When recess was over, Brendan walked to class alone. He felt someone grab his arm. He turned around and was surprised to see Angus.
He was sweating copiously. 'Brendan, I have to tell you something…you have to help me, please, I messed up big, I…I did something very stupid.'
'What did you do?' he asked him, not waiting to marvel that Angus had called him by his name for the first time.
Angus kept wiping sweat from his face but it flowed from his pores all the more.
'Angus, you and I are eternal enemies. What made you think I would help you?' He folded his arms inconsiderately.
'So this is how you want to do it? An eye for an eye?'
Brendan chuckled, 'Tempting,' he said. 'I can't count the times you punched me in my stomach, jaw…and several other "tender" regions. An eye for an eye would be what you deserve but…' he shrugged. 'What do you want?'
Angus did not even wait to answer. His body shook vigorously and he suddenly tore apart his shirt with his hands as easily as one tears a piece of paper.
Brendan backed away, dumbfounded by what he was seeing.
Angus threw what was left of his shirt on the floor and ran into the boys' restroom.
Brendan ignored this and headed for class. Angus was probably having a nervous breakdown, he thought. Brendan never really despised anyone but he disliked Angus and Thomas more than anyone he knew. He was quite glad that he did not have to hear the rest of Angus' story.
Mrs. Cooke came in with a pile of exercise books, their weight swaying her arm left and right like the books were a baby. She slammed the books onto the desk before she stood up and looked at the class. She did not look too happy.
'Some of you have not been putting much effort in your schoolwork,' she said her impatient eyes swimming through the throng of hairstyles. 'The "some" I mean being Brendan, Angus and Steven.'
Steven was a nervous looking boy with always an unusual looking haircut.
'If you three have any problems in Math you can tell me; it's not like I bite…Brendan, do you have problems in Math?'
Of all the people in the room! he thought, shying away. He began rubbing his forehead, 'I, uh…'
Just then, there was a girl's scream outside. It took a few seconds for Mrs. Cooke to attend to the scream, and the class was right behind her following her outside the classroom.
Sinks were flying from the boys' restroom through the corridor. No one dared to move closer to see what was throwing them. Only whispers of distress and fear travelled through the crowd of students. All classes had gathered in the corridor.
Suddenly, they heard a monstrous growl; that is when people began panicking.
Brendan looked sideways to see if anyone was looking his way then he rushed into his classroom and pulled out his balaclava from his pocket and taking a long breath, put it on. Using his enhanced speed, he rushed back into the corridor. No one had caught his movements.
'Who are you?' Mrs. Cooke asked him from far behind.
He kept his mouth shut and his gaze at the boys' toilet entrance. The sinks had stopped flying from it but a heavy grunting started coming from the restroom. Fragments of sinks were lying scattered on the floor like severed flower petals.
'Who are you?' Mrs. Cooke asked him again.
He continued to ignore her. Students and teachers were all behind him, a distance away. He clenched his fists and waited for the worst.
The grunting stopped but a heavy breathing could now be heard from the boys' restroom. Everyone grew silent.
The heavy breathing was accompanied by heavy footsteps but the sound of the footsteps was as if they were not of an ordinary human being and it was getting closer and closer.
Brendan could now hear Miss Putin whispering a prayer in Russian. She had finally showed up.
The doorframe of the restroom entrance including the wall above it were knocked onto the floor and out came the most hideous creature Brendan had ever seen. It was at least seven feet tall and had a pale white skin. It had long strands of black hair hanging loosely from its head. It had a huge potbelly and the monster was great and terrifying. It was not wearing a shirt but had tight and scruffy looking black shorts and its feet were bare. Its chest and forearms were very hairy.
Could this be one of the Supremes the Finch and the Flicker had mentioned? Whatever it was, Brendan thought, it did not seem friendly.
Immediately, the girls started screaming. Everyone was trying to get through the windows behind them but not even a person suffering from the worst weight loss disease could have fit through the burglar bars on those windows. There was only one exit and to get to that exit they would have to run past the hideous monster before their eyes and no one seemed willing to take that risk.
People began to grow calm as the seconds passed by. It seemed that they would have to await their fate as they watched the masked man, Brendan and the monster. All the screams of the girls had come to a standstill. Every single eye was fixed on Brendan and the monster before him. None of the two made a move on the other. The creature's beady eyes were fixated on Brendan and his vice versa.
The monster finally decided to make the first move…It swung its right fist at him, which he dodged by luck. Its right fist was followed by its left which Brendan dodged too; this fist slammed hard into one of the lockers beside Brendan, smashing it inwards in the process. He blocked the third punch at the same time jumping and punching the monster repeatedly in the face. It staggered backwards and covered its face, moaning in pain. The sound was terrible, like a dying cow. It let out a roar which sent a cold shiver down Brendan's spine. But he had managed to land at least five punches in its face.
It wiped the blood which was beginning to flow from its nostrils and it moved towards him. It was swinging its punches much faster now.
Brendan made an effort to dodge these. Why were they not in slow-motion?! He did not know the answer to this question but he did know one thing; they hurt a lot! The force of the punches made him sway sideways because of dizziness and pain. Everything was becoming fuzzy to him. The monster grunted each time it swung a punch and Brendan was losing hope and energy.
It grabbed his throat with its right hand and began squeezing it.
He looked straight into its eyes. He could see nothing in them as if it had no emotions.