The Perfect Dream

There's blood on my knuckles, from the amount of times I punched him; giving him a nose bleed. My heart is beating faster than ever, but I've never felt better. I feel so alive, as I watch him stare at me, with fear in his eyes, knowing very well that it's over for him. He cherishes his last breaths, as I raise the axe-

"James!" yells Mrs. Harrison abruptly, in front of the whole class.

I glare at her, puzzled, as I could see her lips moving but couldn't make out what she's trying to say, since I'm still roaming in my thoughts.

"I'm not going to repeat myself again! You're wasting everyone's time, and this is exactly why you're losing marks." I finally hear her say.

Feeling a bit embarrassed because of the outburst, I look down at my desk. From the corner of my eye, I can see him looking. I look to my side, where as I expected, I see him laughing at me.

He's the guy who has made my life miserable; the one who always reminds me how weak I am every time he's in front of me; he is Kyton.

The bell for dismissal rings, and as I gather my things to put into my backpack, Kyton and his friend, Dan, pass by me, throwing something in my face. I pick it up as it fell on the ground. It was a crumbled up note. I open it up with annoyance, causing it to tear a bit. It read:

surprise waiting for you at your locker...trust me you don't wanna miss ;)

How stupid do they think I am? I crumble the note back up in my fist, and throw it out as I put my backpack on my shoulder and leave through another exit door that's away from my locker. I look around outside when I open the door to make sure it's safe, and start walking towards the alley that's a shortcut to home.

Minutes pass by, as all the noise around me fades; no one's around. I put in my headphones and listen to the first song in my playlist, and let my body and mind relax as my heart beats to the rhythm of the music. I start focusing on the soft breeze of air that hits my face; I look at the light blue sky as the clouds seem to swift by faster than they usually do; I close my eyes, and take deep breaths, beginning to feel as if I was floating, until I felt someone smash my body back to the ground. I thought a car had hit me, because of the amount of force that was present. My spine felt tingly as I turned my body so that my back was against the ground and I was able to see what was behind me.

I see him. I see him standing over me, staring at me dead in my eyes. He brought Dan with him, who I didn't care to give a second look at. Kyton lets out a sarcastic chuckle; more so a scoff, with an irritated look. He sighs, looking at the sky, and runs his hand through his light brown hair.

I'm unable to move. Even though I want to run, my self-respect won't let me do that. So I stay; still on the ground, waiting for him to act. Right then, Kyton picks me up by my collar, and brings me to my feet. I smell the fragrance of what reminds me of a fresh mountain breeze, from the denim jacket he's wearing. Although it's a smell I would naturally like, it disgusts me, and makes me feel like there's no worse smell than that which is coming off of him. I was standing close enough to him to be able to see all the details and designs within his light green eyes in the sun.

"So I see that you didn't accept my invitation huh?" Kyton reminds me, sending the stench of weed from his mouth my way.

"Since when did I start taking orders from you?" I lash out, not wanting to stay silent in front of an over-confident idiot.

A smirk appears on his face. "I'd go easy on you if you had control over that mouth of yours," he suggests. "But it's fine... fools like you need to learn the hard way."

Kyton turns to his friend who's smoking behind him, and he holds out his hand, asking for something, I didn't know what. Dan takes a last puff, and hands the cigarette to him. Kyton does the same, before he forcefully grabs onto my face and extinguishes the cigarette on my cheek. I gasp as if I'm losing oxygen; I try to catch my breath and scream at the top of my lungs, but I'm not able to. It's the worst five seconds of my life as I realize that I'm not capable of standing up to him... just like he said; I don't even have the strength to push his arm away. Why? Why am I so weak? Why am I so stupid? I should've left when I had the chance.

I fall to the ground, weak in my knees. He took the cigarette off my face and threw it on the ground. I don't even realize I'm crying, till a tear drips down to my wound, causing me to flinch in pain.

"Oh come on, you're seriously going to cry like a baby now? You're going to go home and tell your mommy on me?" Kyton laughs uncontrollably at the thought. "You're so lame."

"I actually feel sorry for him," Dan includes his opinion, drawing the attention his way. "I feel sorry for the fact that his cheek will be too numb for any kisses" he mocks, mimicking a sad face. Apparently, this childish joke was funnier than I thought, as both of them start laughing. Kyton walks closer to me and crushes my face to the ground with the force of his foot on my head.

"Yeah, for next time, I'm sure you won't forget your worth before you try getting a girl that's out of your league. Especially, thinking several times, before trying to get between me and my girl," Kyton takes his foot off my head and crouches down beside me, "Just remember this moment...I'm sure there won't be a next time after this." he whispers, flashing me with a grin before they all walk away.

They finally leave; satisfied by the rotting of my soul. I continue walking towards home after the ten minutes I spent trying to gather myself; picking myself piece by piece, off the paved ground. My brain can't seem to stop replaying the same scene of my misery again and again with every step I take. My whole body feels exhausted as if I had ran a marathon.

Upon entering through the front door of my home, I hear my mom's footsteps approaching to meet me, I get tense as I come face to face with her. She had her mouth open to say something before the burn on my cheek caught her eye. I could tell by looking at her that she already understood what had happened, and the only question she would have now is, who did it?

"I was wondering what was taking you so long," she says, putting her soft hand on my cheek, and gently moving my face to the other side, to get a proper look at the injury. Her eyes begin to get watery, but she closes them and swallows, like she's drinking up her tears. "I'm sure you're smarter than this James. You're aren't one to pick a fight."

"It wasn't me!" I respond harshly, fed up of listening to everyone's opinion and assumptions about the kind of person I am. "Just, let it go mom. It's nothing you need to be worrying about." By the look on her face, I already realize that what I said was stupid. How could she not care about her son? Especially after she sees him coming back home, looking like a corpse that came to life.

"Nothing to worry about? Are you kidding me? So, you could get killed, and I'm just not supposed to care? If it wasn't you, then who was it?"

"You don't need to say anything to anyone!" I demand. "I'm not in need of anyone's pity or help. You think I'm a coward mom? Is that it? I'm not a guy like dad, who runs away whenever he gets the opportunity! Don't even think about comparing me to a guy who left us alone and ran off because he was too scared to stand up for his family."

I knew it. I went too far. But it's the truth.

"You not running off, but instead being there to be beaten up, doesn't make you so strong now, does it?" she taunts me.

I walk away, without saying anything further and slam my bedroom door shut behind me, loud enough to make my anger known.

I go to bed after dinner, which I barely even eat because of the constant lectures my mom kept giving me. The food became too hard for me to swallow as I tense up, making my throat a tighter space for food to go down. I couldn't do it.

I lay in my bed, in the pitch black. I'm trying to sleep, but he just won't let me. Hasn't he done enough already? Why does he feel the need to keep coming into my room every day? I can't move. I can't speak. I can't even look away. He's standing right there. Right by my bedside. If he thinks he so strong, then why doesn't he let me move? Why doesn't he give me back my ability so I can show him how strong I actually am? But he begins to choke me instead. I can't breathe. I can't! I'm going to die. I'm going to die.

"Wake up!" I hear a woman's voice. "James, wake up!" mom yells, holding me by my shoulders.

I gasp for air. Finally he's gone. I can move, and speak.

"Mom, he was... he was here! He tried to kill me again, he came back!" I explain, pleading for her to believe me.

"It was just a dream James. It's just a dream." she hugs me, crying. "Please stop doing this to yourself."

I'm too tired from trying to fight back and the comforting hug made me sleepy again. I let go of her and lay back down. I constantly see myself being attacked by him, or the other way around, but, it's somehow always a dream. I somehow keep waking up every time, having to convince myself that it wasn't real, even though I felt every single touch. I fall back asleep, and begin to dream again.

I enter class today, and Kyton isn't anywhere in sight. I'm guessing he assumed that he'll probably be in trouble today if he came to school. Who's the weak and scared one now huh? I slowly walk towards my seat, taking in everyone's stares, as they examine my cigarette burn. All of us seem to be waiting on the teacher who still isn't here yet. Right then, I see Mrs. Harrison walk through the door, and meeting eyes with me immediately.

"James, I need you to pick up you backpack and go to the office right away please." Mrs. Harrison advises.

I give her a confused look, seeing if she would say anything further to explain why. But she continues keeping her silence, and gestures for me to leave the class. I exchange glances with some of my classmates, and begin to walk out the door.

Once I get to the office, I see two cops standing in front of me; both seeming to be six-feet-tall; they were quite well built up too. Seems like they work out a lot.

"James?" one of them says; his voice not at all deep as I thought it might be, but more lighter and calm.

"Yes, that's me," I reply, feeling a bit shaky, for it's the first time cops have ever come looking for me. "Is there something I can do for you?" Hoping the answer is 'no', even though it's obvious that it wouldn't be.

"You're under arrest for the killings of Kyton Smith and Dan Lynch."

I freeze, looking at the officer, then at the office lady, thinking that their playing a joke. Kyton must've put them up to this. I'm being framed for something that didn't happen.

"You have the right to remain silent" the other cop says, with a deeper voice, forcing me into handcuffs.

I sit in a small, dim lighted room; still handcuffed; with a cop sitting across from me with a laptop in front of him, on the only table there.

"Why do you have me here? I haven't even done anything. And how can Kyton be dead? I just saw him yesterday." I start babbling, wanting to leave as soon as I can. "Do I really look like someone to you that could commit murder?"

"We found a knife at the crime scene, with your fingerprints on it." the officer finally speaks, after giving me the long interrogative look. "And not just that, but we found DNA on both the victims' bodies that matched to you."

"That's impossible! I could never do such a thing. In fact, Kyton and his friend are the ones that did this to me!" I defend myself, pointing to the burn.

"And all this happened yesterday?"

"Yeah. They both followed me after school, and then did this,"

"You sure it was just the two of them there?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

"So you don't recall taking out a knife and attacking both of them after? Because apparently, we have a witness, who's one of Kyton's friends, that was there besides Dan, and they saw you commit the crime," he assures me. "We also found some security footage from one of the houses nearby the scene."

He turns his laptop screen towards me, and clicks play.

I see Kyton, Dan, and me. I see Kyton burning my cheek. Someone suddenly catches my eye. Someone I don't remember being there; I couldn't make out his face, but he was also standing behind Kyton, on the other side from Dan. I see myself getting up quickly after the abuse I went through, and taking out a knife from the inside of my sock, running towards Kyton with such force that swiftly slides the blade into his stomach. I begin to do the same with Dan, but much worse since he tried to fight back. I see the person behind them run away, and I didn't even look back, but I rather ran towards my home, leaving the knife behind, along with the boys.

"Wouldn't you say that's you?" the officer questions, already knowing the answer.

"That's me. But I didn't do that. I don't recall any of that!"

"It doesn't matter what you think anymore. You're coming with me." he grabs my arm and begins to lead me towards a cell.

I begin to resist and push the officer. I feel the force within me grow stronger to the point where more officers appear to pin me to the ground.

"I didn't do it!" I cry. "I was a dream! It was just a dream!"