Into Insanity

1| The proposal

What do you say Henry? Shall I?

The words echoed. Nothing! They were piercing and tickling his inner ear making his head go round. Today's school had just started and for Henry Tucker it had begun with a jolt of pain and anger.

He sat quietly eating his roll and looked at his apple that his mother had packed for him. What if he could just take the apple and shove it in Jeremy's mouth, all the way in. Maybe his teeth would break, and they would go in too and he could just let this wave of emotion pass through him. His hands shook terribly but he managed to stay calm. The classroom was bustling with chatter and laughter which was once a pleasant sound for Henry, now it was mocking and heating him up. The day was particularly cold which hided the shivering from all his friends, they all thought that he was cold but what did they know about the inside.

"Henry? What do you say?" came the sound,

Henry shook his head as if meant to wake him up from his lost consciousness, then he looked at Jeremy, he was strong bulky boy with muscles and a body like that of a bull. He was a perfect magnet for the girls except his face it wasn't that good, a broad nose and hollow eyes with a wide smile showing his braces. He wasn't particularly intelligent compared to Henry, who himself was average student. But still somehow, Jeremy had gotten good grades last year, better that Henry. He hated Jeremy for that.

"I don't see anything wrong in it, you should go for it." The words he wanted to suppress this entire time left his mouth like water flowing from a fire hose.

He instantly regretted his decision, cursing every part of his brain for saying it out. But that was all Jeremy needed to hear as he dashed outside the classroom with eager hurry. Henry wanted to get up, get up and kick Jeremy's ass and make him fall on the ground then smash his god-awful face until his anger was extinguished. He wanted to call Jeremy out and tell him to not speak to him ever again, but he could not do it. His fantasies remained fantasies. He felt weak, puny, helpless. He froze.

The roll tasted awful, he couldn't swallow it, every time he tried his eyes would swell and waterfalls of tear would come out. His nose was running. But he didn't want to do anything. He was tugging his brains to stop thinking but it raced and raced. Flashing images of Jeremy kissing her, Jeremy and Emily laughing in the corner of the school with hands over each other. He would be left alone again, by both of his friends.

He breathed and for a time his mind stopped. He recollected, the first time in his previous year, he had seen her with round glasses, black curly hairs, that creamy skin and the most beautiful smile in the world. He had sat afar cracking jokes and making fun with his best buddy Jeremy whilst Emily sat talking with her friends. Soon the class was quiet, yet Henry and his pal talked loudly until somebody shut them up. It was Emily, when Henry had turned around from his desk to see her, his heart had pumped more blood than ever. He remained silent.

It was love, the kind of love which makes you shiver, the first taste of is so much sweet that you feel yourself appreciating even the littlest thing in the world. Your heart feels completely new, mind is doing 360-degree backflips inside the skull.

"Not anymore." said Henry to himself,

Jeremy was his best and only friend, they had met three years before when Jeremy had recently joined the school, both of them shared a passion for music and so they connected, just like that. Jeremy was always the sportsman type, athletic in formal. He was energetic, an independent and courageous. All the qualities Henry lacked. Except one, he wasn't as quick with words as Henry had been. They two looked after each other, Henry was the motormouth and Jeremy his backup buddy. Henry had often taken advantages of Jeremy's stature. One such incident as he recalled was with Robert Hustler.

Robert had mocked Henry for who-knows-what reason and Henry with his motormouth had offended Robert. So it was up to Jeremy to come forwards to shield Henry. Jeremy and Robert ended up becoming friends. Henry often forgot that Jeremy knew that Henry took advantage of him but he like Henry for who he was and never complained, though he called Henry pussycat when talking to Robert, who nodded his head eagerly.

Henry now ate the apple, it was sour, so he threw it in the dustbin. The whole time he thought ways to stop Jeremy, maybe he could use someone else and knock Jeremy off or threaten him. He knew good many people in his town who could do that in $30 or more. Money wasn't the problem right now, he needed to break the bond between Jeremy and Emily right now or it would be his end. But of course that was impossible. The desperation in his eyes, the rage in his mind blinded him entirely. He didn't want to hurt Jeremy, no, he was his best friend but to have that love triangle was not something Henry had envisioned and to make it worse, it only looked like a love triangle to Henry, in reality it was just a linear line connecting Jeremy and Emily and Henry was that invisible dot which had brought them together previous year. He called in sick the next period and luckily was able to go home early.

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Coming up next:- Henry has an condition that he's using to get away. Jeremy and Emily seemed to be getting closer and closer while Henry's feelings toward Emily aren't going away. Will he confess it to them or do something stupid?