Bound by Hellfire

Chapter 2

2 YEARS LATER

"Adam---"

"Adam---?"

A steady buzz grew louder in my ear. My friendly little mosquito burrowed deep into my brain causing my daydream to muffle out of existence. I couldn't remember what it was about. Was it about that night on the road? Was it about the first day of school? Who knows. I looked over to see my friend Ethan looking at me with a concerned look on his face.

"Ya know Adam, you have been daydreaming a lot recently!" He shouted.

"Maybe I somehow gave my ADHD to you. You do eat a lot of my leftovers. Can ADHD spread that way? I do bite my lip a lot, maybe my blood got on the food. Maybe we did some sort of blood transfusion. We could be blood brothers or something, wouldn't that be cool?!"

Ethan continued to shout at me about transferring his ADHD to me along with some side story about us becoming relatives through blood. Typically, I would silence him with a "that's cool" or a "sorry I wasn't listening" just to keep him quiet, but something told me that he needed to talk about something--- anything.

Ethan's rambles brought the daydream back and with that, I was back in my own little world as we made our way to school. I'd like to say I counted at least ten thousand words in the span of our walk, which is pretty impressive considering I didn't contribute to that number, but I would be lying to say that I listened, let alone counted any words past "ADHD blood transfusion".

Ethan and I stepped onto the campus grass with ten minutes to spare before the bell rang. I felt the weight on my chest as we walked through the large wooden doors of the main hall. The damp summer moisture turned cold on my skin. I knew the school wasn't that old but the walls had this paint-peeling texture and the ceiling tiles to match.  It was like an old hospital-turned school and the claustrophobic walls always made my heart skip a few beats. The only thing that livened the school up were the huge banners that clubs had spent the summer making and with them, the overly excited students beckoning you to join. 

Ethan's buzzing was easy to ignore, I had been doing it for about two years now, but the buzzing of hundreds of mosquitos ---- that was a little more difficult.

My daydream broke once again. Other students began calling to Ethan doing their best to persuade him with free pens and other school commodities, but no one called to me. I was used to this behavior. To being ignored. I scoffed and rolled my eyes at the groups of students as we walked down the long cramped hallway.

Now before you start thinking ----

A: This guy refers to people as "Mosquitos"

B: His peers hate him and he only has one friend

C: This guy must be a total jerk

Well--- you aren't exactly out of the ballpark. Ever since my parents died two years ago my life hasn't been the easiest. For a good while I was the jerk. The guy that didn't care about anyone or anything--- and at the time, I didn't. I wasn't so much as the bully just more like that guy who had nothing to say when he was spoken to. And now that's what people see me as. I'm the loner, the loser, the jerk, and I used to like it that way.

Ethan quickly took advantage of the publicity, snatching up as many nicknacks as his arms could carry. Pausing only for a moment to talk before quickly resuming his post at my side.

Before we knew it we were standing in front of our homeroom. I paused for a moment outside the door. I'm not a sentimental guy and now probably wasn't the best time to be thinking about my future, but I couldn't help it. This was my last year and I was still known as the loner--- as the jerk--- but that wasn't me now. And it wasn't going to be me this year. Something had to change.