Watch the World

Because I'm Really Listening to You

Angela stared warily into the boy's sparkling green eyes for at least ten seconds before she finally spoke up.

"Oh, so it's like that is it?" She stood up from her chair, wincing at the screeching sound that it made as the metal grated against the floorboards. She avoided looking at Gabe's face so did not catch the look of pure confusion cross it.

"What?" He sounded partially amused but mostly genuinely lost.

"You." Angela glared at his chest "you're one of those supremacist nuts, you think you're better than them."

The look of confusion cleared from Gabe's face and was replaced with sheer incredulity. This was better, when he looked angry and stubborn it was easier to look him in the eye, if there was one thing Angela was good at, it was arguing. But this strange boy scared her, she hasn't forgotten that he was the reason her best friend was lying face down in a puddle of his own drool at this point in time.

Yes, DROOL.

At least Angela would have something to tease him about if she made it out of this alive.

Gabe took a step forwards. "I am better." He said simply, the element of danger in his voice chilling Angela to her very core, she shivered as each hair on her neck lifted slowly. But she held her eye contact and clenched he jaw however, determined not to show weakness.

"Funny how many people thought that over the years." She spat "Stalin, Hitler... Any dictator really. You have a lot to live up to with that lot."

Taking advantage of the brief shock which crossed his face at her sharp statement, Angela pushed past her table, ignoring the screech and began to rush out of the room. A brief thought that she should help her classmates crossed her mind but she shoved it away, there was nothing she could do at the moment. The only thing for it was to find help and hope that she never saw this Gabe boy again... Or if she did she hoped that there was a set of bars separating them from one another.

"You're running away?" The statement made her stop in her tracks, muscles clenching.

"Sometimes there is more dignity in walking away than there is in standing your ground." She tilted her head slightly to see the strange boy from the corner of her eye, his expression was unreadable "This is one of those times."

And with that she made to leave for the door again, her hand had barely nudged the handle before it was ripped away and she was being held against the wall with an arm pressing painfully tightly down on her neck.

"Dignity or not, I decide when you leave." Gabe hissed "God, you're just like them, you all think that you have this amazing power, something over everyone else. The only difference is, you actually do. Just not the kind you've been brought up to believe."

Breathing shallowly Angela tried in vain to escape from his grasp, struggling, her eyes flicking around frantically.

"Because that's what it all comes down to for you lot isn't it?" He continued, oblivious to the fight going on beneath his palms, he very much seemed to be lost in a world of his own. "Love. That's all you lot care about and you think it makes you better than the apes and the fish and all the bloody trees in the world. You think you're better because you feel love and compassion and pity." He stared at her face for a second before continuing "I can tell you this, I feel pity for you. You're all so weak, ruled by your emotions. And that's why you're easy prey."

Angela strained against the arm pressed firmly to her neck, gasping and wheezing until she finally managed to spit out "What-" she had barely even gotten the word out before Gabe carried on his rampage.

"I had hoped that you'd be different of course. You're not like them, not really. It's just going to take some time for the... Human traits to wear off.

"Never."

Gabe finally stopped, his eyes registering Angela's face, now a dark red and slowly loosened his hold. Angela gulped in the air, her lungs starving to be fed once more but Gabe still stood there with a quizzical look on his face.

"What did you say?"

The question was simple but it struck a nerve in Angela's spine, she knew she would not like how this story ended. She slowly raised her eyes to meet his, still breathing heavily before she replied.

"I said never. I will never be like you"

Gabe stared at her for ten long seconds saying nothing. His eyes remained fixed on her face, flicking around, taking in every detail with an expression as though he was trying to understand how she worked, like she was a machine. Slowly the arm he held near her neck lowered and he took a step backwards, never breaking eye contact.

Angela looked down to see his hands clenched tightly by his sides and he flexed them, almost involuntarily. That was when she began to notice other things about him, the scars on his skin, small and almost unnoticeable, but still there. The way he stood, weight planted evenly on both feet with a straight back that just screamed military and finally she brought her gaze up to lock with his eyes, they seemed to speak volumes. There was pain and anguish barely concealed behind layers of protection that he had put up around himself as protection. But there were still faint laughter lines framing them, a reminder if a happiness long gone.

It was as she noticed these that Angela realised that Gabe had started talking again. She blinked a few times, trying to concentrate on the words surrounding her.

"Angela? Angela? Jesus, it's started already, we need to go."

"What? What's started?"

Gabe ignored her, pulling on her hands though he expected her to oblige and follow on simply.

He should have known better by that point.

Angela dug her heels into the floor, her free hand grabbing onto the nearest thing, which just so happened to be the door handle that she had so narrowly missed before. She clenched it hard enough for her knuckles to turn a light yellow and she pulled back, using her weight to help her.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. You're psychotic, you don't even think you're human."

Gabe pulled on her hand futilely for a few seconds before giving up and hissing "You don't have a choice."

Angela simply raised her eyebrows at him.

"Let me put it this way." He dropped her hand and leaned in closer "You can either come with me willingly or you can watch me single handedly murder everyone in this room, starting with your little boyfriend over there. It's your choice."

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, neither prepared to back down. It was only when Angela saw his gaze turn towards her friends that she realised the battle was over.

Her moved tentatively away from the handle, buzzing slightly from the change in pressure, she took a deep breath and turned to her captor.

"Okay, where are we going?"