The Knight in Dark Armor

Chapter 10

Life was pretty quiet for a little while after my appointment with Merimidon, which honestly more felt like with Anna. I had made the appointment so that I could try to understand what was going on, but in more ways did it make me even more confused than it did to clarify anything.
When Aidan had returned home, my parents had scolded him on buying a new phone when the one he had worked just fine. Somehow he had spun it to where he convinced them that "if it worked so fine then why couldn't Caden have it." Which in turn is what happened and that's how I ended up with my own phone for once. I didn't tell anyone about it though as I felt as if I had enough going on without adding any kind of drama to the mix.
Sadly my weekend of rest ended and I had to return to school. It felt weird going back, trying to pretend everything was normal and that nothing crazy had happened over the past couple days. I tried more than ever to not be clumsy and to keep my anger in check as I didn't want any bullies to burst in to flames or something horrible like that.
"Hey Caden how was your weekend?" Ethan, Cam's boyfriend and also my friend was asking me a question and I wasn't paying attention. I felt a small poke on my shoulder and I turned towards him. It was Cam who poked me however and Ethan pointed to her trying to seem innocent. He knew I had a temper tantrum and that I didn't like to be poked.
I had known Ethan before the accident with my sister and he had seen me get in a ton of fights. He looked much the same as my brother Aidan did honestly. They both had black hair and brown eyes and both were pretty tall. I think my brother was just a little taller than Ethan though. However Ethan definitely was more built than Aidan and could probably knock him on his ass if he ever tried anything.
"What? Sorry?" I said to Cam confused.
"Ethan was talking to you. You okay?" She asked me.
"Sorry." I said to Ethan. "I was thinking about some stuff. What did you ask?"
"How was your weekend?" He repeated.
"It was okay, Aidan came home and gave me a new..." I cut myself off as I didn't want them to know I had a phone.
"A new what?" Cam asked me. Ethan just looked questionably at me.
"Phone..." I finally said. "His broke or something so I got it, then he went to go buy a new one and convince my parents to let me keep it with a service plan."
"Oh cool." Cam said simply. It almost sounded like she wanted to say more.
"Maybe we could hang out more?" Ethan voiced out. "It's a bit irritating to have to walk all the way to your house to ask you, then walk back to mine." He glanced behind him. "Be right back." Then he kissed Cam on the cheek and left the cafeteria table we were sitting at.
Cam scooted closer to me and I felt a little uncomfortable as Ethan would probably be coming back pretty soon. "Maybe you could call me..." she started saying and I felt a little warm. "Instead of arriving at my house uninvited late." She finished.
"Oh..." I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. "About that." I nervously chuckle.
"Yeah?" Cam stared at me. "I asked my mom if she let you in and she said no. So how did you get in?" She was pointing her index finger at me.
"I'm not sure exactly." I shrugged.
"What does that mean?" She asked taken aback. Her finger came down but she was still staring, now glaring at me.
I hoped at that moment that anything would come in and save me or that Ethan would come back to the table as I was unsure of how to lie about how the hell I had arrived at Cam's house the way I did.
"Well..." I tried to begin before my head was shoved into my food. As I spit out some mashed potatoes while raising my head I turned to see Matt, my big bully. For some reason this guy always had some vendetta against me.
"Must have slipped." He sneered at me.
I glanced at Cam hoping to find some kind of solace in her eyes before I got so angry I burned this kid up or something. Instead I saw only anger and confusion and found no solitude of any kind. My anger boiled inside of me and I stood up slowly glaring at Matt.
"Gonna do something clumsy Jack?" He sneered at me again.
Cam being the great friend she was stood up next to me and seemed to get ready to defend me. Day after school day this asshole would push my face down into my food and I never did anything about it. My thoughts turned red as I stared at him.
"You hear me?" Matt asked. "Gonna do something about it? Or is your bitch gonna be the one?"
My anger was reaching its high point. I was okay with being called horrible things and sometimes wouldn't even care when things were done to me. Once this punk had mentioned Cam as a bitch though I couldn't control what happened next.

****
"Suspension?!" My father was yelling at me. "It's been two years Caden what the hell? Is it because of hanging out with Aidan too much?"
"Dad..." I tried to say.
"I don't want to hear it!" He yelled. "You're mother and I are very disappointed in you." He then stuck out his hand. "Give me your phone."
Having absolutely no contacts on it or any reason to have it, I handed it over without the usual feeling of hurt a punishment would have.
"You can have this back when I see some improvement." My father said.
"Have you not been looking for the past two years?" I asked him. Not really sure why I had.
"What was that?" He asked.
"Sorry." I said. "Nothing." I knew if I had repeated it I would have been in more trouble.
He then put a hand on my shoulder. "I know you are better than this Caden. You are a smart kid. Please try to make a change with the fighting." He then took his hand off. "You are grounded. I don't know for how long yet but there will be no Camilla, Ethan, or after school walks. Your mother will come get you after school and bring you straight here."
I felt like protesting. He truly believed I hadn't made an effort to stop the fighting and that simple fact made me very angry. I held my tongue and simply nodded.
"Good." He said. "Go to your room for now. We'll call you when dinner is ready."
Again I nodded. When I was finally dismissed I went to my room and laid in my bed the only thing that had brought me comfort in all the craziness. When I laid down I found I quickly drifted off to sleep.

****
My hand shot up and grabbed Matt by the throat and I threw him towards the floor. He made a painful noise as he hit. He laid there for a second before getting up. I looked to my right at Cam who had her hands over her mouth. My thoughts were all dark though and at that moment I didn't care. I stepped towards Matt, still glaring at him.
He backed up a little before getting up. He ran at me cursing me as he came closer. It was as if time had slowed as he approached. I crouched low and spun my foot in an arc and tripped Matt before I jumped on his fallen form. I punched him in the gut and face repeatedly. He rose his hands in defense which I batted away before I kept punching him. I could feel arms at my side trying to lift me away from Matt. I thrust out one of my arms to knock the person away and turned for a second to see it was Ethan. He was knocked to the ground his arm holding his stomach as Cam ran over to him.
I turned back to Matt and got off him. I then picked him up and rose him as I had the man in the alley and I glared at him. I was sure he was going to burst into flames and deep down I knew it was wrong. As I held him above me, his blood trickling down my arm I saw the small marks on his neck where my hand had been and I stared into what seemed his soul.
What I found surprised me. This kid had done no great amount of wrong. I felt his emotions and only found sadness and a sense of loss. I released him and took a step back. As he fell to the ground I felt a great mass on top of me and was knocked to the floor myself. I saw that a teacher was restraining me. As they hauled me up from the floor and carried me to an office I realized what I had done and tears formed at the corner of my eyes...

****
I sat up quickly in the bed. Tears slowly dropping onto my blankets. I wiped them away quickly. When I looked up I saw Merimidon sitting on the bed. Still in a black top and bottom as last time.
"Caden." She started. "This seems like a bad time, but I think you must consider your reward."
I felt so exhausted that I simply nodded and got out of the bed. "I'm ready..." I said slowly.
Merimidon nodded and then the world faded to an orangish black and then all I could see was fire...