PANTHEONS

Chapter Four

CHAPTER 4

    My eyes flew open, and I immediately winced in pain. I groaned and touched my forehead gingerly. My head felt like it was literally splitting in half from the worst headache I’d ever had.

    I slowly forced myself to stand up. Looking at my surroundings, I realized I had been sleeping in the middle of the street. Confused, I desperately tried to remember how I ended up here in the first place, but I only managed to draw a blank. I was familiar with this street, however, and was surprised when I noticed the yellow tape with the black, bold words “police line do not cross” on it. This area was off-limits to the public. I wondered what kind of crime had been committed here.

    “You sure this is the kid, Tony?” The person who spoke sounded like he had just inhaled helium.

    “Yeah, I’m sure,” replied an awfully familiar and irritating voice. “Him and his friends, they’re the ones that done it.”

    Recognition slowly sank into my pounding head: Tony Belladoni. I turned and saw the familiar metal braces attached to the uneven row of crooked upper teeth; they were just too big, and his overbite made him look really goofy. Tony always wore his glasses whenever I saw him, and his gray eyes watched me from a face infested with red, angry pimples.

    “Johnny, you got to watch out for him. He’s really tough.”

    “Quiet, Tony!” Johnny’s voice was irritating with its nasal, high-pitched tone. “You and your friends messed with my cousin?”

    This really wasn’t a good time for this. My head felt like it was about to burst. But Tony wasn’t lying to his cousin. Last week we ran into Tony, and Jeremy came up with what he thought was the brilliant idea to connect his pimples with a black marker.

    Johnny’s voice did not match with his physical appearance, however, and he also did not bear any resemblance to his cousin Tony. Where Tony was a gangly and wimpy-looking teen, Johnny, on the other hand, was a young man, well into his twenties. He wore a pink wife-beater, I think to better show off his freakishly well-muscled arms. Whatever steroids he was taking, he must have shared it with his three friends, whose arms were also as big as his. Johnny wore large, dark, round shades, which faded into reddish tints at the lower corners of the lenses, so I couldn’t see if he was cross-eyed like his cousin. I reminded myself to tell Jeremy when I saw him not to mess with anyone who had older cousins.

    “You didn’t hear me, punk?”

    I heard him loud and clear. As much as I wanted to, I knew I couldn’t answer, and also knew Tony was going to take my silence as an insult, so I had no other choice but to fight. I spread my legs apart for stability and held out both my fists.

    “Tough guy, huh?” Johnny motioned to the others and they surrounded me, cutting off any means of escape. But the way my head felt right now, running away was not an option.

    “You wanna fight, punk?” They all had taken their fighting stances as Tony stepped off the street and back onto the sidewalk.

    I shook my head no in reply, but he misunderstood my meaning.

    “Ah! So you’re scared now, huh?”

    My body relaxed all of a sudden and I began to bounce up and down on the tips of my toes. There was only one way I was going to get out of this alive; I had to take out Johnny first, so his friends could see how tough I was and then run away. How did it go again? Crush the head of the snake and the body will die with it.

    Tony swung a vicious hook, almost ripping off my head, but I bounced back out of his reach and stepped into him like a deadly viper before he had time to bring up his guard. Putting all of my weight forward, I slammed my fist hard into his gut. As he feebly reached for his stomach with both hands and his head came down from the pain in his belly, I quickly brought up my knee right into his face and felt the crushing impact of his nose. Rivers of black blood meandered over his face as his head flew back up. I saw his eyes—they had rolled back into his head. He was disoriented and stunned, and I knew he was totally defenseless against my finishing move. He stood up like a drunken man in front of me. I knew the other three had been taken by surprise at the way I had so easily crushed their leader, but I knew I had to take out Johnny before they could retaliate. Strike off the head and the body dies with it.