Life and Times of a Keyboard Warrior

Accord

30
2nd of March
Kennedy

I'm woken up slowly by someone scratching my head. I twitch slightly, positioning myself differently to get maximum scratching. Damn that's good...

"Wise and shine, Mr Pwesident." I hear a voice say to me, and I jolt. It's Yuki!

"Gah, Yuki, what are you doing in here?" I ask her, wide eyed and slightly disorientated.

"Dawia told me to wake you up. She said she's going to the film gwounds." Yuki smiles at me, leaning closer to scratch my head again. "You go funny when I scwatch your head, mr Pwesident. You're like a puppy!"

"I am not like a puppy." I intone at her, but my resolve melts rapidly as she scratches me. Goddamnit...

"Seriously Markus, what's taking you so damn lo..." Daria falters as she bursts through the door. I can see the gears in her head turn for a second, then they grind to a halt. She glares at me.

"So not only are you a two-timer, you're also a cradle-snatcher?" She whispers, her voice shaking with anger. I try to back away, but Yuki jumps on top of me, still scratching my hair. I try to get her to stop, but she just squeals and continues.

"Markus, we have to have a serious talk..." Daria growls at me, closing the door behind her, moving ever closer. I try to back away again, but my head hits the wall at the top of the bed. No escape.

"I'm gonna teach you something very important, you cheater!" She suddenly screams, lashing out at me with her fist. Something clicks deep in my head, and I grip her hand in my own, twisting it harshly backwards. She gasps and twists in order to not have her arm broken, and I shove her away. Yuki has stopped scratching me by now.

"Daria, why do you always blame me for this shit?" I demand, staring intently at her. "You're not blind, surely you could see that Yuki was the one who was having a go at me, right?" Y

"I hate you so much! Why do you put me through this?" She yells at me.

"I can tell that you hate me, every time there's a misunderstanding with anything near another girl, you bounce me off the walls a few times. I'm way bigger than you, yet you still smash me down!" I bellow back, looming over her like a tower. She shrinks back a bit, but holds my glare.

"You can't just kiss me like last night on the beach, then tell me you hate me and beat me up. I'm sick of it, absolutely fed up with it. I mean, if I whacked you back a bit, everyone would kick up a stink, but when I told someone about this when I was unsure about it, you know what I got?" Im screaming now, like some primal part of me has taken over, dumping all that I've been holding in.

"What did you get...?" Daria asks meekly, terrified now by my sudden explosion. I can hear Yuki crying behind me, I've scared her too...

"You're a big guy, surely such a small lady can't hurt you that bad. You'll be fine!" I repeat to her, my volume reaching fever pitch. "But I'm not fine! You hurt me too much, for the smallest things, either you change your ways or your punching bag leaves!" I leap off the bed, grabbing my holster and belt and dashing out the door.

"Whoa, Marky, what's up man? Where you going?" I bump into Heath as I barrel down the stairs, and for a second he looks confused at my obvious emotional upheaval. It's only when the cries of the two girls reach him, and the door is slamming behind me, that he finally understands.

I sprint hard, my bare feet scraping and kicking up sand along the beach. I pass the entrance to the glade, the sound of the waterfall growing louder, then shrinking away. I pass the filming ground, glancing in only for a second, but Mia still manages to meet my eye. I only run harder after that.

It's only when my legs are screaming and my lungs ache do I finally collapse. I heave and gasp for five minutes, shuddering with every drawn breath. When my respiration is under control, I sit up slowly. I see the house on the hill, a minuscule speck in my vision. I'm nearly a kilometer out, I guess.

"What the hell...? I ask out loud, flipping back onto the sand. Strong wind buffets my hair with dark clouds rushing in from over the water. I strap on my holster and trudge inland, searching for somewhere to wait out the storm. I'm about to step into the undergrowth when I realize I don't have shoes on. Crap...

Further down the beach, I find a huge rocky overhang with a series of tunnels beneath it. By now the rain is closing in, sheets of water propelled by the storm weather slashing across the churning ocean. I dash the last few meters into the largest of the cave mouths.

About an hour passes with me fiddling with the Eagle in the depths of the cave. The storm rages on outside, indelible, indefatigable. It's howling noise bounces around the cave wall, and I rue the fact that I forgot my headphones. I'm about to try and take a nap, when suddenly I'm greeted with a familiar gleaming in the darkness.