A Lion's Roar

Chapter 7: The Snowball Effect

Okay, folks, I'm back. Currently I'm in Western Australia and I should be back in another week aka next Sunday. We're hunting pretty big prey, so I'll be busy, so I just thought I'd record this now and send it along to R. Btw, song on the side is one of my friend's FAVOURITE songs. Hehehe...

~NH

To recap: I was about to throw a snowball at a bully's head. You're welcome.

Let me digress here to explain about snowballs. There are, in case you didn't know, two types of snowballs. One type is the loosely packed "fun" type. These are very commonly used to play with in snowball fight. The other type is a projectile missile. Seriously. This one is packed very firmly and should never, ever be used against a human. Once, my dad made one to demonstrate. He threw it over a street and it smashed against a wall and left a huge splatter all over the pavement. Yeah, it was pretty deadly. My dad explained that if you threw one of those at a human in the head, it might be enough to knock him out.

Back to the story, can you guess which I used? Yep, the projectile missile. It smashed into the back of one guy's head and he stumbled forward. The other swiveled and locked onto me with murderous eyes. Growling, he advanced, muttering,"I don't know who you are, but you're going down!" The scrawny boy snatched up his coat, looking for an exit. Failing, he scrunched up into a corner, moaning as his awful-looking wounds racked his frame with pain.

So, this is the part where I tell you about how I majestically kicked the a**es of the two bullies and left them crying in a dumpster. Uuuuunfortunately, this apparently has to be accurate. So... Yeah. I basically got my a** kicked by the two boys, who left me lying in the alley looking like sh*t. Yippee.

Sitting up, I took inventory of my injuries. Several large blue, purple and yellow bruises, rapidly fading. Broken nose? Painfully moving back into place. I glanced over at the scrawny boy, whose head was buried in his arms. He was groaning softly and gasping as he put snow on his wounds as a cold compress. Crawling over, I offered him a weak smile as he scooted back. "Hello. What's your name?" He glanced up at me. "Alex. I-I...why what huh?" I scrutinised him carefully. "Are you alright?"

"I was just beaten up by two muscle heads. Of course I'm just perfectly fine." He replied sarcastically. I nodded, conceding his point, before stretching my hand out to him, pulling him up. Suddenly I felt slightly weak, and Alex straightened up, the cloud of pain lifting slightly from his face, like his pain had drawn the 'Gift' out of me.

As I hobbled out of the alley, I bumped into a guy. Looking up, I realised it was my dad. His jaw dropped when he saw us, bleeding and bruised, hobbling out of the alley. "Ah. Hi Dad...Meet my new friend Alex...?" I knew from his disbelieving look that he didn't believe me. [ I am a genius, Arya! How'd you guess?] After an extremely hurried exit, we found ourselves standing, actually, more like swaying, in the doorway of my house. My dad immediately hurried Alex into the kitchen for medical attention while I, injuries fading, sprinted up to my room to tidy it up.

After Alex had been tended to, we had headed up to my room, where we were currently sitting, to sip hot cocoa while Alex...eh...recuperated? Yeah. We sat in silence, looking out the giant window in my room. Actually, I was glancing at him from time to time as he spaced out. He was of average height, with a bony frame that greatly contrasted to the thick mop of caramel hair I imagined was rather hard to keep under control sitting atop his head in a quiff.

"Thanks..." I looked up, startled, as his strangely deep, baritone voice cut through the silence. "Uh..." I mumbled. I know what you're thinking. Smooth, right? -_- But anyways, he looked even more awkward as he scratched his head, or at least attempted to. The thick bandage wrapped around his head prevented it, and I couldn't help but chuckle. He grinned sheepishly and just like that, the tension dissipated and we began to talk. Essentially, play Twenty Questions.

I learnt that he lived near us, well, as near as one could be to a house half a mile into the country. He had a younger sister he loved to bits and a older brother who took care of them, but his father was rarely present, being an important businessman. His mother was a stay-at-home mom, as the care and upbringing of three children was a full-time job. At that, I had to turn away, taking a moment to compose myself. Alex seemed to notice, he fell silent for a moment, before continuing in a softer voice, "Are you alright? What...what happened?" He had apparently noticed the absence of my mother, being surprisingly more perceptive than I had figured.

I nodded, startled. Nobody had ever asked me that before. Maybe that was because I had almost never had extended human contact with anyone my age. Most people I chatted with were my dad's friends, and they all knew what had happened to my mom.

I opened my mouth, intending to give an excuse, when everything that had happened just seemed to pour out. How my mom had left, how my dad hadn't seemed to care. How the bullies tortured me, how the "spectators" had taunted me and cheered them on. And...how everything had exploded and also how I was the cause. At this point, I fully expected Alex to shake his head and reassure me that I was wrong, but he didn't, opting instead to remain silent, somehow realising that if I was interrupted I might not have the courage to continue.

Drained, I shifted my butt to the floor and lay there, thinking. Did Alex think I was a freak? Did he think I was lying, or maybe trying to get attention? These thoughts were swirling through my head at such high velocity that I almost didn't catch Alex's response. "I believe you." I glanced up at him, before doing a perfect double take and staring openly at him. What? He nodded. Oops, I must've said that out loud. Oh well. Wait a minute. Did he just say he believed me!? Whoa... That's a first.

He shrugged. "You don't seem like the type to lie, or dream/pretend. I think you're right." Gee. I didn't think he'd accept it so quickly... "I'm actually kinda freaking out inside." Alex admitted sheepishly. I facepalmed. Really? Again with the talking out loud! Ugh... Quietly, I looked up and whispered, "Thanks...' He smiled.

After that, Alex and I became really good friends. It may sound pathetic, spilling your life secrets to an almost-stranger, but hey. Don't judge me. Despite all that emo nemo stuff, we had a lot of fun together. He was the one who always made me smile, with his wit and humour, not to mention razor tongue, which he used and sharpened almost daily. He also taught me about taking it easy and not worrying too much, as in his words, "Worrying doesn't take away tomorrow's troubles; it takes away today's peace." All in all, he was the best friend anyone would ever want or need, which was amazing. I felt insanely lucky, despite us receiving double the amount of flak in school. He knew pretty much everything about me and vice versa, and I learnt the lesson many kids have before and hopefully will after: Life is always better with a friend there beside you to confide in, to support, to compete with.

Hey guys, R here. I have a couple more emails from NH containing the recordings, but I'm kinda busy, so I won't be transcribing them very quickly. I hope you guys understand.

~R