Being stuck inside the house was torture for him, he always wanted to go out side in the middle of the rain to see what wildlife would emerge. Grandma never shared his passion and would always acted like the rain was going to melt him, or at the very worst leave him with a cold. He sighed looking out of the window , all of his planes had been ruined because of the rain. He had planned to walk over to Mr. Hoods' shop and pick up the motor after school, but that wasn't going to happen today. If that didn't work out then he would go out and explore some more in the woods, but he could never really get anywhere very fast. As soon as he had his bike all ready to go...but that thought just was a repeat of earlier disappointment. All he did all day was watch nature shows and the science channel, not as much fun as being in nature and doing the science things for yourself.
He looked over at the clock, seeing it was finally 8 o'clock.
"I'm going to bed," he said to his grandma walking past her as she watched a old romance movie on t.v., "I'm tired." She looked up at him and said:
"If you really want to Wyborn," she said looking over her shoulder at him. As he ascended the stairs, she called out to him:
"Wyborn," he paused and looked down at her, "things will be better tomorrow, you'll see." He faintly smiled and nodded to her and said good night one last time and continued up the stairs. He entered his room and walked over to his closet to pick out his night clothes when he noticed something moving near the window. He turned and saw two glowing orbs blink at him; he smiled and walked over to the window. He opened the window and a ratty black cat jumped down from it and started to walk into the room.
"Hey you," said Wybie, following the cat after closing the window, "haven't seen you in a while." He paused and watched the cat jump onto his neatly folded bed and place something on the bed. He walked over to the bed and saw that the cat had placed a dead bird (a robin to be precise) on the pillow. Normally most people would be disgusted by this, but Wybie smiled and sat on the bed and started to stroke the cat as he picked up the bird carefully. (gloves on of course)
"Thanks," he said looking at the dead bird, "you did a good job with this one, the feathers are nice and intact not a bit of blood." The cat purred, as if accepting the complement. Wybie got up and while still carrying the bird, went to his closet and pulled out a old shoe box and placed the dead animal inside; he would burry the animal later after the cat left. He then returned to the task of getting ready for bed and after changing into his pajamas, he turned around and saw the cat still sitting on his bed, cleaning his chest. Wybie turned off the light and crawled into bed then the cat walked onto his chest and rubbed his face. He reached up and petted the cat again, but without the gloves on he realized how wet the cat was.
"I see," he said with a crooked smile, "you need a warm place to spend the night out of the rain and dry off. That's fine," he said; the smile fading and his stroking slowed, "I could use the company. Company that doesn't judge me." The cat turned his head and looked at the boy, and seeing that Wybie wasn't looking at him, reached out with a paw and patted his ear as if trying to get his attention back. He looked at the cat, who looked at him as if he was actually interested in hearing him out, which was rare for the cat. He sighed and adjusted himself in a more comfortable position. The cat then walked onto his stomach and lied down and sat facing him and stared at him.
"You know all about me and Jonas Dillan," he said stroking the cat, "and how he's always on my case. Well, it's starting to get out of control and he wants to fight me, but I don't want to fight him....because," he said looking away, "I know I'll lose. I mean lets face it, I may be fit, but I'm not strong like he is and even if I did fight him and started to win...he," he said tears welling up in his eyes and his voice cracked, "he has friends to back him up." The cat looked at him and got up only enough to reach over with his head and rub Wybies face with it. Wybie chuckled as he wiped the tears away and scratched behind the cats' ear.
"Now don't get me wrong," he said smiling at the cat, "you're my friend, but it would be nice to have a friend who could talk back." The cat seemed to glare at him; he smiled again and said:
"Ok, ok...I take it back, it would be nice to have a human friend." He continued to stroke the cat and after a while, his stroking slowed down as he started to fall asleep. However, as the cat silently watched him, he saw his face sometimes flicker with pain, thinking about the Dillan boy and how truly lonely he was. The cat purred softly and as if on queue, he stopped stroking the cat and fell asleep, peacefully. The cat stayed on the warm boy and he himself continued to purr softly and soon enough fell asleep as well.
The following two days were bothersome and disappointing ones for Wybie: the rain never let up so he could never get his motor from Mr. Hood and Jonas was more than ever on his case, determined to pick a fight. Every day was more and more frustrating than the last, and his usual calm way of thinking was going out the window, and was replaced with calm anger. Wybie didn't like feeling this way, but nothing he did seemed to lift his mood. He was sure that he could probably calm himself down if only he could go exploring in the woods or work on his bike, but the rain made sure that all he could do was stew on his frustration. His normal means of venting were plugged and old ones began to reemerge.
Whenever he felt extreme anger, frustration, fear, boredom and yes, loneliness: he felt hungry and ate. When he was younger he realized (from reading books) that this was called 'emotional eating' and it was not that good for you, so when ever he felt it come on, he would take his mind off of it by tinkering with things or running around the woods. This worked for a number of years and he all but forgot about it, but now that he was more or less forced to abandon his passions and the added pressure of Jonas, made the hunger return. Trying to not fall back into old habits, he didn't eat and because he didn't eat, he felt all the more frustrated and all it was a downward spiral of frustration that he couldn't seem to bring himself out of.
Finally, on Thursday, the rain stopped in the morning and gave him the hope that finally, he could go to Mr. Hoods' shop and finally get that motor and things could go back to normal. However, he had to survive school, and the way things had been going this would prove to be a challenge.
In the locker rooms, the boys were once again changing into their gym outfits, talking and laughing. Wybie entered the room and as soon as he did so, Jonas walked up beside him and once again, started tearing at him with his words.
"So Wyborn," he said mockingly with a smirk, "how are you today?" Wybie stayed quiet, trying his best to ignore him, but every time Jonas talked, his stomach tightened up to remind him of his anger.
"Not talking today still," said Jonas, "you've been awfully quiet since yesterday, but then again, it has been nice not to-to h-hear your v-voice." he said mocking his stutter. Wybie didn't even flinch, but his stomach clenched all the tighter. He started to open his locker and blocked out all conversations in his head, so well that even Jonas's words muted down and sounded like he was under water. He sighed with small satisfaction and opened his locker and pulled out his cloths when he felt warm breath next to his left ear and heard Jonas whisper in his ear:
"Then again, I wasn't abandoned by my parents." Wybie stiffened up at this, his breath caught in the middle of his throat and went slightly pale. Jonas saw this and knew he had struck a nerve with him. Wybie turned to face his tormenter and glared at him, fists and stomach clenched tightly, but his grandmothers words remained in his head; it took all that he had not to act out of anger and it took even more to turn around and ignore the painful words. Nothing was said for a moment between the two boys, then finally:
"Wybie." said Jonas, like he had something important to say. He slowly turned around to look at him and as soon as he did, he felt something hit his left cheek with enough force to make him stumble to the right. It didn't hurt, rather, his mind went blank and he leapt onto Jonas and a fight broke out. The boys in the locker room immediately stopped talking and watched in excitement at the fight, forming a circle around the two boys. Wybie had seen on the television some shows that talked about people having an out of body experience, and he thought that it was just over imaginative minds, but here he was, experiencing it for himself. He didn't feel like he was controlling himself at all, just more or less in for the ride. His mind was a haze of anger and sadness and was not all that aware of what was going on. He didn't know how long the fight was or if he was getting any blows in or receiving any in turn, but his mind snapped back to reality when he felt a large hand grab his shoulder and pull him back.
"That's enough, Wybie." said the coach, looking down at him very sternly. Only then did Wybie felt how tired he was, his breath was shallow and shaky, as well as his arms. He looked over at Jonas who was in the grip of the coaches other hand and saw that he was bleeding from his nose and a cut on his forehead. He suddenly felt an odd mix of pride and guilt, but this feeling was interrupted by the sudden coaches pulling on his shirt as he, the coach and Jonas walked to the principals' office.
Wybie sat on the chair sadly, rubbing his sore cheek; it was the only blow he received in the fight. He looked up at Jonas and saw his right eye was beginning to swell and darken up as well as his face. He held up a tissue to his nose to prevent the blood from dripping, a band-aid covered his cut on his forehead. Despite being the looser, Jonas glared with more hate then ever at Wybie and looked like he was ready for round two. Wybie looked down at his feet and pressed his hands to his stomach, feeling nauseous with worry on what would exactly happen. He heard the door open and looked up and saw his grandmother shuffle in wearing her shawl and her favorite green dress, looking very serious. She looked down at him and showed no emotion or expression as she did, and sat right next to him and folded her hands in her lap. He looked up at her and then sadly looked back down at his feet when he heard the door open again and saw Mr. and Mrs. Dillan enter the room.
They were a nice looking couple, ones that looked very respectable and kind. They didn't look like ones who were raising a little hell spawn. They looked at Jonas and his mother placed her hands lovingly on his shoulders and was quietly asking if he was alright. Jonas started to talk to them in a winy voice that he never used, trying to gain sympathy from his parents. The parents of Jonas at the same time turned and looked at Wybie, making him gasp slightly and press harder on his stomach. He looked away from their gaze, thinking that they hated him for hurting their son. Then the principals' office door swung open and out came the coach and several students who were in the locker room.
"Please," said the principal to everyone in the office, "come in and have a seat." Everyone followed him into his office and sat in the comfortable chairs in his office. Mr. and Mrs. Dillan sat with Jonas in-between them on one side of the room while Wybie and his grandmother sat on the other side, all facing the principals' desk. The principal was a tall, large dark skinned man, older than Jonas's parents, but younger than his grandmother. He looked threatening to Wybie at the moment, but perhaps that's because he was in trouble at the moment.
"I'm sure that you know why you're all here in my office today," he said in a deep voice that seemed to rumble. Jonas' parents and his grandmother nodded in agreement, "well, from what the coach and several students saw from this was that Jonas here," he said looking at the boy, "was the one who made the first hit."
"Oh," said Mr. Dillan looking down at him with a little bit of anger, "he was?"
"Yes, and from what the other students told me, he had been the one who was also provoking Wyborn to fight him as well." Jonas slumped into his chair as both his parents looked down at him.
"That being said," the principal said, "fighting is highly frowned at here at Ashland Elementary, and immediate action must take place. Wyborn," he said fixing his gaze on him, making him very nervous, "for being in a fight, you're suspended for one day of school, including the rest of today." He sadly nodded in agreement, seeing it seemed like a fair 'punishment'.
"Jonas," he said still in the stern tone, "for provoking the fight and throwing the first punch, you are suspend for a week, including today." Jonas's eyes grew large at hearing this and his mother said respectfully:
"But Mr. Jones, if he misses next week, he'll...he'll not get his make up work and be held back."
"He should have thought of that before picking a fight." said Mr. Jones flatly.
"Yes," agreed Mr. Dillan, looking down at his son with disappointment, "he should have." Jonas looked up at his dad and mom and saw how angry they were at him, then looked over at Wybie with the same anger, but his father grabbed his collar and pulled hard at it.
After the meeting was over, Mr. and Mrs. Dillan and his grandmother were talking to each other very quietly and respectfully and after speaking their peace, they gathered their children and walked out of the school. Wybies' grandmother didn't say one word to him while they were in the school, and he didn't say one word to her, but as they walked out of the school while he looked melancholy she said to him:
"So Wyborn," she said to him not looking down at him, "did he hit you hard?" He thought about the question, not really knowing the real answer.
"I guess." he mumbled.
"Did you hit him harder?" He quickly glanced up at her and while running his sore hands together thinking about it, he finally said:
"Y-Yeah, I think I did."
"...Good." was all she said and that was the end of the discussion.
Thanks to all who have read my story so far! And to all the reviews I've gotten so far, I appreciate all of them!