Better Than Revenge

It begins

he rain lashed at the windows of the down trodden house. Water was beginning to seep through the walls and the smell of damp was ripe in every room.

A young boy no older than sixteen stood in front of a mirror examining his appearence. His pale face was thin and looked an unhealthy grey, his cheek bones were beginning to become more pronounced. His dark blue eyes had dark circles underneath them and seemed to have a sunken look to them. His dark brown hair was greasy and stuck flatly to his head. The boy was no taller than 6 foot, his posture was slightly hunched but that didn't seem to bother him.

"Aiden!" a voice from somewhere downstairs screamed for him.

The teen rolled his eyes to himself and glanced at his reflection one more time, noticing another hole had appeared in his black baggy shirt, before making his way out into the hallway that lead to the stairs. The house didn't have carpets; this was a luxury that was unaffordable like so many other things. He made his way down the stairs which creaked under his feet and he made his way into the living room which held minimal furniture and had wallpaper hanging from the damp walls.

A woman with thin greasy hair and round face with many chins, glared at him from her tattered armchair. "I'm out of cigarettes" her voice was raspy now, and he noticed beads of sweat were appearing on her face.

"I'll get some after school," he said stiffly then walked to the front door and picked up his school bag, slipping his arm through the strap "I assume you can last a few hours without them?" he didn't wait for an answer before leaving. He'd pay for his rudeness later no doubt.

He always walked to school, even if it was pouring with rain like it was that day. He didn't dare get the bus as he didn't think he could cope with the verbal abuse he would surely get for the entire ride. Walking helped him plan how he was going to survive another day at school. Picturing the hallways in his mind always helped as he could see the ways he could avoid certain people and it worked most days.

The streets were a blur to him as he walked and he soon found himself across the street from his school. 'SYCAMORE HIGH SCHOOL' was written in big letters on a sign at the entrance. Aiden sighed to himself quietly before crossing the street, not bothering to look to see if traffic was heading his way; he didn't care if a car or truck hit him anyway. He entered the building with a group of loud, obnoxious teenagers. Aiden didn't know their names but he knew they certainly knew his.

Aiden Richards, the boy with the prostitute of a mother and a crack head for a father. He had heard people say that Miranda, his mother, gave freebies to men if they offered her food. This always made Aiden laugh because the sad thing was, it was more than likely true. He always called her a 'fat whore'. The slap he would sometimes receive hurt like hell, but most of the time he was too quick for her. One the rare occasion that his father was there, if he heard Aiden calling his mother names, he would punch him square across the jaw, sending the boy flying. One time he had made the mistake of hitting his father, Nick, back. He had to quickly run from the kitchen to his bedroom and had to barracade the door, he actually thought he would die that day and half of him wanted his father to kill him.

Aiden moved between the other students to get to his locker, ignoring the looks sent his way. Most would laugh or try to push him over or into lockers. His quickness made it hard for anyone to get him but occasionally they succeeded. When he reached his locker he opened it quickly and got the books he needed for the day before closing it again. He managed to avoid a group of boys standing by the lockers opposite his own. If they were to see him then his day would go from bad to worse.

When Aiden entered his classroom he went straight to his seat at the back. Thankfully there weren't many people in there, for the moment at least. The teacher spared him a glance before going back to sorting out work for the lesson. Most of the teachers ignored Aiden getting bullied in or out of the classroom. They would speak louder or look away or, as most did nowadays, walk straight past any incidents. Their new approach was if it's not seen, it didn't happen. This worked out well; the school wouldn't have to face angry parents questioning why their precious children were being suspended and the donations from said parents would keep pouring in.

The classroom began filling up as groups of students entered for their first class of the day. Most ignored Aiden, some gave him pitying smiles before sitting down and the rest gave him cold hard stares full with pure hatred. He knew why some hated him; his mother had been with some of his classmates fathers or uncles even some of their brothers. It had resulted in families being split up or probably disowned and of course, Aiden got the blame.

The lesson went quickly and when the bell rang, Aiden was the first to leave, he didn't want to have to deal with anyone. As he walked down the hall for his next class he heard his name being called. As he didn't have a single friend in the place, he knew he wasn't being called for a friendly chat. He kept walking and hoped whoever wanted to torment him, would give up the chase.

"Richards!" the voice called again

Aiden turned down another hallway hoping to lose them but suddenly felt himself being grabbed and slammed into the wall, he had learned to ignore the shooting pain in his back.

He was face to face with his long - time tormentor; Jason Borden. The other boy was a lot more muscular than him, with black shoulder length hair and sun kissed skin, he was every girls and some boys, dream.

"Didn't you hear me calling you, Richards?"

"I-"

"Because you know it's rude to ignore someone when they want to talk to you, right?" Jason kept his tone pleasant.

Aiden glared at him as the other boy's grip on him tightened. He couldn't figure out what game Jason was playing.

"What do you want?" he muttered

"Now that isn't very nice. I take time to come and talk to my good friend and this is the greeting I get" he faked a hurt look.

Aiden didn't say anything he only stared at the other boy, waiting for him to make his move. He just wanted to get it over and done with.

"So good buddy," Jason said softly "has your mother had any visitors lately?"

Aiden blinked confusedly "How am I supposed to know?" he asked. In truth he did see the shadow of a man going upstairs the previous night

"Don't," Jason hissed slamming him against the wall again "Lie to me. I know there was a bloke there last night. My dad"

Aiden didn't know what to say to the boy. He noticed the other students were forming a large group behind them.

"My family could be destroyed because of your mother"

"No your family is being destroyed because your father can't keep his dick in his pants, and your mother obviously bores him" Aiden immediately shut his mouth. Why had he said that?

Jason's eyes flashed dangerously and Aiden saw him draw his fist back and gasped out in pain as the boys fist sunk into his stomach, making him bend foward and Jason pushed him back again and landed another blow.

'So this is the end' he thought as he fell to the floor, he expected the boy to start stamping on him but he didn't, instead he just spat on him and walked off, leaving him on the floor. Noone helped him up and it took him a good few minutes to get up.

Once he was up he decided that he wouldn't go to his next class. Before he started walking he noticed something on the floor. It was a bottle of pain medication. Aiden picked it up and saw the bottle belonged to Jason. He smirked as he pocketed it. He would get revenge on the boy and it would be the deadliest sort of all