Vicious

6 - Ash

Life was becoming just one big blurred cycle where nothing exciting or meaningful ever happened. For a little over a year now, Ash was simply going through the motions.

He woke up after having the same nightmare as always, got ready for school, left and made it through the day, only to return home, eat, go to sleep and do it all over again. There was the occasional fight with kids at school when his anger reached its tipping point, but that was about the most exciting thing that has happened.

Today wasn't like any of those other days and Ash knew it was all because of that new student, Cade Neel.

The first time he saw him, Cade was sitting in the front office waiting for Principal Kim to talk to him; the principal always made a point to talk to every student and give them a half assed warning to not cause trouble. His first thought at seeing him was how odd he seemed, though not in the sense that there was something wrong with him. In fact, Cade seemed perfect.

There he sat in the worn and peeling leather chair, his posture straight, a leg crossed over his knee and with a book in his hand. It wasn't even a normal book. The paper back copy was The Art of War, by Sun Tzu. What kind of teenager read things like that?

Everything about Cade Neel screamed educated and proper. So what was a guy like that doing in a school like Timberview High?

He had to of done something. This school was a last resort for unwanted miscreants who were too much of a problem to deal with.

On his way to class, he'd seen the receptionist, Carol, leading him down the hall to class 3B. For the duration of time Ash watched him, he noticed that there wasn't a single emotion upon his face. He was blank the entire time, as if he didn't know what such a thing was.

When Ash heard about some new kid getting into a fight with two of Leroy's sidekicks, he couldn't believe it was Cade. So he'd went down to class 3B for himself after lunch to have a look.

He'd seen the look of malice on Leroy's face and noticed him throwing glances towards Cade. Ash knew then that it was Cade who'd fought him. The somewhat disheveled appearance of the perfect student he'd seen in the front office gave it away. Anyone who hadn't seen him before never would have noticed it, but Ash certainly did.

It seemed Cade had broken the mundane cycle of his life.

After school let out, Ash made the trek through the city streets to his neighborhood. For nearly three and a half years now, the city of Vison had descended into chaotic times. Once like any other city in the country, now had a population nearly made entirely of criminals. People lived in fear of what lied beneath the city streets while others had to pay for protection.

And all of it was because of Alexander Cross.

Ashe's neighborhood had never really been the safest place, but because of Cross the crime rate was at an all time high, and his home declined even further. There were multiple casualties of civilians being caught in gang wars, drug deals gone bad, and your average burglaries and vandalisms.

And it wasn't just low life adults who'd descended into the chaos.

Neighboring schools were caught up in it too and Timberview High became like a breeding ground for future criminals. Students even went so far as to pick fights with other schools just to prove who was tougher - superior.

Ash hated it. The rise of Alexander Cross had pushed the city into dark times and everyone was caught in the cross hairs. But as much as Ash hated the city and Alexander Cross, he hated the students of Southview High more.

They were ultimately the cause of Micah's death. It didn't matter that the entire student body wasn't responsible for his best friend to die. Ash saw them all as his enemy and he'd fuck up every single one of them.

He made sure to beat any kid wearing the school's signature red and black uniform with their crest stitched over the heart on their blazers. Whenever he saw them, rage like never before would take over. One minute he'd be walking down the street and see that uniform and then the next he would blink and look down to see his knuckled busted and bloody from the blows he landed on his victims.

It didn't make him feel better. Nothing would ever bring Micah back, but it helped him release the pent up anger he kept inside.

Turning right around a building's corner, Ash stopped to look at the mural painted on the wall. He'd painted it a week after Micah's death. Despite being in a rougher neighborhood, the mural stayed in tact. No one dared to paint over it or try to destroy it.

Micah's name was spray painted in black, a pair of magnificent white wings on each side. Clouds rolled behind it with the bright light of the sun. Under his name, Ash had gone in with a paint brush and done his best at recreating one of his favorite memories of the two of them when they were younger. Micah was sitting on the recreational park's swing set, his mouth open in silent laughter. At the foot of the adjoining swing sat Ash, on the ground after having tried to jump out of his own swing and land on his feet.

He'd failed and ended up bruising his ass on the damn pavement, but Ash would never forget how kind Micah was to him after laughing.

Beneath that painted scene, he'd wrote Never Forget.

A few people had added flowers and crosses on the ground beneath the mural to honor his memory. But those were long gone now. Probably somewhere in the landfill dump outside of the city.

While the mural was to honor his best friend's memory, it also serves as a daily reminder to never forget him. And to make the students responsible for his death pay.

He would take on every single one of them if he had to.

"I'll kill them," he whispered as he gazed at his friend, the words carrying into the wind.