Chapter Six
When Violet put her mind to it she could be quite evil. And as anyone can tell you, people who have a decent mind, and use it for all of the wrong things are the worst sort of bullies there are. Gregory had been quite mistaken when he had thought that being stuck somewhere with her would be better then being stuck somewhere with her brother. This mistake was made simply because in the past, he had never came upon a bully who was intelligent. For this (Up to this point anyhow.) he was or had been quite lucky.
Edward had started off back to the school when he felt his collar pulled from behind. He stopped and looked at his sister curiously, not to mention with a hint of aggravation.
"Come on, we need to hurry up! School has to be close to ending right about now!" He shook his collar from her clutch.
"That doesn't matter."
"What do you mean it doesn't matter? If we're going to do something to the little dork we have to hurry up." Edward said impatiently.
"It doesn't matter…" Violet started, interrupting her brother before he could say anything else. "Because we aren't going to the school." Edward raised his brow.
"We aren't?" He asked, looking a bit confused, and to Violet, even more stupid then usual.
"No."
"Well…" Edward continued. "Where are we going?"
"To the old McGovern place." She said, motioning in the direction away from the school. Edward wrinkled his forehead.
"Gregory's house? Wouldn't catching him at the school be a lot easier?" Edward said, while looking in the direction of the school.
"We're not trying to catch him." Violet grabbed Edwards collar a second time and began pulling him in the direction of the house.
"What are we doing then?" He asked her, allowing himself, for the time being anyway to be led along.
"You'll see." Violet answered with a grin.
Gregory walked home slowly, moving in a manner that made him look quite disheartened. His first day of school hadn't been as bad as it could have been, but was still not quite what he would have considered as a good day. After Marion had quickly shown him to his homeroom he had disappeared. After a while, he was sure the boy had been trying to avoid him. He wasn't sure why and when he came right out and asked, Marion told him it was nothing personal, he just didn't want to get into further trouble with Edward and Violet. After getting them kicked out, he was sure they'd probably be after Gregory in time…he didn't want to be around when they did. This did not comfort Gregory very much at all.
The day didn't get much better after that. A lot of the people looked at him funny. He already had felt like an outsider in this bizarre town…but today at school was the first time he actually felt unwelcome. He was beginning to see what Justin and his family went through. It was obvious that these people, whether under the lead of Hector Skellington, or under the lead of Jeffery King stuck together…and did not much like it when other people who didn't belong there thrust themselves upon their beloved town. Most of the younger adults seamed nice enough though, and some of the kids…but Gregory ran into quite a few of the older boys and girls and some of the elderly teachers only to find that most of their opinions towards outsiders were quite strong. He didn't see this in their speech…but felt it in their demeanor none the less. It made him uncomfortable.
Gregory shifted the weight of his book bag from one shoulder to the other and looked down the street. His house rose up over the road as he made his way up a small hill. His aunt was in the front yard, she seamed to be looking for something. Gregory rose his brow as he came upon her.
"What are you doing Ann- uh Aunt Anne?" He asked curiously. She didn't pay him a lot of mind, but rather almost tore a bush out of its roots in an attempt to look under it.
"Aunt?" Gregory asked again.
"Oh, that darn cat has gotten away from me. The back door must have blown open while I was taking a nap and she got out. Now I'm trying to look for her." Gregory put his bag down on the cold ground.
"Did you look everywhere in the house?" he asked, trying to sound concerned about the missing Siamese cat…but only just barely pulling it off.
"Of course I did, she's not there." His aunt suddenly looked up at him.
"Although I didn't bother to check in your room. You could do that for me real quick." Gregory nodded while picking his bag off of the yard and heading inside.
He went up the stairs slowly under the weight of his new school books. Since he was new he did not yet have a locker, and there fore had to lug them around everywhere. It was making his back quite sore.
When he got upstairs he looked to the right, down the hallway where his bedroom was and paused at the top of the stairway. His door was open. He frowned.
"Oh you stupid cat!" He said. He headed to the door and pulled it open quickly, hoping to scare the Siamese cat out of her mind.
"You know not suppose to be in here you furry sack of-" Gregory's bag dropped to the floor. His eyes were widened in shock as he stared in at what had been his room. It now resembled to Gregory as something of a site that had just been rather furiously torn apart by a hurricane or tornado…whichever caused the most damage. He didn't think a skinny Siamese cat could do this…the fact that she was practically the spawn of Hades set aside. His look of surprise turned to that of rage.
He shambled into the room, kicking his bag aside in the process. This gave him a nasty ache in his foot, but he barely noticed. When he got to the center of the room he began to look every which way for a sign. A sign of who had been there, what they might have ruined or taken…and where they were now. His eyes darted about furiously, marking things that he could see were still there…horribly out of place…but still not absent. His eyes fell upon a shelf behind his bed, then darted to the corner near his bedroom door. They widened. He turned his eyes slowly back to the shelf…a feeling of panic welling up inside him…and the dull ache of angry tears forming in his throat. He walked slowly to his bed, stepping onto it and walking across it to the wooden shelf. When he got there, he slipped his hand across the top, feeling for something. His hand came back empty. He lowered himself onto the bed, his breathing had become harsh in his ears.
The box, which held all of his most prized memories and most valued things…the one his father had given him…was gone.
Suddenly a stone came crashing though his window. He let out a yell and almost fell of his bed as it did. It came to land by his foot, for a few minutes he did nothing…just staring at it stupidly. Then a voice came from outside, making his blood turn warm beneath his skin.
"Oh Gregory!" He rose to his feet and crossed over to the window…there was a look of fury written across his face…and for once he did not care whether or not the person he directed it to enjoyed it or not. He was mad.
Down beneath his window, Edward and Violet stood looking up at him with devilish grins painted on their faces. Edward was carrying Apathy in his harsh clutches…but Gregory barely noticed this. What he did notice was the small wooden box in Violets hands. He was vaguely aware of his own fingernails digging into his palms…as his chubby hands were clenched into fists.
"Give…me back…my box." He said through gritted teeth. His words sounded very dangerous…and his voice had taken on a quality he had never heard before. If his aunt had been there…she would have said that he sounded quite a bit more like Heathers son now, no sir, no girlishness in that voice.
Violet's grin seamed to falter for a moment…just a moment mind you.
"What? This old thing?" Violet asked, holding it up for him to see. He grin widened.
"Give it back or else." He said, this time more quietly. Edward called up.
"Going to have to speak up Greg, what was that you said?" he asked cuffing a hand over his ear in a cliché gesture.
"I SAID GIVE IT BACK OR ELSE!" Gregory yelled down. Violet and Edward looked at each other then burst into laughter. Gregory was aware that his face was probably turning bright red. Edwards laughter was abruptly cut off when Apathy bit him hard in the arm.
"Ow darn it!" Edward said while throwing the cat from his arm. As soon as she hit the ground she darted off around the house.
"Oh you stupid-" Edward lunged for her as she did. Violet ignored all of this. She was still holding the box up so Gregory could see.
"Relax Greg…we weren't going to do anything with it…but it is AWFULLY dusty. Perhaps we could clean it up a bit." Her grin turned very cold and evil. Gregory's look of rage vanished to that of panic, which only seamed to encourage her.
"And what better place but Skeleton Lake." Gregory's eyes widened so much he thought they might pop right out of his skull. He stared, horrified as she waved the box in her hand.
"Don't you dare." He said softly. She smiled, and after an agonizing pause, darted off out of the view of Gregory's window. Gregory began to run.
His second trip to Skeleton lake was a sort of foggy one. He indistinctly remembered running down the stairs and almost knocking his aunt down as he darted out the front door, barely hearing her cry of surprise and questioning yells of where he thought he was going. He was also dimly conscious of seeing Apathy dart out in his path at least once. All he kept his eyes on was the retreating shadow of the horrible girl he was chasing. His teeth were barred and his face was set…and anyone who saw him at that moment would have found him quite threatening…and perhaps would have had to re think their earlier assumptions of him not being fit for their town.
When Gregory saw the Bridge coming up ahead of him, and the Pumpkin House rising from the darkness as a great shadow made from some other worldly beast he slowed down a bit. His eyes fell on Violet who was stopping half way across the bridge. His fists were clenched again. He stood at the edge of the structure and looked across at her. She was smiling. He decided right then that he hated her and he wanted her smile wiped off of her lips permanently.
"Give it back to me." He said, slowly crossing the bridge towards her. He wasn't sure where Edward was, and did not much care. All he cared about was his box.
"Make me." She said childishly, while holding it over the side. Gregory gritted his teeth so hard that they made a horrible creaking noise in his ears.
Suddenly, he charged at her, catching her entirely off guard…given the surprised look that flashed across her face as he slammed into her. His elbow made a connection with her stomach, and he heard her let out a harsh breath followed by a struggling gasp for air. His right hand scratched at the one she was holding his box in. As it did, her hand let go. Gregory watched in horror as his box tumbled over the side…it seamed to take a long time to fall, both he and Violet watched it as it did.
He looked at her angrily, seeing a look of wide eyed surprise on her face. He didn't care whether she meant to let go of the box or not. This fact didn't change that it was because of her that it was down there, sinking into the dark waves of the cold shadowy lake.
"You are going to pay for that!" He said, fighting her with even more anger then before. For a moment she didn't seam to know quite what to do. Her momentary shock worked in Gregory's favor. He got at least two good blows in, out of shear luck before she regained her composure and countered.
Violet pushed Gregory as hard as she could, sending him stumbling backwards against the edge of the bridge. Gregory flailed for a moment, an almost comical expression of horror crossing his face when he realized what was about to happen. A moment later he joined his box, as he went plunging into Skeleton Lake…for the second time that week.
Violet stood on the bridge for a moment longer. She could feel a dull ache running up her stomach and across her eye where Gregory had elbowed and hit her. She breathed deeply, and was surprised to find she was actually pretty shaken up. She had thought the box was probably important to him…given it's special placement in his room, and the quality of the box itself…but she hadn't thought he'd try to nearly kill her in an attempt to retrieve it. As she crossed back over the bridge she wondered lightly what had been in it…to make him so angry. The box itself had been locked…so she hadn't gotten to check what had lain inside for herself.
Gregory struggled for a few moments in the water before finally crawling onto the same small rocky earth he had, not so long before. He coughed and spat out a bit of water as he did.
For a moment he just sat…regaining his breath…then, when his fatigue passed he stood and kicked at the side of the hill and anger.
"Darn you! DARN IT! AGH!" He yelped out in pain when his shoe cracked and his big toe came in contact with the rocky incline instead. He cursed loudly, then, at the risk of hurting himself further…or being heard…he quieted down.
He sat on the ground, still in a terribly grouchy manner. For a few minutes he sat there, folding his hands around anything he could throw into the water to aid his fit of dying rage. When he began to run out of things he stopped, and rested his chin in his palms. Tears of anger were running down his cheeks. He wiped a them absently.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw something white. He turned in that direction, only to see a small piece of paper floating on top of the waves. He reached for it and plucked it from the murky water. In his hand he turned the piece over…curious as to see what it was.
It was a picture he had taken with his parents a couple years before. He felt a deep loneliness creep into his chest…with it came a chill brought on by a gust of wind, as the night loomed near. The photo blurred as fresh tears ran down his cheeks. He wiped them away immediately and tucked the small photo into his pocket.
Gregory stood up, his loneliness was slowly being replaced by a look of determination. Before climbing up the hill he tossed one last look in the waves, in case any of his other things were washing up. Nothing did. He began to climb.
Justin was used to getting back home at dusk on school nights. Today had been a good day. His father was actually able to pick him up. Apparently the Wayward kids hadn't gotten to his new tires yet.
Justin told his dad to go ahead and head inside. He had to gather his school stuff up. Jeff nodded and told him not to take too long before he went into the warm glow of the King House. Justin watched him go. When his father was gone Justin's smile slipped from his face.
He gathered his stuff up grumpily. He hadn't seen Gregory since he darted from their house a day or two before. If Gregory didn't cooperate with him, he would have to come up with an entirely different way to get back at Edward and Violet. He thought it a terrible shame to waste such a fantastic plan just because the little pudgy dork wasn't willing to oblige to it. He threw one of his school books into his bag with perhaps a bit too much force, he missed and it fell out of the car, tumbling onto the driveway and causing all of the papers tucked inside it to scatter across the his yard. He cursed and slid out of the car to pick them up.
He was leaned over the last one when he froze upon seeing something out of the corner of his eye. He turned towards it while letting out a terrified yell, which was already out before he could stifle it.
Justin straightened, looking horrified even after he recognized who was standing at the end of his yard.
Gregory was soaked, his hair was sticking about wildly and falling into his eyes, which were quite red along the whites and filled with a dull anger. He looked scary.
"G- Gregory, W- What are you doing here?" Justin asked, his voice coming out far more shaky then he would have liked.
"You said you had a plan to get back at Edward and Violet." Gregory said softly, his words mingled with grief and anger.
"Yeah." Justin said softly, still a little wary of the boy in front of him…but slowly regaining his composer.
"Well…" Gregory said softly.
"Well what?"
"Well what did you have in mind?"
hurray! Another chapter finished. Alright! Now I can finally get into the more important parts of the story. Finally.
To Ladybirdbuzz (Who may be the only one reading this anyway.) : Yeah, having him tied up in the Pumpkin House would have been a good idea. I was tempted to do so, and probably would have if it hadn't been for the fact that doing so would mess up future chapters.
The idea I did use is thanx to my sister. Sometimes emotional pain can do a far lot more to someone then physical pain could ever accomplish.
Please Review! Thanks.
