Gated Heart

Chapter 8

On Monday morning, Mia was surprised to walk out of her house and not see Aren waiting for her. It was the first time in months that he hadn't come to walk to school with her. Mia looked left and right, up and down the street, hoping to see him coming late. He was nowhere in sight. For some reason Mia couldn't identify, she felt an ache in her heart at the thought of not seeing him. She tried to shrug it away and started walking.

Eventually she arrived at her school gate, and just before she walked onto school grounds, she heard a noise coming from behind the dumpsters on the far side of the school parking lot. It sounded like glass breaking. She went to investigate.

As she approached the dumpsters, she heard voices.

"Yo, man! Chill! Seriously, are you insane??" The voice sounded familiar.

Someone scoffed in response.

"I swear to god!," The familiar voice shouted fearfully. "Put it down, you fucking sociopath!"

When Mia heard the word "sociopath," she knew exactly who that voice belonged to. Chris. She felt an instinctive rush of fear and trauma. She was about to turn and run, when a nagging thought stopped her.

Chris was clearly yelling at someone in fear... someone, the person who had only scoffed, was about to attack him. "No way..." She thought to herself. "It couldn't be!" Mia's eyes widened as she realized with dread. She turned and bolted around the dumpsters to see what was happening.

She skidded to a stop and stared at the scene, absorbing with shock what was occurring in front of her.

Chris was on the ground with his back against the dumpster. He had a black eye and his lip was bleeding. He had been thoroughly beaten. Aren stood a few feet away, staring down at him, looking furious and cruel. Mia had seen Aren's face look blank before, but this was different. It wasn't blank. It was soulless. His eyes were dark and filled with vengeance.

Mia looked at what Aren had in his hand. He was holding a broken glass bottle by the neck, with the jagged, broken end pointed like a weapon at Chris.

She gasped.

"Aren!" She cried desperately.

He didn't even flinch or acknowledge her. He looked like he could hardly hear her. His eyes remained fixated on Chris.

Chris snapped his head towards Mia with terror and pleading in his expression. "Mia-" He begged. "Mia, call off your boyfriend! He's gonna fucking kill me!"

Aren erupted before Mia even had a chance to respond.

He kicked Chris hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

Chris grunted and slumped back against the dumpster, groaning in pain.

"How dare you even fucking talk to her," Aren's deep voice breathed with rage.

Chris put his arms up in front of his face, shielding himself and bracing for the blow.

"Glance in her direction again and I'll slit your throat," Aren threatened as he raised the bottle, ready to slash at him.

"Aren, stop!" Mia cried. "Don't do this, it will only hurt you in the end!"

Aren's chest heaved with each angry breath as he stared down at Chris. Mia's desperate voice was making him hesitate but he refused to drop the bottle or back down.

Chris looked frantically between Mia and Aren. He started stammering in a high pitched tone. "Y-y-yeah! Sh-she's right, listen to-"

"SHUT UP!" Aren snapped down at him, making Chris flinch and tremble again. "Are you scared?" Aren mocked, with a hissing sort of hatred. He put on a chilling fake smile. "You hoping someone will come save you?" Aren scoffed, but his eyes were unhinged.

Chris stared frantically at him, afraid to speak.

Aren's wild, mocking smile changed in an instant, and was replaced with pure fury. "I WONDER IF THIS IS HOW MIA FELT WHEN YOU TRIED TO-"

Chris' eyes widened in panic.

"AREN!" Mia cut Aren off. "Don't!"

Aren started swinging the sharp bottle down towards Chris' face, but felt his arm suddenly being held back. He looked down at his side. Mia was clutching his arm and staring up at him with an expression full of fear and desperation. Her eyes pleaded for him to stop.

Seeing the look on her face, Aren felt a sharp pain in his heart, a heaviness that mixed with his anger.

"Please!" Mia begged, staring into his eyes. "Please, stop here!-"

"He deserves to be punished." Aren said.

"Yes, and he will be! But not by you, please! I'm begging you!" She could see on his face that he didn't understand why on earth she was doing this.

"I don't want you to have someone's blood on your hands," Mia implored. "I don't want something like this to happen because of me!"

There was a war going on inside Aren as he fought with himself over what to do next. The effort of the decision was suffocating.

"This won't just hurt Chris. It will hurt you too. It will hurt me..."

Aren's will was broken by Mia's last few words. Although he didn't understand why she was reacting this way, he couldn't bear the thought of hurting her. He dropped the bottle.

Chris took a huge breath, his body slumping back as his panic eased.

Mia let out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes from the intensity of it all. Seeing Aren's murderous, unhinged state a moment ago had shook her. There was something scary in Aren. She was afraid of him.

Aren let his head drop down to his chest, exhausted from feeling so much emotion at once.

Chris took the opportunity to quickly limp away.

When Mia opened her eyes, she noticed Aren's shifted demeanor and saw pain behind his anger. The fear and doubt she had about him melted away when she saw the lost, confused boy in front of her. He looked broken and tired. Her heart went out to him. She reached up, placing her hand gently on his cheek to turn his head towards her.

He refused, pulling his head away as if he were too ashamed to look at her.

She sighed. "Aren... look at me." She cooed.

He didn't, but when she reached up again to guide his face toward her, he let her. His face turned in her direction, but he kept his eyes on the ground.

"Thank you..." she said softly.

He finally made eye contact.

She had never seen him looking so unsure of himself. The vulnerability on his face didn't match his usual unbreakable, unaffected persona.

"I don't know how to do this," he uttered shakily.

"I know..." she said with a tender half-smile. Her heart ached for him. "I know you are just doing what your heart is telling you to do..."

They stayed quiet for a moment. Neither one knew what to say next, though a thousand thoughts were going through their heads. The silence felt like the calm after a storm.

Finally, Aren spoke.

"We're late for school." He said, still speaking quietly.

Mia let out an awkward laugh. It was such an unimportant problem compared to what they were going through, she thought.

"That's okay..." she said. "We're not going today, anyway."

Aren looked at her.

She took his arm and led him off school grounds.

"What are we doing?" He asked.

"Walking." She replied.