Memories

Felix De la Rosa

My vision slowly returned, fuzzy at first until it cleared up and all I saw was dark concrete. My ears were ringing, my body ached, and my head was pounding.

"About time you woke up!" A voice called out, followed by cackles.

I tried to move my head up to figure out where I was, who was talking, and what was going on, but my head felt too heavy to move.

"Seriously, get up." Another voice said as my hair suddenly got pulled, raising my head upwards.

In front of me stood Matthew. Matthew Price.

My head was a blur, I thought maybe I just hallucinated the image of Matt—one of my best buddies since elementary—or better yet this was all a dream and I was still at home in my bed!

"You just gonna stare at me?" Matthew said, hand still dug into my hair.

Even if I did know what to respond, I didn't have the energy to mutter the words out. I felt incredibly weak and powerless.

I suddenly felt a foot dig into my stomach. Another boy that I didn't recognize started kicking me. Matthew took the liberty of punching me, making my nose bleed.

All of the boys surrounding me took turns in punching and kicking me. All I could do was scream out in pain, I couldn't defend myself. In between the very small breaks they took from kicking me, I kept coughing blood. My eyes watered, the pain spread to all of my body and I found it harder and harder to breathe. As I coughed blood into my hand, all I could do was pray in my head that if there was a god, he'd save me and spare my life.

"Alright we should probably chill out, we wouldn't wanna kill him before Sam gets the chance." Matthew said.

Sam.

I screamed out in frustration. What did I ever do to Samuel? Was it really worth taking my life? My thoughts raced and I tried to make sense of what was happening to me. Suddenly, it all clicked.

Susanna.

Because I'm with Susanna now and he isn't. Because I blackmailed him into breaking up with Susanna, just so I could have her.

I couldn't hold back the sob stuck in my throat, I cried out in pain, frustration, anger. I was feeling every emotion. All I wanted was the chance to love Susanna. I know I should've done it differently, but I didn't deserve to die either.

I lowered my head, staring down at the ground of the dark alleyway covered in my blood. I closed my eyes, tears streaming down my cheeks. I tried to block out the taunting and laughing of the boys and just hoped I would get out of here, that my legs could support me up and I could run far away. My prayers were interrupted when a foot kicked my face, knocking me onto my back. I lay there, face up, blood smeared on my face.

"Looks like we meet again, Felix." A voice said, hovering over me.

I opened my eyes slowly. Over me stood Samuel, just like Matthew said. He had a baseball bat in hand and an ungodly smirk on his face.

"Samuel." I called out weakly. "Why have you done this to me?"

Samuel scoffed before spitting on my face. "You're seriously gonna ask me that?" He said, putting his foot down onto my chest.

"You had to put your hands all over what was mine. You know why?" He asked, crouching down to get closer to my face.

He took my silence as a response and continued on, "Because you're a stupid selfish bitch who doesn't even deserve a life." Samuel said, punching me in the face.

I lay limp, not being able to even cry anymore. Samuel grabbed my face with his hands and turned it to make me see his.

"Things have really changed huh? But sometimes change is for the better, you know?" He said, staring into my eyes, same devilish expression on his face.

"Don't hurt Susanna." I whispered out.

"Now, the last thing you're ever gonna see is my pretty face." Samuel said, ignoring me.

With that, he let go of my face and placed both hands onto his bat. He played with it for a few seconds before he finally swung the bat towards me.

I felt the bat impact my head and the next second all I saw was black.

The last things I was able to hear were their cackles and voices fading away, everything I've ever worked for in life fading.

All of it, gone.