Tuesday: Down – Stone the Crow

Kendall woke at 6.00 am. His mouth was as dry as if he'd inhaled the entire Sahara desert! He found his things from across the room and pushed James in the back. His friend opened his eyes to small slits and looked at Kendall with a confused look in the hazel eyes.

"I gotta get home to Katie..." Kendall explained, guilt filling his stomach, "See you at school."

James mumbled something and rolled over to his stomach, before he immediately started snoring again.

x-x

The sun was rising in the east and a silent summer rain was falling on Kendall as he went home. The door was locked and without his keys he had to find another way in. Kendall went to the yard and put a garden chair next to the shed so he could get to the roof. Standing on his toes, he managed to reach Katie's window, and he pulled at it with his fingertips. The window opened with a noisy creak.

"Katie" he whisper-yelled.

No reaction.

"Katie" he tried again a little louder.

He heard the bed squeak and Katie's dark-haired head became visible. She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Hand me the sheet" he said, and Katie disappeared from the window.

A moment later her rolled up sheet came flying out and Kendall pulled himself up and into her room. He crawled to her bed and wrapped his arms around his sister.

"Where did you go?" Katie asked, unable to hide the hurt in her voice.

Kendall rolled his eyes. How could he forget to text Katie and let her know where he was! Stupid!

"I went to James'" Kendall said, "Katie, I'm so sorry I forgot to tell you, okay!"

"It's alright" she answered and snuggled into her brothers hug, "I was just scared for you..."

Kendall was ashamed for not thinking about Katie, but it was too late for that now. He pushed his guilty thoughts aside and ruffled Katie's hair.

"Come on up, let's get some breakfast and get out of the house before dad wakes up!"

Katie dressed and they both snuck down to the kitchen, careful not to step on the squeaky step of the stairs and avoid making any noise themselves.

The shards from the plate and the dried up rice were still on the floor, indicating that Brian probably had spent his evening in the living room in the company of a wide selection of bottles!

Katie ate her Fruity Loops while Kendall cleaned up the plate and the food, and they were soon ready to get going.

x-x

Kendall threw his bike on the ground and looked at the buildings in front of him. The memories came flooding back as they walked to the door of Katie's school. Almost all the teachers Kendall had known when he went there still worked at the school.

A group of 6th or 7th graders were standing by the bushes next to the entrance and Katie stopped dead in her tracks. She swallowed her spit and looked up at her big brother.

"Those are the kids I told you about that tease me about mom!"

Kendall narrowed his eyes and looked at the group. He recognized both Simon and Joey amongst them and spit on the ground. They had been a few years younger when he had last seen them, but they had been brats then already. Puberty probably hadn't improved that!

A few weeks earlier Katie had shown Kendall a giant bruise on her arm where one of the kids had held her firmly, while the other boys taunted her with her dead mother and scattered the contents of her backpack and pencil case on the ground. Katie was usually a strong girl, but she was small for her age and if a boy held her firmly by both arms, there wasn't much she could do. Being continuously bullied by the group of boys was getting to her, and Kendall spotted tears gathering in her eyes.

He felt his heart do a flip at the sight of Katie's tears and decided to make sure these punks would stay away from his sister!

"Well hello!" Kendall said in his most hoarse voice, "I heard you guys get your kicks from bullying my sister!"

Katie tried pulling Kendall with her past the boys, but he wouldn't let her. The bullying was going to end here and now!

"When you mess with her, you mess with me! And I don't take crap from anyone..."

Simon, Joey and one of the other boys looked at Kendall as if he was an idiot, but the other boys looked slightly alarmed by the bigger boy's threat.

"Shut up!" Joey exclaimed, looking Kendall right in the eyes.

Kendall furrowed his brows and let go of Katie. He quickly twisted Joey's arm around, pushing him face first into the brick wall.

The boy howled in pain.

"Ow, ow, let go of me!" he screamed and grit his teeth.

"Then promise you'll stay away from Katie!"

Joey didn't budge, so Kendall pushed a little harder, making the younger boy's cheek scrape along the bricks.

"Ow! Okay, okay, we'll leave her alone!"

Kendall released his grip, and Joey touched his skinless cheek with tears in his eyes. His friend threw his cigarette on the ground and eyed Kendall.

"Fuck you" he said, "you can't just do stuff like that!"

Kendall just huffed.

"Oh, really! But you can go around bullying Katie because her mom's dead! Great logic you idiot!"

"Screw you Knight, do you think I'm afraid of you?" the boy shot back.

Honestly Kendall was surprised by his outburst. When he was thirteen he would never have talked that way to a high schooler who had a physical advantage.

"Clearly not, but you should be, you little shit!" he hissed, and pushed the boy so hard he fell backwards and slammed his head on the ground with a loud, unpleasant thud.

Kendall hadn't planned for the kid to go down so hard, but apparently caught him completely unaware. Three of the other boys scurried off and Simon kneeled to the ground tending to his friend. Kendall and Katie looked at each other, not quite sure what to do, but a moment later Joey returned followed by Kendall's old arch enemy Mr. Craig.

Kendall looked at Katie and licked his lips.

"You better get to class" he said, "I'll make sure they don't bother you again, okay? See you later baby sis..."

Katie hurried inside, and just as the door slammed shut Mr. Craig's voice reached Kendall.

"What in heaven's name do you think you're doing young man!"

Kendall's aversions towards the man filled his chest and he looked at the teacher, who was quickly closing the gap between himself and Kendall. The way he yelled "young man" gave Kendall the creeps. His favorite way to yell at Kendall when he got in trouble always included a scolding telling Kendall how he had to be the worst troublemaker the school had ever housed, and that he needed a good whuppin' to get back on track! Kendall had almost laughed at the irony of that. Almost! At a particularly bad day, those words had triggered Kendall to cut himself for the first time when he got home, only to receive the worst beating in his life afterwards, when his dad went blind with rage after finding one of his favorite pictures of Jennifer covered in blood!

The boy on he ground got up, sniveling, and pressed a hand to the back of his head. Kendall's train of thought was broken by the movement in front of him. Simon and Joey looked from Craig to Kendall and back to Craig. The teacher was fuming with anger.

"But they've been bullying Katie! Pushing her and throwing her stuff around. Making fun of her because our mom's dead!" Kendall explained while Mr. Craig walked the last few steps before reaching Kendall.

The teacher squinted and looked at the young boys.

"Simon, Joey, is this true?"

They both eyed the ground, but turned somewhat red in their faces. Mr. Craig cleared his throat.

"We'll deal with that later!" he said firmly, pointing at the boys.

Craig shifted his gaze to look at the boy who had just gotten up from the ground. The boy removed his hand from his head and looked at it. It was covered in blood!

"What in... you severely hurt him!" Mr. Craig bellowed.

"No... that's not... I didn't mean to!" Kendall tried to explain.

Mr. Craig huffed and grabbed Kendall hard by the arm. The other boys threw Kendall gloating looks, and he felt his cheeks blush.

"We had our share of problems with you when you were a student here, Mr. Knight!" Mr. Craig yelled, "You'll follow me and then we'll call Brian!" he continued.

Kendall tried pulling away, but the older man tightened his grip and dragged Kendall towards the principal's office. The bleeding boy followed them the first piece of the way and then turned left to get to the nurse.

Kendall tried yanking himself free again.

"I have to ge to class" he said desperately, "I'm gonna be late!"

"Well you should have thought about that, before causing trouble here!" Craig exclaimed, twisting Kendall's arm evilly.

x-x

The secretary looked quite surprised to see Kendall in the office. They had seen a good deal of each other throughout Kendall's years at the school, and in the end they almost developed a friendship of sorts.

"Hi Miss Pillsbury" Kendall greeted, as Craig pushed him down on a chair and asked the secretary to find Brian's phone number.

"Kendall?" she greeted back, arching an eyebrow.

He shook his head and tugged at his sleeves, feeling his insides churn. This was so bad! He would give anything to have Logan, James or Carlos by his side right now. Anything for a small raft of comfort in this ocean of jittering nerves!

x-x

The door was almost blown off its hinges as Brian entered the office. Miss Pillsbury jumped in her seat and Kendall sighed deeply, feeling his heart race when his dad looked at him with an evil glare. Mr. Craig quickly explained what had happened, and Brian developed red spots on his neck, as always when he got agitated.

"How did you get the idea that it's okay to hurt the younger kids?!" he hissed, and grabbed Kendall by the collar of his shirt.

"Yeah, I wonder how!" Kendall retorted sarcastically as he was yanked to his feet.

Brian's grip on Kendall's shirt made one of the sleeves ride up, and Kendall spotted Miss Pillsbury eying his arm. He wasn't sure if she could se the scars, but he felt his face heat up nonetheless. No one could see!

Brian looked at his son with madness in his eyes and he pulled him harshly from the office. When he and Kendall got off school grounds, Brian exploded in an outburst of rage, and spit flew from his mouth.

Kendall tuned out his crap, but groaned as he slapped him hard on the head. Brian stepped up close and grabbed Kendall by the shirt again. He pulled him slightly upwards, nearly making their noses touch.

"You're picking Katie up after school and then coming straight home! And we'll have a little chat tonight! Got it!" he slithered, and released his grip on Kendall.

Kendall exhaled, before swallowing the lump in his throat. He flinched as his dad raised his arm to hit him again.

"Yes, I understand!" Kendall quickly mumbled and took a step away from his father.

When Brian went towards the car Kendall jumped his bike after putting on the headphones. He turned up his music and drifted into a world where lyrics somehow always seemed to fit his situation, and the music always fit his mood. God I hate him, Kendall thought, if it hadn't been for Katie I would have left years ago... Or have killed myself!

Kendall placed his bike in the bike rack and sighed. Black thoughts of the ill-fated night so long ago pulsated through him in waves, and he felt tears rise in his eyes...

...The sound of screeching brakes, flashing lights, the noise from the radio and then darkness and a ringing in his ears! When he woke up Brian had been sitting in a chair with Katie on his lap and big black circles under his eyes. One of Kendall's eyes was closed shut from swelling and the other sore from a split eyebrow. His arm was broken and he had a deep flesh wound on his leg where a piece of glass had penetrated the skin.

As Kendall recovered, his dad got worse! He went from one six pack of beer a day, to two, to rum and vodka and then all of it together. He would mostly lie on the couch, a picture of Jennifer in one hand and a beer in the other. Slowly, the way he looked at Kendall changed, and in the end he shot daggers at his son every time he saw him.

The first time he had hit him, Kendall got so scared that he cried. He had accidentally stepped on a picture of his mother, and in Brian's world this equaled both treachery and blasphemy. Besides, it was practically Kendall's fault that his wife had been killed, so it was only fair that he slapped him around a bit! At least that was how he explained himself afterwards.

However he couldn't explain himself the next day, when he had slapped Katie for knocking over a cold, new beer. Katie had started crying hard and looked frightened at her father. Kendall had placed himself between them, yelling at Brian how the hell he could defend hitting a 7-year-old! Brian had turned beet red and looked at Katie with a confused and apologetic look in his eyes, but she just cried and kept her gaze averted.

That night Brian had entered Kendall's room with his belt hanging from one hand and a manic expression on his face. Kendall had twisted, yelled, screamed and cried until he capitulated and just took what his dad dealt him. When he left Kendall decided not to waste a single more tear because of Brian. He wouldn't win by making him cry! If he and Katie had to be okay Kendall had to be strong enough for the both of them...

Kendall sighed deeply and plopped down on the bench in front of the classroom and pulled up his legs. The class would be done in ten minutes, so it would probably be better to just wait there and avoid unwanted attention.

Kendall turned up the music volume and slipped into the enveloping music world again.

Flip through endless stories.
A life of hand-written pain.
No one can share this hurt that is mine, mine, mine.

I never died before.
Can't be what happened yesterday.
I shouldn't stone the crow, no.
Ride on!

Same old city, same old pain.
No matter how I try,
No matter what I say,
I'm blamed, I'm shamed,
I'm judged unfairly.

x-x

The rest of the day passed, and Kendall's thoughts kept circling about his mom, about Brian and about the kid he pushed so hard he cracked his head open. Was he even better than Brian when it came down to it?

x-x

"Kendall will you PLEASE answer my question?"

He looked up at Mrs. Janson without a clue what he had been asked, and Logan sent him a worried glance.

"What?" Kendall spat.

Mrs. Janson sighed and threw the teenager in front of her an angry look.

"Answer the question Mr. Knight!"

"I didn't hear what you said. Freaking ask someone who wants to answer!"

Mrs. Janson was clearly shocked. She blinked a couple of times and adopted a rather attractive shade of redish purple in her broad face. James, Logan and Carlos all glared at Kendall, clearly alarmed by his behavior, and Wayne looked from Mrs. Janson to Kendall in expectation of further drama.

Mrs. Janson pointed a fat finger at Kendall.

"You do NOT address me that way" she squealed, "do you understand me?!"

Kendall threw his things into his backpack and pushed back the chair. After putting on his headphones and turning on the music he looked at the stunned teacher.

"Fuck! You!" he proclaimed in a hoarse voice, before he left his classmates in buzzing excitement and Mrs. Janson on the verge of a breakdown!

Kendall strode down the hallway, his heart pounding in his chest.

"KENDALL!" Mrs. Janson was screaming hysterically, "KENDALL, YOU GET BACK HERE!"

Instead he walked slowly down the hall, ignoring the yelling.

x-x

Kendall sat down on the bike rack and breathed in a couple of times. Maybe he wasn't exactly the best behaved student, but he had never talked to a teacher that way before! If he didn't want to get kicked out, there was probably going to be an unpleasant meeting at Bennett's office where hysterical yelling and punching the table would be the main event!

The blonde took a sip of water and unlocked his bike. There was no point in staying, so Kendall decided to go to Katie's school and wait for her.

x-x

Katie immediately spotted her brother and hurried to him after waving goodbye to he friends. She sent him an exploring look.

"What happened when I went to class?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, I just had a meeting with my good ol' pal Mr. Craig!" Kendall answered sarcastically

Katie didn't say another word, but just looked down. She kicked the gravel and then looked up at her brother.

"What happened to Peter? That kid you pushed!"

Kendall swallowed his spit.

"He had to go to the nurse... I... h-he cracked his head open..."

Kendall hesitated a bit before he continued.

"But Katie, he wasn't meant to get hurt like that. Don't start beating the crap out of all the other kids just because you saw me do that this morning, okay!"

She shook her head with a small giggle.

"Well of course I won't stupid!" she said, before hugging unto her brother, "and thanks!"

A warm, fuzzy feeling spread through Kendall and his worrisome thoughts were pushed aside for a while.

He looked at Katie and pointed to his bike.

"Are you getting on?"

"But dad said..."

"Aarh, he won't know" Kendall said with a small smile, "we'll stop before we get home so you can get off!"

Katie smiled and shortly after they were on their way home.

x-x

The driver didn't see them until it was too late. All she could do was slam the brakes down, but it wasn't enough to avoid the collision. Katie was thrown over the bike, hit the hood and the windshield of the car and then landed on the road with an eerie thud!

Kendall was pushed to the side and slid several feet across the road with his arm and jaw line in the gravel. He felt the skin break from the friction and a burning, stinging sensation spread on his face and arm.

Kendall registered a stream of blood coming from Katie's head and the anxious screams of the driver, before his field of vision narrowed down and a ringing tone spread in his head!

He opened his eyes when three ambulances reached them, the siren having pulled him out of the blackness.

Doctors were sitting next to Katie on the ground, readying a spinal board, the police was talking to the driver and another doctor was standing over Kendall, his lips moving. It took a while before Kendall could make out the words.

"Where does it hurt the most?"

Kendall lifted his arm. The doctor nodded and continued checking Kendall's injuries. He was lifted to the ambulance and along with Katie was taken to the hospital.

Kendall had been extremely lucky, the doctor told him in the car. Only superficial wounds and bruises. When they reached the hospital, Katie was driven to the operating room and Kendall was placed on a bed. His head was throbbing and an old nurse entered the room. She grabbed Kendall's shirt and started rolling up the sleeve. He grabbed her hand, wanting her to stop, but the nurse sent him a strict look and continued her work.

"You shouldn't do this to yourself!" the nurse scolded when she spotted the scars, and Kendall flinched at her words.

Oh really, he thought, well thanks for enlightening me!

"God didn't give you this life, so you could hurt yourself and end it early!" the idiotic nurse continued.

Kendall swallowed his spit and wondered how anybody could work in a hospital and show so little compassion!

"I don't believe in God!" he said dryly.

The nurse pinched her lips and looked at Kendall as if he was the meanest person on the planet. Then she grabbed a syringe from a table and jammed the needle into Kendall's arm with unnecessary force. Kendall winced, and in a few minutes started feeling drowsy.

x-x

He woke with the worst headache in the history of headaches! A big bandage covered his right forearm, another his jaw. The room smelled characteristically like hospital, and Kendall suddenly remembered what had happened. His stomach twisted in fear as he thought of Katie!

A glass of water had been placed on the table next to the bed and Kendall washed it down in two great gulps. He looked around the room and spotted his clothes on the chair. Kendall climbed out of bed and quickly dressed. He needed to know how Katie was doing!

Kendall limped out of the room and went to the secretary sitting behind the desk, and asked about Katie. Sympathetic, kind blue eyes watched him carefully as the secretary told him that Katie had been placed in an artificial coma and was currently in room 408. She had fractured her skull and broken her back!

Kendall felt tears spill down his cheeks and a hollow cry escaped him. Not Katie, he thought, I can't lose Katie! The kind secretary permitted him a five minute visit, and Kendall went to room 408 with his heart pounding in his chest.

New tears threatened to fall when Kendall saw his sister. Katie was hooked up to several machines and tubes were everywhere! Kendall touched her cheek and felt empty inside. If she didn't wake up, Kendall would never forgive himself!

x-x

When Kendall went down the hall he spotted Brian coming toward him, and he immediately turned around and ran the other way. Luckily he wasn't followed and Kendall managed to sneak out of the hospital unseen.

He ignored all the staring looks people threw him and hurried home.

x-x

Kendall grabbed his hockey bag and quickly stuffed it with a pile of clothes along with a few pairs of Vans, his toothbrush, deodorant and Katie's little brown teddy bear. Then he zipped the bag and grabbed his skateboard that was leaning on his bed.

x-x

James opened the door and glared at his friend, fear apparent in the hazel eyes. Without a word he moved aside to let Kendall enter, and the boys hurried to James' room.

"What the hell happened Kendall?" James asked softly, as they entered his room.

Kendall started shaking and James led him to the bed. He took a few deep breaths, and then told James what had happened.

"Fucking hell, Kendall" James groaned, "what are we gonna do?"

Kendall shook his head and cried down James' shirt. He could withstand being screamed at, getting beaten, being thrown out of school. But he couldn't withstand losing Katie!

"Maybe you should explain to your dad that it wasn't your fault..."

Kendall pulled back and wiped his nose.

"But it WAS my fault! And he'll kill me if I go home!"

"Kendall it was NOT your fault! And I didn't mean to be a jerk, I just thought... I don't know! Fuck!"

James ran a hand through his hair and licked his lips before retrieving the wooden box. The rest of the night disappeared in heavy metal and weed!