Chapter III
I awoke the next morning to the peaceful sounds of my goddamned alarm clock. I had forgotten to shut it off. With a curse, I shut it off, and tried to return to the wonderful dream I was having. I had dreamt of Tyler. After about an hour of attempting to sleep, I got up.
I was kind of surprised to find the house empty so early, this being Friday. My mom is usually at work this early, but I guess my dad decided to go in to work early. There was a note left on the table.
Jonathan,
You are to stay home. If you do not obey, you will be punished.
Your Father.
The pain in my lip made me re-evaluate the truth to these last words. My father. This man was not my father. I have no family.
The sound of my phone ringing upstairs broke the tense silence. I rushed back up the stairs and picked up the phone before the caller hung up.
"Hello?" I asked, a little short of breath.
"Hi Joni!" Tyler exclaimed. The sound of his voice made my heart melt.
"What's up, Ty?" I asked.
"Ty? I like it!" he said with a giggle. "Not too much over here. I start school on Monday, that's why I'm not there now."
"That's cool. Believe me, the later the better," I responded.
"Hey, you wanna go see a movie?" he asked.
"I've been grounded. Last night I snuck out."
In my mind, I replayed the events that happened after I came home last night. My dad punching me and then not caring if I was alright.
"Fuck it, lets go," I said.
Tyler met me at his front door, and we walked together to the theater. It was a fairly short walk, that being because the theater is connected to the mall. We chatted about meaningless things, and laughed a lot. He was really funny. God, I was liking him more every second.
Before I even realized it, we were inside the mall, waiting in the short line in front of the box office. We got tickets for "The Queen of the Damned." He joked that the only reason that I wanted to see it was because Stuart Townsend is so hot. I laughed, but he didn't believe me when I denied it. I playfully punched him in the shoulder.
We entered the lobby of the theater, and moved toward the concession line. I stopped cold when I saw Melanie Down standing at the front of the line, with a group of friends.
Tyler stopped and asked, "What's wrong, babe?"
Melanie turned around, and I was sure she spotted me. I spun around quickly, almost knocking Tyler over in the process. She was no more than fifteen feet away. When she started talking, she spoke loud enough that I could hear her.
"Hey Tiffany, look at Jonathan and his new boyfriend!" she said. "I should have known he was a faggot. Anyone that would turn me down has got to be queer." Her friends laughed.
I understood now. She was jealous because I chose Tyler instead of her. Or rather, he chose me. She was trying to humiliate me in front of the entire theater. I felt a growing feeling of contempt in the pit of my stomach. I had never intentionally done anything to hurt her, in fact, it was quite the opposite. I always felt terrible about turning her down every time she asked me out, but now, all I felt was a cold hatred, threatening to boil over.
I was tired of being the butt of the whole world's sick joke. I was tired of being the nasty little rumor on the tips of everyone's tongues. And then, something quite unexpected happened. I felt the ever-present fear dissolve away, leaving me with a resolve to defy them all. I WANTED them to know. I WANTED to shock them all. I didn't care any longer. I was eager to see the disgusted looks on everyone's faces, the looks of loathing.
I turned around again, and faced Melanie. Her glare dripped with an icy venom, such that can only be described as pure hatred. Or perhaps jealousy? Whichever, I still felt no fear.
I smiled slightly, in a mocking manner. Melanie's glare only hardened. I looked at Tyler, who looked as though he wanted to jump in and rescue me, but didn't quite know how. I laughed quietly, barely audible enough for Melanie to hear it.
I returned my gaze to Melanie, and said in a rather jovial tone, "All throughout time there have been creatures such as yourself, Melanie. Creatures that seduce and feed upon the weak willed, or the weak at heart. You, being the school's whore, could and have already gotten every boy you've ever wanted. But, when one of these boys speaks up and denies you of what you believe to be yours, it tears you apart. You are a parasite, Melancholy. You infect everyone you meet, and ultimately destroy them. People like me, who are willing to take chances, are the vaccine."
A look of pain and defeat adorned Melanie's face.
Then, to the surprise of everyone, including Tyler, I grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him passionately. At first, Ty was too shocked and scared to do anything. Then, he finally returned the kiss, our tongues warring for dominance. I don't know which side won, but I broke off the kiss as suddenly as I'd started it. I then grabbed Tyler by the elbow and pulled him along as I strode confidently to our theater.
We got into the theater and sat in the back in a relatively short time. As soon as we sat down I could literally feel Tyler's eyes on me. He had a look of complete wonder in his eyes. A small grin slowly snaked its way onto his face. I was looking at him as if this was once again the first time. As if it were the first time I noticed his cute little button nose, his ever so slightly rounded cheeks, and his square jaw. Or his hair, that gleamed like liquid gold in the sunlight.
All these thoughts must have passed through my mind in a matter of seconds. But now, I knew for sure, I was definitely falling for him. All he had to do was simply glance at me, and my heart would flutter.
Finally, his smile turned into a fit of giggles. "What's so funny?" I asked him. Instead of answering, he only giggled harder, which turned into a laugh.
"Do you have something you want to tell me?" he asked finally when he regained control.
I blushed a deep shade of red, and turned away from him. He reached over, and I felt his fingers on my chin. He slowly turned my head so that I was facing him. Instead of saying anything, he leaned over and placed his lips on mine. Not a sudden, unexpected kiss like the one I'd given him, this was a slow and passionate kiss. My mind went blank. It felt as if everything around me ceased its movement. The only thing that mattered to me was the fact that Tyler was right here, locked in my embrace.
We were shocked out of our little trance by the sudden explosion of sound as the previews before the movie started. He gave a slight, nervous giggle, and shyly scanned my face for my reaction. I didn't miss a beat.
"I love you, Tyler Hunt."
Amazing. That was the only word that I could think of to describe the events of my day. I'd stood up to Melanie, and I'd professed my love to Tyler. Tyler was the only thing on my mind during my lonely walk home. We'd left the theater together, but I left him at his house after an extremely long goodbye kiss.
I was still lost in thought as I turned the corner to head down my street. I didn't even look up until I had at least passed the first house. When I finally did look up, I was surprised by what I saw. There was a dark blue police cruiser parked in the driveway, and another that was identical to the first parked along the side of the street.
I stopped cold. My first thought was that my parents had called the police when they had discovered that I was missing. But then I saw my father sitting in the back of the police car in the driveway.
I ran as fast as I possibly could toward my house. As I got closer, I realized that my father was unconscious. I hurried past the car and in through the front door. I guess bursting into a house full of police is a somewhat bad idea, because the second I was inside I had three guns pointing straight at me.
"FREEZE!" one of them shouted.
"Whoa! Don't shoot! I live here!" I exclaimed, trying to hide the shakiness in my voice, but failing miserably.
"Put your guns away, he's telling the truth," my mother yelled as she entered the room. The officers holstered their sidearms immediately.
"Son, you really shouldn't burst in on someone like that," a tall young- looking officer with blonde hair and a blonde goatee said.
"I'll remember that," I said. "What is going on here?"
"Son, I'm officer Harry Tramlin," said a slightly overweight older cop with brown hair. "This is officer Jack Christensen," he motioned to the young blonde cop. "And this is officer Doug Travis," he said, motioning to a middle- aged cop with reddish brown hair and a full beard.
"It's nice to meet all of you, but that doesn't answer my question. And my name is Jon," I said in what I hoped was an even tone. I looked at my mother, and noticed for the first time the bruise around her swollen eye, and her bleeding lip.
"Well, son...er..Jon," continued officer Tramlin, in an annoyed tone of voice, "Your father came home from work drunk. When he found that you were not at home, he attacked your mother. I'm sorry, but im afraid he is under arrest."
I was sure my eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I had a look of utter disbelief on my face.
"Jon, please forgive me if this bothers you, but did your father hit you?" officer Christensen asked, pointing to the bruising on my face, from Sean Brown's attack, and my swollen lip from my father the previous night. He was a much friendlier person than Tramlin. I liked him.
I turned away from him, too embarrassed to meet his gaze. The tears threaten to resurface. Finally, I decide to tell him the truth.
"Not all of it. Most of the bruising is from when I was attacked at school. My swollen lip is from my father last night."
A look of concern flashed on his face. "You were attacked at school?"
"Yeah, a few days ago," I replied.
"We aren't here to investigate schoolyard violence," Tramlin said rather impatiently.
"Forgive me for caring," officer Christensen snapped at him. "Well, don't worry Jon, I'm going to do all I can to make sure that your father will never hurt either of you again," he said.
This time, I couldn't stop the tears. "Thank you," I managed to choke out. Then I couldn't resist the urge to hug him.
Later that night...
I became aware that I was walking into an old warehouse in the "bad part" of our town. I looked at my surroundings, and although they were all strangely familiar, I couldn't for the life of me remember where I was, or how I'd gotten there.
I opened the large front door of the warehouse and cautiously entered. I walked into a rather small room with three doors leading in different directions. The room was packed with boxes, some large and some small, all without a company logo.
I decided to try the door to my immediate left. I had a strange feeling that I wouldn't be able to get into the others. As I moved closer, I noticed why I could get into this one. It was not only unlocked, but the lock had been torn out completely. I also noticed what looked like scratch marks around the hole where the lock should have been.
Suddenly, and overwhelmingly, a feeling of immense dread and loss swept over me. However, the loss I felt was not my own. It were as if it were being channeled through my entire body, by some unknown force.
I knew I didn't want to enter that place, but in the pit of my stomach, I knew I had to. Ever so slowly, I turned the knob, and pushed open the door. I entered the next room, which was also packed with boxes, although the room itself were much larger. I walked slowly past a stack of large boxes that were blocking my view to half of the room. What I saw terrified me.
The first sensation that passed through me was the rancid stench of still- warm blood. There were about ten or twelve bodies, all what looked like to have been thrown carelessly around the room. Not only were they thrown around, but each one looked like it had been mauled by a bear. Blood covered everything. The off-white carpet forever stained a deep crimson.
I took all of this in, in a matter of seconds. Intense nausea swept over me next. I turned my head quickly away from the grotesque scene, the motion causing even more nausea. I threw up in the corner of the room.
After about thirty seconds of vomiting, I lifted my head up, and surveyed the scene one last time. The only thought going through my mind was that I had to call the police.
I was about to turn away again, and walk out of the room, when a door on the opposite side of the room opened. I was frozen in complete and utter fear.
Unusually casually, a tall man in a long black coat stepped through the door. His hood was covering his head, which made him look like a giant shadow. He calmly stepped over a body, and continued toward me. He stopped in the middle of the room, where moonlight was shining in through a hole in the ceiling. He looked upwards, revealing his face to me. Ghastly white. His whole essence had an air of malevolence. He looked back at me.
"Do not be afraid, young Jonathan Cross," he said. "For in the end, when it is all complete, it shall have been done for the Glory of the Brotherhood."
For the first time in my young life, I was relieved to hear the sound of my alarm clock.
"What the Hell...?" I mumbled as I shut off my alarm. The next thing I did was roll over and grab my phone and dialed a familiar number.
"Andrea, you will NOT believe this crazy dream I just had.
hey yall. i know its been a LONG while since my last post, but, i hope to have chapter 4 out alot sooner.
as always, PLEASE e-mail me with ANY comments about my story.
well, keep reading!!!
The Raven***