a bad joke chapter 12: Thank you for the venom

Iocus' world crumbles when he finds out the horrible truth

 Jane looked up at him from the conner of her eyes and placed a kiss on his smooth cheek. Iocus could hear her intake of breath as she brushed her lips against his skin. “I should go home it’s getting late” he said after a while. “Ok” Jane said looking at the time on her phone it read 10:25. Iocus got off the bed and Jane threw him her phone. He waited till someone picked up, “Hey, can you come get me now?” he asked then nodded his head a few times and then clicked the phone off. “Their gonna come in 15 minutes” he said placing her black berry on the bed. 

 

        She nodded “so I’ll see you in school?” she asked. Iocus nodded, “So..... are we like.... boyfriend and girlfriend now?” he asked his voice slightly cracking. “Um I guess so, do you wanna go out on tuesday?” she asked. “Sure, how about the mall?” he suggested. She nodded “Ok I’ll pick you up around 7” she said. Iocus smiled “ok” he said sitting next to her again. A car honked it’s horn outside “bye” he said quickly and gave her a peck on the cheek and gathered his wet clothes and went to his mom’s car.

 

        The next morning Iocus got up late and had to be driven to school. He ran into his math class just as the bell entered the boundaries of hearing. He slumped in his seat and gave a deep breath. Today was an “A” day, so he had two periods of math. He frowned and took out his notebook. When it was time for english Iocus sat in his seat waiting for his teacher to come in. He said hi to Jake a friendly guy who sits in front of him until Archie arrived. He looked very tired, when he sat down he put his head on his arm and relaxed himself. 

 

        “I stayed up till 3 in the morning finishing my projects thank god we have vacation soon” he said. “God’s got nothing to do with it” Iocus laughed. Iocus and Archie talked the rest of the class. All the while he anticipated seeing Jane in art         his first girlfriend! When the bell finally rang Iocus felt his heart leap. He ran downstairs almost skipping. he sat down in his usual stool next to Jane who was working on her still life painting. “Hey” he said softly putting his bag on his desk. Jane turned and smiled “Hey” she said then turned back to the painting. “What’s up?” he asked taking out his glasses and pencils. “Nothing much, Blake tried to kiss me in the hallway so I told him off” she said laughing. Iocus smiled at the thought.

 

        Iocus had made arrangements for Archie to stay for dinner that day. Archie and Iocus got off on iocus’ stop and opened the door. They swung their backpacks down as they walked in. “Archie, Iocus!” Iocus’ mom yelled from the kitchen enthusiastically. “Your just in time to peel and grate the potatoes for an early Hanukkah dinner!” his mom said smiling as she came in to sight. She had her sleeves rolled up and was holding a basket of dirty clothes. They both rolled up their sleeves and walked in to the kitchen that reeked of freshly peeled potatoes. They were left to peel and grate the remaining potatoes while his mom did the laundry.

 

        They each dragged the silver peeler against the brown skin revealing the light tan color of the potato. they repeated this motion quickly creating a rhythm.  When they finished Archie got out a big plastic bowl and Iocus got two graters for both of them. They began to scrape against the potatoes increasing the pile in the bowl slowly. Iocus’ finger twitched and dropped the potato into the bowl. “SSSSS.... ow geez!” Iocus said looking at the miniscule cut on his finger that became clearer and blood slowly seeped out.

 

        Archie froze and the grater and potato dropped from his hands to the floor. He sniffed the air like a dog almost and began to shiver. His yellow eyes turned a filmy and glassy purple, every angle on his body seemed to sharpen it’s self and every hair on his arm stood up. “Archie?” Iocus asked turning his head at this odd display his friend was showing. Drool dribbled out of Archie’s mouth as he opened it. His teeth seemed sharper and whiter and his canine’s began to grow. “What is that smell?!” he growled at Iocus like a giant searching for a meal. “Arch..... Archie?” Iocus asked almost wetting himself as he backed away.

 

        “I smell..... HUMAN” he growled again his eyes animated his emotions at each word. “A what?” Iocus asked never hearing this word before. Before he could do anything he was being hoisted up by his shirt and pushed out the door. He fell backwards down the short steps to his house and fell on his butt on the hard driveway ruble. Archie or what used to be Archie kneeled down beside him and turned Iocus’ head making room for his mouth to meet Iocus’ jugular. Iocus could feel teeth scarping against his pulse as it jolted through his veins.

 

        Archie’s hand yanked his hair back pulling it down to keep him in place. “YOUR SUCH A JOKE, you don’t even fight back” this new Archie hissed and thrashed his head back and brought it down intending on hitting it’s chosen spot.

 

Author's Note

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