The Suicide Pact

Part 3: (Mark' POV)

The fist comes at me, almost in slow motion. I have no time to duck, and it hits me right in the nose. Adrenaline rushes through me, and I don't even think. I swing my fist as hard as I can somewhere around his stomach. I was blinded by my own fury, and I missed. He kicked at my shin and I fell to the ground in a heap. He kicked me one last time, and ran away with my money. My leg throbbed with pain but I managed to rise to my feet.

 My name is Mark Fletcher and I go to West Side middle school. I'm an eighth grader and I have a pretty bad reputation there. I'll tell you why. So, here in the town of Applewood, there's the good side of town and the bad side of town. Well lucky me, I just happen to live on the bad side of town. There's drug dealers, prostitutes and gang members. My mom isn't around much so I kind of support myself by selling drugs. It's ironic because I've never used drugs in my life. At school, we have a pretty big football team. So big that they would do anything for good players and a good reputation. So that got me thinking. I decided that it would be a good idea to sell some steroids to people who played on the football team. Since there were so many players, I knew that I'd make a lot of cash.

 To be quite honest, I don't want to be a drug dealer. Ever since I was a young boy my mom has been doing drugs and selling her body to support us. Sometimes she'd come home late at night, high out of her mind. At that young age I kind of got the idea that we didn't have a whole lot of money but I never knew what to do about it. So, about a year ago I took up selling drugs. It's a way to make a lot of money so that's why I'm here. Sometimes I question everything about myself. I think about how depressing it is that somebody as young as me has to sell drugs to support himself. 

School's no better either. People stare at me in the halls, whisper when I walk by and avoid talking to me. I try not to get into trouble, but it just somehow finds me. This particular day, I was at my locker and I felt the presence of someone beside me. I looked over and I was surprised to see Liam, one of the major players on the football team. Inside, I was a bit nervous. In a cool voice I said: 

"What's up Liam?" He looked at me with serious eyes and dropped his voice. 

"So we have a big game in a few days and I was wondering if you have any Performance Enhancement drugs?"I told him that I did, and so we made a plan to meet after school. Me with the drugs, and him with the money. That pretty much leads up to where I am now. He took the drugs and some of my money, and ran off without paying me. It's not the first time that I've been mugged, but that one shook me up. I started to drag myself home, but then I stopped in my tracks and went in the opposite direction.....