Rage: Through Another's Eyes
Rated M
Mythology (Realistic)
Chapter 1: A Casual Day, Gone to Hell
The dreams were getting worse and worse. I was haunted in my sleep, never being granting solitude or safety. Everywhere I went, HE was there; the man with the scar across his eye. He would find me no matter where I went in my dreams; somehow he always seemed to be one step ahead of me. The nightmares had been going on for weeks; I just had no idea why I was being hunted and forced to watch those I care about die a horrible, awful, painful death time after time again. Not until today.
I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock ringing, just that classic old telephone ringing. 6 a.m. was certainly too early to be up doing anything, especially getting ready for school. "Let's hope I remembered to do the laundry and set the coffee maker last night," I thought to myself. "Better go ahead and get ready. I should've just slept over at Jessie's last night. Would've made it so much easier..."
I proceeded to get ready, grabbing my combat boots, trench coat, and guitar. "Maybe I should wear my Converse instead," I said to myself. So I walked back into the living room, dropped my boots in their spot, and grabbed my black converse. I looked around trying to find my hat. It wasn't anywhere to be found. "Maybe I left it at Jessie's last night?" I thought to myself. "That proves my point that I should've just stayed the night over there instead of here. But it's whatever…"
I loaded up in my green Volvo, which was "crappy as can be, but can get from point A to point B and sometimes even a C" as I liked to put it. I put my guitar case in the back seat. My book bag, though empty as it was, had remained in the car. Most of my school supplies were kept in my guitar case since I could never find my bag when needed. "Time to get Jessie,"I thought, happily, as I pulled out of my driveway, turning up my favorite Avenged Sevenfold CD.
I arrived at Jessie's house shortly after leaving my own. It hadn't even been 5 minutes. I looked at my phone to see the time, 6:30. I would've checked the time on the clock in the car, but it hadn't worked for a few weeks at this point. "We've still got plenty of time to get to school. Class doesn't start until 7:30. That gives us an hour, probably a lot less, knowing how long it always takes her to get ready. I wonder if she wants to go out and get breakfast. I have two free McCafe's at McDonald's…" I threw my stuff into the truck and turned to the house, sighing with relief.
I ran up and opened the door with the spare key they had given me. They were accustomed to having me stay there. Hell, I basically lived there. I would spend more time there than at my own house. Momma Wolf, Jessie's mom, walked out of her bedroom in her robe, drinking her first cup of coffee.
"Shit, that's what I forgot this morning," I said, walking into the kitchen to make me a cup of coffee. "Jess, come on or we're going to be late. One more time and we get suspended!"
"You know perfectly well that we have plenty of time to get to school, McMath," Jessie replied from her bedroom. "Why do you seem to be in such a hurry? It's not like we were going out to breakfast or something, you know?" she said kiddingly.
"Well actually…" I started, "I had actually planned to go to McDonald's or something to get breakfast before school. That's why I'm here so early. If you wanted to, that is," I said, beginning to stumble over my own words.
"Well yeah, that would be nice. Plus, you can actually eat it, unlike our school breakfast, which, does not, if I may add, have ANY coffee," she giggled.
"Well we better get out there if we want something. Are you ready yet?" I asked, a tone of urgency in my voice.
"Yeah, I'm ready," she said. She walked out of her room wearing a black button up, a pair of bellbottoms with a black and white checkered stud belt, and her black converse, with some green laces of mine. She had her hair brushed out and over one shoulder in a Katniss braid and had my Hunger Games pin on her shirt. She had black and silver Jolly Roger earrings in.
"You gonna keep staring, or are we actually gonna go somewhere and get something to eat? I actually haven't eaten since like two this morning, and I'm hungry," she said, with a laugh.
"What? Duh, I mean, yeah. You look great. I mean, uh, let's just go. I want some food," I said, blushing slightly. "Just get in the truck." I looked down and held my hand out, into which Mom placed the truck keys.
"I want you kids to be careful. I've got a feeling something's going to happen today. Keep her safe, Alex. And Jessie, don't do anything that I wouldn't approve of. Or, don't get caught, rather," her mom said, laughing. "Don't keep her out too late, Alex. I want you two home in time for dinner."
"Yes ma'am. I'll have her back right after school. I need to start working on a song on guitar anyways…" I said, half to myself. I turned an about haste and headed to the door, holding it open for Jessie. As we walked out the door I said "trust me Mom, if ANYTHING happens to Jessie, you'll be certain it's only after I take my final breath" before slamming the door closed. "Get in the truck. I already moved all of my stuff over. We're going to McDonald's."
I threw the truck into reverse and pulled out onto the street, headed for McDonald's when Jessie said "that's a nice shirt, Alex. Where'd you get it?"
"This old thing? I went on a little shopping spree at Wal-Mart. I got you a present, but it's at the house. We can stop and get it after school, but I CANNOT get you suspended. We're already in enough trouble as is, and you know that. Plus, this one is a bit too expensive to take to school, if you know what I mean," I said, trying to be somewhat mysterious, but failing horribly.
"Well, it's not MY fault that YOU insist on taking me out to breakfast and even dinner on occasion. You always take me out to get food. So don't complain about it. I want a mocha iced coffee. Nothing big, I have to maintain my figure," she said, giggling.
We drove around the drive through and ordered our iced coffees and pulled into a parking spot and sat and talked for a while.
"So this is nice, we almost never get any time alone anymore, now that I'm basically living with you. You know what I mean?" I said, trying to be nice.
"Yeah. It really does suck. So let's play a game. Let's play "Tell Jessie What the Fuck You Got Her as a Random Fucking Present Already Dammit"! It's a really fun game! Wanna know the rules?" she said, inching closer and closer until her face was right up in mine. We could hear each other breathing for a half a second of silence.
"I think I can guess the rules of the game. By the way, you just lost The Game. But no, you can wait until we get home. You can get out of my face whenever you want," I said before kissing her on the cheek.
She pulled her face back and yelled "dude, what the fuck? I wasn't serious!" and started rubbing her cheek frantically.
"Oh, you know you liked it. Did I happen to leave my hat at your house when I left in a hurry last night? I couldn't find it this morning," I said, avoiding what just happened.
"Yeah, you did," she said, still rubbing her face. She began to blush and said "I hung it on a nail sticking out of my bed frame. I didn't want it getting damaged."
"Okay, cause I need that back. I didn't have a decent one to wear to school today. We can grab it after school," I said, backing the truck up.
"Are you talking about my ass or the hat?" she asked.
"I'll leave that one up to you," I said before laughing. "But I really need to get my hat."
It didn't take long for us to drive up to the school and find a parking spot. We got out of the truck, I grabbed my guitar case and handed Jessie her bag, even though I could've just fit everything in my case, but she was persistent on carrying her own stuff. I gave up after the second day of trying.
"I really wish you would just let me put everything in here since all you have to carry is a notebook and a pencil," I said, walking up to the front door carrying my guitar case.
"I know, but you already do so much for me. Plus, you could go through my stuff whenever you wanted and try and find those love notes you always think I'm writing," she said with a smile.
"That's EXACTLY why I wanted to carry it. I wasn't trying to be nice or anything," I said sarcastically.
"Well, come on. Let's go sit with our group," Jessie said.
"Not today. I actually wanna play guitar. You know you wanna sit and watch me and my amazingness play guitar like a beast!" I said, trying not to laugh.
"You and awesome should not be in the same sentence unless the word 'not' is between them," she joked.
"And in bed…?" I kidded.
"I would have no idea, no matter how much you may dream about it. But come on; let's get down there before we miss out on anything. Don't want to have to hold you while you cry for missing your solo or something," she laughed.
"Shut up, you know you would love to sit and hold me. And I would not cry. Unless it was from laughing about how bad these guys fucked it up," I said, regaining some of my ego.
We walked down the side stairs down to the guitarists and hackey sack players. I went to get my guitar out of my case when Sage walked up to me and said "dude, you got an extra pick? Mine broke."
"Yeah man, hold on. Let me get my damn guitar out of its fucking case," I said, unlocking and unlatching the case. "Here," I said, throwing it behind my head.
"Thanks man," he said, grabbing the pick and walking back over to our group.
Just as I had tuned my guitar back into drop E flat, back from DADGAB, which I tuned it to play some Pink Floyd, the announcements came on and said " teachers, please keep all students in the cafeteria and auditorium. We're on code red."
"But code red means someone is in the building, possibly armed and highly dangerous. How could they get past the-" Jessie started.
She was interrupted as a person fell through the window overlooking the lunchroom, shattering the glass on impact. The students and staff ran from him like he had the Plague. They were frightened out of their minds. There was a chorus of screams as students and teachers alike ran from the man, fearing for their lives. Jessie ran behind me, expecting me to protect her.
"Okay, Knight, you may protect your beloved Princess now," she said, sounding worried.
The tall figure in a brown trench coat rose. He had a buzz cut, gray hair. He was wide shouldered; you could see his muscles from the sleeves of his trench coat, which were ripped off. He looked around for a few seconds, spending maybe two seconds on each group. He turned around the lunchroom, talking to himself. He glanced over at me, because Jessie squealed from behind me. I instantly recognized him as a man from my nightmare last night. He was only one of many that were in that room, watching us suffer. He smiled and continued searching for his target as another man jumped through the window and landed beside him. The second man was a very tall, thin man with only one notable feature; his hands were shaking constantly.
The second man looked at the first and they began to talk for a minute before the second man screamed "WHERE?" and started to look around frantically, like a kid that lost their blankie.
"SYX! Where are you?" the older man screamed.
I started to walk forward, into the crowd, to attack our unwelcome intruders, when Jessie wrapped around me and begged "Alex, please, this isn't our fight" and latched into the pocket of my trench coat and grabbed my chest to keep me there, close to her. Or maybe out of danger. I looked at her, glanced over at the two men, looked back at her and said "alright, I'm trusting you on this. I can't have them, or you, getting hurt." I looked around at the crowd, standing in shock and fear, as the two men started moving, searching for Syx.
"I'll be back soon, I promise. Keep this safe. I won't be long," I said, handing her my guitar and kissing her on the cheek. I pulled an about face, ran towards the stairs, and climbed up the bars, all in about 7.3 seconds. I started running for the door and instantly smelled blood. I almost threw myself over the rail of the broken window to see Syx pull an arrow out of a third man's throat.
I heard a piece of glass shatter behind me. It didn't sound like someone went through another window, it sounded like someone stepped on a piece of glass. I hesitated while the sounds of footsteps on glass got closer and closer. I broke a shard of glass off of the window, turned and lunged, slicing his upper arm before realizing it was Freddy.
"Dude, that fucking hurt! I just wanted to make sure you were okay, but now I've gotta cut you up! You cut my fucking shirt!" he cried on and on, like a little girl.
I threw my piece of glass on the ground and it shattered and I said "I'm sorry man, I didn't know it was you. I thought you were someone trying to hurt me or Jessie."
He picked up a piece of glass and made to lunge at me, but we both ceased all movements at the cry of "Foul little Demon! I'll kill you!" coming from below. I dropped my guard long enough for him to swing and connect with my jaw and slice at my chest, ripping my shirt, a few seconds after. He sliced again and sliced most of one arm of the trench coat off before I managed to connect my elbow to his temple, kick him in the ribs, and throw him into the shards of glass on our battle arena above the main arena.
"You little bastard, that's what you get for fucking with a ginger," I said in an almost hushed tone. "Not to mention ripping his favorite fucking shirt," I said taking my trench coat off and ripping my shirt off and tucking it into one of the pockets of the trench coat. I took a shard of glass and cut the rest of that arm of the coat off up to the shoulder. I cut the other one to match. I kicked him in the ribs again before running back to the stairs where Jessie and I were not even 10 minutes ago, but I was bleeding heavily, and fast. "Maybe if I can get to her, she can use what's left of my shirt to bandage it enough to get us back home and have Mom patch me up… I sure hope so…" I thought as I made my way back over to the stairs, starting to lose my balance from the loss of blood and also the pain. I jumped down the stairs and almost knocked Jessie down going around the last turn before falling face first to the floor.
"FUCK!" I screamed, reaching for my chest, feeling the blood pour out like liquid out of a punctured can.
"Are you okay?" we both asked at the same time. My vision was starting to get blurry. "I'm okay, but you're dying. Honestly, I'm surprised you aren't dead yet. Let me patch you up. Good thing I brought my duct tape!" she said, pulling her duct tape bag apart and laying the shirt over the gash.
"I know how have a very strong fascination with duck tape but I-" I stopped. The pain was getting worse and worse and I was losing more blood the more I put it off. "Go ahead. Just do whatever you have to do to keep me alive until we get home."
She taped the shirt to my chest. It didn't feel good at all, but at least I was losing less blood than before. "It's slowed down a little bit, but not much. Let's hope it's good enough to get me back to the house. I hope I haven't lost too much blood..."
I ran out the door of the school and collapsed on the walkway. "You can't die on me now McMath. I still have so much to tell you," she said, picking me up. I grabbed the guitar in my left hand, the arm that didn't get cut open, and had her under my other arm, holding me up. She managed to get me to the truck, open the back, put my guitar in it, lay me in the back seat, and get it started and backed up before I blacked out.
I came back to my senses right as we pulled in the driveway. I opened the door and got two steps into the house before passing out from loss of blood.
