The Feeling of a Mouse
Chapter Three
(TRIGGER WARNING:
There are mentions of torture and self-harm in the beginning of the second scene. Tread with caution if these are things that trigger you.)
Randy yawned, resting his head in his hand as he tried to keep his eyes on the video at the front of the classroom. He had no idea what the video was about, but at least he looked like he was paying attention. He had given up actually trying to understand the video when he couldn't stop listening to the conversation between the two freshman girls in front of him.
One of the stages of mitosis is—
"Hey, what are you doing this weekend?"
"I have to babysit my stupid brother. Why?"
"Oh, I just wanted to see if we could hang out."
"No, sorry. Unless you want to get food thrown at you at my house."
"C'mon, ladies," said Mr. Dildine. "I know it's boring, but we're almost done today."
By the time they had stopped talking, he was already too behind to make any sense of the video. So instead he listened to the hum of the fan blowing near the window, to block out the now meaningless chatter from the video.
Although, after a while, it became difficult to keep his eyes open.
He had tried to go to bed early the previous night, but the majority of the night had been spent tossing and turning. By the time he had fallen asleep, there was less than an hour before his alarm was supposed to go off.
As he tried once again to comprehend the explanation of mitosis from the video, he felt his head get very heavy. He didn't even catch it sinking down until he could feel cold wood pressing against his ear.
Randy shot back up, shaking his head. Letting out a huff, he looked up at the clock. There was another ten minutes of school. With this boring video, it was going to feel a lot more like twenty.
Putting his head back in his hand, he tapped his fingers against the side of his face, trying to find a way to keep himself entertained enough to stay awake. He wasn't sure if he would actually be able to last the ten minutes without falling asleep. Fighting his body's protests felt like torture.
But when the clock read "2:55", Mr. Dildine paused the video. Randy relaxed a little in his seat, grateful.
"I think we're at a good stopping point for today," Mr. Dildine said, turning the TV off. "You can pack up."
The class bursted into a loud clatter of voices and packing up belongings. Unlike the rest of his class, Randy remained quiet, pulling his bag up onto his desk. He would be walking home in a few minutes, but he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer while he was still sitting down. Crossing his arms on top of his bag, he put his head down, closing his eyes.
The last five minutes of class slipped away quickly, and soon the school bell was ringing, pulling the young teen out of his light slumber. As the rest of the students zipped out, Randy waited in his seat, too slow to stand without an impatient freshman pushing his seat back in. He waited for every student to leave before he finally stood, grabbing his backpack.
"Nice job today, Randy."
Randy looked at Mr. Dildine, who was standing from his desk.
"What? I didn't even do anything."
"Not true. You didn't fall asleep. And you even turned in this weekend's homework on time."
Randy shrugged.
"Well, okay. But, I'm still confused."
His teacher smiled.
"If you're confused, you should stop by during lunch tomorrow. I'd be happy to answer any questions."
Randy frowned. He was tempted by the offer, but still unsure. He was afraid of what his teacher would say after realizing just how little Randy actually knew in this class.
Then again, maybe his teacher already knew how behind his student was. It made sense after all, considering all the times he had been caught sleeping in class. And if he brought in tonight's homework to lunch tomorrow, it meant that he was able to skip a couple of questions on the homework tonight.
"I guess I could bring some homework tomorrow. Thanks."
Randy left the classroom, entering the busy hallway. He walked around for a few minutes, avoiding fellow students and a spilled carton of milk, before he spotted Howard at the end of the hallway, opening his locker.
"Howard!"
As Randy maneuvered his way around the other students, he couldn't help but notice the look on his friend's face. Howard wouldn't look Randy's way, and he was slouched over his locker, as if exhausted. Randy immediately felt a knot beginning to grow in his gut. He was unable to shake the concern that Howard was annoyed at him. Randy was unsure of why he would be, but at the same time he was used to Howard getting annoyed at him. Everyone thought he was annoying.
As he reached Howard's locker, he suddenly felt awkward and out of place. He pulled at the neck of his shirt.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Randy asked.
Howard closed his locker, looking down, uninterested.
"Nothing."
Randy knew something was different about Howard, but he didn't push anymore, afraid that he would snap.
"Well, uh, you wanna come over tonight?"
"I can't. It's my dad's birthday and I have to have dinner with the family."
"Oh." Randy looked around, too shy to look directly at Howard. The hallways were quickly growing empty. "Well, uh, how about tomorrow then?"
"I don't think so, Cunningham. Sorry."
Randy looked back at his friend, the knot in his stomach growing tighter. Howard was acting very weird, and Randy was starting to get worried.
"Are you sure everything's okay?"
"I just don't see the point anymore, Cunningham."
"What?"
Howard sighed. He still would not look up at Randy, as if he were avoiding him.
"It's just, every time we want to do something, you always leave me hanging. I just don't see the point in hanging out if you're just going to leave right away."
Randy swallowed. He knew this was going to happen.
"Howard, that's ninja stuff. That's not my fault. I can't just put that off when a robot is attacking the city or something."
"Yeah, I know. But that doesn't mean I like it."
Randy bit his lip. He felt helpless,. He understood what Howard was feeling, and he knew that he would feel the same way in his shoes. But Randy wasn't sure how to make it up to Howard. He didn't want to quit being the ninja, but at the same time, he didn't want to lose Howard as his friend. Howard was his only friend.
"I know you don't like it. And I'm really sorry, Howard. But I still care about you, and I still like hanging out with you."
Howard shrugged.
"I just need a break."
Randy felt his stomach do a flip.
"A-a break? What does that mean?"
"It's not a big deal. I just don't want to hang out for a while."
Randy was suddenly quiet. He could feel a lump starting to grow in his throat. He swallowed again, taking a deep breath. That's when he noticed a green fog starting to form around the outside of the vents on the wall nearby. Tense, he looked down at the floor, trying to distract himself with the difference of blue and yellow on the ground.
"Okay."
Finally, he could feel Howard's eyes on him. Randy tried not to think about it, starting to wonder how close spring break was from now. It couldn't be more than two weeks away at this point.
"You okay?"
Randy wanted to say 'no, of course not', but he knew that would only make it worse.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
Howard nodded. He started to walk past Randy, when he said,
"You know, you're still my bro."
Randy felt the lump in his throat come back, this time much larger. Suddenly he could feel the Nomicon buzzing in his bag, against his hip.
"Yup."
Howard stood still for a moment, before leaving his friend alone in the hallway. Randy swallowed again, feeling faint.
Then he spotted the fog heading for his ankles.
With a grunt, he stepped back. The fog started to follow him, but he picked up the pace, starting to run for the door. He made it out of the school, and slammed the door shut behind him, praying that the stank wouldn't follow him outside. Randy took a deep breath, and started walking towards a tree near the building. He sat down against it, pulling out the Nomicon.
"Please help me calm down or something. Because I have no idea if it's possible for me to de-stank myself."
But before he could open the Nomicon, he heard a loud crash from inside the building, followed by an inhuman roar.
Randy grimaced.
"That works too."
He pulled out the mask from his bag, before shoving the Nomicon back inside it. He zipped behind the tree, pulling the mask over his face. He was fully suited as he heard a window break. Pulling out his sword, he ran towards the side of the school.
Surrounded by pieces of broken glass and building, was a monster, with the head of a lion, and the body of a snake. He could tell that the student who had been stanked was a girl, because the lion didn't have a mane, and she was wearing a pink turtleneck, and on the lion ears were several pink hoop earrings.
Randy gripped his sword tightly with both hands.
"Hey, lion-thing!"
The monster swerved its head around, glaring at the ninja.
"You know, I can't tell what the juice you are," Randy said, his lips curving upwards into a smirk behind the mask. "You must have a reptile dysfunction."
The monster let out a growl, before leaping in Randy's direction. He took his scarf and threw the end at the branch of the closest tree, hoisting himself up just in time. The beast missed its target completely, and slammed head first into the school.
"Ooh, that looks like it hurt. I ain't lion!"
He couldn't help the childish giggle that bubbled out of him.
The monster turned to face him again. He squinted back at it, trying to look for its stanked item. That's when he noticed a green glow emanating near the end of the tail, which was wrapped around a small box. A phone.
"MeN pIgS," the monster wailed, its voice distorted with the mix of a human voice and a lion's. "JeFf PiG!"
"Hey, just because this Jeff guy is a shoob, it doesn't mean the rest of us guys are. Now why don't you just chill out before someone gets hurt?"
The monster shrieked. It charged at the tree, before pouncing up, tackling him. He yelped, dropping his sword as he struggled to keep the razor-like fangs from digging into him. As they landed, he kicked the monster right in the chin, forcing the lion jaw shut, before leaping a few feet back from the beast.
"Jeeze! That was a close one!"
Randy watched as the monster landed on its back. He took a moment to look around for his sword, until he found it, several feet behind him, sticking deep into the cold hard dirt, under the grass.
He looked back as the monster steadied itself upright. As it bared its fangs, he pondered whether or not it was worth it to grab his sword. He felt exposed without his sword, especially since this student was much more aggressive than most stanked kids were.
But he didn't have time to make a decision, as the monster attacked again, pouncing towards him. Randy cartwheeled back, hardly able to avoid the teeth this time.
"Sheesh! I'm not Jeff! You don't have to kill me!"
The monster ignored his words, glaring right at him. He stared back blankly, feeling stuck. He wasn't sure how he was going to be able to de-stank this person without getting hurt. And although he was used to the occasional scrape or bruise, he was still feeling hesitant, afraid of what would happen if the monster had actually caught him.
He would have to think of a way to grab the phone without being noticed.
Suddenly, he had an idea.
"Hey, I wonder how much you weigh? I bet whatever it is, it would be off the scales!"
The monster howled, charging for Randy. He pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it, shrouding himself in a veil of red smoke. Taking advantage of the disorientation, he jumped up into the tree, waiting for the fog to die down.
When the fog had dissipated, the monster was whining loudly, shaking its head violently in disgust. After it calmed down, it realized that Randy was gone.
It turned its back from the tree, starting to search for its opponent.
He took his chance, jumping down from the tree, aimed right for the tail.
Unfortunately, he hadn't anticipated for what would happen if the monster caught him before he was on top. It turned back around, and, reaching its head out, it opened its mouth and caught the surprised ninja in its mouth, biting down with sharp teeth, right into Randy's gut.
He cried out. Desperately, he tried to pry the jaw open, as he could feel the teeth sinking deeper inside his body, but he wasn't strong enough to force it open. With all the strength he could muster, he punched the beast right in the nose. It howled, dropping Randy from its mouth. He landed on his back, gasping, hardly able to take in any air without feeling the sharp pain piercing his body.
The monster peered down at him, baring its teeth, which were tinted with blood. Randy's blood.
It was about to snatch him again, but he quickly rolled out of the way, into the side of the building. Letting out a pained groan, he pushed himself up against the wall. He stared at the beast in horror as it quickly cornered him against the wall. He could see the phone still grasped in the snake tail, but he wasn't sure that he could get it. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move. He could hardly keep himself standing, even against the wall.
The monster drew its head closer, further trapping its prey. Randy gasped, his heart pounding in his chest. What was it going to do to him? Had stanked people ever killed other ninjas before?
Just as the beast opened its mouth, Randy heard a snap, before he saw a small rock tumble from the head. The beast hissed, twisting its head behind it. Randy tried to look too, but he couldn't see past the lion head, and he was in too much pain to push himself up any higher.
For a moment, there was a deadly silence, before the beast pulled back, forgetting the weakened ninja. Randy slid down against the wall, slipping to the ground. He could feel the blood soaking through his clothes, making them stick to his skin.
Helpless, he watched the scene in front of him, as he finally realized what had caught the monster's attention.
Standing several feet ahead, facing the stanked girl, was a boy in a black cape. He looked around Randy's age, maybe slightly older, and he had deep red hair that was pulled back into a braid behind his neck.
The monster arched its head back, ready to strike. In response, the boy brought his his gloved hands together, and out from them came a powerful blast of air. It hit the monster, who crashed into the wall near Randy, dropping the phone. Randy quickly snatched it, ignoring the screaming pain in his gut, before he pulled out a dagger and drove it through the center of the phone. The green light around it immediately dissipated, and the being to his left quickly lost its monster-like form. Randy sank back against the wall, dropping his dagger beside him. His pain had increased tremendously, and the idea alone of walking home like this seemed impossible.
The redheaded boy ran up to Randy, quickly kneeling down to his level.
"Where are you hurt?"
Randy sat up straight, biting back a whimper.
"Who are you?" Randy croaked.
Despite the fact that this boy had saved him, he wasn't sure if it was okay to allow him to help. The Nomicon already disapproved of the fact that he had revealed himself to Howard. Besides, he didn't know this person.
"Oh my god. Is the Ninja okay?!"
The two boys looked up. Randy immediately recognized the pink sweater.
"Don't worry about him," the boy said. "You should leave. It's not safe here."
"But—"
"He'll be fine. I promise."
"Yeah, don't worry. It's not that easy to kill me," Randy added, trying to keep his voice steady. The last thing he needed was the fact that he was hurt reaching McFist.
The girl nodded.
"Okay. Thank you."
The two warriors were left alone. As soon as the girl was gone, the boy turned back to Randy.
"It's okay, Randy. You can trust me."
Randy could feel his heart skip a beat.
"I—what makes you think that's my name?"
The boy smiled.
"Well, I wouldn't be a very good teacher if I didn't even know my student's name now, would I?"
Randy blinked. He stared at the boy kneeling in front of him, his head starting to spin.
"What?"
The boy sighed, shaking his head.
"Randy, I'm the Nomicon."
…
Mikoto stared blankly at the wall across from him.
It had been several days since he had last seen McFist. Their last encounter had been interrupted by Viceroy, when he had burst into the cell to pull McFist away from Mikoto.
Mikoto remembered the way one of his old students would behave after a couple of drinks. Already having a short temper when sober, it was almost always inevitable for him to become violent when drunk. Mikoto would usually tell his younger brother to leave the house during these times, ignoring his pleas and protests.
It wasn't that he hadn't trusted his brother. He just knew his student's triggers.
That's how he had figured out that McFist wasn't sober.
Still, he had never seen anything so psychotic. Even towards his own employee, McFist would not make the effort to hold back his fury. If anything, he had seemed even more enraged after Viceroy had entered the room.
The entire display had been absolutely terrifying. Mikoto would have even attempted to stop McFist from beating the man, had he not been bound to the wall.
After the incident, after Viceroy had finally managed to scream loud enough to get enough robo apes to restrain McFist, Mikoto was let down and allowed to rest on the mattress.
He had stopped caring months ago how filthy it was. It only took minutes before he was unconscious, after he was sure that McFist was gone.
However, he wasn't out for long. Even in his dreams, he could feel how trapped he truly was. Sometimes when he was asleep, he felt as if he were reliving the usual torture that was now a part of his life. Although, there were other times that his mind was able to produce something truly horrifying—a true nightmare.
He had lost count of the times that it was his brother who was covered in blood, even though these nightmares had only started a small while ago.
McFist often accused Mikoto of being stubborn. But the reality was, Mikoto felt weak. He would often beg McFist to stop hurting him.
Sometimes, when McFist was gone, he wanted to cry. For a while he had been able to, until he realized that he was never truly alone in this cell. There was always someone watching him. He figured that out the first time he had tried to escape. After it had only taken a matter of minutes for McFist and his apes to tie him down, before he had even reached the exit to his cell.
Now, when he felt the urge to cry, he would either start to rip out his hair, or rip out the feathers on his arms, legs, or even the wings on his back. Or sometimes, he would even find himself clawing at healing scabs.
He couldn't explain why, but he found himself to be soothed when he gave in to the impulse to mutilate his body. He was aware that some of his wounds were infected, and that he had less hair than before he was captured, but he didn't care. There was something, almost pleasant, about ripping these things out of his body. When he was done, his skin would be burning in response to what he had just done, but while he was doing it, he felt detached from his own body. All he would feel was the pleasurable sensation of pulling out the impurities from his skin with his fingers.
Now remembering his habit, he brought his fingertips to his right arm. He felt around for a stubble he knew was starting to grow, and once he found it, he yanked the feather from his arm. For a while, he let his fingers toy with the hard tip of the feather that had been inside his skin, until it slipped from his fingers, and the little feather disappeared into the dirty floor.
During his first few months here, McFist would often yank out Mikoto's feathers, as a form of torture. At first, Mikoto would pull out the feathers on his own, as a way to protect himself from McFist. Somehow, it seemed less scary when he would do it to himself.
But now, he just pulled or picked when he was feeling nervous, or bored, or when he was in deep thought.
Sometimes he didn't even realize he was doing it until there was a small pile of feathers or hair at his side.
There was something inside him that was conscious of the fact that he couldn't stop himself from the habit, if he ever wanted to stop. But usually this was only a thought that appeared in his mind for a brief second, if he did think about it.
He didn't care. There was never anything to do, anyways. Even sleeping had grown old. He had slept so much that sometimes he couldn't anymore. Usually he wouldn't be out again until he was so tired that he would practically pass out.
Creak!
Mikoto jumped, his heart pounding heavily in his chest. He immediately got to his feet, not wanting to be any more vulnerable than he had to be.
A light poured into the cell from above. Mikoto grunted, being temporarily blinded by the harsh light. By the time his eyes adjusted to the new lighting, he was able to see Viceroy climbing down from the ladder that had been dropped. Mikoto could feel his shoulders loosen up a bit, but only slightly. Out of all the people he had met here, Viceroy was the least aggressive. Come to think of it, he had never actually harmed him.
But Mikoto tried not to trust him. Viceroy was still working for his torturer.
Viceroy reached the ground on Mikoto's level. Mikoto looked down, unable to bring himself to look at Viceroy. He was taller than both McFist and Viceroy, but lately, he couldn't shake the sense that he felt smaller.
"What do you want?" Mikoto asked numbly.
"I brought you something. You should eat."
He looked up, and saw that Viceroy was holding out a sandwich for him.
Unsurely, Mikoto took it. He looked down at it, not bothering to bite into it. His stomach turned sour as he remembered the taste of the last sandwich Viceroy had brought him.
"It's okay. It's not turkey. C'mon, you skipped lunch."
The image of his own starved body flashed in his mind. He was tempted to lift up his shirt, to remind Viceroy of all the days he had "skipped lunch", but he didn't. Instead, he held his tongue, and sat down, before taking a bite out of the sandwich.
He was surprised to taste an overwhelmingly sweet peanut butter. It was so sweet that he could hardly register the jelly in the sandwich, only feeling a gooey texture that further turned him off.
Mikoto refrained from spitting his bite out, swallowing the sweet mess. He took another bite, and swallowed again, trying not to taste it. He didn't want to eat any more of the sandwich, but he forced himself to finish it. Once the beatings were to start again, he could expect a lot less food coming his way. This was better than nothing.
Viceroy sat down across from him. Mikoto scooted back a bit, his lower back hitting the mattress.
Then, to his surprise, he saw Viceroy pull out a small chess set from his coat.
"You play?" Viceroy asked.
"Sort of."
His thoughts raced back to the last chess game he and his brother had played. Nomi had got him into a chess mate in less than ten minutes. This was usually something that happened when they played, but Mikoto didn't mind. He made up for it when they played cards. Although Mikoto didn't mind chess, as it was something his brother enjoyed, he preferred cards any day. Cards were a lot easier to remember than chess. It was all chance, and involved very little strategy. He never understood how his brother seemed to be able to plan every move of a chess game before Mikoto even made his first move. If he tried to plan that far ahead, it would probably take hours, just trying to remember what each piece could do. But when he played cards, he felt a lot less blind. Especially because his brother was so easy to read. Nomi denied it, but he had a very bad poker face.
Viceroy took the chess board out of the small box, and set it down between them. Mikoto watched him put the pieces on the board, and wondered if Viceroy would be any easier of an opponent than Nomi. Although it was likely, considering the age difference, Mikoto knew that he probably still wouldn't be winning this game. Not that he cared. It wasn't like it mattered, especially here.
Mikoto finished the sandwich in silence, hardly aware that it was gone. He was about to bite into his fingers when Viceroy broke him out of his daze.
"You can go first."
"Huh?" Mikoto looked down and realized that the board was already set up. "Oh."
He stared down tiredly at the black pieces set down in front of him, then quickly moved a pawn without a second thought. He forgot that pawns were able to move two spaces on the first move.
Viceroy moved a pawn, also only moving one space.
A small while later, Mikoto had several of Viceroy's pawns, both of his rooks, and his queen. Viceroy only had one of Mikoto's bishops.
"You're going easy on me," Mikoto said quietly.
Viceroy chuckled. He used one of his pawns to take Mikoto's queen.
"Better?"
Mikoto shrugged. He moved a knight into the spot Viceroy's pawn had attacked the queen, and scooped the vanilla colored piece in his hand. He kept it in his hand, rubbing his thumb up and down the round nub.
"Can I ask you something?"
"You just did," Viceroy said playfully.
Mikoto didn't smile.
"Why are you being nice to me? Aren't you afraid of me? I could hurt you if I had the mind to."
Viceroy sighed. He took his hand away from the chess board, suddenly not as interested in his move.
"It seems like a lot of extra work to think about new ways to torture you, especially when someone else is already doing that. It's easier to just treat you like a person. Besides, even though I know you could hurt me, you haven't. So, what would be the point in hurting you?"
Mikoto looked up at Viceroy. As his mind processed what his words meant, he felt a lump starting to grow in his throat. Being recognized as a person was something he hadn't been allowed for a long time. He was aware of how little McFist thought of him. McFist didn't even hate him. It was like all he was, in this prison, was a punching bag. Just a way to relieve stress. He wasn't even an animal.
Mikoto ran his fingers through his very tangled clumps of hair. He grabbed one of the smaller clumps and tried to pull it out. But it didn't come out. It was attached to too many strands of hair.
"I-if you don't care for this kind of work, then why are you still here? Why don't you quit?"
Viceroy was silent for a moment.
"I don't know. I guess I just never thought about it."
The statement was just too much for him. He couldn't meet Viceroy's eyes any longer, instead looking down, still trying to pull the clump out. The threat of tears was much more intense than he was used to. He couldn't understand why Viceroy wouldn't leave, since nothing was holding him back. Obviously he disagreed with his boss's choices. So it didn't make sense. Mikoto knew he would leave if he had the chance. He absolutely hated it here.
That's when another thought popped inside his head.
There still was one thing he hadn't tried. Still one more escape plan that he hadn't attempted.
As he finally managed to rip the clump of hair from his head, he snaked his free hand behind him, under the mattress, to make sure his toothbrush was still there.
"It's your turn."
"Hm?" Mikoto yanked his hand back to his side, looking back at the scientist. Viceroy gently pointed to the piece he had moved. "Oh."
They finished the game, neither uttering another word.
...
AN:
Phew! Can't believe it's been almost a month since I last updated! My summer reading homework sort of took up a lot of my writing time. It's super hard to write when you've got homework you know you've been putting off on your mind!
Ironically, now that I'm back in school, I have less homework now than I did in the summer. Hopefully it'll stay that way. Or hopefully I'll come down with a case of senioritis. Either one will do, actually. (Haha no just kidding.)
Hope you enjoyed! :3
Oh, and one more thing! Usually I'm not one to advertise fanfictions, as I'm super picky about what I read. (You can blame my ADHD.) But recently, I came across this really good fanfic that I think you'd all enjoy too. I think it portrays Randy really well in a way that I find myself really able to relate to. Plus, the writing style is so artistic! It's very unique, and very entertaining! Honestly, the story leaves me thinking the same way I think when I read a really good novel. :3
The fanfiction is called "Crossing Paths", and the author goes by Devilion13.
I'll post the links to the fic, but if for some reason they don't work, the story is on my favorites list on my profile. :) (Just remove the spaces in this link here.)
: / / m . fanfiction s / 1147 3925 / 1 / Crossing - Paths
Enjoy! ;)