Darkness.

There was no other word to describe the ugly black that filled Cody's bedroom as he tried to nod off. Cody hated the dark. Nothing good ever came out of it. People were murdered, women were raped, and children were kidnapped all in the shadow of darkness. Every time that sun fell below the horizon the creeps would come out to play. While some people slept cozily in their beds, others watched their friends die under the flickering street lights. Nothing good ever came out of the darkness.

Murderers, rapists, child molesters, and just plain physcos lurked in the shadows of broken buildings watching. Waiting for the opportune moment in which to strike. To take down the innocent as they meandered down that supposedly empty alley, looking for a short cut home. They were always watching. Always waiting.

Cody shut his eyes, closing out the cold dark of his room and welcoming the natural dark of the inside of his eyelids. He didn't want to reflect on how his very own flesh and blood vanished on a night very much like this one.

The storm clouds were rolling in, concealing the silver crescent moon behind their ominous thunder gray clouds. Lightning flashed briefly in the distance promising a hefty storm. Thunder grumbled, disturbing the peace that had settled over the beautiful manor. The spring crickets were silenced allowing the oncoming storm to voice its arrival.

Lightning crackled, illuminating his room for the briefest of moments, and searing the insides of Cody's eyelids. Slowly, painstakingly, he opened them and stared blearily at his alarm clock, refusing to see the monsters his overly active imagination drew up for him. The angry red numbers on the clock face cut through the darkness like glowing eyes. A shiver went through him at the frightening comparison.

Even without his glasses he could make out the distinguishing numbers of his alarm clock face. The blurry red numbers read 1:03 A.M.

Cody groaned and rolled over. He had school the next day and was dreading it. Yes, it was true, he, Cody Martin was actually dreading the next day at school. He no longer saw school as fun as he used to in Junior High. Now it was a non-stop grueling experience that seemed determined to prove that he was a failure.

Welcome to High School.

Freshmen year had been decent for a fresh start at his new school, Kingsley High. He had managed to make it through with all body parts intact at the very least. His grades had been fairly good, save for his gym grade which didn't really matter all that much to him. Sure he understood the benefits of proper fitness but it wasn't like he planed on becoming one of those buff brainless dudes you see on T.V. all the time who consider steroids vitamins.

He was healthy enough without gym, mainly because he had to walk half a mile to school (his mother having relented and giving him some slack in the reins), lugging a back pack full of textbooks and binders. That was all the physical exertion he needed.

Besides getting a ball lobed at his head wasn't exactly something Cody found that would be useful in the real world. It didn't teach anything except to know when to duck when something big and red and had painful written all over it came flying at his face, ready to do a number on his nose. That Cody found, was all about timing.

And then his sophomore year began. For him things took off in an almost explosive way. His locker jammed several times and he would repeatedly find himself stranded hopelessly in the hallway after the bell had rung, kicking the cursed metal door and spitting out fluent curses until a sympathetic teacher wandered by.

He also found out in a painful way, that glasses like his were no longer cool. He lost track of all the times his face was slammed into the water fountain as he bent over to get a drink. After the last few encounters where he ended up accidentally snorting water up his nose, he eventually learned that it was better to go throughout the day dehydrated than with a nose bleed.

Of course, getting his face slammed into the water fountain was one of the football jocks milder ways of dealing with the uncool. They had much more painful techniques and unfortunately for Cody he found himself to be one of their many guinea pigs they would use to test out the infamous wedgies and swirlies. It was all highly humiliating and it certainly crushed his self esteem.

The times he had gone home with bloody noses, broken glasses, black eyes, scrapes, and bruises were countless. It was almost like a routine. Carey was always prepared with the first aid kit when he got home so that she could tend to his injuries in that motherly way of hers.

Carey was all for calling the school to report the bullies who seemed to think her son was a punching bag, only around for their enjoyment, but Cody swiftly intervened, not wanting to bring about more trouble for himself. The good lord knows he didn't need it.

As a result of the punishment he took in between classes and after school, Cody's grades took a serious nosedive. He found it extremely hard to concentrate on his school work while at the same time fearing for his life. Too many death threats being passed around from all the people he had bested in class with his dictionary answers. People snickered behind his back. Not a single soul in that whole entire school was there one person he could call a friend. Sure there were some he could call allies in this mess but definitely not a friend. He still kept in touch with Bob, Warren, Max, and Tapeworm, friends from Buckner Junior High, his old school, and they hung out sometimes on weekends but it wasn't the same. He was a social outcast and nobody wanted to hang out with the likes of him at Kingsley High.

Of course if Zack was still around it wouldn't be this way. Zack would have forced the jocks to leave him alone and he would have made sure he had friends who liked him for who he was. But Zack was not here and Cody was friendless.

It didn't really bother him too much that he had no friends, after all who needed someone who never left him in peace? At least that's what he would constantly tell himself when he was wallowing in self pity. Who needed friends? He certainly didn't. He kind of liked the independence being friendless allotted him.

But then again Cody always was a terrible liar.

To be continued…

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