Freedom Cry

~Chapter 2: Gabriel Thompson

Expectation is guidance...

That's what they said.

The sound of my heart b eating echoed in my ears like a strong bass amplified in over-sized speakers. My fingers pressed tightly on my temples, in a vain effort to try and squeeze out the pain.

Ugh. I don't have time for this.

A bead of sweat trailed down the tip of my nose and dropped on a stray piece of paper on my desk, blotching the ink.

Fuck. That was important.

Another sound bombarded my thoughts. It was different though. More...external.

Bzzzzzzz....bzzzzz....

It took a vibration in my pocket to jump-start my brain and figure out it was my phone. Someone was calling me. I fished for it in my pocket and quickly answered, "Hello?"

"HELLO?! Is that really all you can say?", a familiar voice screamed into the line, successfully worsening my already prickly attitude.

"What am I supposed to say then? Huh? Gus? What?", I snapped.

"Um, I don't know. 'Sorry for not answering the last 987654321 calls?!", I could tell I wasn't the only one in a bad mood.

My eyebrows furrowed, "What are you talking about?"

"Check your phone once in a while, stupid. What are you going to do about 'dinner'?"

Oh yeah...'dinner'. That thing with all the important people and stuff that my parents are holding tonight at eight.

My eyes widened and then darted to the clock.

8:30

8:30!?

Damn it.

I tossed the phone after putting it on loud speaker and started gathering all the paperwork scattered on my desk and then moving on to get the other documents not on my table. A moment too soon after I stood from my seat, my vision began to darken and I suddenly lost my footing. My hand shot out to grab onto something, accidentally nudging a few record books and sending them scattered on the ground. Gus must've heard the crash.

"Hello? Gabe, you still there? Are you okay?", Gus asked. His voice so faint I nearly missed it in my disoriented state.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm coming out of the office now. Where are you?", I answered grabbing all that I needed and shoving them all into my backpack.

"Right outside the school entrance. I got all your stuff at the back. Hurry. We have to skit."

"I am hurrying. Just...go figure out an excuse while waiting." I yelled as I tried to get to the school's main entrance -which was oh so conveniently six floors down and at the other side of the building- as fast as I can.

Geez, why does this school have to be so freaking huge?!

"Well, hurry faster! Your father's going to KILL us. And not even before we draw our last breath, your mother's gonna start skinning us with a big shiny cheese grater and a kiddie pool full of boiling hot water -and that's not even possible, because kiddie pools can't hold boiling hot water but your mother will somehow make it happen!!!", Gus screamed in terror.