Dark Side - Chapter 2
Of The Force
CALEB
Caleb avoided talking to anyone at school as best as possible. It was depressing and exhausting.
The worst was seeing Jenny throwing herself at Malcolm Monroe, the captain of the football team, only two days after she had talked to him. He couldn't help but torture himself by watching them during the breaks.
Pietro was also hanging around with them and avoided looking at him. Caleb wasn't entirely sure but maybe Monroe had been at the party too.
Thursday came and for no reason, Malcolm and his gang of football buddies started bullying him.
It started slowly with a 'Get out of my way' in the cafeteria or a 'watch it freak' and a bump here and there in the hallway. However, Friday his locker was painted black with red letters on it which said 'DEMON WORSHIPPER'.
He really tried to ignore the assholes. But his patience was nearly at its end. Never in his life he had been so looking forward to the weekend.
Even at home, he had a reminder about Saturday. Every time he came into the living room, he was ashamed about what he had done to the hardwood floor. The huge pentagram with rose vines was hard to miss.
Mackland hadn't ranted about it but Caleb knew the man. He should offer some payback for this. Right then Dr. Ames entered the living room, reading a letter.
"Hey, Dad, how about we buy a big carpet to cover this? I mean it is nearly a demon trap. We just have to add a circle."
"Hm," Mac answered without really listening but then the words seemed to find him. A line of concern got visible on Mac's forehead. "Sorry, Son, what did you say?"
"Is everything okay, Dad? Bad news?" Caleb asked, forgetting about the pentagram.
"No, son. Nothing you have to be concerned about. What did you say about a carpet?"
Caleb wasn't entirely convinced that the letter didn't concern him. "The pentagram, we could make a demon trap out of it and cover it with a carpet."
Dr. Ames smiled, amused. "At least you have ideas, I'll think about it, Son." Mac came closer looking Caleb in the eyes. "How about we do something relaxing on the weekend? What would you like to do?"
Caleb had had enough of staring and mumbling for the rest of his life. He didn't want to see anybody. "How about we just stay at home order pizza and watch a movie? I don't wanna go out."
"Caleb, won't you tell me what's going on in school? I see you coming home every day pretty down and much too silent for my taste. I'm sure it isn't a cakewalk after what happened on Saturday but it can't be that bad either." Mac laid a calming hand on his shoulder.
He sighed, feeling safe under his father's touch. "It's much worse. Everyone is talking when I pass. They see me as a real freak now. I mean I acted out really badly, waving around with a knife, reciting Latin verses, and screaming about demons. C'mon Dad, you can imagine how bad that is for a teenager, can't you?"
"But Son, they drugged you. Nothing of this was you."
"Of course it was! It was all my fears coming true! I was completely exposed to them, doing weird stuff, and going crazy all at once. They don't give a fuck if I was drugged. They all see just the drama to gossip about. And my so-called friends? Of course, they don't even talk to me anymore. I mean my family pressed charges against them. C'mon. You can't be so blind!" Caleb felt the feelings taking him over. He was barely able to keep from crying in mental exhaustion and desperation.
"Oh, Caleb, I'm sorry. But we already discussed this. Do you want to change schools? Maybe a fresh start…"
"No! Not again. I hate being the new one."
"Do you hate it more than to be seen as a freak? It is only an offer, please consider it, okay?"
Mac had a point. At least it offered him a way out of this misery. "I'll think about it," he said, letting his head hang low.
Much softer, Mac added, "Okay, you know I love you, Son. I will defend you against everyone even if it is the last thing I do."
Caleb hugged his father, a thing he did not often do. But right now he needed comfort. "Thank you, Dad." Sniffling, he separated from Mac, gathering the rest of his pride. "Uhm, how about we watch the Star Wars trilogy?"
"Can't you recite the movies word by word?"
Caleb smiled, "The force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet."
Mac smiled back, "Okay. I'll get us some popcorn."
*** Brotherhood ***
MACKLAND
The end title was running. He had to admit the movie was nice to watch without every line constantly being recited by kids and teenagers - not to speak of the laser-sword battles around the sofa. Mackland glanced over to his son, who had fallen asleep in his arm about half an hour ago. He wished for Caleb that his life wasn't so complicated.
He hadn't seen Caleb sleeping this peacefully all week. He would let him sleep here for tonight as an exception. Monday he would make some calls. Maybe he would find his son another - a better fitting school. This situation was not one he wanted Caleb in for much longer. If he only had seen the problem coming, he would have never allowed Caleb to visit Pietro.
He walked into his office and closed the door. While shuffling through his contacts, he saw he had already called most of them the last time he had initialized a school change for Caleb. He sighed and shuffled further until he paused at the contact of Jim Murphy. Maybe the pastor would have a good idea. Mackland hadn't called his friend and Guardian yet. He should have done it earlier. But his schedule was filled with appointments and things to do with the FBI and police.
He slumped down into his leather chair and dialed the number in Kentucky. Jim took up at the second ringing.
"Murphy," the voice at the other line said, in the best mood as usual.
"Hey, Jim, it's Mac," the doctor said with a tired sigh.
"Mackland! I hope nothing has happened that makes you call this late."
"Yeah, uhm, no, we're fine. It's just … Caleb had some trouble lately in school …" Mackland told Jim the events of Saturday, only then being aware how much it had troubled him.
Jim was utterly shocked by how cruel teenagers can be. "How about you two come to visit and you take Caleb out of school for the time being?" The pastor suggested.
Mackland considered it, though it would have to wait until Wednesday at least. The rest of his work he could take with him to Kentucky or do it via phone. The pastor convinced him that a safe environment would surely help Caleb to calm down and relax again.
With a much better feeling, Mackland ended the call to his friend and was looking forward to Wednesday.
*** Brotherhood ***
CALEB
Caleb woke up Saturday morning on the couch. He heard his father rummaging in the kitchen. A wave of positive emotions radiated from Mac. What brought him in such a good mood today?
He got up, stretching his aching limbs. Entering the kitchen he watched his father for a few more before he decided to ask, "What brings you into such a good mood, Dad?"
Mac turned at the stove where he made pancakes. A pile was already to his side. "Oh good morning, Caleb. Are you hungry? I fill you in while we eat."
He put a plate with two pancakes and the syrup bottle in front of him. "We're gonna leave on Wednesday evening to Kentucky to stay for a while." Mac let the news sink in for a couple of seconds. "Though this will not save you from your school education. We're gonna take your books with us and I will take care that you stay up to the schedule. I want you out of the school for a while, at least until things clear."
Caleb was instantly excited. "Really!? Do we stay until the Winchesters will be at Jim's?"
"Yes, son. That was my plan," Mac said smiling. "Now eat up."
To fly to Kentucky on Wednesday was the best news ever. He had just to survive the next three days at school.
*** Brotherhood ***
CALEB
On Monday morning Caleb was only focused on making it through the day. But destiny thought otherwise. He wanted to speak to Jenny once more. He had understood that she didn't want to meet him again but he just couldn't understand why she had done it. He waited after school at her locker to have a word with her. She just came around the corner and Caleb took his chance.
"Jenny, I want to ask you something," he began.
She looked unsure. "Caleb, that's not a good idea. You …" She didn't get much further as Malcolm came around the corner.
"What the hell is the Demon-worshipper doing with you? I thought you were through with him, Jen?" Malcolm didn't wait for an answer from the girl but gave Caleb a hard shove. "Watch it, freak, she is my girl now! Go back into your cellar and summon some demons."
Caleb had enough. He took the fight the asshole offered. He had suffered too much shit this past week. Without any warning, he gave him a left hook and hit Malcolm hard enough to make him stumble two steps back.
Malcolm needed a second to recover. His face turned deep red from anger, "You are dead, Reaves!"
Caleb heard Jenny screaming at her new boyfriend, "Malcolm, stop it. He's not worth it."
But the girl's words didn't reach the fighting boys. Caleb blocked the next swing successfully but didn't see the straight punch to his face coming the next millisecond. His vision was blacked for a moment and he fell on his butt. Caleb crawled backward, hearing more footsteps approaching. He shook his head until his vision cleared again.
He heard Malcolm ordering someone, "Hold him down, time for a lesson, Freak."
The other two cornered him. He knew their names, Chris and Tyson, but not much more about them, only that they were on the football team too. Caleb retreated until he felt the brick wall at his back. This was a shitty situation. He should have walked away, and kept his head down. He just had had to survive these three days but he had taken the bait of Malcolm - and he had taken it the stupid way. John always told him to keep a way for flight in his back open, not a brick wall. He felt like an idiot!
The two tried to grab him. Caleb started to fight them off. Malcolm watched the fight from a safe distance, recovering from Caleb's punch. Caleb had not the muse to watch the two arguing.
One of the boys, Chris, managed to catch his arm while Caleb threw a punch at him. The two wrestled and Tyson swept Caleb from his feet. The crash with the linoleum floor wasn't that hard. Reaves had learned how to fall so that he didn't hurt himself. But Tyson grabbed at his leg. He kicked while trying to get Chris off his arms. Connecting his boot with Tyson's ribs made his opponent huff once but the guy caught his leg before he could kick at him again. Reaves kicked with the other and hit Tyson's nose which made a bad cracking noise and made his opponent even angrier.
The huge guy kicked back at Reaves and hit him in the crown jewels. Caleb had never felt such pain and for a second he wasn't able to catch a breath. The guys continued kicking him, hitting his ribs and back. Caleb tried his best to protect his midsection.
Then they stopped and grabbed his arms and legs, fixing them on the ground with their body weight. He felt trapped like then back home in New Orleans in the treehouse with Jason and his gang. He would not let them get him like that.
Malcolm now came into view again. "Well, well, asshole. I'm gonna teach you the promised lesson now."
Caleb watched him take out some knucks, slipping them over his fingers. There was no way Reaves would let the piece of shit take him out like that.
He felt a kind of force building up in his head like a bad migraine starting but somehow different. He thought about a way to stop him, to take him out, to get him unconscious somehow. Caleb's first thought was Darth Vader. He just wished the asshole would stop breathing so that not a single word of hatred would ever come out of his stupid mouth again. He focused his mind on Malcolm and brought all his hatred into this thought.
The world around faded and slowed down - there was only him and his opponent. All noises of the other's body became louder. The beating of Malcolm's heart, the rushing of his blood through his veins, and the noise of his breathing - until the last one abruptly stopped.
Malcolm suddenly gasped for air. He wasn't able to catch a single breath anymore. Caleb watched him stumble backward, letting the knucks slip from his fingers.
The others stopped holding him down instead panicked shouting reached him now, only muffled and far away. A beeping sound became louder and louder. He watched Malcolm going to his knees clutching his throat and gasping for air like a fish on land.
He just stared at the asshole who he was sure was to blame for giving him the hard week and watched him desperately struggling for air. He had the power to kill him, he felt it. Reaves felt a thin stream of moisture trickling from his nose. He didn't care. He understood Darth Vader way better right now.
But was THIS really what he wanted to become? Over and over he had doubted himself - questioning himself if he was really the demon spawn some hunters thought him to be. And the bad trip he had last week had shown with brutal clarity that he was far from over such thoughts and fears.
Caleb had had some bad visions until now. He often felt guilty because he lived through them as the monster. It had taken some time to accept it - to realize that he was not this monster. To have the opportunity to save some people with his ability was the only good thing about his talent.
The feeling he had at the moment when he choked the asshole mentally was not the feeling of any monster in a vision. It was all him - he caused this and he enjoyed it to some level. THIS totally scared him now. Mac would be so disgusted with him. He had always been scared in the back of his head that he would become one of these monsters at some point and now he saw it confirmed.
Mac had never let him down. The doctor had taken him in - had become his father. He believed in the good in him. He couldn't disappoint him. He really wanted to be what Mac saw in him.
Watching the other kid struggling for air, already slightly turning blue, he didn't want to become THIS. He couldn't kill a human - asshole or not.
Caleb broke the psychic contact which took all his self-control. The high he had felt by the force that had taken him over had felt even more powerful than the LSD trip. Now as he had stopped the wave he felt exhausted like he had run a marathon.
Malcolm took in a deep breath, crawling backward, scared shitless by Reaves. "What the fuck …," he piped. "You're a fucking freak! What did you do?" The boy croaked while his two buddies helped him get up from the floor.
Steps approached the four teens. The principal rushed around the corner with Jennifer in tow, stopping right in front of the boys. "Reaves, Monroe, Lewis, and Kyle in my office - now!"
Caleb was now fully aware of what he had done. He stared at the others. He swallowed thickly and tried to get up. His ribs hurt, he had a bad headache and his side stung somehow. Subconsciously wiping his mouth he noticed that he had nosebleeding. He didn't complain, following the others silently.
In the office, the principal studied the four kids. "Ok, who has anything to say about this - this incident?"
Caleb glanced to the side at Malcolm, who was still rubbing his throat. "Reaves tried to choke me."
The principal put the knuckles onto the table. "May I ask whom this belongs to, boys? This is a weapon. Weapons are banned at schools, especially at my school!" he thundered at them. "Like fights are too. Did you choke Mr. Monroe, Mr. Reaves?"
Caleb wasn't able to answer, he had nearly killed the asshole. He was completely frightened of himself at the moment. Staring at his hands he didn't even look up. "Mr. Reaves answer me! Is this weapon yours? Did you lay a hand at Mr. Monroe?"
He had to say something or this whole situation would become even worse. No - he didn't lay a hand on Monroe, at least that he was sure of. He just shook his head barely noticeably.
There was a long moment of silence. The principal sighed before he spoke more quietly. "Okay, since no one is going to tell me what happened, I think I have to call the police, maybe they can take fingerprints to find out who this belongs to." He opened a drawer and revealed a plastic bag in which he stored the knuckles with a warning raise of his eyebrow. "I'm sure none of you wants to explain this to the cops."
"They're mine," Malcolm whispered barely audibly.
"Well, I think it best to call your parents, boys. Wait outside in the hallway." The scratching noise by the chairs was heard but Caleb just couldn't move. "Mr. Reaves, you'll stay here. I don't want you four to start a fight again in my hallway." Principal Robins turned to Jenny, "Mrs. Barret, please bring Tyson to the school nurse. I think his nose may be broken."
When the others had left the room, the man rounded his huge desk and took a seat on the edge of the furniture, studying Caleb. "Your father called this morning. He told me about Saturday and that you had some problems the past week with other students. I saw the locker. Do you want to tell me anything else about it?"
Another head shake. Caleb felt nausea. What had just happened? He was a monster, uncontrollable, what would he cause next? Maybe his eyes would turn black or he would begin attacking people without any reason. The words of the principal echoed in the background.
"Dr. Ames said he wants to take you out of school for a couple of weeks until everything is cleared up. After the incident today I think it is a wise decision. I tolerate no fights in my school. Though you said you didn't lay a hand on Mr. Monroe, I'm sure the broken nose of Tyson did not come out of the blue. I hope we can end this fight without further bloodshed." The principal reached out to the unresponding boy.
Caleb still fought to stay in reality. He felt his deepest nightmares lurking in the corners of his mind, ready to take him. He was a monster. Mac would finally see it.
Someone touched his upper arm. With wild eyes, he stared at the principal who had touched him gently to get his attention. "No!" Caleb screamed and pushed the chair back a few inches.
"Caleb, calm down, boy." The man retreated unsure what to do with Caleb. He returned to his desk and used the speaker to tell his secretary to call the parents of the four.
TBC
