Chapter 4: Meeting the Devil

Jonathan never liked Bo. In fact, he doubted that there ever was a time when he didn't want to strangle Bo's beefy neck. Unfortunately for Jonathan, he never had the opportunity to kill off Bo before the bully did some life-altering changes to his psyche, thanks to the years of both verbal and psychical abuse. But, the truth of the matter was that he should have murdered Bo the first time he saw him, all those years ago.

"Benjamin?"

"Here!"

"Brickmen?"

"Present."

"Crane?"

"Here," said Jonathan to roll-call, not looking up as he continued to read a paper-back edition of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".

His teacher, Mrs. Jenkins, frowned slightly at Jonathan's inattentiveness but continued to read down the list of her students.

Once roll call was over, Mrs. Jenkins adjusted her black-framed glasses, cleared her throat, and announced to the class, "I would like to welcome our newest student, Bo Griggs."

There was a long period of silence following the teacher's announcement with the new student no where in sight.

"Bo?," asked Mrs. Jenkins with slight impatience in her voice, "Why don't you come to the front and say hello to your new classmates?"

There was the sound of a chair being scraped against the floor as Bo came trudging from the back of the classroom up to the front.

"Hi, I'm Bo. I didn't want to come here, but my dad's work forced him to go and live in this stupid town, so that's why I'm here," announced Bo, not making an effort to hide the contempt he had for his fellow classmates in his voice.

"Really? What kind of work does your father do?" asked Mrs. Jenkins, who was trying her best to make Bo feel comfortable.

"Construction." Said Bo simply.

"Oh…how...um… very nice," said the teacher, followed by an awkward pause.

"Can I sit down now?" asked Bo impatiently.

"Yes, of course," said Mrs. Jenkins, gesturing to Bo's row at the back of the classroom.

Once Bo was seated, the teacher then announced, "All right children, please take out your math textbooks and turn to page 231."

After one grueling hour of math and one pleasant hour of history, it was finally time for recess. The kids stampeded out of the bungalow once the bell rung and the sound of laughter filled the air. Jonathan however, wasn't as eager as the other children to go out and play. He didn't like to play tag or take turns playing four-square like other kids his age did. In fact, what he liked to do most of all during recess was read. Jonathan's peers thought of him as an oddball, so they mostly ignored him after his repeated refusals when they offered him to play. Being alone was alright with Jonathan and one of his favorite spots to read was under a secluded oak tree in the back of the school's field. With his old rucksack slung on one shoulder and with "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" under one arm, Jonathan was all set to go to his reading spot.

He was about to step out of the empty bungalow's front door but stopped when he heard Mrs. Jenkins call out, "Jonathan, could you stay for just a moment? I need to speak with you."

Jonathan was a bit disappointed to have his reading time shortened, but he knew that Mrs. Jenkins didn't talk to him about trivial matters so he nodded and took a seat next to his teacher's desk.

"Jonathan, I wanted to talk to you about Wednesday's parent-teacher conferences. I didn't see your grandmother. Why is that?" asked Mrs. Jenkins as she stopped sorting out papers and looked at him.

"She was busy," replied Jonathan.

'Of course she was busy. She has to be because her grandson is full of sin; sin that she can only get rid of by a vigorous beating,' thought Jonathan. He winced at the memory of the belt that had hit his chest and he subconsciously rubbed his ribcage where the bruises had formed.

He stopped when Mrs. Jenkins gave him an odd look.

Mrs. Jenkins then began with, "Well that is a shame. I did wish that she would come so that I could congratulate her on what a wonderful student her grandson is."

"Thank you," said Jonathan.

Mrs. Jenkins then gave one of her rare smiles and replied, "Jonathan, your one of the best students I have ever had. Your reading level is way above average for a ten year old and you excel in the other subjects as well. I just wished that your classmates had the same enthusiasm for learning as you do."

"Thank you Mrs. Jenkins," replied Jonathan, who smiled at the compliment that his teacher gave him. He rarely had gotten compliments from anyone, so what Mrs. Jenkins had said warmed his heart.

"Well I'm sorry to have kept you waiting Jonathan. You're welcomed to go now," Said Mrs. Jenkins, waving her hand toward the door.

Jonathan nodded his head and thanked her once again before walking out of the classroom.

Mrs. Jenkins continued to grade papers, but not before saying to herself, "That boy is going to go far in life, of that I'm sure of."

Jonathan was sitting under the school's big oak tree, its branches providing just the right amount of shade and sunlight as he continued to read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". This place was the only place in the world that Jonathan could escape to no matter what had happened. It was a place that no one could ever touch, a place where no other child had claimed for himself; except for Jonathan. The secluded tree that was Jonathan's was nothing less then sacred to him and if he knew the meaning of the word back then he would've agreed. So imagine how upset he was when he looked up to see Bo's meaty face in front of him, sneering at him and the book that he was holding. Bo wasn't alone; two other boys were behind him, smiling like a pair of idiots at what seemed like an inside joke.

Jonathan didn't like the predatory way the boys were looking at him, so he asked, "Could you please go away? I'm trying to read."

"Why should we? This tree belongs to everyone right? I don't see your name on it," said Bo bossily as he leaned against the tree.

Jonathan sighed, knowing that Bo was going to be a hard person to get rid of so he said, "I can see that. But I would really like to read without anybody bothering me."

"Aw, really? So why don't I just get rid of that book your holding so that we're not bothering you anymore," replied Bo, smirking.

Bo's friends snickered in the background as Jonathan held the book against his chest defensively. Bo was able to pry the book from Jonathan's hands and he looked it over with arrogance plastered on his face.

"Books are for losers," said Bo.

"I bet you can't even read a book!" snapped Jonathan angrily as he got up.

Bo glared at Jonathan and growled, "Shut up!"

He then composed himself, smiled wickedly and told Jonathan, "Well if I can't read a book, then I don't need it."

Bo then threw the book on the grass and began to stomp on it viciously.

"Stop! That book isn't mine, it's the library's!" shouted Jonathan. He tried to grab the book but his hand had gotten stomped on and was pinned by Bo's oafishly large foot.

"Let go of me!" yelled Jonathan as he struggled to get his hand loose.

"Sure." said Bo.

He lifted his foot and Jonathan pulled his hand to his side, cradling it against his chest. He didn't see Bo's foot swing toward his face until he felt the impact of the blow. It sent Jonathan sprawling backwards and he let out a whimper of pain as he sat up holding his bloody nose. Bo and the other boys were laughing their heads off at the sight of Jonathan and for the first him in his life, he wanted to kill someone. Jonathan wished to twist Bo's head off and see if he would still be laughing. He clenched his fists in anger and was about to say some expletives directed at Bo and his cronies, but the bell rang, ending recess.

"Saved by the bell Crane," said Bo, who smirked victoriously at Jonathan.

"Come on you guys, let's go. Crane and his book need some alone time together," announced Bo as walked off with his friends, chuckling all the while.

As Jonathan saw Bo walk off he only thought of one thing, 'That sadistic bastard!'

Logically, the local library never let Jonathan check out a single book ever again after seeing the "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in ruins, despite Jonathan's protests of innocence. All the more reason to hate Bo. Of course you maybe were wondering why Mrs. Jenkins never bothered to notice Jonathan's bloodied nose. It wasn't her fault; rather, Jonathan did whatever he could to hide his bruises and welts. He didn't want other people to fight his battles, he would endure whatever abuse he could so that the other wouldn't have the satisfaction of knowing that he had someone to help him. So he endured Bo's taunts and bulling for years. Children, Jonathan found out, were cruel creatures, despite what one person had said about them being persons of innocence. Whoever had said that must have never been a child to begin with.