A/N: so... chapter seven... here you go. Also, reviews... um, thanks :)... don't really know what else to say. here you go.

Chapter 7

At around half six Damien awoke and left with a simple "thank you." Slowly, I began to work on my daily errands: washing, cleaning the (already clean) rooms and the likes, waiting for my phone to ring. I was expecting a call from someone at the orphanage to see if I was alive and then they'd leave me at that, this was one of the two things they did for me, call me every Tuesday and give me a cheque at the end of the month to both pay bills, feed myself and get some things on the side with the spare.

The reason they had actually let me live on my own was because I had been a nuisance at the orphanage. I never tried to be one but my presence just brought bad luck by being around so many people. By the fifth trip to the hospital I had already been in the midst of relocating to the hospital.

An hour flew quickly, I had been called by a woman with a voice that reeked with the sound of cigarettes and complete boredom. A few short words were exchanged and she had hung up, the average conversation between me and anyone else.

I was ready to make my way to school. Instead of wearing my formal attire, I couldn't be asked to go through the hassle of getting well dressed; I instead opted to wear a simple blue hoodie and jeans. That and I think I may have subconsciously taken to heart Damien's request of me to be less formal. Checking the time, twenty to eight, I decided to walk to school, after the previous day I had finally realised how quickly I could get to school by walking (while avoiding my tormentors) and that was an enticing option. I was astounded that it hadn't arose in my thoughts any time before, I had become so indoctrinated into my daily routine that a simple change like that was the most strange thing to consider.

The sidewalks were crowded with people trying to get on with their daily lives, the sound of countless footsteps moving speedily was calming, hearing them, they gave the impression of moving in unison, like the continuing march of an army. The constant footsteps, like a lovely piano piece that I could listen to for eternity. I couldn't fathom a recent time before this week that I had felt so calm, so at ease, it was like god had given up on laughing at my torment and instead had given me a needed massage to alleviate the sadness that had been growing over the past few years, like mould in my mind. For the first time in over a decade, a small, true smile graced my lips with its wanted presence. I had normally feigned to smile when it seemed appropriate, I had never had a reason to make such a gesture in this town nor had I ever been offered the emotional chance to display any real joy.

It was as I was walking that realization fell on me, slowly, fluttering into my thoughts like a slowly falling feather that had been chipped from a bird soaring through the air. I was no longer destined to be a lone friendless recluse; I knew the torment would continue, it always did. I could never disagree that it was an endless cycle of beatings, insults, spitting and kicking down at my worthless and weak body; I'm not the type of person to lie. Although I had finally discovered that potentially, I would no longer have to handle with my pain internally.

Eventually I had moved from crowded streets to the largely vacant hill that rose towards the school and I remembered why I originally didn't have the idea to walk to school. The hill was more like a cliff with how hard it was to trudge up it; I was surprised that the bus even made it halfway. I was heavily out of breath by the time I had reached the top, only around fifty meters from the school. Why they isolated it in such a place, far from the main town was completely beyond my comprehension, but I persisted towards the large building. As I moved, the crunching of the snow beneath me seeping through my shoes and soaking my feet, I saw small flakes of white slip from the clouds like a thousand scraps of shredded paper. 'If it wasn't cold enough'

As I slowly approached the building, barely five meters gone behind me, I heard a slimier sound of crunching snow, being squashed by an overpowering shoe or boot behind me. Turning in intrigue I saw a familiar figure, the platinum haired man who had been loading boxes into Damien's' house. 'His father perhaps' he was tall and lean, his lanky form standing out like a speck of black in the field of white. He was young, only in his late twenties but with platinum hair that had been platted back into a ponytail, he wore a simple red jacket and jeans. On his face was a wide smile as he looked down on me, his eyes, like Damien's', a strange red, although they looked older, greyer than Damien's' bright, almost hypnotizing orbs. They held a look of glee and care-freeness, almost like an opposite to what i had mostly seen Damien show.

"Hello there" he said, looking down at me, it was strangely... oppressive, his gaze, as if he was pushing down on me with his sight alone. "I was wondering, I'm new to this town and I've only been there once, and you look to be a student, I can't fully remember… is that building over there, the school perhaps?" his voice was deep with a overjoyed chipper tone, he just beamed pure happiness.

And it unsettled me immensely.

"Indeed it is, sir" I replied an awkward smile displayed on my face as I tried to be polite.

"Good, good, would you mind if I accompanied you, I can't fully remember where to go in the building itself and if you could help me I would be eternally grateful"

"y-yeah, sure, sure, follow me" I stuttered, nervous at the strange glee, in this town, normally everyone had a cynical air about them, and the difference he brought was almost scary.

"Well then, let's get on our way"

"R-right-o, yeah" I said and we barely walked a minuet until he restarted conversation.

"Thank you for this, by the way, my names Lucas, you?"

"Ph-Phillip, Phillip Pirrup, nice to meet you" I said turning to look at him, still providing the same, awkward smile.

"Phillip... Phillip, Phillip, Phillip" he said quickly. "I recall that name" he stood still for a second, looking up at the sky as I watched him, curious at his eccentric behaviour. "Ah, I remember, Damien said that he had met a Philip yesterday, let him stay at his house. I guess that that is you?"

"Y-yes, that is me, you're Damien's' father?" I asked, it was obvious, I know, but I just wanted clarification, he was so different to Damien.

"I thought that would be obvious, with the eyes"

"yeah I guess so" I replied sheepishly, we were nearly at the gate, only a minute or two and he would be away from me, I still didn't know why but I wanted to get out of this situation, I needed to.

"you know, I'm proud of him for making a friend this quickly, people normally turned him away because of our... beliefs" he stopped again, turning me around to face him with his hand resting on my shoulder and that unsettling smile still plastered on his face.

"Thank you" he said, staring directly into my eyes

"Not a problem chap" I replied, feigning chirpiness. If it were anyone else, I probably would have been genuinely smiley, well... maybe not everyone else, but he gave me the same chills that being in proximity of Eric or Trent produced. He raised a strange otherworldly vibe in the thin air that didn't feel right, didn't feel natural.

Slowly and silently we made our way to the building, until we had reached the open gate, no one was around, much like the day before, it was completely desolate, although unlike the previous day this was because hardly anyone was in the building. Only three cars were parked, the school must have been unlocked, but basically people-less. I was virtually alone with this man and that brought a strange terror I didn't know existed. I don't even know why I was as terrified as a hostage around him, he seemed nice, caring even, but even at that, the eldritch horror he produced like a natural pheromone had taken hold of my mind.

Once we had reached the steps to the main doors, I turned to face Lucas; he looked down on me, reminding me of a gleeful vulture staring intently down to its whimpering prey. Even through my unease and scared shyness I had to vocalize a question that had been ripping at my mind.

"Wh-why are you here alone and Damien is not?" I asked

He looked with a short burst of surprise before reverting back to his godforsaken smile.

"Ah, Damien needed some time to get ready and I have to have a rather short conversation with the headmaster, also, it's a bit early to be getting to school isn't it? This place is so small that I'm surprised they even have a bus." He replied

He obviously hadn't seen the full scope of the town, it normally didn't seem big at first but once you took the full scope of the place it seemed comparable with New York City.

I turned, opening the door for him to go in; he took the offer gladly, strutting past me into the baby blue, locker covered, corridor. I gave him directions to the headmaster's' office and he left with a bright "thank you again", that, like the other times, unnerved the hell out of me.

'What was that' I thought as he turned a corner, his platinum hair bobbing out of view. Shaking my head to remove the image of his eerie smile from my head, I realised that my heart had slowed to a regular beating, I hadn't even noticed that it had been racing near the man, I was to concentrated on the fear to notice. Before long I found myself beginning to wander deeper into the labyrinth of the school, just until my tutor room was unlocked.

When i began to turn the first corner, someone gripped onto my back, lifting me like a pillow and slammed me into the wall. My entire body banging with a dull sting as I collided, creating a soundless thud. As soon as I had realised I was under attack, I had been thrown backwards, sliding against the ground to hit the opposite wall, whacking only my head, sending my senses haywire for a brief moment before I recognised my assailant.

Nearly six feet tall, with blond hair that held like a military tower with a generous amount of gel and furious amber eyes stood Trent Boyett. His somehow unmarked face wore a constant look of hatred that never seemed to change. Even in the freezing weather, he wore torn jeans, a black vest and a red checked shirt that had been ripped at the arms so he could show off his gargantuan muscles.

I wasn't safe, I realised in horror, no matter where I went, how I moved in this town, it all led to a similar outcome. Only this one was from the second most feared person in this school as opposed to the first.

He reached down and gripped my neck, stopping my flow of air in a second before slamming me into the wall once again.

"It's a good thing I saw you outside my girlfriend's window you bastard." He said in his naturally menacing tone. Why had he stayed at someone else's house? i had already gone through the task of going through the town to intentionally miss my tormentors abodes and my luck just seemed to fail me again. "otherwise you'd hide behind that new emo kid like the fag you are, you little bastard" he screamed, slamming me once again, trying to knock the air out of me but his lockjaw like grip held it in. I wouldn't be surprised if he had dented the wall with the force that he slammed me.

"If you try to fucking hide from me, I'll join the fatass and we'll fucking kill that kid, you understand, I'm letting you have a nice thing for once so be grateful. Do you understand?" He said, I could only weakly nod, my vision had begun to blacken as my body desperately craved air like a drug. I had to do as he said, if I slipped up once, he would kill Damien and with the help of Eric he'd be invincible. No matter to his vendetta against Eric and his original group of friends. 'He'd let up on that, just to harm me of all people?'

He dropped me, gravity decided to help him in his assault and I fell to the floor, instantly collapsing in a heap, my only movement was to hold my neck where he had gripped me to make sure he couldn't strangle me again. He loomed over me, his shadow covering my body, causing the world around me seem as if he was blocking out the sun itself.

"Remember, I'm letting you have a nice thing now, be happy, you really don't deserve nice things" he said, an ill fitting smile on his face. For once, I didn't want to see another smile, they had become rather creepy recently. For a second he stood there, just staring at me, before his glare returned to his face, he lifted me from the ground and partially into the air by my left arm, dislocating it and bringing a bellowing scream from my body.

"I DIDN'T HEAR A FUCKING 'THANK YOU'" he screamed at the top of his lungs, spitting onto my face before he gripped my arm with both of his hands.

For a second time stood at the end of a tightrope before, like my arm was naught but a twig...

Snap

My eyes widened in shock as a solitary voiceless scream left my mouth and a single punch to the face consumed the world in darkness.