My friend, Demise

Chapter 12

A smile was all I could see. His eerie lips shown through the darkness, his voice like salt in a dehydrated mouth. "Oh darling, don't look so scared."

"I'm not."

"Poor thing." He trailed his hand up and down my thigh. "You're shaking. You know that?"

"Get...get off..." My voice feels weaker than my body and I can't breathe. But I try to yell out anyway, even if nobody will hear it. "Get off!"

"That's pathetic. You can't even call for help."

Demise didn't take me home due to my poor condition. But when I woke up crying, he tried to calm me down.

He sat beside me, holding tightly to my hand. "Okay talk to me. What's going on with you and that guy?"

"Don't touch me..." I pulled my hand away, voice so quiet that I wanted to slap myself for even bothering to say anything.

"Why?"

"Please just don't."

"You're crying..."

"You're crying. How cute." He pushed my hair back and pulled my blindfold down to my mouth, tightening it so much that it left bruises on either side of my face. "Keep going."

I tightened my fists, shoving Demise away. He caught his balance and stood up, grabbing my hands. "Hey-"

"Get off of me!" I choked out, kicking him in the stomach as many times as I could before he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me gently.

He's never touched me this gentle.

"It's okay. I'm here."

I collapsed against his chest, crying into his shoulder. I covered my mouth so it wouldn't be too loud, but I know it was.

When I went to school after being discharged from the hospital, people were staring at me. Maybe it was the crutches and bandages covering me or maybe it was just how I looked normally. Either way, I didn't like it.

"Ignore it." Demise muttered to me. "Being hurt draws attention, get used to that and think of something else."

"It's hard to ignore."

A boy with short black hair stood against a locker, looking me up and down as if he was sympathetic. I grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "Do you have a fucking problem? Does everybody here just have to stare at me like I'm a fucking charity case?!"

"I didn't-

"Azriel!" Demise pulled me back. "Don't start fights you can't finish. You're hurt and I know you don't want to go back to the hospital. "You're worse than usual today...stop trying to fight everyone."

"Fuck off!" I shoved him off of me and kept walking. "I'll fight you too."

"No you won't." He rolled his eyes. "Why'd you come to school anyway if you're just gonna get into trouble?"

"My mom wanted me to go. I can't stay home or she'll know I'm not here."

Physical education was the class that wound me in the principals office. Let me give you some context though.

During phys ed we were all outside practicing hitting softballs with a bat. Don't ask me why, I don't understand the education system heee. As I stood in line, my brain filled with thoughts of what happened when I was in the hospital. Why I was in the hospital. My parents not showing up. The man who did show up.

"Are you sure you want to hit the ball?" The coach asked me. "You should just be sitting down, you know."

"I want to. Look, I can stand without them." I tossed my crutches to the dirt. "I'm just not supposed to."

"Fine. You can hit it once." He helped me over to the right spot and placed the bat in my hand. "You know how to hold it, don't you?"

"Yes."

My body hurts. But I really want to hit the ball.

"You're shaking. You want to hold one crutch at least?"

"No."

"But-"

"Just throw the ball." I sighed. He walked away and tossed the ball to another student who wasn't too far from me.

"Think you can hit it as well as you hit Demi?" The kid smiled at me.

"Maybe even better." I shot back.

He threw the ball and I hit it as hard as I could, causing it to fly directly to his face. His mouth filled with blood as I stepped over to him. The coach jumped in before I could hurt the boy any worse, but doing so only made me angrier.

I hit my coach in the head with the wooden bat. Three times.

"Now....Azriel. You know why you're here, don't you?" The principal was clearly annoyed with me already. A police officer stood behind me to make sure I wouldn't get violent again, but I really wants to. "Getting in small fights with teenagers is one thing but hitting your coach with a baseball bat is unacceptable."

"What a great system you've got here, Ma'am. Aren't school supposed to care more about the students?"

"You busted Terrance's teeth, gave the coach a major concussion. Who knows what you would have done if your classmates hadn't come for help?"

"Yeah okay, I'm not doing this." I stood up and grabbed my bag to leave but the officer placed a hand on my shoulder and shoved me back into my seat. I elbowed him in the stomach and continuously tried to fight him before he held both of my arms behind my back to keep me in place. "Alright fine. You gonna give me detention or something?"

"Janitorial duty. You'll also be visiting Coach Hues in the hospital to apologize for your outburst."

"I would get on my knees and suck this officer's dick before I apologized to the coach."

"Then you'll be expelled."

Mom...she'd be so upset.

"I'll apologize...so let go." He gently let go of me and I sighed. "When do I start cleaning?"