Forgotten Wind: Disclosed Memories

Chapter 16: The Fight (Part I)

"I can't believe that we have to test today," Alicia said as she walked beside me.

"Me either," I said, "They must really want us to be smart, huh?"

We chuckled as we went sat beside each other on the bus. I c****d my head toward the window. The air was chilly and whistling. I twiddled the thread that stuck out on the black gloves I wore. I believe I've had these for about two years now. But they still fit.

We came to a stop and I saw that we were at school now. The sun began to rise in the horizon as the dawn light passed through the window and reflected off my glasses. The sunlight got in my eyes and I squinted.

As we then began to get off the bus, Alicia and I headed inside and walked to the auditorium. The hallways were warm, so I took off my gloves. When we got to the doors, we were stopped by one of the staff supervisors.

"Hey! You two have to go to homeroom, okay?" The dark, petite man said.

We looked at each other and walked down the rainbow hallway on our left. It's called that because of all the colored accustomed lockers. Considering there is a test, I suppose that they expected us to apply our best common sense to what we may or may not have to know.

The bell rang, and we came up to the second hallway that separated our homerooms from two different directions.

"Well, this is it." I said, "I'll root for you." I told Alicia.

"You too, bud." She told me.

We hugged and went into our unconnected classrooms. I pulled my backpack off my shoulders and sat down in my seat. I looked up at the clock and saw that it was eight o'clock. As soon as the tardy bell rang, Mr. Insanely science teacher-came in and told us to grab our stuff.

"We're going to be resting in a different room, you guys. Come on, let's go." He said, tugging on his leather jacket while he held a crate of calculators.

The students and I lined up and went down the hall and into Ms. Millie's classroom. She was an English teacher. As we went in, without surprise, I saw Joe from the corner of my eye. He didn't make too much judgment out of it and neither did I.

After testing had concluded about a couple of hours later, we were called down to the cafeteria for lunch. Out in the hallway, I tried to catch up to Joe. Everyone else had rushed out and it was just me and his left.

"Joe, I need to talk to you," I said once I got to his side.

He looked at me and turned his head forward away from me.

"Joe! Talk to me." I said to him. He refused to acknowledge me. "Damn it, Joe! I said I need to-"

I grabbed his shirt, but he violently smacked my hand away. Then I was grabbed by someone from behind, their hand clamped on my neck.

"He doesn't want to talk to you, faggot." Someone sneered at me. I caught two seniors behind me glaring back at Joe and me.

Joe then stepped forward and looked over in the bathroom door.

"Take him in there." He instructed the two.

One of the seniors forcefully put their hand on my mouth and hoisted me up by my shoulders while the other one held me by my feet. They both carried me inside. I kicked and wiggles but they restrained me.

In the bathroom, they both held me up against a stall by my shoulders. I was slightly lighted off the ground. Then I heard Joe close and lock the door. He walked over to me.

"Joe... what are you doing?" I asked him. His expression was now furrowed angrily at me. Without warning, his fist slammed into my stomach with abrupt force. The pain rushed quickly inside me as I screamed.

"SHUT UP!!!" He yelled at me. He then landed a punch in my face. A throbbing sensation came instantly followed by a wet trickle coming out of my nose. The blood dropped from my lip and fell on the floor.

His hand then bawled out of its tense position and gripped my chin. He forced me to look at him. I've never seen him look at me with such bitterness in his eyes.

"Listen, you little piece of shit." He jeers at me sharply. "Don't ever touch me again. We are not friends and we were never."

I muttered weakly. Once again, he punched me in the stomach and in the face. I dropped to my knees every time but the two guys just jerked me back up by my arms.

After a while of punching me continuously, he stopped eventually. I gasped heavily trying to regain my strength. The two seniors then threw me into one of the stalls and went in, locking the stall door.

"Take care of him... I'll see you guys in the senior section." I hear Joe say.

I heard his footsteps depart out of the bathroom, and I was now alone in the stall with the two seniors.  The surrounding space was small and I tried to stand up with my elbows but I went down with a kick to the face. And then another one.

Likewise, they stomped on me with their hard shoes. I curled myself up into a ball trying to avoid their kicks but it was useless. I remained on the floor as they continuously kicked and punched me on the floor.

I awoke several hours later in a daze.