This chapter takes place 2 weeks before the first two chapters. I hate to jump around with the time, but this was the only way I could get it to work in my head.
He had had enough; his head was still ringing from when Vicky had slapped the back of his head. Ordinarily Timmy knew better than to argue with her but, being told to clean the same bathroom 3 times in one day had pushed him. After striking him, Vicky had forcibly dragged him into the bathroom and locked him in.
She screamed at him through the door "you're not getting out till scrub every surface in that room!"
Timmy wasn't keen on repeating his work of only a few hours ago and knew that she would make him do some other chore when he was done with the bathroom just to keep him busy for the day.
Timmy tried his best to think of a way out of his current predicament. He slapped his forehead when he realized there was a window right in front of him. He could just leave the house and come back some time tonight. Vicky likely wouldn't check on him in the bathroom for at least an hour. Meaning he could wander to anywhere in Dimmsdale before she found out he had left.
Sure she would be beyond pissed at him when he came back and she would likely beat or torture him or both. Fortunately, she couldn't exactly tell his parents that she lost him for a couple of hours, so Timmy decided that the pain he would endure from her later would be more than worth a few hours free from her, not to mention the annoyance this would cause her.
Timmy slid the window up slowly, careful not to make too much noise. Hiking a leg up and out of the window, Timmy made his way outside. While walking on his front yard towards the sidewalk, Timmy thought about whether he should go to Chester or A.J's house.
He decided on A.J's house and turned in that direction only to walk straight into Francis. The two bumped into each other rather painfully. Timmy immediately felt a hard shove from Francis which knocked him on his ass. Sitting on the ground and looking up made the already freakishly large bully appear even bigger.
"Turner" the grey child said while cracking his knuckles. "I had you scheduled for a beating yesterday. Where were you?"
Timmy could only muster a "I… uh" before Francis cut him in "that's okay Turner you showed up just now."
Timmy noticed that he and Francis were not alone, Francis's contingent of fellow bullies and assholes had been walking with him and now seemed to form a circle around Timmy and Francis.
"I'll tell you what Turner, since you actually showed up for once. I'll let you throw the first punch." "Yeah throw the first punch in a fight I'll lose no thanks" Timmy replied while one of Francis's goons hoisted Timmy to his feet.
Francis took a few steps forward towards Timmy and leaned forward with his head being the closest part of his body towards Timmy pointing to his face Francis spoke again. "Come on Turner hit me."
Timmy was scared and angry; he was scared that Francis would beat him senseless and angry with himself that he had gone from one source of merciless beatings to another. Timmy yelled back "I'm not going to hit you Francis!" Timmy knew he was in for it. It didn't matter if he hit Francis or not, he wasn't strong enough to hurt Francis.
Francis was probably going to beat him anyway so Timmy knew that the worst he could do to Francis was to annoy him by refusing to fight him. Choosing this course of action Timmy simply folded his arms and stood where he was content not to fight.
Francis's goons who were ignorant of Timmy's choice began shouting fight in unison. Timmy ignored them and stood his ground. Francis seemingly gave up on making Timmy start the fight and grabbed hold of Timmy's collar with one hand while he cocked the other arm back. Timmy readied himself for a blow to the face, but suddenly he heard a feminine voice shout "Alright what's going on here?" come from the direction of his house.
Every boy in the group instinctively flinched and cowered at the sound of Vicky's voice. Among the children of Dimmsdale Vicky enjoyed the status of an urban legend, few were brave enough or dumb enough to face her. A fact made evident when many of the boys that had encircled Timmy and Francis took flight at the sight of her, though a few of Francis's goons remained where they were.
Timmy turned his head towards his house and watched Vicky walk across the lawn towards him. He would have never thought he would be happy to see Vicky, but in this situation she was the lesser of two evils.
Stopping a few steps away from Timmy and Francis Vicky spoke "I'm only going to say this once Francis, let go of the twerp and get the hell out here"
Even though Francis still had hold of his shirt, Timmy no longer thought Francis was a threat to him. All of Francis's attention was focused on the red head. Francis replied in his usual tough guy voice, though Timmy thought he heard hints of fear in it.
"Why should I do that? I'm not going to take orders from a girl"
Francis followed his statement by letting go of Timmy and throwing a right hook at Vicky. Timmy was shocked he would try to hit a girl (even if she was evil) but even more surprised at how easily Vicky side stepped his punch. Vicky countered by raising her left knee and bringing it in contact with Francis's chin. Timmy could actually make out the noise of Francis's upper and lower jaws collide violently. Francis was left standing in a daze. Vicky simply pushed him and he fell onto his back. Timmy watched as Vicky stood over Francis and berated him with every curse word he had ever heard and a few he hadn't. Still in a semi conscious state, Francis likely wasn't hearing much if anything Vicky said to him.
A series of metallic clicking noises drew Timmy's attention to his right. One of the few of Francis's goons that had stayed was opening a butterfly knife. Timmy realized that both he and the knife wielding goon were directly behind Vicky, if he charged now Vicky would never see it coming.
To Timmy's horror the goon did charge. Timmy yelled "Vicky watch out" but knew that a verbal warning wasn't enough. Timmy launched himself forward and managed to tackle the bully from behind causing both to fall forward. Proving that he wasn't dumb enough to fall on his own knife the goon threw his knife forward before he hit the pavement with Timmy on top of him.
Vicky turned around just in time to see the knife sliding on the sidewalk into her foot and that the twerp of all people had saved her from being stabbed. Timmy got off the bully and stood up. Looking over at Vicky, Timmy saw that she was staring at the knife by her feet. Her face had turned pale, even for a redhead.
"Timmy" Vicky said in a soft tone that seemed alien coming from her. "Yeah" Timmy answered. "go back inside" Vicky spoke not bothering to look up from her feet.
The rebellion Timmy had planed earlier all but evaporated when he bumped into Francis. Now that Vicky was outside it was impossible. Timmy found himself obeying her commands and ventured back inside. Vicky was acting strange, Timmy thought. She rarely if ever used his real name and he couldn't remember a time when he had heard her speak so softly and calmly.
Once inside his home Timmy realized that she was likely very angry with him and was simply acting restrained outside where there were witnesses. It was very likely that she would enact her retribution on him when she came back inside.
Now certain of her actions Timmy flung himself upstairs and into his room. He locked the door behind him and began hurriedly barricading the doorway with any heavy object he could find. Satisfied that the makeshift barrier was as strong as he could make it, Timmy sat down on his bed and began to listen quietly. Sure enough he heard Vicky open the front door and close it behind her. Next he heard a few footsteps and then nothing. Timmy listened quietly for five minutes but heard nothing else.
He had no delusions; Vicky had to know exactly where he was. Timmy was surprised she hadn't screamed at him to come down the second she entered the house or come running up the stairs after him. Instead all he heard was silence. In a weird way the silence was almost worse than if she had attacked him outright. Timmy thought perhaps this was her intention; she might just be lying in wait ready to ambush him. He could think of only one option, to wait it out.