Sam cleared his throat as he stood in front of Mandy. He had a quick look at the lines on page twenty-four. At first, he thought he was hallucinating.
Suddenly, the small piece he had written this morning came flashing back into his mind. It was as if Mr. King shared the same mind as Sam. He blinked repeatedly as he looked over the lines on the script. Mandy noticed his silence.
"You OK, Sam-Sam?" Mandy asked, grinning as she knew his reaction to that nickname.
"What? Oh! Um.. y-yeah, I-I'm fine." He started to read the line next to the name written in bold, SAMSON.
"My God! You're really her, aren't you? The Goblin Queen."
"Princess, actually." Mandy said in a very posh and somewhat degrading tone.
"Where's my sister?" Sam asked slowly, really taking the character of Samson in.
"You know very well where she is. You wished for it, didn't you?"
"W-what? N-no! I didn't mean it!"
"Oh, you didn't?" Mandy asked sarcastically, grinning at Sam's entertainment and passion as he read through the lines. The audition continued for at least another full ten minutes. Sam went to hand the script back to Mandy.
"If you're going to play the lead role, don't you think you ought to learn your lines?" Mandy smiled. Sam looked at the script, then at Mandy and he grinned.
"Thanks, Mandy. I'd, uh, better go. See you in a bit!" He called as he left the room. He crammed the script into his backpack and hurried out into the corridors. As he got outside, he stretched out his arm so his sleeve rolled down and he could see what time it was.
5:57. He didn't realize he had been THAT long. He hurried out of the school gates and paused for a moment. He looked down the road that led back to his house, but then down another road that took him to the park. He was already late coming home anyway, so he turned right and passed through the gates of the park. He came running over the stone bridge that was built over a gentle lake which was also home to a small family of ducks.
He took off his backpack and recited the lines what he could remember from rehearsing with Mandy.
"Give me the child," he began.
"Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the-"
"Oh, here he is! Back at it again in fantasyland!" Jack Milton snorted. One of his sweaty friends burst out laughing. Sam then noticed the empty beer can in his hand. He hurled it at Sam but he ducked and it landed in the lake below the bridge.
"Leave me alone, Jack. Haven't you got anything better to do than to piss me off all the time? Go torment your mom for all I care, just leave me alone!"
"At least I have a mom. Not my fault yours ran off with some freak!"
"That's not true!" He yelled. He could feel himself turning red. A fire ignited within his gut and he felt that if he didn't do something soon, it would burn him alive.
"Answering back." He tutted, obviously mocking him.
"Looks like his mommy didn't teach him any manners before she abandoned him either!" One of Jack's friends said. He stepped closer to Sam. He noticed he had an empty beer bottle in his hand. He realized he intended to swing it at him. He dodged too late and the bottle smashed against his cheek. Sam fell to the ground in pain. He felt his own warm blood trickle down his face and on to the grass beneath him. Before he could get back up, however, another sharp blow impacted in his back and he fell to the ground again. Jack came up to him so they were face to face. With one hand, he grabbed Sam's hair and with the other, he punched him repeatedly in his face. Sam cried out in pain which he instantly regretted since was given hysterical jeers in return. He felt a searing pain in the back of his head as Jack's sweaty hand gripped his hair and prepared to punch him in the face as Sam closed his eyes as he knew what was to come next.
He waited and waited for Jack to punch him as he realized there was no getting away from him now but he opened his eyes as he felt Jack let go of his hair and saw Jack screaming, as he rolled on the grass in front of him. Sam got back up and saw Jack putting his hands up as an act of defense against what looked like an owl. Of all creatures. Sam grabbed his backpack and luckily didn't have to worry about Jack's goons attacking him since they were all either bursting out in laughter or filming Jack rolling on the ground on their phones.
Sam crossed the stone bridge over the lake and turned right into a small forest where he normally came after school anyway. He leaned against a tree and unzipped his jacket, rolled it up into a ball to dab at the blood that still ran down his face. He put the jacket in his backpack and dodged a few trees as he slowly came closer to the other side of the forest. He paused however as he heard rustling around him. He felt his stomach churn with angst as he tried to wonder what was causing it. Initially, he decided that paranoia was getting the best of him until he heard the same rustling again.
"Who's there?" He finally called out. He knew that the noise wasn't a susurration of leaves that were picked up in a shift of the wind. Someone had to be there with him. Sam grabbed the nearest thing to him which was an old branch. He prepared to lunge it at the next thing that he saw which only ended up to be his English Sheepdog Merlin who leaped over the logs and barked excitedly at the sight of Sam. He jumped back and fell to the ground. Merlin licked his cheek and wagged his tail as he rested both of his forepaws on Sam.
"God Merlin, you scared me!" Sam said as he threw the stick aside and sat back up. Merlin weaved around him, panting in exuberance. Sam ran his hand through Merlin's fur on his side.
"You been chasing squirrels again?" He laughed. Merlin barked which Samuel took as a yes. He rolled his eyes and helped himself up.
"Come on. I'm already late getting back as it is." Sam said as he clicked his fingers, indicating Merlin to follow him as they crossed at least five main roads to get back "home."
