Breaking Down Your Walls

Chapter 1

Mike

Waking up from an unpleasant sleep isn't easy, especially when it took me three whole hours to manage to fall asleep yesterday, thus giving me only two hours of much needed rest.

School seriously sucked, especially the past three months. My best friends, Sherrie, Manu, Odette and Zane, were nowhere to be reached, confirming my suspicions of them being involved in any possible events after the incident.

What incident you may ask? Well before that, let me introduce myself. My name is Mike Alexis. I am living in Aberdeen, Scotland. Eighteen years old, high school senior, solid B student with a liking to humanities and a knack for martial arts (although I detest violence). I am 6'1'' and 160 pounds, with some fat and a lot of muscle mass on legs and upper back. I intend to become a teacher in literature, although some of my teachers seemingly put an effort to get me away from the path I have chosen. Weird isn't it, getting academically hindered by the very people that are supposed to assist you?

Anyway, the incident; a while ago, I was about to meet my best friend Zane after class, when I encountered a strange scene right outside our school, Aberdeen Grammar School. A few people I considered outsiders were having a weird conversation with Zane. As I walked closer, it turned out that it wasn't a conversation.

It was mugging. Zane was being mugged. Brought me back that memory from school when we first met and he was almost beaten up senseless.

Momentarily I froze because I had never seen something like this. Sure, in the movies every character jumps into action immediately. It took me a couple of seconds to register what was actually happening, the smug faces of the perpetrators, their threatening tone demanding Zane valuables.

I took off my backpack and threw it successfully on the face of one of the muggers.'s When they started to turn to my side, Zane kicked one of them in the balls, while I threw a hard punch at the chin of one of the third guy. I still remember the sound of his teeth snapping.

The three muggers staggered, but I picked up my bag and threw it on one of them, again straight in his face as I kicked in the face the guy I had previously punched, sending him flailing on the ground. I was surprised how neither of the guys I hit didn't faint, but the guy that got his face kicked was groaning in pain.

At that point Zane had already started punching the guy he hit on the balls, while I kicked one of the other two in the stomach, stopping him from bringing out something out of his pocket.

Those assholes, after crawling momentarily, started running, realizing that we would have a field day with them. Zane sighed and put his right palm on his left shoulder. He was hurt, probably a knife wound.

I opened my bag, seeking a bottle of water and signaled him to come near. At first he stayed still, most likely still shocked from adrenaline. I was too; damn, I still remember how much my hands were shaking.

Anyway, he came close to me. 'Lift your sleeve, need to clean the wound. We have to get it disinfected fast.'

He seemed startled hearing my voice. Usually my voice is light and calm, but now it was rough from the tiredness. I cleaned his wound, thankfully it wasn't deep, and I patted his head. He looked at me in that moment, green eyes on blue.

He was scared and shocked. This was the second time I saw such raw emotion in his eyes. Last time I saw something like this, was when he got to know that his grandmother passed away. The fear was almost tangible. He lifted his sleeve and I poured all its contents on his wound.

I patted his shoulder to comfort him. 'Let's go to your house, you need to disinfect this with something stronger than water, ok?'

He simply nodded. We walked as fast and carefully as possible, those muggers could still be around. I called the local police department to inform them of what happened. The policewoman on the phone asked me and Zane to give a description of the events at the station, also she would inform the school to check camera footage from outside in order to verify the event and try to identify the culprits.