The school day was pretty normal. Charity and Lucas had split up to go to their lockers, then head to class. Charity and Lucas were both in advanced classes, they studied hard and were both the top of their class. Everyone had no doubt that they would do great things when they got older. Despite being very intelligent, they were also very talented.
Before Lucas had stopped speaking, he did theatre with Charity. They both participated in their school's drama club, and although he knew he wouldn't be able to participate in the plays and musical this year, Lucas planned on helping out with sets.
Like her mother, Charity excelled in painting and drawing. But Lucas, like his father, leaned towards playing instruments more than making art. Lucas had a notebook full of song lyrics, he used to sing and play the piano or guitar all the time for his mother and sister, but then the accident happened and he hasn't sang since. But he still always listened to music, he always had his headphones with him, and even though he didn't play his instruments like he used too, he still made music with them every once in a while.
It was almost the end of the school day. There were two periods left and Charity didn't have enough time to get her cheer bag after her last class, so she decided to make a pit stop at her locker. She went to her locker and saw a girl talking to Lucas at his locker. He nodded in response to whatever the girl was saying. Charity couldn't help but smile, the girl's name was Addison, and she always kept Lucas company. Addison was one of the few friends that stuck by Lucas when he stopped talking, others couldn't handle the fact that he needed time before things went back to normal. Addison was a great friend to Lucas. Charity almost felt bad for the girl because it was obvious she's had a huge crush on him for a while, but Lucas was completely oblivious to it.
Charity turned her attention to getting what she needed so she can head to class. She put some of her books that she didn't need that night into her locker. She straightened up after closing her school bag and was about to grab her cheer bag, when her locker door suddenly slammed shut. She was startled at the sudden event and was even more startled by who she saw standing in front of her.
A boy in her grade stood in front of her, his hand on her closed locker. His face held a sinister grin as he looked her up and down. The boy had dirty blond hair and emerald green eyes. He had a bridge of freckles that extended from one cheek, over his nose, to the next cheek. Charity snapped herself out of her thoughts, then looked at the floor. Why can't he just leave me alone. Why today of all days?
The boy cleared his throat. "Aren't you going to ask me what I want?"
Charity rolled her eyes. She kept her gaze on the floor as she tried to steady her breathing. "Why don't you just tell me what you want, Liam? Then I won't have to waste my breath."
"Ouch. That hurt, Charity. It's almost like you don't want me here." Liam said, acting hurt.
Charity lifted her gaze from the floor and looked Liam straight in the eyes. His eyes filled with no remorse for what he did to her. "I don't."
This took the boy aback. Those two words wiped the smug look he had on his face and his eyes became filled with anger. He looked at the girl in front of him, up and down, and couldn't believe what he just heard.
"What?" Liam finally responded, trying to hide the anger in his voice.
"I don't want you here, Liam." Charity stated, her breath shaky.
"I came over here to ask you on another date and this is how you treat me?" His voice was harsh.
"And what makes you think I would ever go on another date with you?" Charity became irritated and knew the bell was bound to ring soon signaling the start of 8th period. She wanted nothing more than to get away from her ex boyfriend.
Lucas had been watching their conversation the entire time. Addison hadn't noticed until Lucas kept glancing away. Eventually he completely stared at his sister and Liam, and grew worried when he seemed to become more angry. He hadn't noticed Addison was trying to get his attention until she put her hand on his arm. He looked at her as she spoke.
"What's wrong, Lucas? You're tensing up?"
Lucas motioned his head towards Charity. Addison looked over and saw Liam. Charity didn't seem too comfortable.
"Why is he talking to her? After everything he did to her?" Addison asked. A worried expression washed over her face as she saw Liam grabbed Charity's wrist rather harshly.
"Ow. Liam let go of me." Charity pleaded.
She knew she should have just turned and walked away the moment she saw him in front of her. But she stayed, and it was stupid. She knew she was stupid for hoping he would apologize for what he did. But all he did was deny his mistakes and get angry.
"Just agree to go on another date with me and I'll let go!" Liam said a little too harshly.
Charity tried to pull her hand free and walk away, but that proved to be a terrible decision. When she tried to get free Liam just became more angry and pushed her against a locker. In the chaos he managed to rip her necklace of her. Charity was freighted, angry, and uncomfortable. Liam pinning her against the lockers brought back horrible memories she didn't want to remember. Without thinking she slapped him and pushed him away. She was scared about what he would do to her, when all of a sudden he was tackled to the ground.
Before Charity even knew what was happening, kids began to surround them, forming a circle around the fight. Addison was now next to Charity and hugged her trying to get her to calm down. Charity turned to see who tackled Liam and wasn't surprised. Oh Lucas, you idiot. Thank you.
Liam was twice Lucas' size, yet Lucas put up a good fight. Lucas wasn't exactly the strong type. And he wasn't short for his age, but Liam was a year older and definitely had a few inches on him. Liam was also on the football team, the only sophomore on varsity. Charity watched as Lucas continually punched the older boy until another football jock came and punched Lucas in the face. Oh no. This is not a fair fight. Charity couldn't help but stand there as she watched her brother get teamed up on. Then she found herself running into the middle of the circle. She kicked Liam between the legs and smiled as he fell to the floor in agony. She turned to the other boy, who was a junior, and smiled as she saw Lucas had ended up on top of him and was winning the fight. She grabbed her necklace from Liam and spit in his face.
"I hate you and I'll never go on another date with you. Ever. Now get the hell out of my life."
He looked up at her just as she kicked him square in the face, causing his nose to bleed even more than it already was. At that moment students had pried Lucas off the older football jock and everyone scattered before teachers could get through the crowd. By the end of the day, Charity heard from Addison that Lucas had been called to the principal's office. When she was at cheer tryouts she heard the two football players had also been called down.
_______
Cheer tryouts had just ended. It was now around 5:00 pm and Charity was about to head home. She couldn't stop thinking about how badly her brother actually got beat by the boys before she stepped in and helped. This is all my fault. I hope Lucas is okay. What if he's not okay. I better run home as fast as I can to check up on him. A million thoughts raced through her mind, and just as she was about to run home, she saw her brother sitting against a tree.
She walked over to him and he gave a weak smile. His face was in bad shape. But from the looks of it, it seemed to be already healing. Weird, was all she thought. His lip was split and he had a few cuts and scratches around all over his face. He had a black eye on his right eye and an ice pack over it. She sat down next to him, taking the ice pack and holding it in place for him.
"Thank you." She whispered to him.
Lucas didn't bother to get his phone to answer his sister. He simply rested his head on his sister's shoulder. Charity knew he was in a lot of pain, and she also knew he must've gotten in trouble. After ten minutes Charity got up and grabbed her things. She grabbed Lucas' bag and held her hand out to him. They slowly walked home together. They both thought they had won, that Liam would finally leave them both alone, and no longer go near Charity. Their walk home usually only took 10 minutes, but today trouble was waiting.
The two siblings were walking on the bridge that marked them hallway home. The river was running wildly underneath the bridge, as it usually did. Charity touched her neck where her necklace usually was. She was upset because Liam had broken it, but luckily mother always had a spare gold chain. Just as Charity and Lucas reached the middle of the bridge Liam stood a few feet in front of them. His face enraged. Lucas and Charity turned to walk the other way, but there stood the older football jock.
"Because of you I got kicked off the football team," Liam began to walk closer and so did the older jock. "Because of your fucking brother. He always ruins everything." Liam pulled out a switchblade. His eyes filled with revenge. "I'll kill him! Then he won't stand in our way!"
Charity held Lucas' hand. She gripped it tightly. "You're crazy Liam! Leave us alone! You getting kicked off was your own fault!"
Both Liam and the older boy ran at them at the same time. Lucas grabbed the older boy and punched him once while Charity fought against Liam trying to retrieve the knife.
"It's his fault you broke up with me! All his fault!" Liam swung the knife but missed, giving Charity the opening to punch him in the face.
Liam fell to the floor and spit blood. "It's your own fault! Not his! You know what you did!"
Lucas grabbed his backpack and used it against the older boy, knocking him out. Liam was getting up, blood running down his chin. His eyes were full of rage. Without hesitation he used the butt of the knife to hit Charity across the face. He punched her as she put up a fight then pushed her aside when Lucas tried to stop him.
For the second time within 4 hours Lucas and Liam began to fight. Lucas grabbed his backpack and tried to use it as a shield from Liam's switchblade. Charity was trying to stand up straight because her head was throbbing and everything was spinning. Just as Charity used the edge of the bridge to steady herself she saw Lucas get stabbed in the stomach. She screamed his name but she couldn't hear her voice. Liam grabbed Lucas' wrist as he punched him and threw him to the ground. Lucas' bracelet had fallen off but Lucas didn't notice. No one did in the moment. The older boy was still out cold on the ground and Charity's vision was still blurred.
All she knew was that Lucas managed to pull himself up and started beating the crap out of Liam. Liam started swinging his knife frantically, his eyes full of fear because he thought he might lose. Lucas used all his strength and grabbed Liam's wrist. He continually punched Liam until he dropped the knife. Lucas was full of anger. When Liam kept trying to fight back, Lucas had enough and pushed the older boy with all the strength he had left. Liam tripped over one of Charity's bags and fell fast, hitting his head against the edge of the bridge. Immediately Liam stopped moving, blood trickled out of his nose.
Lucas looked wide eyed. He was breathing heavily and clutching his stomach. Charity slowly walked over to Lucas. He didn't take his eyes off the boy in front of him. Charity went over to Liam and checked his pulse. Oh no. No, no no no. Was all she could think. She looked at Lucas, he was doubled over clutching his stomach.
"Lucas!" Charity was immediately at his side.
Lucas grunted in pain. When he looked up at Charity his eyes glowed a golden yellow and Charity stepped back as she let out a quiet gasp. Lucas looked at her confused and scared. He just killed someone, I'm a murderer. Oh my god, I'm a criminal. He's dead and it's my fault. And now Charity hates me. She's terrified of me.
Charity hugged Lucas as if she knew what he was thinking. "It's not your fault. It's okay. You're okay." He began to cry in her arms. They then grabbed their things, Charity stumbled as they walked.
She turned to Lucas before they continued to walk home to tell their mom what happened. She lifted his shirt up and touched the skin around where she saw him get stabbed. She looked back at the shirt and there was a tear and blood, but no wound on him. She looked at his face and put her hands on his head as she moved his face around to search it. But there was not a single scratch.
"We need to go. Now. We need to tell mom what happened." Charity said.
She didn't dare tell her brother that his eyes turned a golden yellow. Even if it was for a few seconds, Charity knew they needed to get home and tell their mom everything. They picked up Lucas' bracelet and began to run home. Though Lucas had to support Charity a bit because her head was throbbing.
When the kids reached their house they walked in and threw their stuff on the floor. Hope came into the living room with a big smile ready to greet her kids, but that smile quickly faded. When she saw them she saw how they were all messed up and dirty, with blood stains. She saw the rip in Lucas' shirt. She then looked at Charity and saw she wasn't wearing her necklace.
"What the hell happened and why the hell aren't you wearing your necklace!"