War in Broadway High

16. Grim Reaper in a Trenchcoat

Chapter 16: Grim Reaper in a Trenchcoat

JD.

He was reaching for a blanket to try to smother the growing fire when out of the corner of his eye he noticed Rich suddenly lunging at Veronica. The girl yelped in surprise and pain as she was tackled to the ground, a sound that very quickly turned into choking and gasping for air, when Rich started strangling her.

"I have to save everyone!" he screamed as his hands gripped her throat like a python crushing its prey. "And get it out of my head!"

JD completely forgot about the fire. The one thing that mattered, the only thing he loved, was in danger.

He ran towards Rich and with the full force of his impulse and rage kicked him in the ribs, something definitely cracking as the boy was flung against the wall.

"Are you okay?" JD turned to Veronica, his eyes widened with worry. He helped her up and she vaguely nodded, coughing, and gripping the windowsill of the still-open window for balance.

But Rich wasn't done.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I have to!" he cried out, getting up and preparing to attack again. "The computer predicted the future man, and her away from you is the only way for no one to die!"

He was a threat. To Veronica, to them. Even to all the people he bullied. Despite the chaos around them, JD could see it so clearly at that moment. Life was war, and threats had to be eliminated. For her. He would do anything for her.

So once he was charging at him again, JD shoved back, hard, directly against the open window, and didn't stop pushing until the much shorter boy could not hold his balance anymore, his upper body inevitably falling and his feet quickly losing the ground, flailing in the air and inadvertently hitting JD right in the guts as they did.

Rich screamed in fear as he fell through the window, managing to hold onto the windowsill with one hand. He desperately climbed, but slid off again, this time grabbing the only thing near: Veronica's wrist.

JD was doubled over in pain and without air, unable to pay attention.

Rich locked his frantic eyes with Veronica.

"Help me!"

But she didn't. For reasons she would spend the following months devouring her insides in search of, she stood still, in utter shock, not pulling him up, not grabbing back as the boy's fingers started slipping.

And a second later, he lost his grip and fell, the branches and his own writhing shifting his position until he was dropping head first.

The crack of bone, the weight of a whole body falling such a height, was a sound they'd never forget.

"Oh my god!" Veronica finally reacted out of her trance, leaning over the window to look. The body looked like a ragdoll dropped in an unnatural position, and wasn't moving.

"Holy shit," JD breathed, peeking beside her.

"We have to do something!" Without delay, Veronica ran off the room and downstairs.

"Veronica wait!" JD ran after her, forgetting all about the fire in the commotion, which kept spreading, now reaching the walls, and combusting with the vodka that had spilled on the ground.

Downstairs, no one saw them. There were a few people left, most passed out drunk or making out or too high off their minds to notice anything around them.

And outside in the backyard, Rich waited. Except it wasn't really Rich anymore, JD thought, it was just flesh now. It was rather fascinating, in a way. If he'd fallen another way, if he'd actually jumped, maybe he would only have broken his legs, and that would still be Rich. But a touch of bad luck, a crack of your neck...and poof. Rich Goranski was no more.