Content Warning:
This book contains references to:
Violence,
Graphic Imagery,
Crude Language,
Abuse,
Mental Illness triggers,
Drugs/Alcohol use/Smoking,
References to Hell,
Suicide,
Weaponry,
Psychological-Horror,
Self-Harm,
Extreme Emotional Aspects & more.
If triggered by these warnings, please be exempt from reading this wonderful fiction!
REMEMBER: If ever lost in thoughts of HELL, always call someone. They are here for you.
"There is always beauty in terror, just don't give up. You will realize what you have missed along the way of your journey."
Part 1: Same Old Beginning
What is Ashland? Is it where all the bodies are desecrated? Is it a place of battle? Is it just a land of lost souls? It is not something that was meant to be harmful. Nor was it somewhere in which souls were protected. It was just merely the start...
There was a vision, and it is where he sees an old, abandoned church, merely still standing, looking lively but dead at the same time. He looks right by his side, four other individuals standing, in a costume, a robe, having their swords right out ready to attack something. He then looks in front of him, a giant monster. That monster appeared out of nowhere...
Michael wakes up, gasping and sweating, wiping it off from his face, he looks over to his right...6:30 A.M, just before the alarm rang. Would he go back to sleep for 15 minutes or get up?
"Fine," He rolls his eyes. "I'll get up this time." Michael says irritably, getting up and stretching, yawning, slouching. He walks over to the bathroom and picks up a razor but immediately puts it back after properly opening his eyes.
After using the bathroom for merely 5 minutes, he goes back to his room and wears red jeans, as he brushes his medium-sized black hair, he wears a button-up shirt with red socks, accompanied by a black hoodie, and applies lotion on his light peachy skin.
He quickly goes downstairs, and finds his mother in the kitchen, packing his lunch with his backpack on the side, humming a cheerful tune.
"Morning, mom." He says in a nonchalant manner.
"Good morning, sweetie. You're up early. Are you ready for school?" his mother said in a nice manner.
It was the first day they had come back from a vacation. The vacation was not anything special. Just going to Canada during autumn, as Michael had to suffer in coldness. He thought the vacation was boring, but he is not looking forward to school especially.
"Let's just get this over with, mom." Michael says hurriedly.
As Michael gets his bagel with orange juice, he mentions the dream he had to his mom.
"It was like a nightmare, but I was more intrigued than scared." Trying to look at his mother while she is busy.
"Michael, honey. I told you," she said, looking directly at Michael. "Don't worry about your dreams, they don't really mean much..."
She sort of lets down Michael who examines his own dreams to find out the meaning, even recording it in his journal to remember, as he finds it compulsory.
"But mom, what do you even think this dream means?" Michael asked softly.
Her mom continues to silently ignore him, humming while opening the fridge door to put back milk, looking back at him and then shrugging.
"I just wish dad was here to tell me if I am on the right path...maybe these dreams are connected to him." Michael says while looking down on the tile floor, as his voice gets quieter.
"Michael, please," his mother said with a serious tone. "Do not mention your father again."
She creates a silence in the air from saying that.
She stops humming and aggressively opens the cabinet to put back dishes and utensils. Michael's father left him at the age of four for no apparent reason. His mother cannot disclose the reason, but all Michael knew were faint memories that were probably in his dreams as well.
Michael finishes his breakfast and goes back upstairs. He takes out his journal and quickly flips through pages. On page 7, he had a whole list of nightmares he had last week, about spells, curses, and even a dream which made him fear winter. He quickly records his dream about this church and a monster. He goes to his phone and quickly searches for what this dream meant.
He searches: "meaning of seeing a churhc a and a monster. In dream"
"Nice grammar, Michael." He says sarcastically as he presses the enter button, and no immediate answer. His mom calls him from downstairs as he looks at the time and quickly runs downstairs. He grabs his backpack and waves at his mom before she stops him promptly.
"Wait!" his mother says hurriedly. "Make sure to tell Randal that I sent his mom our address."
Upon hearing the name, Michael instantly frowns in a disgusting manner and then nods. He waves at her again and then leaves.
At school, he got no welcoming greetings back, most likely because he is not popular in his school. He enters the dull hallways, kids already screaming and throwing papers around, lockers scribbled in sharpie, and students piling up with slow walkers making Michael traverse the hallways as if he was a turtle.
He continues walking, up until he hears someone call out his name.
"Hey!" a voice said from behind.
As soon as he heard that, he grunted and quivered. He ignores, but the call kept getting closer. He turned around, there he was, Randal. His best friend.
"Hey! My boy, how is it going? Long time no talk, dude."
Michael sighs depressingly, looking down, before waiting for a few seconds, he looks up at him, looking at his annoying smile, his big round glasses, and his puffy-looking hair.
"Hey." Only responding with a vague greeting.
That was it. That was all he needed to say. But Randal did not worry about that, he was more worried about the fact that he was the only person to play pranks. Ever since Michael left, it was up to him to disrupt classes and make life more fun.
"Glad you're back, you missed out on so much!" Randal says, grabbing Michael's attention. "I threw garbage over a teachers head while I was upstairs, and she was downstairs...she didn't catch me!" He bursts out laughing as Michael cringes and awkwardly smiles at him.
He then looks away and continues to walk, as Randal continues to follow him.
"Hey, I wasn't done..." his tone was getting a bit more serious than usual.
"You do realize that I'm done with that B-S now, right?" Michael says with an attitude. "I no longer want to partake in these schemes and look like a fool out of myself!"
"Aww, looks like you've changed when getting back." Randal responds with sarcasm. "You do realize that this is the only thing keeping our lives interesting and risky, this is the only reason why I look forward to school!"
He looks over at Randal as they are walking and has a worried expression.
"Well, that's actually depressing and unfortunate."
Even though Michael was a calm, judging, and collective person, he is often anxious and tries to hide it. Randal likes to push it further by bringing the extrovert out of him. Although Michael likes him as a friend because he has to, he wouldn't take a bullet for him. He would leave him in the dust in a deserted place and save himself.
Michael and Randal head to their first period class, mathematics, but he sees his crush, Julia, a blonde-haired girl with blue eyes, blossoming in class. It is as if everything stops in slow motion, all eyes on her, and no worries in the sky.
"Mike, dude. Just go ask her out!" Randal increases Michael's nervousness with that.
Randal tries his best to convince Michael, but Michael refuses to, believing that he isn't good enough for her, that he would just get rejected and be too embarrassed to come to class after that.
As the bell rings, Michael sits at his desk with Randal right next to him. Mrs. Coatley, the teacher, calls him up after entering the class with Michael instantly getting up.
"Ooh, he's in trouble!" Randal cups his mouth while mocking him and looks around to see any reactions from the class.
Michael gives Randal a brief disgusted look, feeling a heavy weight from the class, and walks up to the teacher.
"Why were you gone for so long?" the teacher asked in a serious manner, almost accusing, as if she thought he was skipping school for two weeks.
Michael nervously answers, "I was on a vacation to Canada..." As his hands tremble, he starts to sweat, and his legs shake.
He does not like being the focus in front of the class, let alone in front of his crush who is looking at him confusingly.
"Oh, yes, yes, yes. Now I remember. How was it?" the teacher asked, now being able to remember.
"It was...pretty good?" Michael can feel the awkwardness getting to him and shuts his mouth.
After that, he sits down at his desk and does not make any eye contact with the teacher. He looks around the class and notices a few gazes from two students, but none from Julia. He wonders if he is irrelevant to her, if she truly cares for him. Maybe they haven't talked much, but she does know him. This hits him knowing that no one cares about him, and nobody will remember him after his death besides his mom...and Randal.
"Damn, nobody remembered where you went. Not going to lie, I didn't either." Randal had to add on to Michael's attention, seeing how sad he looked.
Michael looks at him with a firm face and nods, feeling a deep sense of emptiness, and Randal isn't helping.
"I know, but it's not surprising. What do you NOT remember?"
During break time, Michael and Randal find spots to eat. Michael suggests that the cafeteria is a no-go. The sounds, the smells, the sight, he absolutely hated the thought of everyone clumping together, sitting in creaky uncomfortable chairs, dirty food and trash all over the floor. Randal refuses to listen to Michael and forces him to sit near that table where there are only 3 students. Michael and Randal go towards that table as Michael looks around trying to find Julia. He hoped Julia would give him a welcoming greeting when he came back. He tries to let go of that thought and accepts the fact that he will die alone.
"So, Mike. Tell me, what's wrong?" as Randal munches his food while looking at Michael.
"I just...it was just a dream that I had earlier." He hesitates and looks at Randal for a response.
"Mmm, this burger is so good. Who knew cafeteria food would be this good!" he chews on his burger with ecstasy and glances at Michael seeing his upset expression.
"See? This is exactly why I don't tell you my problems, you never listen..." Michael hesitantly says.
"Dude, this problem you're having is just dreams you're seeing."
"Dreams that persist about the same things I see!" Michael yells at him.
"Let me guess you probably saw another cult member. You told me this dream you had about this tall dude wearing a cult gray robe with a bone mask or something like that. It's 2014, close to 2015, just drop it. It's not even that serious..."
That last part ticked off Michael knowing that this is important to him as he believes these dreams are telling him something. Like it is speaking to him. He can feel the dreams coming to life, and he wants to get to the bottom of this.
"Whatever, it's fine," he disappointingly looks down at his salad. "Leave it." Taking a bite of his salad quietly.
At home after school, he finds his mother in the living room staring at the TV quietly...but the TV isn't on.
"Hey, mom?" Michael quickly grabbed her attention.
"Hm?" quickly looking at him, eyes wide, and startled.
"Are you okay?" Michael asks with genuine curiosity and nervousness. "You seem a bit...odd."
"Oh, I'm fine." She at once ditches the question. "How was school?" quickly calming herself down as her legs shake, then pats on the couch, asking Michael to sit next to her.
Michael sees this and goes to sit next to her, still worried, but then brings up his dreams.
"Mom, how was father like? I know I ask this a bunch of times but was there ever a moment in which he...showed love to me?" looking at his mother with his eyes wide.
"Michael, sweetie, I am sure he showed compassion to you. Of course he loved you, he just never...really showed it." She looks to her side avoiding eye contact, as her hands start to shake.
Michael quickly leans his head to her point of view and gets worried.
"How was he like, though?" his tone softened and clearly showing sympathy.
"...He was a great man. He just...made mistakes and was misguided." Responding softly, but almost soullessly.
"Did he ever believe in God?"
"He was an agonistic, but he came to accept Him at the end."
"I see..." Michael is saddened for a second. "Do you remember the reason he left? Do you think he's still alive?" he becomes nervous when asking this question, looking straight at his mother's eyes who is avoiding eye contact with him.
"I don't know, I don't remember. He just left and I got a phone call saying that he was gone." She says this fast and quickly shifts the conversation to talk about his school. "So, how was school? Did anybody hurt you?" She places her hands on Michael's hand, giving full focus to him.
"It was fine. Randal's just a douchebag, other than that I was fine." He says this with forced calm, almost sarcastic to avoid probing.
"Randal?" confused with a sudden person she's familiar with getting hate on. "He's a good kid, don't put him down like that." Her tone gets softer and sympathetic.
"Yeah, whatever. Anyways, about that dream—" before he could finish, his mother interrupts him, suggesting that he should give up talking about these dreams with her or search them up.
"You could also discuss these dreams with Randal, Michael. I can't, I'm sorry. I'm just tired."
Michael at once feels a sense of worriedness as sadness rushes his mind. He feels a weight settling in his chest. His mother gets up as Michael looks at her with a sad expression.
He takes a quick glimpse at her arm, his stomach lurches, and notices these faint scars, only now it is becoming clear to Michael.
"Mom, what is that?!" Michael becomes scared and anxious, his voice trembling and arms shaking.
His mom looks over at her arm as her eyes widen. She quickly covers them up.
"Oh! It is nothing! Don't worry about it...I'm going to go upstairs. Call Randal if you'd like." his mother saying hurriedly.
She then goes upstairs, leaving Michael alone on the couch with just the dull lamp light brightening little of the room, casting long shadows of Michael, rest is complete darkness, leaving Michael to think about everything that had just happened. He goes upstairs to his room. He was never religious, but always wanted to be closer to God, he just doesn't know how. He liked to believe his father was religious, but after learning he was agonistic, he is not sure what to do.
He then calls Randal and invites him to his house.
After 15 minutes, he checks out the window to see if he is coming, but he was baffled to see how stupid Randal was.
"What the hell is he doing...?" he asked himself confusedly.
Randal was all the way over to the next house, knocking on the door and yelling for Michael's name. Michael quickly ran down and went outside to quickly yell Randal's name.
"Randal!" yelling at him.
Randal turns around. "Oh shit, there you are! I thought that was your house?" Randal meets him with a big grin, but nervous about knocking at the wrong house.
"Are you insane?! I said my house number was 15, not 14!" Throwing his arms around in exasperation, disappointed at the fact that his only friend is so oblivious, shaking his head and sighing.
"Oh, I don't remember you saying that dude?" Scratching his head with a playful grin on his face.
Michael gives him a blank stare and quickly brings him to his house.
"Bro, it's fine man. We all make silly mistakes." Said Randal, hopefully alleviating Michael's stress.
"This is the third time you messed up my address. One time you went to a different house, another time you went to a whole different street. What if I need something important? What if I want someone over...to comfort me...?" Michael's tone softens as his voice drops, sadness creeping through his words.
Randal is confused and uncomfortable, pausing for a second not knowing what to say, then gives a nervous chuckle.
"...You're weird, bro. Anyways, you wanna hop on some games or spray-paint?"
The next morning, Michael leaves his house to go to school, walking across the living room, but he takes one glance at his mother and notices her fixing and cleaning the couch, but she looks unusually depressed and miserable. Michael questions his mind whether he should go up and ask her what's wrong or leave it and wait till after school. The tight knot in his stomach suggests something deeper is going on, as the silence between them is suffocating, wondering if she still cares for him. Michael looks down and says goodbye to his mother, but she doesn't hear, making Michael wonder if she is ignoring him or not. He then closes the door, which the mother reacts to, forgetting to say goodbye, she frowns and looks at her arm with those cuts, feeling discomfort, she quickly pulls her sleeves down.
Michael walking again on his way to school, he gets on the bus and closes his eyes while sighing, at least Randal doesn't go to the same bus as him. He likes to sit in isolation, but notices that someone is about to sit next to him, giving him approval, he lets this person sit. Now he is anxious, not knowing whether to start a conversation or keep things awkward in silence.
As the bus makes a stop, he looks out the window and notices something strange...he notices a tall stranger in a black robe with a bone mask on his face, holding some sort of sword, looking like a grim reaper. He gets shocked and wants to make a reaction but doesn't want to cause a scene. He starts shaking and notices his own hands convulsing uncontrollably and quickly puts his hands into his pockets, as his eyes are locked onto the figure. He looks away and tries to get the attention of the person next to him as he nudges his shoulder, he points his finger to that spot where he saw it as the person squints his eyes and looks.
"Do you see that?" asked Michael.
He then looks out the window again and notices that the figure is gone, as it was just a blur of his imagination.
He has been having these dreams constantly about this same thing, but after seeing it, he doesn't know what's real and what's fake. He doesn't know if his mind is playing tricks with him. He shivers and takes deep breaths. The person next to him scoffs and shakes his head, giving an awkward smile; he looks the other way. Now Michael feels embarrassed. Maybe his mom and Randal were right, he should let go of these things he is seeing and dreaming of as it would only cause destruction in his life and make him look crazy.
Making it into school, he wanders the dull hallways, feeling a sense of hatred and uninterest, he knows his only friend is Randal but this time he wants to avoid talking to him this morning even though it has been two days since he came back, he feels like he still needs a long vacation away from him. He looks around to see if Randal is approaching him or not but sees a crowd full of random students. He then quickly walks around the other corner and hides behind it. He pulls out his phone, sits down, and research what he saw, and to his expectations nothing interesting showed up. He gets up, sighs, and puts his phone back into his pocket.
He walks around looking down, and as he looks up, he can see Julia far away, talking to someone, laughing and smiling, with her notebook in her hands. He looks around, and then behind him, and then he looks back at Julia and decides that he should finally approach her and maybe get some advice on his homework. Who knows, she might be interested in learning about his dreams or what he saw.
As he is walking, imagining this moment in slow motion, his heart is racing, his breath heavies, his legs shake...but his smile slowly fades away as he recognizes the sounds of the footsteps approaching him. He becomes anxious as he knows who it is. He hears him calling his name and freezes in one spot. He turns around and sees his dull friend, Randal.
"Yo, what's up my Mikey! Were you lost or just blind? You were looking like a clueless person who forgot what school he went to."
"What? Hey, uhm, I think I saw something outside, and it was like this tall dude with a black costume."
"Bro, not this again, if anything that person is just dressing up for Halloween."
"I don't know, why would it be for Halloween, that was 2 weeks ago! I feel like it is something much deeper...something lingering in my mind, and that I am being watched. I don't know, something feels off..." Michael said, adding onto the suspense.
As they are walking, he thinks of possible scenarios of why that person appeared. He mentions how it was next to a forest, and how it seemed like it was looking straight at him. He felt uneasy and uncomfortable, and his guts told him that something was happening.
"It's just your imagination, I mean, you do say how boring your life is, so might as well make it something interesting like this. It probably means your life is about to get more fun and riskier!" Randal says to Michael with excitement.
"Well, whatever the case it is, that same being also appeared in my dreams, several times...!" Michael adds on.
"...You sure it's not your father?" Randal says this with a serious tone while looking directly at Michael, as this landed like an unexpected punch, stinging and ticking off Michael.
During math class, Michael tries to focus on his work but is unable to due to him thinking of the figure he saw earlier. No matter how hard he tries to forget it, it just keeps haunting him. The teacher approaches him and instead of asking him what's wrong, she taps her finger on his paper and demands him to finish this before class ends. Michael was never good at math, but with the lack of sleep, with an annoying friend, this constant worriedness of his mom and this random figure, while also believing that this teacher does not care for him, it puts a difficult obstacle in his already tedious and arduous life. He wonders why God has put him in this world with a difficult life, he wonders if it is because of his sins due to Randal pressuring him to do heinous acts with him. Why was he cursed with such a life? He thought it was a punishment from God, and that he needs to get closer with him. Maybe it was his father's sins ruining the family, that is why his mother is so depressed, he thought. But he doubts that, as he believes his father was a good man. He jumbles all over the paper and hands that in. He wants to discover a new means of life and wants to find the underlying cause of this as soon as possible.
Michael and Randal are walking out of the classroom as Michael's mind still lingers with that thing he saw. It's getting to the point where he wants to discuss this again with Randal but knowing him, he would just refuse to help with this.
"Did you finish that worksheet? Not gonna lie, I flunked." Randal says with no sadness.
"Randal, I want to invite you to my house on Friday. We need to talk about some...things."
Randal is confused by this; he wants to make a remark about this but decides to ignore it for now.
"Alright? What was it again? Number 13?" Randal responds, forgetting the house number again.
"15! When have I ever mentioned 13?" His tone slightly rising with disappointment and irritation.
As they are walking, a random student bumps into Randal carelessly, as if that student is the boss of this school. His glasses fall, and he hears a crack.
Randal says, "Hey, watch it, bitch!" He bends down to pick up his glasses, as one side is cracked.
That student turns around with his emotionless face and stands in one spot, looking deep into Randal's eyes.
Michael tries to shush Randal as Randal stands up tall and firm with an aggressive expression on his face, holding out the glasses, he puts it on and tries to walk towards that student. Michael tries to stop him with a nervous expression, being timid and small, swaying his hand at the student trying to make him leave. He looks at Michaels hand and complies with attitude, walking away.
"What did I tell you about swearing?!" Michael looks at him with anger.
"Oh, come on, just because you don't swear, don't tell me the same!"
"But the sins you make!"
"Sheesh, lay it off...since when did you get so religious?" Randal looks at his glasses carefully.
"Not my fault you're not religious, and this is just the start."
"I just don't believe in God, simple, only science," Randal blows on his glasses. "We were all born from the universe."
That sentence hit Michael knowing that he is probably right, and that human lives mean nothing. Is that why so many bad people exist in this world? They are carelessly fulfilling their egos when not believing in God. But he doesn't trust this as this is how evilness spread. He wants to get closer to God and dismisses what Randal has to say. As Randal adjusts his glasses looking miserable, Michael takes off without him.
"Dude, where are you going?!" Randal catches up to him while panting. "Okay yo, my bad. But that idiot broke my glasses, can we at least do something about it?"
"It's just a crack, don't be so sensitive about it."
Randal then sighs and comes up with an idea. He mentions how they should spit up the stairs down to the lower level on some students, as they used to do this together a few years ago. Michael dismisses the idea with change and tries to tell him that this could get them in trouble. Randal then convinces Michael to then just throw cereal on top of the students.
"Remember we used to do this? It could help you let out your anger knowing you don't swear." Randal says, trying to convince Michael.
Michael sighs and grunts, and then immediately agrees with him without a second thought. He did have some things in his chest that he needed to let go, some negative thoughts, some anger, and the isolation he feels at school. He thinks this one last time doing this won't hurt. It is just cereal after all. Randal pulls out this cereal bag and gives it to him. They walk upstairs, looking behind, and quickly make their way on the ledge. Standing close on the ledge, he takes out the cereal and waits for someone to walk by. As a couple of students walk by, Michael then opens the cereal and drops the entire thing on their heads as they take off and quickly giggle to one another. Michael did feel a deep sense of guilt but ignored it with his laughter. He takes this moment as his way of freedom, as his escape from reality, as his way of pouring out his anger and frustration on them.
"Weird how you don't swear but proceed to throw garbage over people's heads! I am not complaining..." Randal says.
Back at home, he walks in depressingly, knowing he must repeat this same old day repeatedly. He survives and makes it to Friday, where he is a bit pumped up, but is severely exhausted because of school. He does nothing all day besides revising his math work, researching about dreams, and trying to figure out the deal with his mother. He had no visions of this dream anymore and no outside visions of this figure. His mother is always locked in her room, but when he tries to listen for anything he just hears her snore.
During nighttime, he feels a deep sense of loneliness and regret from doing the heinous thing as he had more time to think. He turns off the lights, closes the door, plugs in his headphones into his phone, and then lays there on his bed flat out. He listens to space music, feeling spaced out. He fears the dark but not when he is feeling super lonely. He closes his eyes and listens to the music, the synth, the beat, no lyrics, just him and this music. He then curls up and starts to think about his dad. He always thinks about his dad when listening to space music, which he doesn't know why. He would make new memories of his father treating his mom well, helping him with his work, and helping him with being more religious. His mom was religious, but hadn't prayed in a while, let alone mentioned religion in this family for a few years. He was always afraid of having depression. He didn't want to be the sad kid you see at school every day.
"I can't have depression. It's just loneliness I feel every day." He said to himself as a whisper. He doesn't want his mom to worry about him, so this is a good chance to do this while she is locked in her own room.
He feels this is getting too depressing and sad, so he gets up, stops the music and takes off the headphones. He uses his phone to make a phone call to Randal, inviting him to go somewhere at this hour. During the call, he mentions his address several times, Alarson street, house number 15, over and over again, until it is engraved into his mind hopefully. He can still hear his mother snoring, so he leaves a note. Another note. He actually leaves 5 notes. One in front of her door, two in his bedroom, one in the kitchen, and the last one on the main door, as he is paranoid that his mother will think he is missing or something. The note just says that he went out with his friend, Randal, and will come back soon. Michael waits outside in the cold right next to his house, with his sweater and jacket, hands in pocket, and blowing in the wind. 10 minutes later, Randal still hasn't showed up, and this is where he starts to get agitated and thinks that he went off to a different street.
He then hears a noise and turns behind. Feeling scared, he walks back a bit, and notices that Randal is knocking on a different house's door. Some random old women open the door as Randal realizes this isn't his house. Instead of saying anything, he runs off as the old women scolds him. Michael then runs up to him and Randal, startled, grabs his chest thinking he was about to get killed. After realizing it was Michael, he then laughs it off, as Michael stares at him with an upset face.
"I told you...house number is 15, not 17...how oblivious are you?" Michael says with disappointment.
"...Dude, this random granny started chasing me, bro!"
"Yeah, I saw the whole thing. And she wasn't even chasing you?"
"Whatever, dude. Anyways, why did you invite me? Were you going to jump off and calling me was your last resort? Was I the savior?" Randal says excitedly.
"No, what?! Well, I mean I do want someone to talk with..." Michael feels the sadness rushing again.
Randal then picks up this bag and carries it. Michael notices this and asks him what is in there.
"You wish it was guns. Nah, it's just spray cans. Don't worry about it. So, where do you wanna do this?"
"We're not spray-painting! When have I ever—" Michael cuts off his own sentence, not worth finishing it, he then comes clear on what he wants with him. "I just want somebody to talk to...talk to about my problems...and yes, the stupid thing I saw!"
"Well yeah sure, you can tell me anything, we have been best friends for 6 years now."
Michael, confused with his calm and accepting response, takes him to this transmission tower. This had a metal fence around it with an electrical box. As Michael makes it there with Randal, he gets up on the fence and the width was enough for him to sit on it. He thought this was a bit dangerous but doesn't focus on the bad. He was done with that. He wants to focus on the good. He looks behind and sees Randal struggling to get over the fence and grunting.
"So, this is where we are spray-painting? This is sick, Mike. Glad you're taking risks!" Randal says.
Michael scoffs and stares up at the starry night sky. He looks at the bright shining glistening stars and takes a deep breath. He closes his eyes and feels the wind breezing up on him.
"So uh, this is kinda weird and cringe. What are you doing? How is this any fun?" Randal says.
"Randal, just relax. Come up here and sit. Look at the sky, it calms you down. I just want someone to sit next to me."
He then points up and tells him to connect with the stars. He believes his father is one of those stars, watching over him, and believing in him. Being there for him in every moment and in every bad situation. Maybe this is what he was missing, some calm and relaxing moment with his best friend, looking up at the stars. Well, that is if Randal complies and does the same thing too.
To his surprise, Randal comes and joins him, sitting with him on the fence.
"Yo, this is so uncomfortable." Randal twitches around and looks at his butt. "My ass is hurting."
Realizing what he said, he looks over to Michael and gives him the death stare. He then moves a few spaces away from him.
"Can you just...relax? Look at the sky!" Michael exclaimed.
"Fine, DAD!" Randal responded with sarcasm.
"By the way, what happened to your glasses?" Michael realizes he isn't wearing them.
"Oh, it's being fixed now. That dumba—" Randal cuts off his sentence after realizing he was using a swear word. "That fool sort of shattered it...I'll bring them tomorrow, though!"
Michael looks at the glistening stars. He points to this big shining star again, trying to convince him that the star is his father watching over him. He takes in the moment again, taking deep breaths, and listening in silence, with the crickets chirping. In his mind, that spacey tune is playing in his mind, like a repeating ambience for him at night. The darkness encapsulating the environment, with the only thing keeping them in light are the stars.
"Say, didn't you want to be a psychologist or something?" Randal says, peeking his head to see Michael's face.
"Yeah, but I don't know how...I don't understand most people, not even myself. I want to help in some way, so I guess being there for those people could be helpful.
"This place was always quiet. I like to be in isolation, but long enough, it just gets kinda...depressing."
He says this and looks to his left to see Randal. But Randal is gone and instead makes a fuzz with spray cans, shaking the bottle, and spraying all over the electrical box. Coming up with graffiti and his own art styles.
"What are you doing?!" His eyes widen up and break the silence with his loud tone.
"I don't know. Wanna join me?" Shaking the spray can hoping Michael will join him.
He returns home after 10 minutes, the light only coming from these dull lamps in the house, reflecting the long shadows of many objects. He closes the door, takes off all the sticky notes from where he had put it at, and checks for any noise in his mom's bedroom. Her snores were always the thing that bothered Michael the most when he was sleeping. As long as he could hear those snores, everything was fine.
On Monday, Michael leaves the house to only be greeted by Randal on the sidewalk. He was waiting for him at the wrong house number, again, and saw Michael, walking up to him but this was the only time Michael had wished that Randal would have waited outside of another house far away so that he wouldn't have to walk with him this early on in the morning.
As they are walking together on the sidewalk, Randal rambles about how he is failing a few classes and doesn't know what to do, as Michael listens with brief interest, with his eyes getting heavy, and being super overwhelmed. They keep walking, and Michael's eyes suddenly widen with a shocked expression. This was the only time his eyes had been wide open since last week he saw that weird figure. There were a group of 4 people in cult-like costumes, one in front wearing a bone mask. They are all running past Michael, with the one in front looking at Michael with his head turned, as they quickly enter into the woods. The one behind excitedly exclaims with this long sword out and jumping, quickly making it into the woods with the rest.
Michael quickly looks at Randal. "Please tell me you also saw that!" Pausing Randal as Randal also stood tall but with a nonchalant expression.
"I mean, well yeah—"
"See! That dude in front was kind of the same thing I saw, I don't remember. I wasn't going crazy!" Exclaiming out to Randal, now glad that even he saw whatever he had seen.
"Yeah, but there's a conspiracy going around that there's a church in the forest cause some people heard magical powers and stuff. Only the bright ones can find it and be a part of their little 'cult' or whatever..."
Michael pauses for a moment and tries to decipher the meaning of all this.
He then begs the question: "How come no authorities have been there? To check it out? Is that why so many people have seen fire in the woods and then disappear for no reason?"
"The authorities, I don't know much about, but then again only the right ones can find this church, otherwise they would've found it already.
"I still think this is B-S, they were probably just scaring everyone dressing up as them...or like Halloween so much. I don't believe in this whole 'church' in the wood's thing.
"But then again, this is more-so of a good redemption. So, since you're looking to be more religious, might as well end up over there." Randal explains, glancing at Michael.
Michael freaks out about this, going around in school and asking a few students if they have seen something like this with them looking at Michael like he is crazy. Throughout the entire classes he couldn't pay attention, just adding more to the curiosity he had been getting.
He enters his math class and sits down. All anxious and worried, he looks over to Randal who is just minding his own business, not really caring for anything or what he saw recently. Does he know about this? Why is he acting so calm? Is he a part of that cult?! These were the exact thoughts racing through Michael's mind, but he takes a deep breath and starts to hum a melody. He closes his eyes and rocks side to side in his seat, with the teacher handing out the assessment papers from last week. The teacher places the paper on Michaels table and taps on him shoulder. Michael opens his eyes, staring at his teacher, then onto his table, with the score right in front of him. He can't catch a break...
After receiving a D-, he thinks about all the possibilities that could happen to him at home. What if his mother leaves him for not being good enough? What if he doesn't become a good person in the future? What if he fails this class and has to re-take it, disappointing everyone too.
He looks over at Randal's paper, with Randal quickly hiding it. He clears his throat and looks over at Michael with his eyes showing enough emotion of pure sadness and jealousy.
"So," Randal gulps, "what did you get?!"
"Uhh...I got a B..."
Randal hisses through his teeth with his jealousy arising, as he looks away from him and wipes his face with his hand. He most likely got something worse than Michaels true grade, but knowing him, Michael assumes he just failed the assessment.
Classes end and it is lunch break, Randal mentions how tough the classes are getting and that they should just end themselves here, with Michael quickly giving him a disgusted look and a scoff, dismissing the obvious unhealthy idea.
Michael then thinks of a better idea. He usually bottles up his anger and anxiety, but this time he should do something about it, bring it out to help him. Like how he threw the cereal on top of students that helped him, but ultimately caused him severe guilt, he thinks maybe he should do something like that but a little less intense...
"Hold on," Stopping Randal with his hand, "is there somebody you hate? Like an enemy or something?"
"Bro, you're the only person I hang out with. Although..."
He takes off his glasses and notices that one of the sides still has a faint crack on it. With this, Michael then heeds the call, not knowing who the exact person was, he tries to remember the person, only remembering that he was tall.
Throughout the entire time, Michael and Randal try to find that one person, but no signs of hope. Randal was about to be disappointed that he couldn't find anyone to mess with, as Michael decides to give up, until he eventually spots him. Tall, bossy, and big. He was going to his locker, about to open the lock. Randal quickly goes over to the next locker and pretends that it is his locker, as he looks at that person's lock.
After that person puts his bag in the locker and leaves, Michael quickly goes up to the locker with the man not in sight. He quickly asks Randal what the passcode was...
"Yeah, so I forgot..." Randal says.
"What?!"
"It is either 1-4-4-2 or 1-4-2-4...try both of them!" Randal says hurriedly.
Michael sighs and angrily tries the first combination of the lock. It did not work. He then tries the second combination of the lock and works. He opens the lock and finds his bag. He opens it.
"So, what are we gonna do?!" He exclaims and jumps in excitement.
Michael then takes his own water bottle, pausing for a bit second, closing his eyes he thinks of what happened to him today, what is happening at home, and what he is seeing, he then opens his eyes and ignores his thoughts and then quickly empties it out into his backpack, messing up all his assessments and work. Randal gets shocked and laughs at him for being so nefarious, but then after closing the locker he feels the need to do something. Michael feels a bit guilty, but he thinks about how that person probably deserved it. He takes out his sharpie and writes all over the locker, drawing phallic symbols and random sketches.
"Uhh, Randal...you sure that is right? This might be a bit too inappropriate..."
"Says the guy who literally threw water into this guy's backpack."
Michael crosses his arms. "I did that because he broke your glasses before and wanted to get back at him!"
"I don't know. I know you didn't do it because of me. You were already angry with your grade, so it's either because of your miserable life and you're letting out your anger, or it's probably because of your dad again...one of those two."
Michael stares at Randal after mentioning his father again, but a few students come by. They then quickly took off, noticing that no one really saw them do that. Michael pants as they make it near the washroom with Randal slapping Michael's back as a proud moment for him.
"Can't believe you did that! See it really does help with your mood." Randal's grin says it all. Even though he is funny, they both are terrible influences on one another...
The next day, Randal mentions to Michael how there is going to be a party during lunch time, stating how it'll be held in the cafeteria, with all the tables moved with open space. Michael reluctantly agrees to go. His life is so boring, why not just attend this party...what could go wrong...
"Do we have to wear anything for it?" Michael glances at his shirt. "Why couldn't you tell me this earlier?!"
"Relax. No, from my understanding I don't think you have to..."
Michael looks around with most students wearing suits and fancy clothing. He looks at Randal with a blank expression with Randal just shrugging. Michael and Randal then later head to the cafeteria when the bell rang for break time, with a ton of students in there. The cafeteria felt like a different place, with all the tables moved and replaced with fancy round tables on the side, with a dance floor in the middle, and a bunch of pop songs playing over and over with the DJ preparing for its madness. The strobing light effects hurt Michael's eyes, with the loud music and overlapping conversations, Michael could feel his anxiety creeping towards him. He and Randal look odd, with only wearing casual clothes while almost everyone else was wearing fancy clothes at a function.
"Again, you could've told me this earlier." His voice just becoming a whisper in this chaotic room.
Randal stood tall with his usual jeans and hoodie, accompanied by his faint cracked glasses, shrugging at what Michael had said.
Randal shakes his head. "Hey, I just found out today too. Otherwise, I would've told you long ago."
Michael turned his head to him, vaguely giving a deadpan look, with his eyes squinting at him.
"Yeah, you do know that I don't really like to check school announcements or events or anything like that. What even is this party for?"
Randal glances at the upper front of the cafeteria where a giant flag hung from the wall. The flag was bold with large garish writing saying 'CONGRATULATIONS, SENIORS!'
Randal then connects this very arduous information and explains it to Michael.
"Huh...I guess for us seniors they just threw a party early considering its semester two. They usually do this after our exams, but we're not even halfway done with this semester."
"Right," Nodding his head. "That's kinda weird if you ask me."
"But beats me, man." Randal sighs and looks around. "Let's just have some fun and cause some chaos. You know, maybe we can throw a punch at someone, see if anyone notices us, gets some reaction."
Michael rolls his eyes. "Sure, yeah...cause a scene, that'll be great." But he sure as hell wasn't in the mood for it, saying it sarcastically.
His mind still lingers with the fact he saw that mysterious figure, and then four more of those same almost identical-like figures...
But he can't get over the fact that everyone is dressed so well while Michael and Randal stuck out like sore thumbs. He could've dressed properly, but his discomfort only grows more when he realizes that hundreds of students are probably staring at him oddly.
Randal is slowly losing Michael, getting bumped into a bunch of students, and getting lost with conversations as Michael mindlessly tries to figure out what to do. He wanted to dance but not in front of people, especially not with this type of random pop music playing. He was rather waiting for the DJ to play some bops, but he couldn't focus on anything. Not because of his anxiety. But due to the things he is connecting to, the pieces, like a lost puzzle. His father secretly disappearing, what if he is the one in the church? He thinks about that thought for a second, getting lost to it, then Randal surprisingly grabs him from behind.
"There you are!" he said. "Come on, let's get some drinks!"
They go to a spot where drinks are being served by some students and a few teachers. He thought it was alcohol at first, but it was just apple and orange juice. Of course it is, why wouldn't it not be in an environment like this? Michael grabs the apple juice with Randal taking the orange juice. Randal quickly drinks all of it with him getting another one. Michael and Randal make their way back into the crowd, where now the music is about to begin. Everybody is silent with the DJ making his beats and the strobe lights getting brighter and stronger. Michael's eyes start to hurt, while also getting a headache. When Michael tries to focus on the party, the students looked deformed like they were the same creepy robe-like individuals he saw before. He quickly blinks his eyes multiple times with the students going back to normal. He knows he is going crazy, and he can't freak out in a place like this. With Michael holding his apple juice in his hand and Randal also holding his, they look like awkward students who are experiencing this party like it was their first time. Well, maybe for Michael.
Michael then tries to look for Julia. He wishes he wore fancy clothes so that she could see him in a good and healthy way. Maybe this can be their first conversation? Maybe this could be where he can discuss his issues? His confidence goes overboard, with him randomly smiling and trying to look for Julia, as he thought to himself that she must be looking precious.
As they stand still, a tall person emerges from the crowd. He is wearing sunglasses. He looks at Michael and Randal and goes towards them. Michael could feel a sense of terror, like he feels something is about to happen. Randal is just standing there, with a cheeky smile, while Michael's hands start to shake. The person comes closer until meeting with them face to face. The person then throws his drink onto Michael and Randal, with him just saying that they deserved it for what they did to his locker. He somehow found out that these two had done wonders to their locker. Michael gasps and is drenched in the drink with Randal being a bit drenched but still upset. Michael shakes his hands to get the drink away, as he wipes his own clothes with of course one hand, with his other hand holding his own drink. Randal tries to wipe away his glasses and his clothes. Randal wanted to say something to him, but he was nervous for the first time because he was tall, strong, and had a furious demeanor.
"So glad we didn't wear those fancy clothes, aye?" He looks over to Michael trying to uplift the mood and atmosphere, with Michael staying silent.
"I will be right back..." He quickly hands Michael his drink and goes out of the crowd into the washroom, leaving Michael in isolation with the tall person.
He then pushes Michael onto the ground, with him spilling all the drinks on himself, and points at him, stating how if he does this again, that he will cut his throat and hang it up on the walls. This scared Michael and was so disgusted that he got up and quickly ran to the washroom, looking for Randal.
He makes his way into the washroom, closing the door. The lights were gone with the only bright line emitting from the washroom, and the music being toned down a bit, as he breathes heavily.
"Randal!" he said, calling out his name in anger, checking every washroom stall.
He kicks through every one of them until he kicks through one and finds someone sitting in the toilet. It wasn't Randal. It was some random person, looking frightened. Michael's eyes widen, as his anger calms down.
"I'm...sorry, I'm so sorry..." He then closes the door and quickly runs away out from the washroom, then making it to the entrance of the school and tries to find Randal.
He doesn't know what's wrong with him, he doesn't know why Randal left him, is this why his father left him because he was disappointed? But Michael was angry at Randal for leaving him like this and causing trouble. He calls his mom and asks her to take him back home, saying it through anger and frustration.
At night, he is in his bedroom, and he draws the things he saw and uses another page solely dedicated to the weird things he has been experiencing. Drawing a bunch of crow-like masks he saw, as well as the bully that he refers to himself. By this, the page is most likely dedicated to his fears and enemies.
He then takes his headphones and plugs them into his phone, he turns off the lights and closes the door, feeling a deep sense of emptiness, he lies down on his bed. With everything that had happened today, he needed to do something to help him calm down.
"Now take a deep breath....Breathe out...Hold in your breath.... 3...2...1....Now breathe out."
Michael repeatedly does this exercise on his phone over and over again in the darkness at night, complying with everything the female voice in a video is telling him to do.
The following day, Michael puts his stuff in his locker at school. His mood is very offbeat, thinking about the incident that had taken place before.
Someone comes and SLAMS his locker as he was done putting his stuff. It was Randal, but to no surprise Michael was hesitant.
"Where have you gone off?" Randal says, looking at him up and down. "I was searching for you outside..."
"Where have I gone off?" he said, with a disbelief look. "I was looking for you!"
"Ah, I see." He nods and looks around. "That guy could have hurt us!"
"You left me," he yelled, "and you never came back. This was expected of you anyways, Randal."
The tone quickly went from agonizing to patronizing, now in Randal's eyes he believes Michael has betrayed him for not calling him or texting him.
"You left me to go to the washroom. You were never there."
"Yeah, for a second. I then went outside hoping you would be there." Randal said.
Michael is saddened but then quickly changes to pure disappointment, now wondering if being friends with Randal was really worth it all these years.
"Drop it. At least he wasn't following us today." Randal looks assured.
Michael and Randal walk together, as Michael holds his notebooks against his chest while wearing a heavy noticeably big backpack and Randal walks while holding his backpack on one shoulder. Michael stays quiet throughout the entire walk through their first period classes while Randal tries to look at him with a funny expression to get him to say something, but Michael is deeply hurt like scars from what he had to say today and the actions he had done the day before.
"Hey, how about we"—he shakes his cereal bag— "get him back?"
Michaels eyes immediately widen up as he frantically looks around, swaying his heads away from the cereal bag.
"No! We are NOT going to ruin ourselves again." he replied.
"Oh, come on, he won't beat us if he won't see it coming from us. Besides we were totally embarrassed at the party, why not give him a taste?"
Michael grabs Randal's hand in a furious manner.
"We are NOT ruining ourselves again..." he said again, this time looking straight in his eyes.
Randal nervously chuckles and looks around to see if anyone is looking.
"Okay, jeez...we'll think of something if we see him..."
Michael and Randal continue walking silently, when that same tall person comes, with an eerie look and strong posture. He confidently walks and spots Michael and Randal.
"Oh, great..." knowing what is about to happen to him, Randal sees this and runs away.
Michael just stands there to apologize because, after all, it was his fault in the first place.
The tall person comes, looks at Michael dead in the eyes, the air fills in the silence, as the bell rings. The students get inside their classes, Randal nowhere to be seen, and Michael tries to confront him.
"Look, I'm sorry I did that to your bag...but you got to understand what I was going through..." he said, trying to look sad.
Instead of listening to what he has to say, he comes close to Michael's ear, as he backs up. He whispers into his ears stating that if he does this again, his mother will be drenched in water, also adding to the wound about him being fatherless.
"Well, jokes on you, my father did actually disappear."
He grins and adds that a soft boy like him never has a father, also adding that his mother will eventually leave him for how dubious he is, or worse, she will leave the world in disappointment after raising such a child. He says this and walks away with a confident demeanor.
This pissed off Michael with tears overflowing his eyes, he never expected him to talk about his mother like that. With a lump in his throat, he goes to attend his classes.
During lunch, he meets with Randal sitting alone.
"Ah, you're alive!" He exclaims. "Did you punch him?"
"Worse, talked with him." he said gleefully. "Anyways I need that cereal bag...and we're only doing this to him...ONLY..."
"Ah, seems like he got on your nerves!" he yelled excitedly.
Randal smirks and pats Michael's head, suggesting that they need to thread carefully and be hidden. They need to go up top on the staircase and drop the cereals on top of that person's head, whenever he comes.
Michael instantly takes the cereal bag and goes upstairs with Randal coming up behind him. Michael then waits hesitantly for the tall guy to show up walking upstairs.
"You do realize that even if he doesn't catch us, he's still gonna know it was us."
"Relax. We can play a part too by blaming it on a random student."
"No, we're not doing that!" Michael says in disbelief. "Let's just pretend that we have also been terrorized by the cereal, and we don't know who it is?"
Randal responds in a dull manner, "And turn it into a situation in this school even though we did it?" Randal looks at him with a serious manner. "Yeah, makes no sense."
They see a tall person coming up the stairs and Michael quickly opens the cereal bag. He has no reaction but to go back to the same habit...he feels good about it. He knows it is wrong, and he knows he is sinning, but does he really have a choice when this tall person did this to him? He quickly drops it as Randal cackles. They back up and duck down.
"HEY!" a mysterious voice said from the back.
They hear a noise. Randal thinking it was a teacher quickly hides behind a cylinder wall. Michael freezes, gets up, and turns around it.
Michael couldn't believe his eyes."J-Julia?!"
Michael gets shocked and still freezes in one place. He drops the empty bag on the ground and quickly looks away from her, backing away.
"Hey! Who did that?!" The voice coming from below, presumably from the tall person.
Now he is in a tough situation to be confronted with. He doesn't move. Too scared to even move a muscle. Randal is just standing in the corner, watching them.
"Did you just throw...cereal at someone?!" Julia looks at him in shock.
Michael takes a deep breath and walks up to her. "Look, I know it seems wrong, but that same person we threw the cereal at threw juice at us..."
Julia looks at the corner with Randal peeking, and after meeting eyes Randal quickly takes off. The tall person comes upstairs, with his usual anger and confidence. He asks if he did this, ready to beat him up.
"Woah, relax, Brandy." she said, laying her hand on him.
Julia looks towards Michael. "Don't worry, he is my boyfriend."
Michaels heart instantly drops. A boyfriend? She has one? He was building up courage to ask her out. How did he not see this the entire time? Now, even more embarrassing. He wanted to leave. He wanted to just sit in a corner and cry alone with no one to be seen. This would be a good time to go invisible, he thought. He wanted to end his life, right then and here.
"He told me you threw juice at him?!" Narrowing her eyes at Brandy.
Brandy backs up and says, "He and his little rascal poured water into my bag!"
"Woah," She backed up, "why would you do that?"
Michael stammers and has no words to say besides that he is sorry. Repeating it multiple times.
"My friend here...he always told me to do these kinds of things...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I really did—"
"Liar!" He clenches his fists and goes up to him.
"Woah, relax!" Julia stops him. "Go...I'll settle this by myself. I know him."
Brandy takes one look at Michael and then at Julia, nods, and leaves in anger. Leaving the air in silence with a moody atmosphere.
"Why would you continue listening to him? I see you guys and you guys are such great friends, but I do notice that he acts weird and now you told me this..." Julia said.
"Yeah...see. I'm just trying to cut him off, but it's been hard since we've been friends for such a long time." Michael said and then looks down. "And I really don't have anyone, Julia."
Michael, feeling comforted by her words, comes a bit closer, with Julia backing up.
"But you and..."
"Randal." Michael said.
"Yeah, you guys are always hanging out all the time and you both were happy. I guess times have changed since I have been busy and only have you guys in one class." she said, pondering about the moment. "But why resort to throwing water in someone's bag? That's messed up, especially coming from you..."
Those words hit deep into Michael, now sweating and getting nervous again.
"He left me multiple times, he never apologizes, and he just...I don't know. I'm gonna leave him."
"That's rich coming from you." She folds her arms. "If you don't want to do this again, then leave him! But don't attack my boyfriend or anyone in here again," She narrows her eyes at Michael, "we're not playing with your tricks anymore."
Michael, now feeling uneasy, felt his body weaken. His eyes were sorrowful and tearful.
"The worst part about friendships is not knowing what is bad when we're just having fun. But sometimes the fun hurts us until it's too late." As she got closer, tapping on his chest.
"You need to let him go and tell him how you feel. Do yourself a favor."
"I will...I mean I'll try to." he said.
Julia walks away meeting up with Brandy, leaving Michael alone in isolation, deep in his thoughts.
Back home, Michael again turns off the lights in his room, closes the door and locks it, plugs in his headphones into his phone, lies down on his bed, and listens to deep space music.
He ponders about the incident that had happened to him, again. He wants to let go of Randal but doesn't know how to, with 6 years of friendship, and leaving him would be already hard since he doesn't know who to hang out with. On top of that, he is worried that he ruined his personality for Julia, and now she hates him...
He takes a deep breath. Closes his eyes for a moment and then re-opens them after the decision he made.
He is going to tell Randal how he really feels about their friendship, he is going to then apologize to Julia, AND THEN he is going to go to that church...
Michael ponders. "Would I... would I be forgiven in the church? Whatever B-S Randal has said, as soon as I am forgiven and received advice, then all the weird figures or demons I am seeing will go away!"
With this idea, he has a new perspective on life, finally receiving guidance. Getting up, and slowly dancing in the dark, closing his eyes, and following the moves from the spacey ambience.
The lights turn on and his mom is by the door.
"Michael, what are you doing?" she said.
Michael nervously responds, "Uhh...sleepwalking?"
The next morning, Michael packs his backpack and goes into the bus, thinking about how to confront Randal.
At lunchtime, Michael and Randal sit in their usual spot. Randal looks over at Michael, noticing how quiet and distant he is.
"You good?" Eyeing him up and down, noticing something is wrong. "Are you deciphering your dream again?"
Michael shakes his head but avoids eye contact with Randal.
"Look, if you're angry, you know you can just swear, right? This can let out your negative thoughts in an efficient way."
"I am not ruining myself with swearing, how many times do I have to tell you? He scoffs. "People who swear are unintelligent too."
"Says who? You?" Randal scoffs. "Making up your own facts now, I see."
Michael drinks his juice and still avoids eye contact with Randal as if he wants nothing to do with him, but then again, he is lonely and is the only person he can hang out with.
"Hm, how about we...throw cereal at someone again?" Randal says, giving a cheeky grin.
This is where Michael loses his cool, looking at him in haste, and clenching his fists.
"See! This is exactly what I'm saying!" He throws his hands. "You always resort to doing stupid stuff that I don't wanna do...it's like you're not even here or listening to what I have to say!"
"Okay, jeez...relax, I didn't mean it like that." His smile wearies down. "We can throw cereals later when you're feeling a bit happier."
"Dude, it's not about that. I seriously don't wanna engage in that anymore..."
"What...why?" he asked, wanting to understand what was going on with him. "This was your idea in the first place, remember? And you always used to do worse stuff."
"Yeah, that was in the past Randal. I'm trying to move on...away from you as well."
Randal and Michael could feel the air getting silent, as some students in the cafeteria focused on them, arguing loudly and making a fuss.
"What are you trying to say? That you don't wanna hang out with me?" He looks at him with a sad expression.
"Hanging out with you is like I'm hanging out with myself. An old version of myself that you are a reflection of...and I don't want that. I'm glad you at least caught onto that, and now that you finally understand...it's time to say goodbye." he said with a serious tone.
"Pfft, this is cringe." He shakes his head. "Just come back here, let's just—"
"No. We're done." Michael says one last time to him.
Randal rolls his eyes as he throws his cereal at Michael, walking away. He turns behind in an anger and is about to get aggressive with him but then a teacher intervenes. Most of the students in the cafeteria are looking at them, wondering what is even happening.
Randal looks baffled and almost a sad look, trying to cover it up with his fake anger demeanor. Michael sticks out the middle finger at him. The only thing he could do close to cursing, a middle finger, which the teacher saw and escorted him out. Michael's eyes get teary as he gets overwhelmed.
Randal, with embarrassment, escorts himself out of the cafeteria, giving one look at Michael walking away, scoffing, clenching his fists, and then moving on.
It could've gotten worse, Michael thought. At least it ended quickly, and now he can find the right group of friends fit for him.
Michael goes into his room after school, and angrily throws away items and his backpack, taking out his anger.
"Why?!" Looking up. "Why God does my life have to be so miserable?!" he asked, throwing his arms up in the sky, waiting for an answer.
He hits his head out of frustration. Sitting down in a defeated posture, he thinks about the troubles he is dealing with. His school life, meaningless. A hit on the head. His own mother is having her own issues. Another hit on the head. His strange occurrences and dreams. Another hit on the head. And now his only friend he left. One last hit on the head. His whole life is coming down on him. It was like his life was stuck on a string, slowly loosening and breaking.
He thought to himself that what if he can go to the church that Randal had mentioned. He did think about going earlier, but what if he can actually check it out tomorrow.
He sniffles, wiping away the tears from his face, getting up.
His mom comes in and notices him crying.
"Sweetie!" She comes up to him, laying her hand on his head. "Did somebody hurt you? What happened?"
Michael instantly hugged her, now swelling his eyes with tears. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." he said. His only words were 'sorry'.
His mom wraps her arms around him, brightening the sad atmosphere. She gets worried, wipes the tears off his eyes, and looks at him.
She kneeled and said, "Tell me what happened..."
Michael wipes his tears. "I-I broke off our friendship with R-Randal." he said, wiping his eyes.
His mom looked at him with comfort and said, "That's it? Aww, sweetie, don't worry about it." Giving him a quick hug. "What happened between you two?"
"He was just a bad influence." he murmured.
"There are bad influencers all around the world, toxic people, and they try to bring you down." She touches his arm. "The most important thing to do is to save yourself by distancing yourself from them." she said. "And you did that, which I am so proud of."
Michael smiles. "Thanks...you know, you're the only female who truly understands me."
His mom laughs. "I am your mother. Mothers know everything!" she said. "But don't worry, you'll find the one. Maybe in a few years when you're all set!"
"I just...don't know why I did that; we have been friends for so long." he said.
"I'm surprised too," she said, looking around, "but I also don't understand what's going on in your little head." She shakes his head with a smile. "If you thought he wasn't good for you, then good for you for doing that. It must have been bad seeing as how...miserable you would be coming home from school. Whether it's the stress or the studies, just know I am here." she said, fixing his hair.
"I just don't know when you're in a bad mood. I also don't know what's going on with you." he said.
She took a deep breath. "I know," She sighs, "and I'm sorry." She picks up a comb, fixing his hair fully. "Just know that I am here for you. No matter what. Come to me whenever you have an issue. I don't want to see my boy sad." she said, making an overexaggerating sad face to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, you're right. But are you okay."
She stops brushing his hair, and sighs. "Yes. I am okay. But I won't be if you are not. So, tell me everything." she said.
She gets up and hugs Michael one last time. "Remember, if you need anythin—"
"I'll come to you, I know." Michael said with a smile.
"Good." She responded with a smile.
She waves at him and closes the door. Now Michael now feels a lot better. Fixing the bed, fixing the furniture that he deliberately threw.
At night, he goes to bed, putting his blanket up to his chin. He smiles, looking up, he knows what to do the next day.
He is going to go to that church Randal told him about in the middle of the forest. If he could find it, his destiny was to be forgiven. But if he doesn't...his destiny is to be a bad person, he believed.
The strange occurrences of those crow-masked people. The weird dreams that kept persisting of the same things. The church that might have secret abilities for something greater...
He believed that this church was calling to him. To make him come there for his true repentance.
Maybe Randal wasn't that bad after all, he did do something good. He may not be able to remember his address, but he did explain the church to Michael for his forgiveness.