James and Victoria has walked into the hall, coming in the direction of the elementary school. Their hands were all red and they had satisfied looks on their faces.

Sam's phone started to vibrate and she felt a pang of pain in her gut. She gasped in horror.

"Freddie's in trouble," she thought.

When the two kids walked away, Sam grabbed Nathan's hand and shook the shock away.

"What?!" he asked.

"Get on my back, I..... I think Fredwardo's in trouble."

Nathan hesitantly climbed on her back and wrapped his arms around her neck. In a split second they were over the bridge and in front of a janitors closet.

"Why are we here?" Nathan asked.

"I.... I think Freddie is in there," Sam whispered.

She slowly opened the door and stepped back in shock, her hand flying to her mouth. Nathan whimpered and hid his face.

"Freddie!" Sam cried and ran over to kneel beside him.

The boy was covered in blood, he had long gashes and cuts on his cheeks and his clothes were in tatters. His bleeding appalled Sam, but awakened something in her as she stared at the oozing blood. The blood dripped onto the white, tile floor, collecting in a puddle around him.

"Freddie! FREDWARD! WAKE UP!" Sam cried forcefully. Betraying tears cascaded down her cheeks and fell onto his face.

"S...Sam?" he whispered and painfully opened his eyes.

"Fred...o, are you okay? W....what happened?"

"The two....... freaks, they...... they attacked me, th....they said I smelled like Nathan.

Sam absentmindedly grabbed his hand as she heard shuffling feet behind her. When she saw it was Nathan, she looked down at the floor.

"It's all my fault." Nathan said. "I shouldn't have asked for help!"

"Hey.... kid, d...don't think of these......scars as a....... punishment. They're..... my...... battle scars." Freddie said and gave Nathan a small, but weak, smile.

Sam, who hadn't looked up from his scars, finally spoke.

"I... I shouldn't have let you stay, I should have stayed. I could have beaten them up, but you.... I'm sorry Freddie."

For a moment, Freddie saw her eyes flashed red, then they returned to their usual color.

She finally looked up as he squeezed her hand.

"Just look on the bright side." Freddie said with a rough chuckle. "This time..... it wasn't you who caused me pain.

And with that he passed out.

Freddie's last line was what inspired this story. I dreamt him in that state, right before I woke up. That image was permanently stamped into my head.