Present Day
Ricky
"Ricky Vera!"
A young boy looked up at his teacher with a dreamy, unfocused expression on his thin, tan face. Ricky Vera was a teenager. Fourteen years old to be exact. He had light brown skin, short, spiky jet black hair, and chocolate brown eyes. Despite being the shortest boy in his class, he was just shy of average height and a touch on the skinny side. He was wearing a red-and-white shirt, well-worn blue jeans, and red sneakers. It was clear that he was of Latino decent. He was, in actual fact, Mexican-American though there was no accent as he spoke up politely if somewhat dazedly in response to the call of his name.
"Yes, Ms. Montgomery?"
Ms. Charlene Montgomery was a tall imposing African-American woman. She wore a starchy white blouse with a red pencil slim skirt cinched in at the waste with a black leather belt. Her hair was military short, tight to her head, drawing attention to her prominent cheek bones and proud nose. Most of the kids felt that Ms. Montgomery was pretty fair but she was also known for being very strict. She looked very strict right now, Ricky noted.
"Mind telling me what you find so interesting outside the window that you have spent the last five minutes staring out instead of paying attention to me?"
Ricky felt his cheeks and ears warm with embarrassment. "Uh... nothing ma'am," he mumbled. He hated being the center of attention.
He heard a few students snicker behind him. It made him feel even more conspicuous than he already did. His cheeks and ears warmed even more.
"Daydreaming again are we?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him when he did not answer her question immediately.
"Uh....yes," he admitted sheepishly, lowering his eyes to the desk. More snickers could be heard around the room. He resisted the very real desire to squirm in his chair. He lifted his eyes back up to hers though when she starting speaking to him again, knowing that one thing Ms. Montgomery did not tolerate was bad manners. Not making eye contact with someone when they spoke to you was definitely at the top of her list of what she considered bad manners.
"I know that you along with all of your classmates are ready for summer vacation. But just because it's the last day doesn't mean you don't have to listen to me."
"Sorry ma'am. I know. It's a bad habit but I am working on it," he promised, nodding his head at her trying to convey his apology for what most of his teachers considered to be one of his best, but also his worst traits... his imagination. It usually got him into some kind of trouble. It had definitely earned him a few lectures.
She nodded with a small smile, letting him know she considered his famous imagination to be invaluable but that he must really get a hold of it. As his mother once told him, there is a time and place for everything. Right now was not the time to let his mind wander while Ms. Montgomery talked to the class.
All, Ms. Montgomery actually said though was, "Good," before she then walked back to the front of the class to resume talking.
Behind him Ricky heard the sounds of chuckles and huffs, and sighs. He also heard the whispers that were being exchanged.
"He'll never stop."
"What's wrong with him?"
"He's probably waiting for the alien mothership to come take him home."
Ricky rolled his eyes but his face belied his eye rolling gesture of, 'who cares.' Though he was used to this, used to the stupid, lame, and more often than not totally predictable questions that the kids would jokingly make about him. He did not think he would ever get used to the singling out that it often times evoked. He hated being the sole attention of a room full of people, and did not think he would ever get used to that.
In the midst of his rambling thought, all the while trying to look totally immersed in every word that Ms. Montgomery was saying, the bell rang.
As if their brains were connected by Nano technology, as one, the students erupted from their chairs and pushed and shoved their ways to the door all the time hollering and yelling varying themes of "school is out for the summer!"
"Now wait a minute!" Miss Montgomery said still trying to maintain her authority and stop the students from leaving. "You leave only when I say you can leave you-oh never mind!" she laughingly gave up and instead began shooing them out of her room. "I give up!" she declared, her eyes raised to the heavens as the stampeding sound of hundreds of feet filled shoes running down the hall filtered through her now empty door. As the cacophony of noise grew quieter, she sighed and turned back from her door. She was surprised when she saw Ricky was still sitting at his desk. Then again she shouldn't be too surprised since it wasn't the first time this had happened, and it probably wasn't going to be the last.
"You may leave now Ricky," she urged with a smile.
He nodded and got up from his seat putting his book bag straps over his shoulders so it settled evenly along his back. Ricky was actually kind of excited. This was his very last minutes in Middle School. As he walked out today he would transition from an eighth grader to a ninth grader which meant be became a high schooler. Granted, he reminded himself, it would mean he'd be playing with the big boys now in a much larger school and the thought was intimidating-especially since he was shorter than most people. But it was also exciting.
But the main reason he was most excited right this minute had nothing to do about the next school year and where he would be. No. Right this very minute Ricky was thrilled at the prospect of going almost three months without any homework, projects, or stupid bullies. Thrilled and relieved to say the least.
He decided he would worry about high school when the time came. Instead he would set his concerns on how he was going to spend his summer vacation. Other than his computer, video games and monster movie collection he needed to look into his other options and take advantage of the long summer days ahead of him.
He turned to face his teacher one last time. It was going to be the last time they'd see each other so he wanted to bid her farewell. "Bye Ms. Montgomery, have a great summer."
"You to Ricky! Don't worry about high school," she advised him with a knowing smile seeming to have read his earlier thoughts. "You'll grow to love it!"
Ricky had his doubts but didn't feel the need to voice them to her. Like most adults she would most likely just pat his head, say a few trite encouraging, adult-necessary words and send him on his way. So instead he smiled his typical small awkward smile and waved at her before making his way out of her classroom.
He walked down the now empty hallways to the front of the school where most of the students were, waiting for their rides to take them home. As Ricky walked out the school doors he could not help but notice the various students around him. Many of the students were laughing together in big groups, giggling together in small groups, some were knocking around a ball, while others wrote in their friends yearbooks. Watching them brought a pang of loneliness that was far from being unfamiliar to him.
Ricky didn't really have a friend. He had a few good acquaintances he knew and occasionally talked to but not a real friend. The kind of friend that you trusted with your secrets and your dreams, the kind of person you could count on to have your back no matter what...
As he descended the school stairs, lost in his thoughts, a basketball struck him hard on his cheekbone.
"Ow!" He groaned while rubbing at the abused side of his face. "That hurt." He commented to himself.
He heard laughter.
He brought his hand down from the place he had been rubbing. He turned his head and glared in the direction of the laughter, recognizing who it was. It was the boys from earlier in Ms. Montgomery's room. They were laughing and pointing at him. It was obvious to Ricky now that his face being hit by a basketball was no accident. They had aimed the basketball at him.
"Jerk heads!" he muttered to himself angrily as he slowly and cautiously walked down the stairs and started walking in the direction of home. A part of him wanted to go right up to them and give them a piece of his mind, but he knew better than to do that. It would only cause him more trouble than good in the long run and he didn't want anything to mess up his summer.
"Heads up you freak!"
Ricky growled angrily to himself and kept on walking, doing his best to ignore them. He got out his cellphone which was in his pocket and hit the number that would automatically dial him mom. Though he was not looking at the boys he could still hear them.
"What you gonna do freak? Call the police?" they yelled one last taunt before walking off to most likely torment someone else.
Ricky still held his tongue and actually smiled a bit to himself a few minutes later as he noticed they had hightailed it away. They must have really thought he might be making a call for help and as tough as they wanted to believe they were, they sure did run for safety pretty quickly. Ricky grinned outright at that thought. 'Bullies could be such big babies with diapers of immaturity,' he thought.
The number he called rang a few more times before a familiar but recorded voice finally answered.
"Hello you have reached Annabelle Vera. Please leave a message and I will call you right back."
Ricky groaned in annoyance but left a message all the same.
"Hey Mom it's me Ricky. Can you please come pick me up? Thank you and love you."
As he just stood there amongst the rest of the teenagers, he watched as their parents, relatives, and guardians picked them up. He was relieved when he saw that the bullies that were picking on him earlier left with their parents. He really didn't want to be alone with them and their torture.
He waited and still waited as one by one the other students were picked up until he was the only one that remained. Finally tired of just standing there, he squatted down to sit at the edge of the curb. What was taking his mother so long? She had been doing this a lot recently. Why though? Why? He let out a long sigh of frustration as he slowly stood back up to walk back toward the school building. He didn't like being out here by himself. It made him a little antsy. What if some stranger came and decided to take advantage of a teenager who was outside all by himself. No, he would be safer inside where the adults were. As he began to walk up the stairs that led back into the school he heard his name being called.
"Hey Ricky!"
He whirled, a little startled, at the unexpected sound of his name.
It wasn't his mother though.
A red car was now parked just feet from where he himself had sat a few moments before and an all too familiar Caucasian man sat behind the wheel. He had on a black sports coat, with a royal blue shirt. His short brown hair was meticulously combed as usual. His thin mouth was smiling at Ricky, but Ricky knew the man's emerald green eyes, so much like a cats, would not be smiling in kind. Ricky supposed he was an attractive kind of guy, if one went for smarmy, and evidently his mother did because that was who this guy was, Tyler Swindle was his mother's new boyfriend.
"Come on we have to get moving!" Tyler called out across the car through the open passenger window. "Your Mom asked me to pick you up."
Ricky retraced his steps and stopped right before he got to the car.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Tyler called a bit impatiently.
While Ricky knew who Tyler, was he only barely knew him. Ricky knew that he seemed sneaky and fake and always like he was planning and plotting some scheme or other, but Ricky had barely ever talked to the guy. His mother had only introduced them to each other a few weeks ago and they had not talked much in the interim. Ricky was not comfortable with Tyler and Tyler acted like that suited him just fine. Tyler never encouraged Ricky and didn't seem to want to change their dynamic any time soon. But yet here he was, Ricky thought in anger. So much for "don't get into a car with a stranger."
"Well...you see-" Ricky hesitantly started to explain.
"What are you? A turtle? Put your bag in the back and get in the car. We gotta go!" he ordered, glancing down at the watch on his wrist before looking back up at Ricky, extending his hand out, palm up, and wiggling his fingers in a beckoning motion.
'Rude,' Ricky thought to himself but didn't voice it out loud. He did not want to cause any trouble by annoying the man any further than he already had, even though how any of this was Ricky's fault was beyond him.
After hesitating only a few seconds more, Ricky took a deep breath, released it, and as if he was about to walk off the plank instead of only entering a car, he stepped up to the back passenger door and opened it. Drawing his book bag down off his shoulder, he threw his bag onto the plush leather seat and closed the back door with a snap, hesitating once again.
"Come on! Come on! I have the engine running!" Tyler ordered, his annoyance only paper thin now.
Ricky quickly opened the front passenger door and slipped into car, slamming the door accidentally in his haste.
That seemed to tick Tyler off. He snapped his head to face Ricky. "Never slam my doors!"
"Okay I'm sorry!" Ricky grumbled, his head down, his chin almost to his thin chest.
Ricky sucked in a deep breath of fear when Tyler leaned a little closer to him and gritted out. "Don't get an attitude with me!"
Resenting earlier today, resenting the position he was in now, resenting all of the bullies in the world, Ricky did something he very rarely ever did. He lost his temper. "Don't tell me what to do! You're not my father!"
Surprisingly, Tyler did not rage back at Ricky. Instead he sat back and shifted back around to face front before putting the car in gear and driving from the school grounds. He glanced over to Ricky a few minutes later and remarked. "You're ungrateful. I went through all this trouble just to pick you up and help you and your mom out, and this is my thanks!"
"Please..." Ricky could not resist grumbling, "You're just doing this to please my mother not me. You aren't trying to help me at all."
With that, Ricky turned his head so that he could stare out of the window, knowing there was a very good chance he would get in trouble for daring to talk to Tyler the way he had but... geez... life was not fair sometimes.
"If only it was just your mother..." he heard Tyler mutter, just barely, but Ricky was pretty sure that was what he heard. Tyler's words scared Ricky a bit but he refused to give Tyler the satisfaction of knowing that, so instead he kept his head turned and concentrated on the passing scenery outside his car window.
Granted Ricky and his mother, Annabelle, had grown apart in the three years since his father's death, but Ricky never doubted that his mother loved him. Ricky knew it had a lot to do with the fact that he looked so much like his father. Ricky could tell sometimes it hurt his mother to look at him. But despite that, Ricky knew she still loved him no matter what and he had nothing but faith in her.
He stared out the window watching various cars passing, people walking, birds perching. He smiled when he saw a tiny petite girl walking a huge fawn coated Great Dane, for Ricky loved animals. All animals... with the exception of snakes of course. Though if he had to pick his favorite it would be, hands down, the Canis Lupus or wolf as most people called them rather than using the Latin term. Or more specifically it translated to gray wolf. Ricky thought they were the coolest creatures of all.
The car was filled with utter silence as Tyler drove him home. Ricky gazed determinedly out the window until he finally caught sight of the apartment he lived in. Tyler drove to the parking lot and parked in a space that was a little ways from it but still close enough and Ricky didn't mind the walk. He climbed out of the car just as he heard Tyler say "Get your stuff, kid."
Ricky moodily rolled his eyes at being called a kid but he kept his mouth shut, got out of the car and turned and carefully closed the door. He really wanted to slam it again but decided against it. He didn't want Tyler to start fussing over his beloved car again. Ricky didn't know what kind of car it was. He wasn't even interested in cars, and he knew very little about them. He much preferred learning about animals and wolves or new ways to bake with chocolate which was his favorite, but cars...he just wasn't really interested. Strange though, a lot of boys at his school loved talking about cars. Which is probably one of the reasons he was the black sheep of the school.
He went to the backseat of the car and opened the door. He leaned in and grabbed his book bag and pulled it out of the car. He carefully closed the door again like he had when he closed the front passenger door, super cautious-like. He preferred not giving Tyler any reason to chastise him.
He began walking to the building's front entrance. Tyler walked five steps in front of him but Ricky didn't bother to try to keep up. Tyler and he worked best when there was distance between them so Ricky provided did his part to provide that difference.
Tyler pushed the doors open and walked briskly inside. He did not bother to hold the door for Ricky nor did he check on how close Ricky was behind him, letting it instead swing closed behind him without giving Ricky much thought. Thankfully Ricky half expected Tyler's move and was prepared when the door tried to swing shut in his face. Ricky easily caught the door before it made contact with his nose, and rolled his eyes at Tyler's rudeness. He couldn't help but wish that his mother could witness Tyler's petulant behavior. Aren't the adults supposed to be more mature than the children?
The building inside was not really a fancy building. There was a small room off to the side with a desk that the landlord used as an office. A jumbled-like potted plant sat in the corner of one room. Ricky often questioned whether or not it was real. The elevator took up one side of the wall and the door leading to the stairs was right next to it on the other wall.
Ricky enjoyed going up and down the elevator. Especially when he had to carry his school projects to school. His father had always helped help him with his projects, but since he had passed Ricky had to do them by himself since his mother couldn't help him, which made him struggle a little in his school work. Ricky hated when a new project was assigned. Not only because it was a new boring project that he didn't want to do, but because it always reminded him of his loss.
There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't miss his father, or the talks, the playful banter, and the laughs they had shared together.
Tyler and Ricky arrived at the elevator just as the doors opened and someone stepped out. Both Tyler and Ricky let the very pregnant lady exit out before they stepped onto the elevator and let the doors close behind him. Tyler pressed the 4th button which would take them to Ricky's apartment floor.
As the elevator started going up, the two stood there in awkward silence, ignoring each other. Neither had a desire to speak to the other to breach the growing antagonism. Finally after a few moments, but what felt like hours to Ricky, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open revealing a long hallway with many doors.
Tyler and Ricky walked down the hallway passing four doors, two on each side to be exact. Ricky was relieved to finally be in front of his apartment door, apartment number 46. Tyler put a key (evidently Ricky's mother trusted him enough now to give him a key) into the keyhole and turned the key until it clicked. He pulled the key out, twisted the knob, and opened the door.
"Hey babe! We're home!" Tyler called out, walking in like he lived there.
'You don't live here.' Ricky thought to himself, but again saying something like that would most likely lead to him getting in trouble so he thought it wise to keep his mouth shut. He was about to follow Tyler into the apartment, but like the ever growing big jerk that he was, Tyler shut the door right in Ricky's face. Ricky rolled his eye and let out a frustrated huff of breath before reaching to turn the knob to open the door only to find that Tyler had locked it again. Feeling both tired and angry, Ricky sighed and leaned his forehead against the cool wood of the door, trying to regain his calm.
After a few short moments Ricky calmly put his hand in his right pocket and took out his key. He inserted the key into the keyhole, turned the key until he heard a click, pulled it out, put the key back in his pocket, and opened the door. Ricky smiled at his victory.
"Voila!" he exclaimed proudly, as he entered the room which happened to be the living room.
To his complete and utter annoyance he saw his mother kissing the jerk, Tyler. It was disgusting.
Ricky looked at his mother. Annabelle Vera was a very beautiful Caucasian woman. She had long curly black hair, chocolate brown eye like his own, which was the only physical resemblance his mother and he shared. She was as curvy as Ricky was straight and just as short. Right now she had on a shimmering blue sundress with matching blue heels. Pearl earrings peaked through her thick curls and it felt as if they winked mockingly at Ricky as he witnessed his mother's affection for Tyler.
Annabelle pulled away from the kiss and smiled lovingly and adoringly at Tyler who smiled back. It made Ricky sick to his stomach.
"How was work sweetie?"
"Good. Managed to sell two cars today," Tyler boasted.
Ricky knew Tyler was a high end car salesman, but to Ricky he looked like a guy who was more apt to steal cars.
Annabelle looked to see Ricky staring at them. "Hi Ricky," his mother started to welcome but cut herself off when she saw the door still standing wide open. "Ricky hurry up! Don't leave the door open. The air is on."
"Sorry Mom!" Ricky called and hurriedly turned around, closing the door behind him. Unfortunately, due to him rushing and trying to please his mother he slammed it on accident.
"Ricky!" she groused.
He cringed at the volume and in embarrassment that Tyler was witnessing his mortification. He just knew Tyler was smirking at him, if not on the outside where is mother could see, he was most definitely smirking on the inside, enjoying Ricky's discomfort.
"My bad," he whispered to himself, internally chastising himself for giving Tyler the opportunity to mock him for any reason.
Annabelle sighed but smiled as she turned to see her "perfect" Tyler. "Thank you so much for picking my son up from his last day of school. I hope he wasn't too much trouble."
Ricky felt his heart break a little. He quickly consoled himself with some positive reinforcement. 'It's okay Ricky. She meant trouble picking you up...not you yourself being trouble.' He relaxed a bit, comforted by his own thoughts.
"Oh no, we were both talking on and on about how great his day was." Tyler lied with a charming smile. He then turned to look straight into Ricky's eyes and winked at him. "Weren't we, Ricky?"
Ricky narrowed his eyes, and clenched his fists as he felt his blood boil. He wanted to tell Tyler to go wipe that stupid fake smile off his face and go find some other widow to con. But he looked at his mother and saw her eyeing Tyler with affection. Ricky knew he might've been a handful to his mother in the past, but he was never selfish enough to take away her happiness. So with an internal sigh, he held his tongue as he looked down at the floor, clasping his hands together, fiddling with his fingers.
"Yeah...we sure did," he mumbled in agreement.
"That sounds nice," Annabelle sighed as she leaned her head onto Tyler's shoulder. Tyler looked at Ricky with a smug smirk that said 'I make her happy so I think I'll be sticking around awhile and there's nothing you can do about it.'
Ricky stared with as blank of an expression as he could manage before turning away and walking over to the couch, carrying his book bag with him. He sighed as he plopped down on the couch, sitting his bag down next to him, making himself comfortable. He hated that he didn't stand up to Tyler but he couldn't. One because he couldn't that to his mother, and two he didn't want to cause trouble.
"You ready to go babe?"
"Yes I am."
Ricky's head shot up as Tyler and his mother started talking. "Uh- go where?"
"We're going out to dinner?" his mom answered, glancing over at him and smiling. "Tyler wants to treat me to a night out!" she enthused, obviously excited at the chance to go out for a night. Ricky contemplated that for a split second, realizing it had been quite a while since his mother had done anything fun.
"Just you two?" Ricky couldn't help but ask but already knowing the answer.
"No just us sweetie? But you'll be fine here on your own, right?"
Ricky wanted to scream 'Heck no!' Ricky always got a little anxious when he was all alone in the apartment. His mother knew this. He was going to remind her but stopped himself when he saw the hopeful expression on her face. Ricky held his tongue. He couldn't ruin her plans no matter how much he did not want to stay at home by himself.
"Yeah sure," he sighed. His summer was not getting off to a good start.
She kissed his forehead. "Thank you, kiddo." She reached her hand out and ran her fingers through his spikey hair, giving the short strands an affectionate ruffle. Her face was strangely sad as she pulled away from Ricky and stood back up. "We're going to leave a bit early if you don't mind. Tyler has an errand to run across town. It would take too long for him to drive there and all the way back to get me. You don't mind, right?" she asked but Ricky could tell she was only being polite because she was grabbing up her purse as she spoke and walking with Tyler toward the door.
Ricky kept his head down as the adults walked out of the apartment. "Lock the door behind me," his mother instructed, just before closing the door.
Ricky sighed. "My day was great. Thanks for asking, Mom." he mumbled dejectedly.
Ricky got up and walked over to the door. He locked the door, then unlocked it. Then for good measure he locked it again. It was part of his process. He did this exactly four times. He then chained the door just to be safe. "Oh and I love you too, Mom. Have a nice time, Mom." Ricky continued on feeling a tad bit neglected.
After he was absolutely sure that he had ensconced himself securely in the apartment, Ricky strode back over to the couch where his bag sat. Stopping in front of the couch, he picked it up and walked to the kitchen. There he went over to a table he and his family had often used when his father had been alive. Now days it was mostly used for homework. It was a circular wooden table with four chairs. He pulled out one of the chairs, and set his bag there. After that he returned to the living room and stood there thinking of what he could do to pass the time.
"I guess I could watch a movie," he announced to the room at large.
He went over to the movie cabinet that stood in the hallway next to his bathroom. He scanned the various movie titles. There were an assortment of genres but the majority were scary movies, monster movies, supernatural horror flicks. Those were his favorite. Had been his dads, too. Ricky reached for a very old classic, The Lost Boys. Ricky shrugged to himself. "This'll do."
He put the movie in the Blue-Ray player as he turned the TV on. His stomach rumbled as he started to sit back down on the couch so instead of sitting and made his way into the kitchen again and went to open the pantry. He noticed an open popcorn box and reached in to pull out a popcorn bag. He walked over to the microwave as he tore off the plastic wrapping, placed it in the center of the microwave, and closed the door. He put in the amount of time needed to pop his popcorn and pressed the start button. A few seconds later the confines of the lemon colored kitchen was inundated with the aroma of buttery goodness as the popcorn began popping.
While the popcorn popped, Ricky walked back into the living room to see the main menu on the screen. He grabbed up one of the two remotes that lay on the wooden coffee table. He pressed the play button and the movie began. Right at that second the microwave started beeping and he went back to the kitchen where the microwave was. He popped the door open and grabbed the hot pouch. As soon as he went back to the living he opened his bag and began munching on the popcorn as he watched the movie.
He finished the popcorn before he finished the movie. When he looked outside the only window in the living room he saw it was getting dark. Feeling slightly concerned he whipped his phone out of his pocket. He pushed the button that would automatically call his mother's cell. He placed the phone next to his ear and waited for her to answer her phone. Finally she answered.
"Ricky."
"Hey Mom, just wondering when will you be home?"
"Ricky, I'll be home after we finish dinner. Tyler has taken me to a lovely restaurant and we are having a wonderful time." Ricky winced because he could detect impatience in her tone.
"I know I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you I just..."
"Ricky I've had a rough week and I need a nice night out." She told him the impatience becoming more obvious.
"I know Mom but..." but his mother interrupted him again just before he could carry on with his explanation.
"Can you please bypass you're anxiety just this once and let me have a night please, for me?"
Ricky sighed to himself. "Sure Mom ..."
"Good. Be in bed by 11:00." She instructed and hung up abruptly.
Ricky took the phone down from his ear. "I guess I can try to bypass my anxiety..." he said to no one in particular and chuckled nervously, "Have to learn sometime, don't I?"
But it was easier said than done for Ricky felt uneasy. He spent the rest of the evening on the couch, reading one of his books. He had all of the lights on in the living room so he could make out every corner. Whenever he heard a creek or someone walking by the door he jumped. He waited patiently for his mother's return. He waited until eleven thirty.
When eleven thirty passed he decided he needed to go ahead and get ready for bed. He did his usual bedtime routine. Put on a t-shirt and old shorts, which is what he usually slept in, brushed his teeth, rinsed his mouth, used the bathroom and he was done.
He went to the door and unchained it. That way when his mother arrived all she had to do was unlock it. The last time he forgot to undo the chain his mother had had to scream for him and had unintentionally woken up their elderly- and not to mention very cranky- neighbor. She had not been happy about that and he had gotten a pretty irate lecture from her.
Suddenly he saw a shadow of someone walking by. He jumped and ran to his bedroom. In a second he was back up and running into the living room to turn out the lamp he had accidently left on. Once clicked off he ran back into his bedroom and dove into his bed. But he did not fall asleep easily. He never did when he was alone. But thankfully, as time ticked slowly by, he finally fell into a deep sleep. And he dreamed, though more nightmare than dream.
He was back in middle school again, and the boys that bullied him in class kept calling him "Freak" or "Loser". Then before his very eyes, they all turned into vampires with long fangs saying they wanted his blood.
They chased him and chased him calling out for his blood and he ran and he ran until he ran back into the safety of his living room only it was not safe. Tyler was there with his mother and he was kissing her again. Ricky shouted at them both to stop kissing, that he needed help, but they didn't stop.
Ricky ran over to physically pull them apart, causing Tyler to abruptly stop kissing his mother and instead he turned to Ricky and flashed him a toothy grin, a charming smile that revealed two fangs! Suddenly the boys were in the living room and holding Ricky down. He struggled desperately and pleaded for mercy but it was all to no avail as they slowly leaned forward to sink their very sharp fangs into his soft, tender flesh and drink his blood!
However, just as they opened their mouths revealing all their teeth one of them let out a huge roar that could rival a... an alarm clock?