December

Challenge: Lesson Learned

December 24, 2019

The dead leaves and snow crunched under my feet as I walked through the dark forest with Jax and Matt. A cold wind blew around us making me shiver and zip up my coat before catching up to my two friends. The mood was now raised above our heads and it felt like we have been walking for hours.

"Ugh! Guys, how much farther until we get there?" Jax asked with his feet now dragging on the ground making dirt cover his shoes.

"Don't ask me! Matt is the one that dragged us here, I don't even know what we are going to do." I said, glaring at Matt from behind him and taking Jax's hand to help him from walk correctly.

"Stop complaining, we are almost here and we will be giving Alex his punishment." Jax and I both looked at each other with confused faces.

"What Punishment? What did I do?" I ask, letting go of Jax's hand which made his smile fade a little.

"The punishment is a secret and if you don't remember then that is on you, I am not going to remind you of something that you should already know." Jax and I looked at each other again before getting a glare from Matt.

"Okay, whatever you say Mr. Grumpy," I say before bumping into something hard making me fall backward into the snow. I look up to see why we stopped only to find a large house protected by a metal gate. Matt was staring at it in awe and Jax just looked at me with worry covering his whole face. We both know that Matt has his moments but he has never been this excited about a creepy house or punishing his friends. Matt glanced at me with an evil smile spread across his face making me gulp.

"Jax, stay out here and stay guard while I give Alex his punishment," Matt said before pushing the large metal gate open and walking towards the house. He stopped about halfway and looked at me, "What are you doing? Get over here." I quickly ran up to the house with Matt and watched him pick the lock to the front door open. I followed him to the dining room where he put his bag on the table and directed me to do so as well.

"So, what are we doing exactly? I ask, too scared to look Matt in the eyes." He didn't answer, all he did was pull a knife out of his backpack and give me a small smile. He then walked to the entrance of the room and threw the knife right next to my head but made sure that I didn't get hit. My body froze with fear as he stared at the knife with the same evil grin that he has been holding all night.

"We are going to play a little game, you go hide and if I find you I get to cut you anywhere I want and with any amount of pressure I want." He didn't even give me time before counting down from ten, I didn't even stay to see what would happen if he hit zero. I quickly ran out of the room and up the large stairs that were by the front door. I quickly ran into a room and made sure that the door had no signs of human contact before finding a place to hide.

I looked around the large bedroom and decided to hide in a wardrobe that was by a broken window in the room. I quickly ran inside and closed the door behind me. I hid behind some clothes that were still in the wardrobe in hopes that Matt wouldn't look too closely. I listened closely for Matt's voice and my heart sank when I heard his feet run up the stairs.

I tried to turn my mind away from the sound of Matt's footsteps throughout the house and decided to think about the situation at hand. What the heck was going on? Usually, Matts punishments happened for a reason and included jumping into a cold pool without any clothes or letting him draw on us. Not running around with a knife and being allowed to hurt us with it, we are only eleven how did he even get the knife? What made him think that this was okay?

I thought were quickly interrupted by the wardrobe door flying open making me flinch. My heart sped up when I saw Matt look in my direction and smile. He grabbed my arm and quickly pulled me onto the floor of the bedroom I hid in. He held my face still and took the rather large knife of his pocket before swiping it across my face. My right cheek erupted in pain making my hands hold my face as tears fell out of my eyes. Matt then started counting again which made me dart out of the room and look for another hiding spot.

Matt has now found and cuts me ten times and this next one would make it eleven. I sat at the bottom of the stairs waiting for an impact of pain coming from somewhere around my body. I started to shake a long time ago and I could feel my body getting weaker and weaker. I was drenched in blood and my vision started to blur. Each cut was deeper and deeper making the rooms spin and making it harder to hide. After the quick impact of pain on my back, I felt a pair of hands come under my chin and push my head up. I looked into the dark eyes of Matt who stared down at me with his evil smile.

"I think we are done here. I am going to go home you can stay here and rot. Oh, and your punishment was for being gay for Jax, you faggot, I hope that you learned your lesson." I then heard the front door to the large house slam before my body finally gave out of me making me fall onto the floor. The room was spinning too much and black dots were too busy clouding my vision for me to even try to get up.

The front door opened slightly making me slowly turn my head to see what it was. A blurry figure stood at the door before its head landed on me. The figured ran towards me and took me into its arms before I heard Jaxs voice echo throughout the house.

"It will be okay Alex, please stay with me." I smiled to myself before the blackness fully took me away.