Fear's awakening (The Scarecrow)

Chapter Two

Jonathan Crane was a lanky, young boy with cold dead eyes, which had always been present, and fiery red hair. He had unfortunately long limbs and fingers which made him slightly different than the others in his school. So that made him a target. He really just had a dartboard on his back. Or at least, he might as well had. Darts in the form of insults were thrown viciously, and fists were thrown even more.
Jonathan had learnt not to stand out. He hid in the crowd, even though he got pushed around and bruised a bit, and he made sure to hide in his coat. However, this day was different. The worst of his classmates, Bo Griggs, had made a scene in their last class and kept them back.
Bo stood outside, probably waiting for his girlfriend, Sherry, reading a comic book and chewing gum. He wasn't looking. If Jonathan was quick he could sneak past.
One step.
Two Step.
He was almost round the corner. He’d almost made it around the corner.
“Oi. Ichabod!” Jonathan heard the brute yell. His knees almost buckled under a seemingly infinite and growing weight. He felt cold in the face, as if he was dead.
“You don't seem happy to see me. I'm offended.” He said rather sarcastically.
“Oh. I'm overjoyed to see ya’” He exclaimed with a return of his pesky accent which he'd been working so hard to destroy.
“I see sarcasm there, Scarecrow.” The feminine voice of Sherry Squires said from behind him.
Jonathan backed away. He had to get out of there. He spun around and made a run for it. His longer than average legs came in handy.
“Oh. It looks like he's running, Sherry.”
“No-one runs from you, sweetie.” She whispered seductively in Bo’s ear.
Jonathan heard Bo start to run. He was faster than Jonathan. He looked around for a hidden place.
“There.” He thought as he turned into the old park. No-one was there except a few birds and fish in the river. Jonathan ambled to the river, careful not to make too noise. The place was beautiful. The river shone in the light, the trees were swaying majestically in the wind, and birds were soaring the skies peacefully. It was difficult to tell if they were in the same world world anymore.
It seemed that this place was a protector from the evils that were chasing him, but he was wrong. He found himself knelt on the floor, a heavy arm wrapped around his neck.
"You thought you could run from me, Scarecrow?" Bo said with a tone of bitterness complementing his devil like figure.
That's when he felt the waves ripple over him, his lungs fill up with the river water like an acid and trying to frantically yell for help.
He was let go, and pulled out of the water. Jonathan couldn't figure out what happened. Everything was spinning. His chest burned as if on fire and the worst thing about it was feeling of constant death pounding on his head.
He felt as if he was dying. Or perhaps he was as the voice of an angel echoed throughout his spinning world.
"Jonathan?" An old man's voice said calmly. As his eyes began adjusting, he noticed the old man's striking brown eyes, and silver hair. It was the old man from down the street. He went to the same church as granny and himself. He must have scared Bo and his friends away with his dogs.
"T-Thank you." Jonathan spluttered.
"No need. Now, I'd get home before that Great Grandmother of yours gets worried. Wouldn't wanna give 'er a heart attack." The Old man chuckled as he raised his hat Jonathan, and walked away with his two dogs following at his heel.
Jonathan disagreed with not wanting to give his great-grandmother a heart attack. It was all he'd ever wanted really. He decided to to dry himself of a little.
After he had dried himself off, he carried on home. The long dusty street was offsetting to most people unfamiliar with the town. It was the sort of place to give even the hardened of people a chill down their spine. It was terrifying to someone who didn't live there. The old Keeny Manor stood at the end of the dust road. It's old panels falling and slate from the roof disattached from its holdings. The house's front window was boarded up after someone threw a stone threw the window and faced the wrath of Granny Keeny. Jonathan walked up the path, practically shivering from fear that his great-grandmother knew he was late. He carefully pushed the door.
Nothing. There was nothing.
He walked down the corridor, almost making no noise. Granny was sleeping in the living room, on her chair.
He practically crawled up the stairs to his room. He desperately tried to listen for sound of Granny's cane, he couldn't hear it. All he could hear was a silence, which morphed into a growl, which morphed into snarl.
"Jonathan!" Her old crackly voice yelled. "Where have you been?" She had sense of annoyance in her voice.
"No where, Granny." He said. Once again, he felt as if a knot had been tied in his stomach.
"Don't try and fool me, boy. I know what kind of wickedness boys partake in when not being watched." Granny snarled at him from down the stairs. It seemed as if she was inching closer to him everytime he looked away.
"I swear Granny, I was not doing that." He said, trying to hide his awkwardness. Why would Granny think him to do that?
"Come down here." She said to him. She didn't sound so angry. Maybe she wasn't going to be angry.
Jonathan slowly edged his way down the stairs.
"I don't want you anywhere near those harlots."
"I-I haven't any friends, Granny, especially not girls." Jonathan muttered, slowly nearing the bottom of the staircase.
"Don't you lie to me, boy." She said while gifting Jonathan a whack round the face with her cane. He stumbled a little before falling onto the stair and smashing his head against the wooden staircase.
"Stand yourself up and stay in your room until your chores." She said before walking off, her cane banging against the floor, back to her chair.
Jonathan pulled himself up using the railing. His scalp was bleeding, he hit his head quite hard, not enough to crack it, but hard enough to damage the skin. He went up the stairs and laid down on his bed.
"Useless." He heard his Grandmother say from downstairs.
Nothing. Nothing came from her remarks. She was just a horrible woman after all.