Everybody Knows [Niam]

"False Close Calls...Regretting Friendships"

Everybody Knows

Chapter 5

“False Close Calls…Regretting Friendships”

I could barely see the short figure that held the lifeless cold gun up to my head. It was mainly because the barrel of the gun was blocking most of my sight, but also because whoever it was shrouded by the shadows in the hall.

“Bang.” I heard a voice utter and despite me commanding it not to, my body gave way and I fell back and landed on the wooden floor in a sitting position. I kept my head down and stared nervously at the ground. I was too scared to see the gun again. I thought if I didn’t see it, maybe it wouldn’t exist. How stupid was that? I felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest. All I could hear now was the beating of my heart banging in my ears. My body felt wrong, it felt unstable. Is this how someone reacts to a life or death situation?

“Give me some candy.” The figure commanded. That’s when I noticed something was off, you know, besides the odd demand. Something wasn’t typical about the voice. It sounded underdeveloped, like it couldn’t belong to anyone who could be considered a man or woman. It was quite an odd pitch, even if it was soft.

Between the voice, the person’s height, and the request they just made, could it be…?

The figure took a step into my room and my suspicions were confirmed. It was a little boy that held the gun. He couldn’t be half my height and no older than 12. He had wild and dingy black hair that barely reached the back of his neck and covered a bit of the top of his eyes. His eyes, now that’s what I want to talk about. They were this abnormal dull midnight-purple. If it wasn’t for his apparent age range I would’ve instantly thought their color was due to colored contact lenses, but now I wasn’t so sure. Could that be his true eye color?  You know how they say the eyes are a window into someone’s soul? If that’s true then his windows were covered with winter’s frost.

“I want some candy. Give me some.” The boy repeated in an eerily calm voice as he jerked the gun towards me.

“W-wait.” I said, my voice uneven. “What?”

The boy took a few more steps toward me until he was right in front of me and towering above. He put the gun directly to my forehead and I felt the cold sting of the metal. Crap! It’s real!

“I said give me some candy. Or I’ll go bang.”

“I-I don’t have any c-candy!” I replied quickly.

“Yes you do. Don’t lie. It’s wrong to lie.” He pressed the gun against me even harder. I gasped in fear.

And its not wrong to hold someone at gunpoint?

“I swear there’s no candy in this room.”

“Yes, there is.”

“W-where?”

He moved the gun from my forehead and pointed the barrel somewhere in my room. I was hesitant to turn my head for a moment to see what he was pointing at. Was it safe to turn my head from this kid? He definitely was out of his mind or something.

“There.” The boy said with some authority when I didn’t bother to look. He sounded like he was becoming agitated so I decided to look. He was pointing to a drawer on L’s desk. “There’s candy there.”

I glanced back at the boy to see his expression. He was dead serious. He looked positive there was candy in that drawer. But it wasn’t my desk, it was L’s and he had told me not to touch his stuff.

Wait a minute? Was I fucking insane? There’s a freaking gun being held against my head! I’m sure he would understand when I told him the circumstances.