Believing Lies

by Elizabeth, Anne

  He didn’t have a respectable job like Mom and Dad. He worked for a small hardware store in town. The owner was generous and paid Henry a little more than minimum wage. Henry lucked out with the job, but he never seemed to be that appreciative of the guy.

  “Mom said you have to drive me to school,” I told him, closing the fridge door. We had nothing in there besides milk and some old hotdogs. No one ever went grocery shopping for the house.

  “You can walk. I’ll be late to work if I drop you off.” He grunted, fixing his hair in the mirror that was hanging on the wall.

  “I can’t walk!” I argued. “I’ll be late and sweaty!”

  He smirked at me while he grabbed a mug of coffee. “Too bad. I have to go.”

  He left, slamming the door shut. It rang in my ears, slowly fading away. The sound reminded me of something. Like I’d heard it before, but it was followed by a feeling of fear.

  I ran outside in my dirty clothes to see Henry getting in the car. His smirk remained, which made me see red. I could feel the anger boiling inside of me. I wanted to punch him in his stupid face. I pictured myself hitting him, his jaw being knocked out of place, and him falling to the ground. The sound of his head banging against the driveway, his blood pouring out of his skull. His life leaving his unmoving body.

  Like Nick.

  Except I wouldn’t feel guilty if it was Henry.

  He climbed into the driver’s seat, glaring at me. I marched up to his window. His face peered through it, but he wasn’t paying attention to me. My fists automatically started to bang on the glass. His head snapped to face mine, and he rolled down the window.

  “What the hell’s wrong with you?” He cursed. “You are gonna break the damn window!”

  “Dude! You can’t just leave; I need a ride!”

  He rolled it back up, ignoring me. His eyes pierced ahead, and he drove out of the driveway. I watched as his crappy, old car rumbled down the street. I stood there and listened until his car couldn’t be heard any more.

  Guess I am going to be late.

  I banged the door closed when I made it back into the house. The sun was just starting to come up. It shined through the windows. My body in front of the window grew a shadow on the floor. Reminded me of the figure from last night. I raised my hand and watched my shadow do the same. I started curling my fingers into a fist; the shadow copied.

  I control it.

  I walked down the hallway of my house. Picture frames lined the walls; the reflections from the glass blinded me. I looked at a picture frame that was sitting on a bookcase. It was an old picture. The edges were a bit rough, and it looked wrinkled. I was confused why Mom would put a picture like that in a frame. She always talked about making sure everything looked nice and new. The picture had been taken at a beach. Henry, Nick, and I were all sitting at the edge of the water. Henry was messing with my hair, and I was in the middle of laughing, which was something I haven’t done in a while. Nick’s light brown hair was golden at the time, perfectly matching his tan in the photo. I could almost see his piercing green eyes as if he were actually in front of me. I noticed that Nick had a goofy smile on his face, covered in what looked like ice cream.

  “Kyle!” Nick screeched out. The wind blew against my face, bringing sand with it. The smell of salt filled my nose, and I took a big whiff before running to Nick. We loved going to the beach together; it was our favorite thing to do back then.

  “Nick!” I yelled, watching him tread water. I laughed at him, sprinting to get nearer. I was always obsessed with water, no matter what it was: rain, baths, pools, or oceans. I loved swimming; it became my life.

  Nick wasn’t like me, though. He didn’t love the ocean. He loved the sand. Well, staying on the sand and looking at the sky. So, when I saw him in the water, I knew I had to go play with him. I swam by him and jumped onto his shoulders, pushing him under.

  I had to keep pressure on him to keep him under. He fought back, his hands coming above the surface to hit me. I loosened my grip on him so I could give him a chance. A few seconds passed, and he jumped up, splashing around. I started laughing at him.

  “Hey!” He chuckled, wiping his hair from his eyes. He looked at me and shoved me back. I dramatically fell backward and into the water with a big splash. The water flew up around me and splashed Nick. “Was that necessary?”

  “Absolutely!” I beamed at him. The sun was shining down on us, creating an effect in the water that made it crystal clear. “What are you doing in the water? And not in your chair, staring at the clouds?”

  He looked at me and smiled. He started swishing the top of the water with his hand. “I wanted to see why you like it so much. And I get it now. I feel…invincible.” He lay down on his back to float on the water and stared up at the sun.

  “Why do you like staring at the sky?” I asked when he tilted his head to look at me. I’ve always wanted to ask him, but I never wanted to push. I know it’s not that he prefers the daylight sky because he looks at it at night as well.

  “It’s not about the sky,” he answered, still focused above. “Or space. It’s about what’s above it all. I like to think about what could be out there. Where my dad is.”

  I felt bad about asking him. I didn’t think it would have anything to do with his dad. I should’ve known, but I didn’t. It made me sad; Nick knew what I was going to say before even I knew. And I couldn’t even figure out why he liked looking at the sky.

  “Boys! I want to get a picture.” I heard Mom calling from shore. I looked up to see Henry waving us over. He had a big grin on his face, and I smiled back. I turned to face Nick, who was already looking at me. I watched as his grin turned to a smirk.

  “Wanna race?”

  2

  Eight Hours

  I raced down the street and saw the huge building in front of me. The sign in front read, Concord High School. It had everything I hated. School, students, and people of authority. It had a grand concrete staircase leading up to the rows of red doors to enter the school. Parts of the exterior were run-down. Edges of the rectangular building were chipped, badly. Graffiti on brick walls surrounded it. I groaned while dragging my feet along, trying to make my way into the school on time. I had to walk through the parking lot to get into the actual school. Which meant I had to pass the students standing by their cars and hanging out with their friends.

  “Kyle!” a high-pitched voice called out to me. I turned to see Noelle waving her arm back and forth at me. Noelle’s high cheekbones were one of my favorite features about her, besides her long ink-black hair that ran to just below her shoulders and her bright green eyes. She stood with her group of friends, who I have never once talked to in my life. I had no interest in them. They were the type of girls who posted on social media of themselves crying for attention. Noelle never did that. I watched as she made her way through her friends, slowly making her way toward me.

  She’s trying to come and talk to me.

  I don’t want her to.

  I shook my head at her and pointed at my wrist as if I was wearing a watch. I wanted to mentally slap myself in the head for doing that. For some reason, she realized what I meant. Her face dropped, and she nodded. Guilt sat in my stomach, just swirling around. She gave me a small smile before going back to her friends. My heart rate started to speed up as I let her walk away.

  I walked away to make it into the school ahead of the other students, but before I could reach the steps of the building, someone grabbed my shoulder. Anger fueled my body the second I felt their fingers grab me. Before I turned around, I could already tell who it was.

  “Where’s your little boyfriend?” a voice snickered behind me. I turned around to face Mark Evans. Mark used to be friends with Nick and me. He was our best friend; we stood by him even when he started doing weed and drinking. Even once he went for the harder drugs. But he did something we couldn’t forgive him for, so we kicked him out of our group. He had never forgiven us for that.

  I looked M
ark in the eyes, and I gave him nothing. No emotion, response, or anything. I planted my feet on the ground and shifted my backpack to my left arm. Mark looked back at me, baffled that I didn’t say anything. His blueish-gray eyes narrowed, and his upper lip curled into a smirk.

  “Aw, is Kyle upset because his boyfriend didn’t come to school?” His friends laughed with him.

  What an idiot.

  Mark looked to me for a reaction. I wouldn’t give him that. He wasn’t going to get the satisfaction of getting me mad. Mark shifted his attention to his friends, and they were all just staring at me. Moving their heads to the side, puzzled that there wasn’t a fight.

  “What the hell, Davis!?” Mark got right in my face. I could smell mint from his mouth. His nose was practically on top of mine. I didn’t flinch; I just stood there. I watched as he huffed out his frustration.

  We grew a crowd at this point. I couldn’t exactly see who was watching, but I knew Luke was among the audience from the voice that came next.

  “Dude! Just leave him alone!”

  That was Luke. Always stopping a fight, never in one. He was too fragile and delicate to ever throw a punch, even being six foot three. His mom was a firm believer in World Peace and No Guns protests, which automatically made him one. He would constantly tell me about protests and charity events that he would go to with his mom.

  Mark’s eyes screamed rage at this point, but he didn’t move. “Shut it, Cloud, or you’re next!” He stayed focused on me. His nostrils started to flare, and I could tell I wasn’t going to be standing for much longer. Mark was always the one who started fights. Nick and I were the ones to finish them.

  I’m not finishing anything today.

  The crowd had gotten bigger, and I was sure a teacher would’ve noticed at this point, but there wasn’t one in sight. Just a bunch of high school kids wishing for a beating to happen. I looked to my right to see Noelle standing there with her friends, staring at me. Her hand was covering her mouth as her eyes peered into mine with concern.

  “Maybe I should kill you. Then when Nick comes here alone tomorrow, I’ll do the same to him,” Mark muttered into my ears. An empty threat for sure; Mark knows he wouldn’t be able to harm me unless I let him. But the thought of Nick dying pierced into my skull once again. My head snapped to him; hints of anger glowed in my pupils. He grinned, knowing it bothered me.

  If only he knew why…

  I wanted to fight him at that moment. I wanted to grab him by his amber hair and smash him against my kneecap. Or throat punch him and watch him fall. To watch his eyes roll into the back of his head. To wait for everyone to be quiet when they saw what I had done. Then I looked at Noelle. She had her eyes closed tightly, waiting for me to break Mark’s neck. She expected my anger to take over. I already saw myself as a monster; I couldn’t let her see me like that too.

  Whatever expression I had on my face before, I wiped it off. Mark’s grin fell, and his eyes glared into mine. I took my anger out on my hands as I closed them into tight fists. I felt the nails cut into my skin, and the blood started to drip. By the time I realized I was bleeding, Mark’s fist came flying at me. The impact landed right into my eye. I let my body fall backward, and my head smacked into the pavement.

  “Hey!” Luke complained. “Let him be! He didn’t do anything!”

  “Oh, quit it, Cloud. Otherwise, I’ll show you what a real punch looks like.” Mark snickered back. He laughed with his friends before Luke spoke again.

  “Don’t tempt me.” Luke scowled. “You really wanna test it to see if I can fight back?”

  He couldn’t. Luke didn’t know how to fight or the first thing about self-defense. He only talked like he knew what he was doing when Nick and I were in trouble. No one was going to fight the giant towering over them.

  I didn’t know whether Mark said anything or not. My ears were ringing. I could hear faint whispers from the people watching. I assumed Mark and his friends left because I heard footsteps right by my ears. I saw Noelle’s face peek over mine. Her hair fell in front of her face, casting a shadow that blocked the sun’s glare.

  “No, Noelle, you should get to class,” Luke ordered. “I got him.”

  No.

  No, you don’t.

  Then it all went black.

  ~

  “I think he’s waking up. I should get back to work,” a voice announced. The voice was whispering, but it sounded loud in my head. I heard a grunt, then footsteps, and a door closing. I opened my eyes to a light shining above me. I sat up and looked around. I was in the nurse’s office. The nurse, Ms. Jones, smiled at me before grabbing some things from her desk. I watched as she opened a bunch of drawers and took things from each one. The ringing in my ears was still present, but it only muffled everything.

  “Mr. Davis,” she scolded, “you have been costing me a lot of bandages this year.” She laughed as she made her way to me, looking at my very painful eye. “What happened this time?”

  “Nothing,” I muttered. I didn’t care if Mark got in trouble or not; he wasn’t even a thought in my mind. He was nothing to me. He didn’t matter.

  “Doesn’t look like nothing,” she responded, grabbing my hand. I winced while she turned my hand over, exposing the cuts. She eyed me while she cleaned it up.

  “I did that,” I assured her.

  “On purpose?” she questioned, not looking at me. She cleaned up all the dried blood and put a liquid on it. It was cold, but it didn’t hurt.

  I defended myself. “Of course not.” I watched as she bandaged both my hands before looking at my eye. She handed me some ice. The coldness sent chills up my arms. I didn’t hear the phone ring, but I could see it shaking on the wall. She answered it and talked for a moment; then she hung up. She told me she would be right back, then closed the door. I watched her through the windows as she walked down the hallways.

  I looked down at my hands. I clenched them, bringing pain to my palms. I shifted in my seat when I heard a wrinkled paper sound coming from the end of the room. I moved my gaze to the right and saw a pair of shoes hanging out over a bed. It was another kid, just lying down. The curtain covered up his body and face, so I couldn’t see who it was.

  “Hey,” I babbled weakly, “what happened to you?”

  No response.

  Maybe he’s just sleeping.

  I thought about it and realized that Ms. Jones wouldn’t have left a kid unconscious in her office.

  “Dude—” I spoke again. “—you alright?”

  Again, he stayed silent. I decided to make sure he was still alive. I walked down past the many empty beds before I reached his. My hands trembled as I pulled back the curtain to reveal a boy. His head was smashed in, and blood was dripping to the floor. There was dirt and mud all over his body and clothes. His eyes stared into mine, and I realized who it was.

  “Nick!” I screamed out. I threw the curtains back as I raced toward my bed. I watched as Nick’s bloody, misconfigured hand pulled the curtain back, revealing his face. I jumped onto my bed and started crying. My entire body started to vibrate as his eyes stared at me. His blood looked fresh and was dripping into his eyes. Even though he was moving, his eyes still looked lifeless. His legs swung over the side of the bed, sitting straight up. He was like a doll. A bloody, dirty, dead doll. I covered my face and started yelling for help.

  I heard footsteps running toward me, and the door swung open. Ms. Jones appeared with Dad. I stopped yelling, and I wiped the tears from my face. I accidentally hit my black eye, which caused the pain to burst. I whimpered as I reached up to touch it.

  “No, don’t touch it,” Ms. Jones warned me. “You’ll make it worse.” I retracted my hand from my face. I could feel the glare my father was giving me. Ms. Jones walked over to me and replaced my ice. “Why were you screaming?”

  “Because of—” I started to say, pointing at the moving corpse. But when I looked, there was nothing there. There wasn’t even a kid. Which terrified me even more.

&nb
sp; I guess it’s not just my mirror that’s tricking me.

  I racked my brain, trying to come up with an excuse as to why I was screaming.

  “Because the pain just hit me.”

  Ms. Jones gave me a sympathetic look while writing on her pad. “I think you should go home for the day. Relax and heal.” She handed Dad a note from her pad. He peeked at it and nodded. He stuffed the note in his pocket, patting me on the back.

  “Let’s take you home, kid.”

  I’d rather just die.

  ~

  “Wanna talk about it?” Dad was driving me home from school. He was bragging about how he left work to come and get me, which made him a good father. He said that he had a big case, and he’d left his assistant alone to do most of the work until he got back.

  “Not really,” I answered. I knew my dad was proud of himself for leaving work early to get his son from school. My dad was always at the office when I was younger, and not much had changed. So, him coming to get me was a big deal to him. It made my blood boil. I wanted to take the driving wheel and turn it until the car smashed into the rails on the side of the road.

  “Okay—” My dad clicked his tongue. “—but can you tell me what happened?” He peeked over at me, and I refused to skip a beat.

  “Nothing happened.”

  I looked out the window to give myself something to do other than answer my dad’s never-ending questions. I just watched my reflection in the glass, staring into my own eyes. We came off the highway, and I noticed a familiar patch of the forest ahead of us. I quickly sat up and stared at the swaying trees.

  “Dude, just let it be!” I barked at Nick. “It’s not a big deal!” I stomped off into the forest, hoping he would stay back. I heard footsteps crunching leaves behind me, so I picked up my pace. “Drop it!”

  Nick was never the type of guy to let go of things. He held grudges for as long as he could. He remembered every little thing that Mark did to both of us. It was as if he had a journal where he wrote down every wrong someone did to him.