again, once, twice, three times before pausing and throwing my head down, leading my already bleeding head to bang against the marble floor.
My vision was blurry, from tears or from the concussion I'm sure I got, it didn't matter all I knew was that I was in pain and silently praying to God to end it all now.
I guess my prayers went unheard.
I felt the football player grab my ankle before dragging me towards the back of the school.
I wanted to panic, to struggle to get away from the psychotic, prideful jock but I couldn't. I was numb, the pain numbing my physically and the crumbling feeling of panic numbing my mind.
Or was that from the head injury?
My surroundings were growing blurry, it was getting harder and harder to breathe.
Was I dying?
God, I hope I am.
Maybe this was the final pain, maybe this was the last feeling of uselessness before eternal happiness.
Yes, that had to be it.
The thought I finally being happy and dying seemed to have calmed my mind. I was at peace, or at least I was at the moment. I'm sure Keon had something planned, he wouldn't dare end his fun here.
No, I embarrassed him in front of his friends. Accidental or not, his ego wouldn't allow him to leave me alone until he felt as though we were even.
After what felt like forever, we finally came to a stop, based on the cold feeling behind my back I knew we were outside. It was dark, we got out of school at 3:30 yet it was already dark. How long did they beat me for? Even with it being winter and the sun setting earlier, I should have had at least another three hours before it was this dark.
The thought caused me to realize something that arose panic in me.
I was late.
I was to be home by four, no later. I'm sure it was way past four. Last time I was late by thirty minutes my parents beat me half to death, what will they do if I was late by a few hours.
They'll surely kill me this time, beat me to death. While I wanted to end this life, I didn't want to leave this earth by my parent's hands. Although I'm sure they won't hesitate to do so.
I was cut out from my thoughts by the feeling of a hard kick coming in contact with my ribs, by now I'm almost certain they are broke or at least cracked.
"Listen to me when I am talking to you!" Keon yelled, bringing down his foot onto me once more. I wanted to make a sound of pain, I know he loves the sounds of pain and would usually end the beating faster when you make sounds, but I couldn't. I felt like I was choking on my own breath. The air that was supposed to enter my lungs being coughing my throat, making it impossible to breathe.
I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't speak.
I couldn't move.
Nothing, just frozen as Keon continued his attack, yelling at me, calling me came.
F*ggot.
Mistake.
Useless.
Waste of space.
Idiot.
Cocksucker.
Gay.
Spastic.
Stupid.
All of his insults were nothing new, I've heard them all before from people other than him, but it still hurt to hear it.
Every insult was followed by a kick, punch, or some other kind of hit. All I could do was sit there and take it as he kept on with his attack. I felt tired. If this was death then it was taking too long.
I don't know how long he attacked for but when I stopped I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Numb, yet disappointed.
"You know what, you're not even worth any more of my time." Once again, I heard the sound of someone spitting, yet this time I saw Keon do it and felt the big, wet glob flop on my cheek. I couldn't even clench in disgust, I watched as he walked off laughing to himself like he did something great.
I laid there for a while, it hurt too much to move. My eyes felt heavy, yet I couldn't bring myself to rest. You would think after two beatings in 24 hours I would fall asleep or at least lose consciousness from the pain, but no. My body was stronger than I wanted it to be, my pain tolerance seemed to grow with every beating, but it's not high enough to fully numb me from the pain.
So there I laid, on the cold, damp pavement behind an empty school, waiting for the strength to stand up. While waiting I didn't have anything else to do but get lost in the deep, dark void that was my mind.
People were good at attacking me physically, but no one is better at tearing down my mental state than myself.
+++
Since chapter one got so much love I decided to post chapter two as well. :)
~Liliah
KHR Fact: Reborn cannot actually read minds, but rather actions. Even the tiniest movements never miss his eye, making him able to guess what someone is thinking based on their body language.