Jeremy and Mike

Chapter 3

"Jeremy, are you ok?" Mike stared at the trembling teen.

Jeremy took in a deep breath. "Yeah.... I'm fine."

The 6 AM bell went off.

They both exchanged goodbyes and went on their way.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"I'm d-dropping out." Jeremy said, looking straight into his principals eyes.

"I see..." The principal said, nodding his head sadly.

Jeremy nodded his head and walked out of the office, strutting out of the doors. He just wanted to be alone at this point.

He went home. He was exhausted and had to be at work in just a few hours. He took a hot shower and crawled onto his couch. Jeremy was out like a light.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Jeremy's alarm clock blared, and he slammed his hand on the button to turn it off.

"Time to go to get my mind fucked with again." he said to himself, changing his clothes and fixing his brown, puffy hair.

He walked out of his house, locking the door behind him. Man, it's really dark out here. Jeremy thought, a feeling of uneasiness travel through him.

He shuddered. Something was wrong. He looked around for clues. First off, all of the street lamps were off. No wonder he couldn't see anything. Second, it was quiet. Too quiet. And third, Jeremy swore he could he breathing behind him.

Jeremy just didn't know how right he was.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Mike was running unusually late today. It was 11:30 and he had just woken up. He quickly got on some clean clothes, changed his bandages, and snatched his red beanie. He got into his old truck, but it wouldn't start. It spit and sputtered, but it wouldn't start.

"C'mon, really?!" Mike said to himself, jumping out of his truck and sprinting down the side walk. He would have to walk. He didn't usually mind walking but this time, something felt.... off.

Mike didn't know how to put it. The space around him just felt eerie. Have you ever had that feeling when you know that something bad is going to happen, but you aren't sure when? That was what Mike was feeling right now.

Suddenly there was a blood curdling scream. It sounded familiar. It was squeaky and high-pitched, laced with lots of fear.

It sounded just like Jeremy.

Mike ran down the side walk, following the noise. He was breathing heavily, and went into stealth mode when he seen three figures kicking something.

The 'something' made a moaning noise.

It was Jeremy!

"Hey!" Mike yelled, rage pouring out of his mouth.

The three boys looked at Mike, and their laughing was abruptly replaced by fear-stricken faces.

"What are you doing?! Who do you think you are?! Get out before one of you really gets hurt! You have until the count of 10!" Mike screamed at them, inching closer and closer to their faces.

"Dudes, come one run!" They all tried scrambling away tripping over one another.

By the time Mike was at 3, there was no sign of the boys anywhere.

Mike crouched down and looked at Jeremy.

Blood was pooling around his face, and he was letting out soft whimpers of pain.

"My god Jeremy. What did they do to you?" Mike asked, calling 9-1-1.