When the bell rang, I had two choices. Dart out early and give Kyle and Jay a reason to come after me, or stay and talk to Mrs. Sherwood. The second seemed better, even though Kyle and Jay could just wait right outside the room until I left. Either way, I was taking the risk of getting caught again. The other kids bolted out of the class, including the two that wanted to beat me up.
I decided to go with my second plan and headed for Mrs. Sherwood’s desk. I hoped I could come up with a good question that would get us talking until Kyle and Jay got tired of waiting.
“Hi, Jason!” she greeted me warmly when I reached her desk. “Have you been settling in nicely?”
“Yeah, it’s been okay.” I looked down at my feet while I tried to think of something to ask her.
“What can I help you with?” A question popped into my head, and I pulled my eyes from my feet to look at her.
“You said before that the human condition plays an important role in A Streetcar Named Desire. What exactly is the human condition?” Although I already knew the answer, I was sure Mrs. Sherwood would be able to explain it to me in depth, which would take up plenty of time.
“Did you not learn about it in your old school?” She looked very puzzled. I shook my head, back and forth, trying not to look like I was lying. She smiled widely. “You’re in for a treat! Why don’t you take a seat? I’ll excuse you from your second period class.”
“Thanks.” I could barely hold in my excitement. I wouldn’t have to be bothered by Kyle and Jay until gym. I could take sitting through an explanation of the human condition to avoid getting beaten up; although some of my old friends probably would have chosen Kyle and Jay over the lecture.
“Where to start, where to start?” She sighed and sat back in her seat. “There is so much to tell, but you only need a little glimpse for now. The human condition, in brief, is the response of the human mind to its surroundings. Say you were put on an island with nothing but the clothes on your back, much like the boys in Lord of the Flies. What would you do? Would you keep your head, stay level-minded and battle it out until you were found? Or would you turn as savage as the creatures that stalk our world?
“This leads us to my favorite question. Can a moral man maintain his moral code in an immoral world? If you were thrust into a world of killing, could you stay pure of heart?”
She paused there and looked at me. After all the questions she’d asked without stopping for an answer, she finally wanted one.
“I like to believe I could,” I said. “And I really do think I would.”
She smiled. “Ah, but many men have said the same and failed the test. I’d think almost anyone would give an answer something like that, but when put into the actual situation, only a small percent would live up to their words. This is a major flaw of the human condition; we can imagine anything we want, but reality may or may not let us achieve what we imagine.
“There is also a flaw that I think is ironic in today’s world. It is said that humans strive to find eternal life, yet we keep killing each other in any way we find possible. Right now, there is a way for immortality that comes in the form of the creatures, but they pillage and destroy anything and anyone they possibly can.”
“So you’re comparing a human’s mind to a monster’s?”
“In a way, yes I am. But, there is a major difference; humans have the ability to kill and destroy, just like the creatures, but we also have the ability to be kind, compassionate, and noble. Those traits are what keep us apart from the monsters. We have light where they have darkness, love where they have hate. The only reason I believe we still have a chance to stop them is because we have something worth fighting for: our families and our friends, the natural beauties of our world and the many species that inhabit it. We have the hope that someday all of these things will be safe once more.”
“That’s a nice way to look at things.” I smiled lightly, thinking of a peaceful world without the creatures. “I only wish it were true.”
“But it is true! You just have to believe that there is hope, and hope will find you. There is a strong possibility that something will shift into place and give us a chance to rid the planet of these creatures.”
“So, hope is part of the human condition?”
“Yes. Every emotion and feeling a human is capable of is part of the human condition. Like I said, it’s what keeps us apart from the creatures.”
“The creatures,” I repeated. “I hate talking about them. Do you mind if we just move on?”
“I’m sorry, of course. There’s much more to tell than just about them.” It took her almost all of second period to tell me everything she thought I needed to know. When I left the classroom, there was no sign of Kyle or Jay, so I happily made it to my third period class just as the bell rang. I realized as I entered the room that I had missed history with April. I would have liked to talk to her, but I guessed it was better that I didn’t. If Kyle were to see us, he wouldn’t be too happy.
Third period psychology was very boring. Mrs. Perth had the most monotonous voice I had ever heard. Falling asleep would be the only problem I would have in that class. At my school in Daly City, psychology had been my favorite subject. It was a two-year course that we took in our junior and senior years. My old teacher had made it a very enjoyable class.
After the long and tedious talk she gave on the Id, Ego, and Superego, Mrs. Perth assigned our homework for the day. As she handed the sheets out to the last row of students, the bell rang. I got up and almost fell over as I realized my leg had fallen asleep. I half-limped out of the room and headed to math, where Mr. Dawning was waiting to ruin my day even further. I was very bad at trigonometry, and Mr. Dawning’s speed-style teaching technique did not help me at all.
When I walked into the room, Mr. Dawning was writing on the board. He turned to give me an aggravated look then went back to work. I sat by the window and, looking out, noticed it had started to rain. It was just a little drizzle at the moment, but the weatherman had predicted it would turn into a storm. When the second bell rang to start class, Mr. Dawning closed and locked the door; it was part of his “if you’re late you don’t get to come in” policy. He went to the board and immediately started on something I had never heard of before. He almost never turned around and when he did, he ignored the raised hands flashing all around the class. Obviously, I wasn’t the only one without a clue.
I finally gave up a couple of minutes later and gazed out the window at the rain which had started to turn into a downpour. My heart sank when I saw a dark figure standing in the middle of the soccer field.
I could feel my hands start to tremble, and a cold chill traveled up my spine as the figure started to move closer to the school. It was heading right for me, and still I saw no guards running out to burn it. I wondered if they even noticed it was there.
I started to turn and tell Mr. Dawning about it, but I couldn’t move. My entire body was frozen in fear. I wondered if the figure knew I had seen it, and that’s what had made it advance. Then, my thoughts returned to what had happened this morning in English. Had I seen this figure in the woods? Was it watching me, following me around as I went to my classes? Then a loud, thundering yell broke my frozen gaze.
“Jason Hook! Would you please stop daydreaming?” Mr. Dawning yelled. “I’m not going over this again!” It took me a few seconds to gather my thoughts. I whipped my gaze to the window again, but the figure was gone. I turned back to Mr. Dawning, who was still staring at me angrily. I tried to say something, but no words came.
The figure was gone, and I couldn’t tell if I had made it up in my head or if it had been real. It couldn’t have been real, though, or the guards would have seen it. They patrolled everywhere, so there were no blind spots. For all I knew, it was a guard; I could barely see anything through the rain.
The rest of class was hell. Mr. Dawning wouldn’t take his eyes off of me for more than a few seconds, and I still couldn’t be sure of what I had seen. When th
e bell finally rang, I couldn’t decide if I should go to my next class or if I should hide somewhere. I couldn’t be sure, but I had a feeling it was a creature watching me, not a guard.
As I walked down the hall, I debated telling someone what I had seen. If it was a monster, the guards needed to be alerted immediately, but if it wasn’t, I would never live it down. Some people might even think I was starting to go crazy. The world was a horrible place, and it wasn’t uncommon for someone to hallucinate.
I finally decided to go on with my day and headed for shop class. I couldn’t wait for lunch so I could talk to Brian. I felt he would be the only person that would understand. For the next three periods, I spent most of my time glancing out of the windows. Lightning was starting to flash as lunch drew nearer, and I overheard people saying that the storm would fully hit around two-thirty.
In the lunchroom, I saw that Kyle and Jay were sitting at April’s table, but it almost looked as if she didn’t want them there. They were making a big ruckus, and her face was hard as stone as she kept glancing away from them. I averted my gaze in hope that they wouldn’t notice me. As I walked around the corner, I looked back to make sure they hadn’t seen me. Both of them were still fooling around and laughing, so I quickly moved out of sight. Brian was sitting in the same spot as he had been yesterday, reading the same book: Stephen King’s The Stand. I had heard about it and found the plot very interesting.
When I put my backpack on the seat, he looked up at me with a wide smile. “Hey Jason, how’s it going?” he asked casually.
“How do you feel about…monsters?” I wanted to use their real name, but I just couldn’t say it out loud.
“I feel the same way all normal people do; I hate them all and wish they would go burn in the hell they came out of.” His voice was firm, and the smile on his face diminished quickly.
“Okay, but can I tell you something weird?” I felt nervous even asking this question.
“I guess so,” he said hesitantly.
“Don’t jump to conclusions before I finish talking, because it might not be true, okay?”
“Sure.” When I didn’t start right away, he lifted an eyebrow to tell me to go ahead.
“So, where should I start?” I mused aloud. “I guess I’ll just get right to the point. I’m pretty sure I saw a monster on the soccer field outside Mr. Dawning’s room.” When Brian didn’t jump up and start screaming, I figured it was okay to continue. “It was raining hard at the time, and I don’t really know if what I saw was a monster, my imagination or a guard, and I really don’t know what I should do.”
“Don’t do anything,” he said sharply. “There’s absolutely no way any monster can get onto school grounds without the Blood Protectors knowing about it. I bet you saw one of them on the field. They can be pretty scary looking when it’s raining, and I bet it’s not the first time someone has mistaken one of them for a monster.” What he said made total sense, and I felt like an idiot. I should have known that was the only logical explanation.
“Thanks, Brian. I feel better now. I’ve been freaking out about this all day.”
“No problem. Any time you need to talk about stuff like that, I’m your man.” He gave me a wink and picked up his book again. We didn’t talk much for the rest of lunch, but I didn’t mind. I needed time to think about how to evade Kyle and Jay after gym. They weren’t total idiots, so they had to know that I snuck out the back last time. This time, they wouldn’t let me have that option. I thought about going out the front since they both might go and wait at the back, but there was the possibility that they would split up and guard each door. If that was the case, I would have a better chance of escaping Jay alone.
When the bell rang, I sat on the bench for a couple of minutes just in case Kyle and Jay had gone to play basketball again. I finally got up when I saw some of the people in my gym class walking that way. I straggled behind them all the way into the locker room. Luckily, there was no sign of Kyle and Jay.
Class was unexpectedly better than Wednesday. There were no major accidents, and I scored over half my team’s goals. Ms. Stern wasn’t there, either; we had a very old substitute who really didn’t know what was going on. I wished that the rest of the year could be this good. Then the bell rang, and every bit of happiness in me was shattered. I had gotten so caught up in the game that I hadn’t made a plan to escape Kyle and Jay, and they had probably been plotting against me all day.
I rushed to the locker room to quickly get changed, but found that someone had stolen my jeans. I looked around carefully to see if anyone was watching me for a reaction, but no one appeared concerned. I searched around the room and finally found my jeans hanging on one of the stalls in the bathroom. As I put them on, I decided that it had just been some joke someone was playing on me, but then I realized it could have been to make sure I would be alone in the locker room, with no one to help me.
I ran back to my locker and quickly changed shirts, then stuffed my other clothes back into the locker and slammed it shut. I stood quietly, alone now, listening. When I finally convinced myself there wasn’t anyone there, I grabbed my backpack and started to leave with a very quick walk.
I pushed open the door to the locker room, but before I could step out, it was slammed back into my face, and I fell to the tiled floor. My backpack slid away, and pain erupted from my nose. Before I could get up, the door opened and Kyle and Jay walked in together, making sure the door closed behind them. I could feel the warm gush of blood start to run down my nose when I turned over to get on my hands and knees. When I tried to stand, Kyle stomped on my ribs, and I fell back to the ground.
“Enough, Kyle!” Jay yelled at him. “We don’t have much time before the buses leave.” That had never crossed my mind. If I didn’t make it to the bus, I would be trapped in the school all night or have to make it home by myself.
“So, Jason, you gave us the slip a few times,” Kyle started to say. “I guess one more was too much for you.” Jay chuckled as Kyle bent over and dragged me to my feet by the collar of my shirt, then slammed me up against the brick wall.
I didn’t want to fight them, even if I could have taken them on, which both they and I knew was almost impossible. My only way out was to try to talk to them, but if not done correctly, it would only get me beaten up worse.
“What do you want with me?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“We just want you to know your place, and to know what horrible things we can do to you if anyone gets hurt because you moved here.” He smiled lightly.
“Trust me; I already know my place here. You don’t have to do this.” Before I even finished speaking, I felt one of Kyle’s hands leave my shirt. Then, it came straight at me in a fist that cracked across my jaw. More pain jolted through my face, and I could see little black dots jumping around in front of my eyes. The coppery taste of blood flooded my mouth.
“No, Jason. Trust me. This is what has to happen.” He grabbed me with both hands again and pulled me down the short hallway to the lockers. When we got near a locker, he turned me around, grabbed my hair, and pounded my forehead into it, twice. Next, he grabbed me by the shoulders and rammed me into the lockers to our left. By now, even if I had wanted to fight back, I really didn’t have the strength. I felt like if I were to close my eyes I would pass out, but Kyle didn’t seem to care.
“Kyle, I think he’s getting the hint.” Jay seemed oddly surprised at how hard Kyle was beating me. “Maybe we should get to the bus before it leaves.”
“He’ll get the hint when I say he gets the hint!” Kyle yelled with rage in his eyes. As Kyle reached for me again, Jay grabbed his wrist. Their eyes locked for a few seconds before Kyle jerked his hand from Jay’s grip. To my complete surprise, he then slapped Jay across the face. “Maybe you should wait outside, Jay.”
“No way. If I do that, you’ll kill him.” Jay locked his jaw and looked ready to catch Kyle’s hand if he tried to slap him again.
“Who says I won’t kill
him in front of you?” Kyle narrowed his eyes as he moved toward Jay and away from me. I took that as my chance to escape. I backed up slowly as I watched the two cousins stare hatefully at each other. When I made it to the end of the row of lockers, I slipped behind them and took a minute to recover.
“This isn’t like you, Kyle. Freddy wouldn’t want you to do this,” I heard Jay say.
“Then what is like me, huh? And Freddy is dead because of people like this. Do you want others to die just like him?” Kyle was getting angrier with every second. If he caught me again, I wouldn’t make it out of the school alive. As they bickered, I continued moving around the lockers in the middle of the room until I was almost in sight of Kyle again. The only thing I could do was to try and make a run for it, and hope I was faster than he was. Just as I was about to take off, the speakers buzzed, and I heard the principal’s voice.
“Attention all students and faculty. The school is now closing, and you must exit the premises. Please proceed to your desired destination within the next five minutes. Thank you.” I waited a few seconds after the announcement and noticed that Kyle and Jay had stopped talking. They knew I was gone now, and I only had one shot at escaping. I threw my right leg out in front of me in an attempt to run, but Kyle wrapped his arms around it just below the knee and brought it up. I was caught off balance, and Kyle took advantage of this by bringing my leg up higher and pushing me backwards. The last thing I remembered was my head meeting the brick wall behind me.
***
When I finally woke up, I glanced at my watch. It was two forty-five. I had been out for at least a half hour and any help was long gone, along with Kyle and Jay. My head hurt so badly I could barely think. I needed to make sure my parents and my brother knew I was okay, but at that moment the only way I could think of doing that was to get home on foot. The janitors would have locked all the rooms in the school by now, and my cell phone’s battery was dead.
Descendant: The Protector (The Descendant Series) Page 3