Bruised Innocence

Chapter 7

"Do you want to have a go?" Samon asked Gloise, nodding at me. A strangled sob escaped me without my permission. I tried to shut my unwilling eyes.

"Give it up already Samon! Just how much pain on the kid would be enough for you?"

"Don't tell me now that you have taken a liking on him!" Samon scoffed at him.

"Nah, but he just seems so--, never mind." Gloise answered.

"All right, let's get going now, shall we?"

"What! like this? We can't leave him here! He will die of cold or wounds. What if animals attack him?" Gloise protested, shaking his hands.

"What would you have us do? If we take him anywhere, we will be in trouble. You don't want that now, do you?"

"But.."

"Besides, he knows his way back home. He walks from the school everyday!"

"But how will he get out of the woods?"

"He will have to figure it out, won't he? Like we need to, right now! Or it will be too dark to find the trail out of here. Why are you so worried about him anyway? You had no qualms about hurting him before this!"

"It's just because of the things he said, I think we misunderstood him. He doesn't seem like the type to play anybody!"

"But we saw him with that guy. He was hugging him in the amusement park! And don't tell me that it was just a hug! Boys don't hug like that!"

"I don't know. He could have just been scared, Samon! It was a high ride."

"What about the kiss? We saw that Matt character kiss him?"

What? When did? I raked my foggy brain for an explanation but it came from Gloise.

"On the forehead, Samon! And it seemed like he was sleeping! I am sure it didn't mean anything or at least he had nothing to do with it."

"Why would he let a guy kiss him like that? Why would he spend all that time with just one boy?"

"Oh! I don't know! Maybe because they are friends and in case you hadn't noticed, he doesn't have a lot of them at the school!"

"He had me!" Samon shouted.

"He had you? Don't make me laugh, Samon! I don't know why I didn't notice it before but the kid seemed to barely know you. Now wait just a second!" Gloise's voice took a warning edge in it while he pondered over something.

A moment's silence and then,

"All those times when you did those things for him; stopping the bullies, neutralising the pranks and watching over him, did you ever actually talked to him?"

Watching over me? Samon Johnson stopped people bullying me?

"I didn't need to! He should have known that it was me, someone must have told him!"

"Oh my fuc*ing lord, Samon! Please tell me you aren't that deluded! Are you telling me you have never ever talked to him before this?"

"No" Samon spat.

"No? That's all you have got to say? Oh God, I have been so foolish. All those times you cribbed to me about how this guy took you for granted after all you did for him, you made it sound like he was using you!"

"He was--"

"No, you dunderhead! He had no fuc*ing clue who you were. And I was so stupid to think that I was helping you get even with him. Oh dear God, what have we done! What have I done!"

Gloise gripped the sides of his own head and shook it in frustration.

"What's done is done. We need to leave before it gets dark and if you don't want to be caught by the police, you will come with me. " Samon ordered.

"I am not leaving him!" Gloise answered and of all the things that could have shocked me, this was a first.

"Fine then! Suit yourself! Have fun explaining the law enforcement what you were doing here with him."

"You--"

"He will rat us out, the moment help comes. We have to leave, Gloise. We can't be seen near him. We need to leave and find some alibis."

"Alibis?"

"We need to have proof that we were somewhere else all this time. Otherwise, we are screwed."

"But--"

"Shut up already and if you don't want to spend the rest of your life in a juvie, get out of the woods and park the car near the cabin. I will take care of this."

Gloise looked one last time towards me a bit ruefully and started walking away.

Samon kneeled next to me. Despite myself, I inwardly flinched. He barely noticed though.

I turned my head on the other side to avoid facing him. That's all I could do. He gripped my chin and turned my head to face him.

"This is my payback for you playing so hard to get, I wanted to go easy on you but you had to go and act smart. This is all your fault! Remember it, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

A tear moved down my eyes in response. My eyes were drooping shut again but he grabbed my chin harder, jerked me back and stared into my eyes.

"That's better. I hated that light in your eyes! Who gives you the right to look so adorable and innocent? It grated on my nerves. Now you can't show off being all pure and acting all mushy with any boy who shows you any attention."

His eyes raked all over my body admiringly, apparently satisfied with what he saw, he continued, "No one will have you after this! You deserved this!"

With these last words, he left in the same direction as Gloise and after a short while I heard a very faint sound of a car driving off from a distance.

The last thing I heard was a strange ruffling sound in the nearby bushes before it became too much of an effort to keep my eyes open and I welcomed the descent into darkness and oblivion.

*Another chapter done! I have started an Instagram account that posts about LGBTQ books that I have read and liked. More details added about their motivations and incidents that led us here. Updated on 4/08/20*