Change of Heart

Chapter 75

2 Years Later

**

It was getting harder and harder to hide my scars from Serine. The bastard Zeke keeps attacks me more and more now. I managed to keep Serine a secret from him this long. I'm afraid that if he ever found out about her...

"Caden, we're going to be late for lunch." Jake flicked me on the back of the head. "Let's go, I'm hungry!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Geez, you're so impatient." Getting up from my seat, Jake pulled me out the door in a hurry. We managed to get close to the front of the line, and you were lucky to even get this far ahead.

Standing there waiting, Jake started to complain. "Why do these lines always have to be so loooong!?"

"Because there's a lot people."

"Thank you, captain obvious."

I started laughing out loud. "No problem." Looking around, I noticed both Serine and Zeke were ahead of us, and worse...only a couple between stood between them. I wanted to run up there and beat the shit out of him right then and there, but there was no way I could do that. Sad to say, but he's ended up being the one to beat me up. Plus, Serine is right there so I couldn't risk it.

"Yo, are you listening?" Jake clapped his hands in front of my face causing me to jump back into reality. "Hey, you ok?"

"Yea, sorry. What is it that you were saying?"

"Man, you've been spacing out a lot lately." He's right, I just can't help it. "Maybe once you get some food in your system, you'll be good as new." If only it were that easy.

**

It was the end of school, and because of Zeke, I wound up missing the bus. "What do you want?"

Taking a hold of my shirt, he brought his face up to mine. "You're coming with me for a little, chat." Compared to the past two years, Zeke was more frightening than before. Aside from his appearance, he's still got that killer intent. Now, his hair was dark red and a bit shorter than it used to be, just above his ears.

I was over powered and didn't really have a say in the matter. He pulled me away to some abandoned alley a few miles away from the school. Throwing me to the ground, he pulled out a knife out from under his pants. "What are you doing with that?"

He came up and stomped on my stomach. I shouted out from the pain and he slapped me across the face. "Shut up!" Taking his foot off my stomach, he slammed the bottom of his shoe over my hand, starting to crush it.

Zeke managed to only push on it so hard to where it hadn't broken, but it still hurt like it did. I pushed his foot off with my other hand resulting in him slicing through my skin with the knife.

Taking a hold of my collar, he slammed me up against the wall causing my head to bounce back. He brought the knife up and slid it across my cheek. Grabbing his arm, I was able to make him drop the knife, only resulting him into bringing out another one from his pocket.

Before I could react, he had already cut through my stomach and chest. I yelled out from the pain, and he finished off by stabbing me in the shoulder and throwing me back to the ground. He stepped on my stabbed shoulder, and my screams became even louder, creating an echo in the alley. "Don't think this is the end for you, Caden."

Zeke took off, leaving me there. I struggle to get up, but managed on my own. Damn, how am I supposed to hide this walking through the door? Even though I myself was against it, I decided to go and ask Jake for a bit of help.

**

"What the hell happened to you?" Jake exclaimed, looking me up and down.

"Just let me in already, and help me bandage these wounds up. They really aren't that bad, but damn do they hurt."

Jake gestured to my shoulder. "That one sure looks bad."

"Just help me would you?"

"Okay okay, let me go get the first aid kit." Jake let me in, and I took a seat on the couch, still holding onto my shoulder. He came back not long after with a box of supplies. I laid down as he washed the cuts from my chest and shoulder. "This is going to sting."

I bit my tongue trying to hold back the pain from the stinging. It stung way more than I thought it would. Once it was cleaned, I sat up as Jake started wrapping my shoulder. "Do you have an extra shirt I could borrow?"

Without looking away from my shoulder, he asked. "What's wrong with the short you're wearing?"

Really?

"Do you really need to ask? It's torn across the middle and there's a rip in the shoulder. I don't want to walk around with a torn up shirt."

"Then answer me this...Zeke was the one who did this, right?" No comment... "At least compared to last year, this is nothing. I mean-"

"This is only the beginning of the year, don't forget." I pointed out. Knowing him, he probably had something even worse up his sleeve, and even I wasn't ready for it.