Distance

Chapter 7

Mr. Withers had been working late as usual since he was the only janitor. Tired yet agitated he continued mopping the school floors. He didn’t mind though, the noise outside kept him company. They don’t build them like they used to he thought.

Mr. Withers began to hear another conversation go by. It was Ray’s voice but the others he couldn’t recognize, so he decided to have a look. Putting down the mop he slowly made towards the door. Through the door window, all he saw was Ray, but he knew he heard another voice. Looking hard again, he noticed another shadow besides Ray’s. Hmm. Maybe his old mind is just playing tricks.

Ivar began walking his separate way home from Todd. Still bothered from yesterday, he tried to get the blame off his shoulders. Really it had been Todd’s idea to lure Ray. But was Ken really there? He seemed just so sure of it, that voice was so different. It all made no sense. He couldn’t have gone crazy. Todd on the other hand was absolutely sure Ray had gone crazy. But the truth was Todd never did like Ray at all.

Ivar stopped catching something in the paraphilia of his eye. Ray. Down the street Ray was walking to a bench near the drugstore. He could hear constant talking and rambling of two very distinctive voices. One was Ray but the other? Ivar felt himself go pale. The image before him flung a rush of anxiousness. Todd needed to know.

“Todd, I saw Ray by the drugstore.”

“Umm ok what’s your point?”

“He was talking to no one but yet someone. I heard another voice!”

“Dude I didn’t want to tell you this, but when Ray was saying Ken showed up, I did see someone standing behind him.” Chills went down Ivar’s spine now more than ever he was scared. What could it be? A demon, angel, ghost, or some other unexplained being?

“Todd we are going to have to talk to Ray. We need to get to the bottom of this.”

“I’m not sure about it man. Whatever it was stared so, so weird. It’s just creeping me out way too much. I am staying out of it.”

“But Todd…”

Todd hung up. Ivar not knowing what to do next, decided to wait it out, maybe he was over reacting.

Ray and Ken were sitting at the bench talking about Dan and Tyler. “So why do they bully you? What did you ever do to them? You seem too nice.”

“That’s the thing, I never did anything but defend myself. One day in school Dan attacked me and I threw a punch calling him names and such. After that no one else wanted to do anything with me. Even the teachers sided with him. I guess it’s just because I’m who I am. An ugly loser who no one wants to be friends with.”

Ken looked at Ray despairingly, “Ray you aren’t any of those things. They just naturally hate you since your something they aren’t.”

“Yeah maybe I guess, but I better get home before my dad blows a nut.”

“Hey dad how’s it going?”

“Just broker than ever. Sigh. What did you guys do I drove by the court and no one was there.”

“We just hanged out at the park for a while than Ken showed up so Todd and Ivar left. So we just ended up walking around.”

Arthur saw his dirty clothes and some mud on his face but didn’t bother to ask. “Well supper is ready if you want some. But you got to reheat it.”

Ray went in the kitchen to see hamburgers in the frying pan already greasing up. He heated them up using the microwave and put them on an aged dish. Squirting ketchup on the side, he ate them slowly enough to be filled up.

At school, everyone seemed too distance. Ray felt paranoid about the thoughts of others. What if Todd started telling everyone about what happened? Plus the ridicule that would come from Dan and Tyler would not help anything. He came into the classroom and found an empty seat away from everyone else. Dan was nowhere in sight. Whoa what a relief. Without him, Tyler usually did nothing. Waiting for class to start, Ray took a look around only to see Ivar talking to Todd. While he looked over Todd caught him out of his eye. Murmuring to Ivar they both sat straight towards the chalk board.

Finally the teacher talked, “Class last week we were reading about adjectives and adverbs. Now we shall turn our attention to pronouns.” Ray didn’t care. Zoning out he couldn’t keep his mind off of yesterday. While the class still went on, the teacher asked him a question. “Excuse me Ray are you here with us or dreaming about tanning?” That got a laugh out of the whole class. Instead of replying, Ray just got up and left. The teacher put her book down and quickly followed. “Come on Ray it was just a little joke.” Ray didn’t even bother speaking walking right out of the school.

Sickening, disputes could never end. He had always tried to ignore it. He thought if he could do that the prosecution would just stop. But no even the teachers had to get involved. “Hello there Ray, shouldn’t you be in school?” Mr. Withers spoken.

 “Ah well I left, I just can’t take it anymore. Everyone there is against me. Even the teachers egg the kids on.” Ray replied. “All I have left is my friend Ken, but no one believes he’s real.”

“Yeah life is tough kid but sometimes you got to get tougher. Say was you hanging out with Ken yesterday?”

“I was not for long.”

“And you walked by the school?”

“Yeah… why?”

“Just wondering is all, thought I heard you guys.”

Mr. Withers didn’t know what to think now. He knew like the sky was blue what he saw. Whatever it was he knew Ray had to be in trouble. The kid just had so much badluck, that it wouldn’t surprise him Ken was just more. Quickly he went into the school to find Ivar. Even if he and Ray weren’t friends anymore, he had to know something.

“Ivar, how are you doing? School going okay?”

“Yeah it is, am I in trouble or something?”

“Well it has to do with Ray. He’s been acting weirder than usual. And sure enough you know about his new friend Ken?” Ivar stared blankly for an instance.

“Yeah I know about him.”

“Good. Good. Well?”

“Well what? All I know about him is they meet up in the woods ever so often. I’ve never seen him but did hear him before. Twice, once in the woods and another time down by the drugstore. But Todd claims to have seen him. I don’t know if it’s true, Todd has kind of had a grudge against him. Even though Ray’s never done anything.”

Mr. Withers looked internally. “Look at here Ivar, I know both of you have had your differences with Ray but he’s your friend whether he got in that fight with Dan or not. Help him. Because whatever it is, has a hold of him. Soon enough, there may be no more Ray.”

Ray walked into the mausoleum. Each footstep hitting the bare cement floor echoed inside. “Ken? Are you here?” Ray walked further down into it seeing the door cracked slightly open. “There you are Ken.” Ken sat motionless on a cement slab. All that could be seen were slight dark figures of themselves. They never bothered to bring light inside fearing attention be brought on them.

“Ray I must tell you, I don’t know how much longer I can stand being around here. The nights grow cold and they come searching for me evermore.”

“Don’t worry; I’ll keep you safe.” said Ray. Wildly the silence swung about the emptiness as they both sat, heads hung down.