Chapter Twenty

 

        “Come back here you little b***h!” Greg heard Kyle yell furiously from behind him.

        The Sophomore sprinted down the urban street he was on at the greatest speed he could possibly muster. He didn't dare look behind him in fear that Kyle was right behind him with the knife poised for the kill. He felt as though he could feel Kyle's breath on his neck – which almost felt like it was Death himself chasing after him.

        Greg soon reached a corner and quickly turned. His heart skipped a beat and all hope drained from him upon seeing a dead end right in front of him.

        “I'll kill you!”

        Greg's head snapped to the side to see the knife raised in Kyle's hand. He gave a blood-curling yell as he stumbled backwards, barely evading the sharp weapon. The Sophomore quickly turned and ran towards the dead end, looking around frantically in search of a way out, but there weren't any. There was no one there to help him. Not Sarah. Not Zach. No one.

        Kyle slowly walked towards Greg, an evil, psychotic grin that spread from one ear to the other while his gray eyes conveyed malevolence as clear as day. Greg pressed his back against the brick wall behind him, his feet trying to push himself backwards as if he expected to go through the wall at any moment. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. He was left standing there, paralyzed in terror as the blond inched his way towards him painstakingly slowly, his face showing the enjoyment he was receiving from watching the Sophomore fear for his life.

        Seconds later, which felt like hours on end for Greg, Kyle closed in the gap in between them. Greg watched through wide eyes as the knife was raised before it came hurling down towards him. . .

        Greg gasped loudly as he shot up in the bed, cold sweat sitting on his brow as his chest rose and fell in rapid motions with each gasping breath he took. His eyes darted from one place in his room to the next until he came to realize that it was only a nightmare. He sighed a shaky sigh, which only allowed him to pacify himself a tiny bit.

        That wasn't the only time Greg had a nightmare of Kyle trying to murder him. Ever since Friday, he was constantly waking up throughout the night with those horrid nightmares. They caused him to get very little sleep, leaving him completely exhausted during the day. Even though he always felt fatigued, he was always on edge. He felt like he was living his nightmares. It always felt like Kyle was waiting for him around every corner he neared, waiting to lunge out at him with the knife. It always felt like Kyle was rushing up from behind him with the knife readied for the fatal blow.

        After the look Kyle gave him, Kyle was to Greg like what a monster under the bed or in the closet was to a little kid. It had even become so bad to where it was difficult for Greg to go outside by himself in fear that Kyle would try to attack him at any moment. He never bothered voicing his concerns about it to Zach though. He didn't want Zach to worry about him. Besides, maybe there wasn't even really anything to worry about? Maybe his wild imagination was just getting the best of him? Yeah, that must be it, or at least Greg hoped that was the case.

        Feeling calm now, Greg looked towards the digital alarm clock on his nightstand to see that it was six o'clock in the morning. He slowly got out of bed to get ready for school.

 

        Zach laughed a little. “Hey dude, you okay? You look like the undead this morning.”

        “Yeah, I'm fine,” Greg replied with an exhausted smile. “Just a little tired, that's all.”

        “Still haven't been getting a lot sleep?”

        “No, not really.”

        “Why, has something been bothering you?”

        “No, of course not,” Greg answered a little defensively.

        Zach looked at Greg for a moment. “C'mon dude, haven't I already told you not to lie to me?”

        “Everything's fine, I promise,” Greg said with a false reassuring smile.

        The Junior studied him for a moment before smiling some. “Alright dude,” he said before pulling Greg into a hug.

        “Hey Greg.”

        Greg slowly pulled away from Zach upon hearing the greeting before looking to the side to see Sarah walking over to them.

        “Hey Sarah,” Greg greeted with a small smile.

        “I'll leave you two alone,” Zach said when Sarah reached them. “See you in study hall,” he told Greg.

        The dark-haired male clapped Greg on the shoulder before walking off. The younger male watched him for a moment before looking at Sarah.

        “What's up?” he asked with a small smile.

        “Nothing, just wanted to see how everything was going,” she said before frowning a little. “What happened to your eye?”

        “It's nothing,” Greg told her with a reassuring smile, just wanting to forget about Kyle for the time being.

        “Oh, okay,” said Sarah. There was a couple seconds of silence before she resumed talking. “You haven't talked to me, Heather, or Andrew ever since you got back together with Kyle, and we haven't been able to talk in cooking class since we don't sit near each other anymore, so I guess I was wondering how everything was going with you two.”

        Greg looked at her for a moment, seeing her smiling as she waited expectantly for some wonderful news. He should have known that it would be foolish to think he would be able to talk with her without delving into the subject of Kyle. The Sophomore boy figured he should probably go ahead and tell her though. It would be the only way for her to forget about him.

        The brown-haired boy sighed. “Look, there's something I have to tell you,” he began. He then went on to tell her about how Kyle abused him. He told her about how he constantly hit him if he didn't listen to him. He told her about how he isolated him from everyone he cared about so he could have him all to himself. When he finished, Sarah became speechless for a few seconds as her jaw became slack.

        “Oh my God, I'm so sorry,” she apologized. “I never would've guessed. I'm so sorry Greg. Oh my God, I feel so bad now. I wish I never would've kept telling you to get back together with him.”

        “It's okay,” he assured her with a half-hearted smile. “It's not like you would've known.”

        “Why didn't you tell me though?”

        Greg shrugged. “Because you liked him so much that I guess I didn't want to upset you or anything.”

        “You should've though.”

        “Yeah, I guess so.”

        “But you are okay now though, right?”

        “Yeah. I told him off and I'm back together with Zach again.”

        “Okay, good. But Greg, if something like that ever happens to you again, please tell me, alright?”

        “Alright.”

        “You promise?”

        Greg chuckled a little. “Yeah, I promise.”

        “Good.” Sarah smiled. “Come on, let's go find Heather and Andrew.”

        “Okay.”

        And with that, the two began to walk off. Greg felt like a sort of weight was lifted off of his shoulders. He felt a lot better after telling Sarah.

 

        Kyle walked down the hall, following a crowd of students towards the somewhat large cafeteria. He had left Greg alone during Spanish, knowing that it wouldn't do him a bit of good to confront him in the middle of class. However, he was aware of the fact that Greg knew what was coming to him by the constant glances he had received from the male. Kyle figured he should know too, and it would soon only be a matter of time when he received his rightful punishment.

        And luckily for Kyle, he had B lunch like he had been since last week; his teacher had managed to get their lunchtime changed. Of course, Kyle wasn't planning on doing anything to Greg in the cafeteria, because that would be too risky. He wanted to do it when there wasn't anyone around so he could maybe avoid getting caught. With this being the case, he figured he would either have to trick Greg into going with him somewhere after they ate, or wait and hope that he will leave the cafeteria, the latter being more likely because he was certain that Greg was smart enough to know that he shouldn't go anywhere with him.

        When he reached the cafeteria, Kyle spotted Greg sitting at the table with his friends and Zach. Upon seeing this, he instantly knew that he wouldn't be able to trick Greg into going anywhere with him. Zach would stop Greg from doing anything so stupid. With this being the case, Kyle walked over to an empty table that wasn't too far away from the table Greg was sitting at so he could keep an eye on him in case he ever decided to leave.

        As he sat there, Kyle didn't bother eating his lunch. No, this was more important to him. Punishing Greg was his top priority. He didn't want to take a chance of being distracted by eating and missing his chance to give Greg his punishment. Instead, he sat there patiently, his hand resting on the knife that rested in his pocket, dutifully waiting to serve its purpose.

 

        Greg sat there next to Zach, half-listening to what his friends were talking about. He shifted a little in his chair every so often, feeling rather uncomfortable due to the pressure that had built up in his bladder. He had been holding it in ever since first period and hadn't had the chance to go yet. Sure he could ask permission from a teacher during class, but he always hated doing that. Every time he went to the bathroom during class, he always ended up missing something important, and so he decided that he would never go to the bathroom during class again. There wasn't really much time in between classes either because he always had to either walk a large distance to get to his next class, or stop at his locker to get something on the way there. With this being the case, lunch was really his only option.

        However, he didn't really feel comfortable going to the bathroom. He knew Kyle was in the cafeteria because he spotted him a few minutes ago. The blond had been staring at him for the most part since then too, which made Greg even more unsure of going to the restroom. Unfortunately though, he didn't really seem to have much of a choice. The urge to pee was practically unbearable now and there was no way he was going to wet himself. There was the option of asking Zach to go with him though, but Greg immediately dismissed it. The question sounded too awkward. Not only that, but he didn't want to let Zach know about his paranoia. The Junior would probably think he was going crazy, or it would make him worry, which Greg didn't want him to do.

        Sighing, Greg looked towards Kyle from the corner of his eye. Seeing that the boy was looking somewhere else at the moment, he figured he would go while he had the chance. He quickly stood up.

        “Where you going dude?” asked Zach.

        “Bathroom,” Greg said hurriedly.

        He quickly walked towards the exit of the cafeteria, which only seemed to get further and further away like the door at the other end of the hall in one of those weird dreams. Instead of there just being an unreachable destination though, there was the paranoia along with, like there was a monster chasing after him. Greg had an urge to look behind him to see where Kyle was, but he didn't dare. He was too afraid to.

        Fortunately, he was able to reach the bathroom without a single ounce of trouble. Maybe he really was just imagining things? Maybe there wasn't really anything to be afraid of after all? There didn't seem to be anything he had to worry about after all.

 

        Kyle walked out of the cafeteria before turning the corner. He had gotten distracted by a group of Freshman boys fooling around and didn't realize that Greg had left. He just hoped that he didn't screw up his opportunity to punish Greg.

        Fortunately for him though, it seemed that he still had his chance. He looked towards the bathroom to see Greg walking out of it and Kyle instantly charged towards him. Greg turned his head to see him, but before he had a chance to react, Kyle grabbed him by the throat and violently slammed him into a wall.

        “You stupid piece of s**t, you think you can tell me off like that!” Kyle hissed furiously, making sure he wasn't too loud so he wouldn't draw any attention.

        Greg didn't say anything as he tried to gasp for air, but having very little luck with his airway being cut off. He tried to push Kyle away, but to no avail. The blond was a lot stronger than him and the Sophomore's strength was gradually being drained from him due to not getting any air.

        “You stupid piece of s**t, I'll f*****g kill you for trying to pull a stunt like that!” Kyle spat venomously.

        “Get the hell off of him!” Zach yelled furiously, his voice clearly echoing down the hall.

        Before Kyle had a chance to react, he was pushed away from Greg. He stumbled a little before he regained his footing. The anger on the blond's face only increased upon seeing the dark-haired male.

        “You stupid sunnuva b***h!” Kyle yelled.

        He quickly walked towards Zach as he withdrew the knife and poised it for the strike. Zach's eyes widened some in surprise, definitely not expecting something like this. When Kyle closed in the distance though, he quickly reacted by grabbing the blond's wrists. However, his strength had faltered a little from seeing the knife and he was almost easily slammed into the wall. Zach's grip on Kyle's wrists remained tight though as he struggled to keep the knife from coming anywhere near his body.

        “Hey, break it up!” a male teacher, who had been supervising the cafeteria, yelled as he quickly came over to the two. Before Kyle could do anything, the teacher yanked the knife from his grip before pulling him away from Zach. He held the blond's arms behind his back to try to incapacitate him to the best of his ability.

        “Get off of me, get off of me!” Kyle yelled as he tried to break free from the teacher's grip, but to no avail.

        “Come with us Mister Palmer,” said a second male teacher who came over to assist the other one with the thrashing boy.

        Greg and Zach watched quietly as the two teachers dragged Kyle down the hall before a short, pudgy female teacher walked over to them to make sure that they were all right. Zach assured her that they were fine before the teacher walked back to the cafeteria to resume supervising since she was now the only teacher left. Once she was gone, Zach turned towards Greg.

        “You are okay, right?” Zach asked as he studied Greg for any signs of injuries.

        “Yeah, I'm fine,” Greg replied with a reassuring smile. “Just a little shaken up is all.”

        Zach sighed in relief. “Good.”

        “And you're okay too? He didn't cut you or anything, did he?”

        “Nope, not a scratch on me,” Zach said with a smile.

        “Okay, good.”

        “C'mon, let's head back into the cafeteria for now.”

        “Alright.”

        Zach wrapped an arm around Greg's shoulders before the two walked back into the cafeteria.

Author's Note

I'm not sure if the whole attack scene is really believable/realistic. I mean, Kyle's actions are believable, but I'm not sure if I portrayed it right. What do you think?

Reviews

[courtney]

the ending seems like the middle of the story. i've been following the story the whole time but didn't have much time to give you some reviews so here it goes. in a few chapters u might want to reread because there is a few errors but if not there not huge errors up to u really. As for the story line and everything i really enjoyed it. the story had its ups and downs and never was just at a stand still of oridinary day to day life without something interesting happening. all in all awsome work but please don't just let it end at this chapter it just seems unfinished to me.