The following day, Theo was in his room getting dressed for school.
He stood in front of his mirror, looking at his body—his chest to be exact. His hand trailed over a large scar that started on his left collar bone down to his abdomen.
Vague images flashed in his head—images he swore he'd forget.
In these flashes of images, Theo was dragging himself on the floor, trying to reach a body that laid not too far from him.
"This! This is your fault!", A voice yelled.
A shadow stood behind Theo, grabbing him by the ankles.
He struggled to break free as tears swelled up in his eyes.
"Please, she's dying!"
He cried, pleading the man.
"It's your fault!"
The shadow kept repeating over and over again, almost like they were reciting a mantra.
He only snapped out of thought when he heard his phone vibrating. Tears streamed down on his face by their own will.
By the time he noticed, his eyes were already swollen and red. He wiped his tears and looked at the phone on his bed.
He picked it up and saw he got a message from one of his old friends.
"Hey, Stranger. How's Durnloop treating you?"
The message came from an old friend of his. Someone he got along with very well.
Well, used to anyway.
He threw the phone back to his bed and finished getting dressed.
Then—
He went down to the kitchen and saw that breakfast had not been made. He wasn't even sure that Martha had left her room this morning.
She had been quiet since last night. Even at dinner, the woman said nothing except for Good night.
He made breakfast, at first for him, but then he decided to make some for Martha as well.
He went upstairs to her room and knocked gently on the door.
"... Martha." He hesitated to speak.
"I.. I made breakfast."
Theo felt awkward as he spoke. To him, this was a whole new experience. He was familiar with these types of situations but he was usually on the other side.
"I'll leave it in the fridge. And don't worry about school. I'll just take the bus."
On the other side of the door, Martha was still in bed. Her eyes were wide open with dark circles around them like she never got a wink of sleep.
She twisted and turned on her bed before sitting upright.
"You don't even know where to wait for the bus... " She muttered quietly.
A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she decided to get up from bed.
She wore slippers, and a gown and went out of her room.
"Theo?"
The boy had already been downstairs by the door. He froze when he heard Martha call out to him.
"Sorry, I'm not really feeling way today." She said.
Theo smiled, weakly.
'Yeah, I figured as much.'
"Do you know how to drive?"
Martha asked as she reached for her car keys.
Theo boy tilted his head a little.
"Yeah, why?"
Martha smiled and handed him the keys.
"Just don't crash it okay. It cost a fortune."
For a brief moment,Theo did not know how to respond. He smiled and took the keys.
"Sure no problem!"
He would be lying if he said he wasn't excited about driving himself to school. Before moving to Durnloop he had never done that.
His father always insisted on driving him.
When he thought of that, his face turned sour.
Well, at least he was still in school
****
Classes started without trouble, but Theo could not help but notice the weird glances he got from students on occasion.
They weren't looks of aggression or anything negative. But of pity.
He shook his head and decided to ignore it for the time being.
After Phys Ed, the boys went into their locker rooms to take a shower. While Theo changed from his gym clothes, Tim and Danny were standing not too far away, whispering to themselves.
"... There it is.", Tim pointed at Theo's backpack with his eyes.
"I still don't think this is a good idea."
"Hey, we're just going to check if he's really on drugs or not." Tim reasoned. "You saw the way he was on the field today. Guy's a beats."
Their gym class today was running track. They were grouped into 3 groups, guys and girls, and competed against each other.
Theo had managed to out perform everyone he was up against.
When Tim bought that up, Danny was interested as well.
"So what, you think he's no steroids?" He asked.
"Steroids. Or something else." Tim had kept his eyes on Theo.
The moment he went into the showers, Tim ran for his backpack.
He searched every pocket until he found a small black bag. He did not open it immediately and took it to Danny.
"See, I told you I'd find something."
Danny on the other hand had not been paying attention to him. He was looking at a video on his phone with a troubled expression.
"What is it?"
Tim asked.
Danny rewinded the video and showed it to him.
The video showed two people fighting in a mall parking lot. One looked older, likely in his 40s, the other was a young teenage boy.
The man could be seen dragging the boy and hitting him with a belt while everyone watched.
_"Useless, bastard!"_ The Man yelled.
_"All you had to do was buy some eggs and milk."_ Every word he spoke, he hit the boy with the belt.
The boy whimpered and cried as he endured the pain.
_"I'm sorry."_ Those words managed to escape, barely.
The scene was too hard to watch for Danny, but Tim continued to watch.
He zoomed in on the boy and saw that he was familiar.
It was Theo.
Just as the realization hit him, Theo walked out of the shower and found his bag open.
"The f*ck?", he cursed as he went to inspect his bag.
Tim froze, the small bag still in his hand.
Danny looked at his friend and then back at Theo who was searching frantically, looking for something.
"No, no, no, where is it!"
"Hey, you okay?" Someone asked.
"Who the f*ck went through my bag?" Theo yelled.
Tim was startled by the anger in his voice.
"Uhm, That guy went through your stuff earlier. Why, is something missing?" The boy standing next to Theo pointed at Tim.
The former turned and their eyes met.
Theo walked over.
"What we're doing in my bag?" He asked
Although his voice sounded calm, he was far from it. His lips twitched as he held back his anger.
"I.. uhh..." Tim couldn't speak.
Theo shoved him back.
"I asked what were doing with my stuff!"
Danny got in between them.
"Okay, woah, calm down––"
He didn't even finish speaking before a punch made its way onto his face
Blood streamed down his nose as Theo tossed to the side.
"Give it back!"
"Yeah, sure." Tim tremble and threw the bag back at Theo.
Just as he was about to run to Danny, the latter stood up.
But something was different.
The color of his eyes had changed.
They glowed faintly.
No longer were they black, they were golden yellow. His sclera had turned completely black.
A low growl escaped from his lips, involuntarily.
"Oh god."
Those were the only words Tim managed to speak.