The Bad and Me

A Void Then a Wall

I could see him out of the corner of my eye as he proceeded merrily across the grassy courtyard.  For the first time, I was afraid to talk to him, afraid at how I would react to his behavior, now clearly fake.  

            “Lisa!”  he called galloping toward me.  I turned to face my locker and tried my best to keep a poker face as he squeezed me from behind.  I grew depressed, knowing these hugs were just a mirage.  

            “Morning, Jay,”  I grumbled.  It tore me up inside as I faced his beautifully structured face.  I quickly pulled my hand away from his attempt to hold it, and pretended I needed my hand to hold my books.  Of course, I still had a pretty empty backpack.  

            His chipper attitude slowly shifted into a concerned gaze.  “Everything okay?” Jay uttered.  “Need help with those books? I got two free hands, now that I’m not holding one of yours.”  He smirked at me with a cheesy smile, but I ignored his extreme cuteness.  

            “Listen,” I began, “I really appreciate your offer and all, but I can handle it myself, I’m not a wimp.”  That might have come out too strident, I thought; regretting it.

            His face adjusted into a confused look, “I never said you were a wimp, Lisa.  I just think it would be nice if I’d help you out.  There’s nothing wrong with a little help is there?”  I felt a void start to form between us.  He was vaguely becoming less appealing to me.

My heart started to beat faster as I remembered my plan of trying to help him.  It’s like he could read my thoughts… but he couldn’t with me, after all, we had the same powers.

“I have to get to class, can we talk later or something?”  I insisted.  He looked like he had just been bashed in the face with a baseball bat.  His astonished face was obviously suspecting the weird distance I was putting between us.  Jay tried to pursue me, but I remembered the way the senior boy had harassed the freshman girl.  He suddenly grabbed my arm and shoved me into my locker without a moment’s hesitation.  I thought I would slam into the lockers for sure, which would hurt like hell, but instead I tripped and fell backward into the evaporating lockers.  They vanished from thin air, as I watched Jay’s maniacal face turn into dust and fly out of sight.

Without a warning, my nerves started to burst from inside me, all of them setting aflame.  The ground fell from under my feet, and I plummeted into a dark abyss.  The neverending fall seemed to send me into a black hole, not knowing where I would end up.  I cringed as I finally landed feet first on solid ground, my head practically wobbling off my shoulders as I regained balance. 

I took in the scenery around me and a jail-like room came into focus.  Randomly placed in middle of the room was a boring, leather couch.  A Victorian lamp stood formally on a black walnut stand, level to the couch.  It had a beaded fringe sewn to the bottom, creating a crystalized light, and happened to be the only light entering the room.  There were no windows showing a way out into the world, no people but me in the room, and I knew this had something to do with Jay’s plans.

            The walls were painted a nude color: evil looking and bland.  My worn-out backpack was across the room, strewn on the floor, next to the silent couch.  I steadily moved one leg at a time, making sure I didn’t collapse under myself, and maneuvered toward my backpack.

            I suddenly collided with something rubbery, and I was hurtled forcefully against the masonry and stud wall, opposite the stiff couch. The wall had obviously been built to keep sound inside the room, so no passerby would be curious about the pleading stranger pounding on the walls.  A clear ripple echoed from an invisible wall; a force field that kept me from escaping this imprisonment.  This had to be the incredible job of something or someone more powerful and dexterous than I was.  It didn’t take me a while to postulate a concept of who it was.