Superstitious

Chapter Four

"Son, Do you know what this is?"

"Yes, daddy. It's your journal right?"

"Correct! Russell, I want you to take care of it for me."

"Why daddy?"

"Because daddy is going away for a long time."

"Why?"

"Because it's daddy's job."

"But, why do you have to go away for such a long time?"

"Daddy has a job that's very far away."

"Okay."

"Russell, promise me that you'll keep the journal safe."

"I promise!"

"Good boy! I love you!"

"Love you too daddy!"

I opened my eyes, only to be blinded by the harsh sunlight. All of the night's events flashed through my mind and I quickly sat up. The room spun and I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head.

"Don't move so much. You have a minor concussion."

My vision was still adjusting, but I was pretty sure that it was Charles who gently pushed me back down. 

"What really happened last night?" said a voice.

It sounded like Vince and I could tell that he was mad.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. 

"Don't play dumb with me, Russell!" he shouted.

"Whoa! Vince! Chill out and give the guy a moment," said what sounded like Tyrone.

"Hmph!" Vince grunted. "At least tell me why you're crying. Does it really hurt that bad?"

That's when I realized my eyes were watering. That explained the blurred vision. I wiped them with my hands.

"Please. Tis' a mere flesh wound," I said in a weird accent. 

"You're unbelievable," said Vince with a shake of his head.

"Aaw! You were worried about me?" I teased.

"What?" Vince said in an abnormally high-pitched voice. "Absolutely not!"

I chuckled. He was a terrible liar.

"Maybe just a little," he mumbled. 

I grinned.

"Not because I care or anything!" he quickly added. "I'd just hate to drag your dead body home. You know? It'd just be too much work."

"Right," I said.

"So, what happened?" asked Tyrone.

"What'd you mean? Didn't Vince tell you? I fell," I lied.

"No dork," said Vince. "What really happened?"

"I fell," I said.

"Oh yeah?" Vince said.

"Yeah," I said.

"Then what's that?" he said pointing to my neck.

I pulled out my phone and looked in the camera.

"Crap!" I thought.

I quickly covered my neck with my hands.

"I-It's nothing," I said panicking. 

"You're hiding something," Vince said.

"I must've bruised it when I fell," I said with a nervous laugh.

Vince gave me a suspicious glare. What was I gonna do? I never thought about the thing leaving claw marks on my neck. Shoot! Vince stood there. Then, a smile spread across his face. I had a bad feeling.

"Listen here, Nerd! You're gonna tell me the truth or I'm going to go home and burn up your homework."

I started to panic.

"What? You can't do that! We had a deal!"

"Yes. We did, but things change," he said with a smirk.

I gave him an angry glare.

"You can give me all of the dirty looks you want, but that won't change the fact that I'm about to fry your homework," Vince said matter-of-factly.

I sat up in frustration. I was really tempted to just ell him and let his friends die. Unfortunately, I was too nice to do that. There was only one more option. I started laughing and Vince gave me a confused look.

"Go ahead!" I said.

"What?" Vince said in astonishment.

"I said do it!" I yelled. "Burn my homework and all of my textbooks! But let me tell you. No matter what you do, I'm always going to give you the same response!"

Vince went red in the face. Ooh! He was mad.

"Why you little!" he barked.

Vince lurched at me. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact, but it never came. I opened my eyes and watched a restrained Vince struggle to break free from his friends' grips and, most-likely, pummel my face in.

"Listen here, punk! I'm just trying to help you!" he yelled.

"I don't need any help! As you can see, I am perfectly fine," I argued back.

Just to prove my point I attempted to stand up and nearly lost my balance in the process.

"Clearly, you do!"

"Just stay away from me!" I yelled.

With that, ignoring my dizziness, I stomped out of the room. As I left, I could hear Vince and the others yelling at me to "Come back!" I didn't care what they thought. As long as they never found out the truth. As I struggled to make it home, I thought about how unfair life really was. Why should a lousy high school kid, like me, have to carry such a huge burden? I shook my head. What was I just thinking about? Burden?  The only burden I had on my shoulder was school work. Just like all the other kids. That's right! I'm just a normal high schooler struggling to keep my grades above average, and that's all I ever would be.