Happenings

The following day the town was still buzzing with the news from last night. It was literally the biggest thing to happen for fifteen years. It wasn’t so much because of the car accident, but the wild stories that came with it. People talked of a beast wandering the forest, as if people weren’t already unnerved about that place. The sun rose in the morning sky with a soft warm light, it was a lovely warm day although it had been a little chilly within the last few days. It actually seemed like they would have nice weather all day Joshua thought. He hoped that if they had sunny days now, then perhaps they might actually have a warm summer as well.

He moaned when looking at the clock. He intended on sleeping in today seeing as it was a Sunday and that he had officially turned sixteen during the night, but his body disagreed. He laid on his back staring at the ceiling; he questioned himself whether or not he should get up and dressed. As he lay there he knew he wouldn’t go back off to sleep. Eventually he chose to get up and reluctantly dragged his feet down the stairs; he still wore his PJ bottoms and a vest.

The smell of pancakes seeped through the air and into Joshua’s nostrils; he always loved his grandmother’s pancakes on Sunday mornings. Entering the kitchen he saw his grandmother standing at the kitchen side baking herself some good smelling pancakes, he had just sat down picking up the newspaper when she turned to notice him.

‘No doubt you want a plate of my delicious pancakes?’ Joshua’s grandmother said smiling.

‘You give yourself too much credit. But yes I will have some average pancakes.’ His grandmother smiled at her grandson’s cheeky joke. Joshua flicked through the pages of the newspaper while he waited patiently for his pancakes, and then something very strange happened. Out of the blue a sudden strong smell hit Joshua as he took in a deep breath through his nose. It was a familiar smell to Joshua.

‘Is preacher Dan here?’ Joshua mumbled out loud, but also as if he was asking himself rather than his grandmother.

‘What’s that honey?’ His grandmother asked. Joshua looked up and thought about what it was he had just said. What he had said was nuts, why would preacher Dan be in the house. Dan was the guy that went door to door preaching and selling things to raise money. He was a nice enough man but he smelled.

‘Nothing.’ He told his grandmother, but it wasn’t nothing. He took another sniff through his nose. He was right it really did smell like Dan was nearby, the same damp smell he knew too well whenever Preacher Dan was around. He looked around but didn’t understand why, he knew Dan wasn’t here, but then where was the smell coming from? On looking back around Joshua forgot about the matter for a moment as his grandmother placed a plate of pancakes in front of him. Joshua immediately attacked his food like he always did by taking a big mouthful of pancakes; he had to admit that his grandmother was right, they were delicious. Just then the doorbell rang, Joshua took no notice and had just let his grandmother answer it; he was too focused on his breakfast to think about anything else. In fact whenever he had food in front of him it was always the same.

But then something hit him hard and he froze. He held a fork full of pancakes in his hand in mid-air, halfway towards his mouth and the plate. He froze because he heard something, or someone, coming from the door. He turned and saw his grandmother chatting to Preacher Dan at the front door. At that time Joshua got an even stronger smell of the familiar dampness coming off Dan. Now he was confused, he had already smelt Dan long before he arrived. Joshua puzzled over this for a few minutes while he finished off the rest of his pancakes, but soon he thought nothing of it and passed it off as to pure coincidence.

The thought of that morning followed him to school the next day. He lingered through the halls of his high school supposedly on his way to his next class; students crossed him and crowded his path. He had gym next and they were playing dodge ball this week, he never did like the game dodge ball because he was never good at it. Somehow no matter how hard Joshua tried he would always get hit by the ball and only minutes into the game.

Joshua turned into the open garage where broken down cars hung high above Joshua’s head, it was a classroom for mechanic and automobile lessons. Joshua frequently took this route because it was a short cut to gym class, and the best part about it was that no one was hardly around at this time during the day. He continued through the garage to the other side and then across the court yard outside. This is where a separate building stood, a huge rectangular building with a huge gym set up inside. Joshua entered, many stood around already dressed and ready for class.

‘Hurry up Josh, you’re already running late.’ His gym teacher greeted him, the same way he greeted Joshua in every gym class. Joshua proceeded to the boys locker room to change for class and then re-entered the sports hall, being the very last to join his classmates.

‘Ok listen up...’ The gym teacher spoke out loud to the whole class; the teacher’s name was Mr Wicky and everyone fell quiet at his voice. ‘It’s dodge ball week.’ He continued. Joshua overheard one of the jocks mutter ‘Hell week’ under his breath and then one of his friends joined in with ‘Yeah for everyone else’ as he hit his fist into the palm of his other hand. The teacher continued further with his speech.

‘You all know the rules, two teams, four balls. If you get hit by the ball you are out and if you catch it then the one who threw it is out. If you are out then you go and sit down. Danny, Eric, you two are team captains, pick your teams.’ With that the teacher left them to it and shortly after the teams were painfully chosen the game began.

Joshua made his way to the back, hiding behind everyone else as he always cowardly did. He constantly moved back and forwards as the balls flew overhead. Joshua hated this game and he couldn’t wait for it to end, but with these thoughts running through his head Joshua hadn’t even noticed that the people covering around him were becoming less and less. Now he was sure that at any moment he would get hit at an unexpected time, he seriously considered just standing still and letting it happen. As he was thinking this he realised that he was in fact standing still.

The balls continued flying around him and at a fast speed as well. Then suddenly like he had no control over his own body Joshua quickly reached out and with a single hand grabbed a dodge ball right out of the air from hitting a teammate. It all flashed by so fast, Joshua had seen one of the jocks point to his teammate from out of the corner of his eye. He then began to throw the ball with incredible force behind it, obviously intending for it to hurt the unexpected victim. That’s when Joshua’s quick reactions came into play, shocking himself even more than anyone who had seen him.

Joshua continued to hold up the ball in his stretched out hand, in front of the thankful victim. He still stared at the ball in his hand, thoughts racing far more confusing than he had ever been in his life. Not once could he ever catch a flying ball in two hands, let alone in one hand. It was completely impossible of him to react so quickly, he had not one reflex to speak of. He was just a clumsy person who wasn’t good at anything remotely active. So how then, was this possible?

Joshua couldn’t wrap his brain around it. He was so shocked in fact over the whole thing he had switched off and forgot about the game that was still being played. He was brought back in the worst possible way; Joshua was suddenly hit squarely in the face by a ball. He now lay on the floor, bleeding from the nose.

Mr Wicky took Joshua into the boy’s locker room and into a smaller room where he took out the first aid box. The gym teacher cleaned up Joshua’s nose, which was a little sore, and then stuck some white tape along the bridge of his nose. Joshua thought he looked even more of a dork then he already felt.

By the time Joshua had finished most of his classmates had already changed and disappeared from the locker room. Only a handful remained. Joshua began to swap his gym clothes for his pair of jeans and a t-shirt with its geeky comic book picture on the front. As Joshua slipped his second blue converse shoe onto his foot, he took a look around and sighed. He was now alone, something he often found himself whenever Charlie wasn’t around. It wasn’t that he didn’t have other friends besides Charlie; it was more that no one else truly knew him as well as Charlie. He could be hanging out with the few male friends he knew at school and still feel completely alone. You would usually find Joshua hanging out by himself on the far end of the school field, sitting under the same tree, sometimes sketching a few drawings in his sketch pad. Drawing was his favourite hobby.

Joshua stood up to exit the boy’s locker room, his back pack in his hand; he began towards the exit when he heard a voice. It was very soft but familiar and it was coming from behind the door to the sports hall. Joshua turned and walked over to the entrance of the sports hall, he slightly opened the door so that there was only an inch held open. He then leaned an ear to the tiny crack in the door and excitedly listened in. The voice was much clearer now and it was confirmed to who Joshua had first thought it was. It was Charlie.

‘So you and Josh were getting close at his party.’ Another voice said. It sounded to Joshua like Charlie’s friend Jenifer.

‘Not really.’ Charlie continued saying in conversation.

‘Not really!’ Jenifer stated. ‘You two are the closest people I know, you know everything about each other. You two are like a couple already, only better.’

‘You’re crazy.’

‘Am I? You run to him every time you have a problem or you’re upset.’

‘Well he’s a good friend, he makes me feel safe.’ Joshua smiled at this compliment that he was probably never meant to hear. Jenifer didn’t respond to what Charlie had said but just continued.

‘He bought you a dress...an expensive dress.’

‘It was a present.’ Charlie’s attempts to explain wasn’t working.

‘It was his birthday not yours. And he danced with you.’

‘He...was just helping me out.’

‘You two nearly kissed.’ Joshua now heard a pause. He could only guess that she had no more words to say, that she was stumped. Joshua smiled again but unconsciously. He now wanted to get a better look since the silence was causing him to be even more curious. Joshua opened the door slowly as he squeezed his head through the gap between the door and the door-frame. And now he was totally baffled, there was no one in the sports hall.

Joshua was covered in a fog of confusion; he looked around the hall double checking over every inch. But still no one was there. However now he could see them, across the other side of the hall are two glass doors which would lead you to the girl’s locker room. Both Charlie and Jenifer were stood on the other side of the glass doors, and by the way that their lips were moving they were still talking. What happened? Joshua thought. He had heard them chatting clear as day; as if they were standing right close to the door he was stood at. They couldn’t have had time to walk across the hall and through the glass doors within the seconds Joshua had opened this door. So how did he hear them?

Joshua thought about it hard, it even gave him a migraine from being such an unsolvable question. He left it simply at maybe the glass doors were open and their voices echoed through the sports hall. That seemed possible. Joshua was absolutely happy on this idea, totally settled on it being the logical reason. Until that was, he heard them again.

‘So are you going to say something to him?’ Jenifer spoke. This time Joshua watched them throughout, no doors had opened this time and yet he heard her just as clear, as if she was standing right next to him. They looked as if they were continuing to talk; only it was quiet once more. Joshua left the gym feeling very dumbfounded. He didn’t think this was possible. He proceeded to his tree on the field with his thoughts still accompanying him. Joshua did the best thing he knew would relax his mind, the thing that always worked. He took out his sketch book and began to draw.

Joshua had skipped his last two classes and stayed hanging out by the same very old tree in the school field. Joshua’s thoughts lingered over the strange events that had been happening to him today and the day previous. He began believing that maybe he had super powers like Superman or Spiderman. He chuckled out loud at the idea, it was crazy. But there was something going on with him, he could feel it in his body. He felt it when he overheard Charlie and Jenifer’s conversation from a distant, an almost echo in his ear. He especially felt it when he caught that dodge ball. It was a sensation of a sort of strength within, and a spider-sense before it even happened. Maybe his five senses were being heightened...or maybe he really was turning crazy.

The only reason Joshua stayed on school grounds was because he had promised Charlie to drive her home again. He waited under the old tree finishing off his drawing before packing up and heading back to the school building. Joshua found his way to his personal locker just as the school bell rang; he placed his school books into the locker and threw his back pack over his shoulder again. He knew from the time the school bell had only just rang that Charlie would be at her own locker at this time, so he headed into that direction.

Joshua turned a corner, as soon as he did he could see Charlie’s locker opposite. As he had hoped she was already at her locker, only she wasn’t alone. Standing at her side while she placed her books into the locker was Eric. Joshua didn’t like him because he was a jock, and the worst kind, but mainly he hated him because he was just more popular than he was. Joshua hated that this was the reason, more than he hated Eric.

Joshua noticed that Charlie looked agitated by Eric being around. He watched a while, but hadn’t realised he had stopped in the middle of the hall way for far too long. It now seemed like they were in an argument as Charlie slammed her locker shut and turned around.

Joshua edged closer, still trying hard to listen in. And then eventually he got within hearing distance and he discovered that Eric was trying to ask Charlie out on a date. It seemed that she had said no but Eric pushed on. Charlie was annoyed at Eric's constant nagging and Joshua found himself feeling glad that she wasn’t fooled by his jock-like ways as everyone else was.

Joshua found himself staring again, he watched the jock try his moves on Charlie, and then something boiled inside of him. He watched as Eric reached out his hand towards Charlie’s and then he snapped. Joshua quickly jumped forward in between the two while smacking Eric’s reached out hand away.

‘She said no, are you deaf, or maybe just stupid.’ Joshua shouted out angrily. And then he suddenly realised what he had just said and done to this huge and very strong jock. Now Joshua was panicking inside but he didn’t show it.

‘Joshua, what are you doing?’ Charlie asked. Joshua stood in front with his back to her, he stood facing Eric. He was completely scared now. He had crossed a line. He felt like he was a knight in shining armour about to face the fiery dragon, and now he waited for his punishment which he was absolutely sure was going to happen.

‘What did this pencil neck just say to me?’ Eric said aloud.

‘Eric he didn’t mean it, he was just...’ Charlie started. She was still behind Joshua and even though she tried to defend him, she didn’t really understand where this behaviour came from.

‘You wanna try something? You a tough guy now?’ Eric said. Joshua continued to say nothing at all, too surprised to. Instead he stood his ground, at least pretending to be a man. ‘Hey I’m talking to you.’ Eric became more angry now, his voice raised and violent as he shoved Joshua in his shoulder. Eric shoved Joshua again but this time Joshua smacked his hand away and then they both broke out into a fight.

‘Stop! Eric don’t!’ Charlie screeched out as she watched Joshua dive into Eric gripping around his waist. Eric forced Joshua off of him and grabbed his shirt by his shoulders, he then pinned him up against the lockers. But then something happened, Eric let go of his hurtful grip and stepped back a little. Both Joshua and Charlie followed Eric’s gazed and discovered their principle walking towards them.

‘Me and you are gonna finish this, outside. I’ll be waiting.’ Eric spat at Joshua very evilly and then hurried down the hall away from the direction of their principle. Joshua didn’t know what to think, he was actually shaking. A thought hit him, he realised that not once did he ever get into a fight. In fact he hadn’t even gotten violent with anyone until now, which is why he was shaking. Charlie stepped towards Joshua and put a hand on his shoulder but Joshua just brushed her off. He lent back on the lockers and took in a sigh as he slid down coming to sit upon the floor. Charlie joined him by sitting next to him, their backs leaning against the lockers.

‘You ok...? You can go out the back way. I’ll go with you.’ Charlie told Joshua. Joshua stared forwards looking as though he was in a coma. ‘It’s ok if...’

‘It’s not ok.’ Joshua interrupted her. He then started to stand. ‘It’s my responsibility, and I should deal with it and accept the consequences.’ Charlie stood with him.

‘You don’t have to do this, you know that right?’ Charlie asked.

‘Yes I do.’ Joshua headed towards the entrance of the school, with Charlie close behind. They exited the school, the sun shining upon their faces, but Joshua couldn’t enjoy it. To him the sun reflected the flames of hell he was about to willingly enter. Joshua nervously looked around for Eric but couldn’t find him; he slowly began to walk forward across the school grounds hoping that Eric might think that this was just a waste of his time and was already on his way home. There was no such luck, as Joshua and Charlie got halfway across the grounds they spotted Eric sitting on a small wall surrounding a flower bed. He was surrounded by loads of people that consisted mostly of jocks and others who had obviously heard about the upcoming fight. Now Joshua lost all hope of avoiding this fight and was certain it was going to happen. He now accepted that he was going to do this whether he wanted to or not.

Joshua froze for a couple of seconds; he took a deep breath in and waited for a moment. Joshua only allowed seconds to be afraid, and then he began forward once more towards the devil. Joshua got close to Eric and the people around him who now backed up to form a circle around them both; this only made Joshua more nervous. Eric stood up, a look of pure anger in his eyes, and Joshua came face to face with his enemy.

‘You ready to do this?’ Eric said.

‘Not really, don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind?’ Eric gave Joshua a look and then smirked to his friends by his side; they too chuckled at his comment. ‘I guess not.’ Joshua felt Charlie’s hand on his shoulder from behind him.

‘You still don’t have to do this.’ Joshua looked at her and then looked around; he noticed that more people were gathering now.

‘Oh I think I do.’ Joshua turned back to Eric who was taking off his leather jacket, Joshua copied by taking his denim jacket off but leaving his grey hoody on. He then rolled up his sleeves and put up his fists, trying to look as if he had done this before. Eric and his friends mocked and laughed at him again.

Just then as Joshua stood strong and prepared for the worse, Eric surprised him with a punch to his face hitting him in his jaw and catching his bottom lip. This made Joshua feel dazed and he fell backwards onto his a*s. Charlie stepped forward and helped Joshua to his feet.

‘Leave me.’ Joshua spat at her, before standing and brushing himself off. Everyone around them moved backwards a little giving them both more room. Joshua felt not as ashamed about what happened as he thought he might, instead he just felt angry. Joshua moved forwards but as he did Eric came at him twice as quick, with a kick to his stomach, another punch to his face, and as Joshua stood there bent over Eric jumped up and elbowed him in the his back. Again Joshua fell to the gravel, pain sourcing from his body. He laid breathing into the dirt almost crying; now he felt ashamed and weak.

‘Stay down, Joshua. Just stay down.’ Charlie called out softly to him. Joshua heard her call out but his focus was on Eric. He looked up and saw Eric boasting to his friends over his victory. Joshua knew that if he just lay there, then it will all be over, Eric would leave and so will everyone else. But Joshua didn’t want to do that, something inside of him told him that he had to finish this. It was a different person then himself, a person of pure anger perhaps. He didn’t know where this feeling came from but he felt more angry and bloodthirsty than ever, and now he wanted so badly to make Eric hurt the way he was. With this feeling Joshua stood up, a little limp from the blows to his stomach and face. Joshua’s back was painful from being elbowed by Eric, his stomach felt slightly numb, and blood dribbled from his lip.

Eric noticed Joshua standing and a look of shock covered his face, thinking that he had already ended this. Now a little angry with disappointment Eric walked over to the weak Joshua and threw a punch. Only this time Joshua dodged it with quickness, a surprise to everyone around him who now became very quiet and intrigued. Eric was the most shocked of them all, he could never imagine that he would miss, so with more anger he threw another. Again Joshua dodged the punch, then two more punches. To everyone else and Eric it looked as if Joshua was moving really fast, like a trained martial artist. But to Joshua it was much different.

The first punch Eric threw was like it was coming at Joshua in slow motion. Joshua saw it coming as if he could see it before it happened, like he sensed it. Eric’s fist was coming forward towards Joshua’s face, so Joshua simply moved his head to the left so to not get hit. Joshua felt like he knew what he was doing, like he had the knowledge and power to fight. But then this scared him because he had no idea where it came from. Eric’s fist came at him again, so Joshua moved to the right this time. It happened so quickly and it was like Joshua now had great reflexes. This continued more times as Eric attempted to hit Joshua, Eric was moving forward whilst Joshua moved back like they were both dancing.

Everyone watched in awe as the fight went on. Eric threw another punch with his whole arm coming round but again Joshua dodged it by ducking underneath his arm and coming up behind him. Eric was just as quick and turned towards Joshua, he picked up his foot and side kicked Joshua. This knocked Joshua backwards and he tumbled once more to the floor, however this time he didn’t stay down for long. Joshua threw his legs above his head and flipped himself back onto his feet, this happened as Eric drew near. As Joshua landed on his feet he span around whilst crouching down and stretched out his leg all at the same time, sweeping Eric off of his feet. Eric landed with a loud thump as he hit the floor hard, smacking his head on the gravel.

Joshua stood with his fists held out again and he was breathing heavily. Eric stood, his blood was boiling and rising fast, not once did he ever lose a fight and didn’t want to lose this one either. Eric ran at Joshua and stopped in front of him throwing more punches. First a right punch which Joshua grabbed with his left hand, and then a left punch which Joshua also grabbed with his right hand. They both now stood, with Joshua holding Eric’s arms crisscrossed. Joshua then spins Eric around whilst still holding onto his wrists, and then kicked him in his back. Eric went flying into the small wall of the flower bed.

Eric ran at Joshua again, true revenge bubbling in his eyes, he threw another punch with his whole arm coming around with force. It all happened fast to the outside viewers around them. Again Joshua ducked the attempted punch and came up behind Eric, who span around in seconds to face him and attempted to run at him again. This time as he drew near Joshua stepped back and at the same time he grabbed at Eric’s shirt and rolled onto his back. With Eric coming down with him Joshua placed his foot on his waist, and then with great force which he did not know he had Joshua threw Eric up to the sky and over his head.

Eric flew high above Joshua’s head. He continued to fly over his head and landed incredibly hard on the ground behind him. Eric was winded badly and felt a lot of pain. Everyone around them, including Joshua, stared at Eric trying to steadily breathe. But through the pain Eric thrust himself towards Joshua one final time.

At this point Joshua felt in great control and there was something in his eyes that told him he could finish this. Eric reached Joshua but Joshua was quick. He kicked Eric between his legs, as he went down he held his head still and kneed him to the face. Finally while Eric stood dazed Joshua spun around and kicked him in the jaw knocking Eric to the floor for good. It was obvious to Eric and everyone that the fight was over seeing that he was in a lot of pain and couldn’t move.

Joshua reflected on what had just happened and he scared himself. He looked up to Charlie in front of him, as if to find answers or comfort, but it only made him feel worse. Charlie looked at him with an unknowing look, like he was a stranger she knew not. Joshua felt a lot of things, confusion, anger, hurt, sadness, but mostly just scared.

Joshua turned and began to run; he needed to get out of there, far from anyone he possibly could. Joshua didn’t get far before he stopped running. He stopped and rested a hand on a parked car, most likely a student’s car but he didn’t care. He felt funny inside and it felt like he couldn’t breathe right. Joshua heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Charlie, she must have followed him. She looked slightly out of breath from the running also.

‘Joshua, are you ok...what happened back there?’ Joshua wanted to answer her but he was too scared to, and he wasn’t entirely sure he knew how to answer.

‘Stay away...just stay away from me, please.’ Joshua spoke before he took off at a fast run again. Charlie watched him disappear into the distant, wandering thoughts filled her head. She felt scared, she had never seen anything like this from Joshua, and now she was worried for her friend.