Chapter 1: Stuck
"Tape recorder is on again, time is 5:13 P.M. Date is June 7, Saturday, 2017. Okay you may continue..."
My name is Micheal Thorne. I'm not much of a person as much as people think I am. Honestly I know I'm kind of fucked up. But I am sure as hell not going to let anyone else tell me that.
"Okay, what is the hardest thing about your life? What brings you down to sadness."
I think the hardest thing about my life would be me. I don't exactly have friends or family I could talk to about this sort of thing.
"You can Mike, you just have to open up."
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(Alarm rings. It reads January 13, 6:30 A.M. 2014)
"Wake up Micheal, It's time for the first day of school!"
Ah, yes, my mother. I don't know why she would get excited for us to go to school. She was mostly gone the whole summer anyways. I don't really care to be honest, I much rather have spent it alone anyways. What I was really worried about was my first day. It's not the usual first day jitters although. It's more of how I'm going to find the right person. The perfect person for the project I'm working on. It would make this project 100 times easier if I actually had a car. Well I used to have one until some walkers crashed into me. I still remember their names: Kyle Walls, Nick Graph, and some guy with the nickname Big Bubbly. How could I forget, they were big ass dudes. They left my car in literal pieces.
I always get out of bed without any problems because I strive for the 8 to 10 hours of sleep. This is the thing that most kids struggle with in my era. I get dressed (my usual clothes which is a black T-shirt and some jeans) and wait in the truck for some time between 10-20 minutes because my youngest brother, Justin, likes to take his time eating his breakfast. He is one of those brothers where you love them, but then you hate them. This one isn't in my favor at all. When he finally gets in I usually use that time to listen to my own music. It really calms me down and really helps me forget about everything and everyone around me. So while my brother is acting stupid I will be relaxing in MY happy place.
We finally arrive at a school called Flagstone High School. On the outside it's well kept. A lot of blooming red roses and tulips along with some neatly trimmed bushes. It really over masks the grey and gloomy sidewalk with even shallower looking kids. I walk towards the front door and this is what I envision in my head before I enter: A bunch of asshole adolescents trying to reach to the top of the food chain. In my eyes that's how I see them anyways, I could totally be wrong and they could just be normal kids. But I'm never wrong.
Stepping into that high school made me feel like a different person. Like I'm just another shadow in the sun. For such a well kept outside it sure looked like a run down daycare on the inside. Trash everywhere, holes in the walls, a little bit of graffiti here and there and even vomit stains on the floor. I'm guessing the cafeteria food isn't up to par these days. Guess ill be packing a lunch from now on.
It wasn't really hard to find the class I was supposed to go to, but then again the school isn't all that big. My first period was History. Which was my favorite subject because I would always get books and watch documentaries on famous serial killers. It fascinated me to the point where I was addicted to them. I had to sit in the back, in which I dreaded because of the amount of pricks and annoyingly dumb kids that would just goof off because they had nothing better to do. The whole time I was sitting listening to whatever lesson was going on, but I couldn't really focus and not because of the kids I was sitting next to, but the teacher had her eyes on me the whole time like I was some kind of trophy she just won. I'm not trying to be narcissistic or anything but I was always told I was a good looking kid. I've had plenty of girlfriends throughout my years and for some reason the relationships could never last for more than 6 months. I guess it's a chance type gamble but it doesn't matter. They never suited my needs anyways.
About halfway through class with the teacher still eyeballing me, I try to make conversation with one of the kids that sat beside me.
"Hey, aren't you Micheal?" he asked
I didn't ask how he knew who I was because I probably already knew. My father was a doctor in the area so my last name really got around over here. Of course I responded with a casual "yes". He kept babbling on how my father knows his and how my dad always talks about me. After talking for about 10 minutes he finally introduced himself. His name was Charley Hemsworth. I don't think I could forget name like that so don't worry Charley looks like we are going to be best friends.
Ah… lunch. The most relaxing time of the day for me because no one seems to try to talk to you during the 45 minute period. The lunch line though was like a wait at the DMV, long and sometimes tedious. I'd always sat by myself ,of course, until out of nowhere, Charley came speeding down from the lunch line with a plate of food to come sit next to me. Our conversations were never interesting. I'd often tune him out and not pay him any attention. He proceeded to say...
"Hey Mike, you see that kid over there?"
The kid was about 6 feet tall, but was a medium build with brown hair, brown eyes, and some tattoos on his arms. He wore baggy pants and his shirt was green that said "feed me." He wasn't the prettiest sight to look at, but he was known to be one of the tough kids who likes to beat up people shorter than he is... which was basically everyone.
"The one in the green shirt? Yea why?"
"That's Bryce Collins. Rumor has it he killed some kid on accident trying to steal the kid's cell phone. Can you believe that? What kind of person does that kind of stuff?"
Well Charley maybe we can't be best friends.
"Okay, why are you telling me this exactly?"
"I was just warning you bro... shit here he comes."
Next thing I knew there was a 6 foot Yeti next to me breathing down my neck.
"You faggots have about 5 seconds to give me all you got before I break both of yall's necks."
Charley reached into his pocket and took out his wallet and phone and set it on the table. I sat and continued to eat whatever grey stuff was on my tray.
"Hey bitch, maybe you didn't hear me right, here let me get closer , I said, give me all you got before I break your neck."
I kept my cool, mostly because the amount of spit coming towards me from the dude's mouth is as if I was being rained on. The last thing I needed was an investigation anyways. I got up and walked away. Not because I wanted to, but because that's what i was taught. Right then and there a crowd had began to form around Bryce and I. Now I was trapped, stuck, even.
"Look at this little skinny bitch trying to run away." he said with an abnormal amount of spit
Words never really bothered me like some people. I don't take things personally. Or maybe it's the fact that no one has really said anything harsh to me before. It probably wouldn't end to well for that matter. It was only then he grabbed my arm from behind. Okay, so it was basically instincts at this point. It's time like these I pat myself on the back for being the Einstein of my generation . I always put a pencil in my back pocket in case of "emergencies". He lunged towards me with his fist balled up. I gave him a quick jab with the pencil to the stomach. Not enough to seriously injure him. I just did that to ensure he probably wouldn't get up again. Apparently that dragged in more attention than it was intended to. Guys were now scared of me and the girls were fascinated by the fact someone my size could do that kind of thing to a Yeti. I wasn't done with him yet though, I had more plans with him in the future. He could be my perfect person.
I won't say I didn't enjoy my first day of school, because I did. I got a best friend, beat a bully up, and along with that, people will leave me alone because they think i'm going to hurt them, which i am completely fine with. When I got home, my mother was standing in the dining room, giving that all natural disappointed mother stare like I did something wrong.
"Want to explain why you got into a fight at school on the first day?"
"It wasn't really a fight but if it was I probably won."
My response only seemed to make things worse
"That's not the point, Mike, you injured a kid which means now they could file charges on you for assault."
"Okay, I'm sorry, i'll take care of it, I promise."
Her frown started to dissipate, and we went our separate ways to our room. I was in my room most of the summer anyways, so if I ever got grounded it wouldn't change anything. Besides I was busy planning on taking my newest friend Bryan out for a special treat. The plan wasn't hard to come up with honestly. He was in football so he drove home alone in the night. I'd use his truck to drive him to what is now called, Project O.M.L. But first I needed to get a good night's rest. The early bird catches the worm.
Waking up every 2 hours for no reason really ruins somebody's day. Glad to be that someone. Getting through the second day of school is much harder than the first day, especially when it's your last year of high school. I easily breeze through my classes. Classes these days consists of 10 minutes of bullshit and then some free time. Everything was going normal as should at lunch too until this girl was walking towards my table. It was like a slow motion moment when I stared at her. I didn't like her, it's just she was walking really slow. She sat in front of me not saying a single word for at least a minute. She eventually said "Hiya".
I said nothing.
Not to be rude or anything I just don't know how to talk to people. I'm not shy I just don't know what to say. I mean she was a really pretty girl, hazel hair mixed with a little bit of blonde, brown sparkly eyes, just a sight to look at. I have never been interested in dating but it would never hurt to try again.
"Oh, the quiet type I see." She uttered
"Yup."
"Well, I saw how you handled that Bryce kid. You know you really did us all a favor by doing that."
I began to doze off and I'm not falling asleep.
"It was more for me than anyone else." I said
Right then the bell rang to go to the next class so she ended up walking with me to mine. Maybe she"ll be my new best friend and we can trade secrets together. What a disaster that would be.
After the final bell rang I always go the back way to get to my truck. I always found it more peaceful and easier to get to than waiting in a large crowd. I made it to my truck and as I opened the door, I heard some screaming in the distance. Not a good scare scream but a scream of death. Looking around for a bit I so happen to see a girl, around my age, getting pummeled by some low life drunk guy. Probably older than 50. My guess would be her father judging by the grey hair and his screaming how she wasn't a good enough daughter. I was always telling myself to never get involved with any situations in general but this was an unfair fight. Also I had a little downtime. First, I asked why he was beating up his daughter while I pulled him off of her. His response was "Because she is a no good dirty whore, She shouldn't have been born." I couldn't understand most of it after that because his speech was slurred but I didn't need to. He came at me with a right punch so I grabbed his arm, broke his elbow, and threw him on the ground. The impact from the ground cracked his skull and gave him a concussion. I'm just guessing due to the amount of blood that came out of his head. The outcome was much better than my preferred method. I helped the girl up and asked if she was okay.
"Yeah, I'm okay, just a little cuts and bruises is all. Hi, I'm Allison."
"I'm Mike… well goodbye then."
"Wait, what if he comes back to my house?"
"It's not my job to protect you, call the police, that's what they get paid to do."
I walked to my truck, opened it, got in, and sat in silence for about 5 minutes thinking about what just happened. What I did felt good. Not hurting the man but helping her out gave me a tingling feeling on the inside. I didn't know what it was called. Maybe I just had to pee or maybe I was hungry. Either way, it was a good thing I think.
It was around 12 ó clock midnight. The football games last until the really late nights which is perfect for me. I wasn't at home. I was in a shed near Bryce's truck . I couldn't get into his truck. He left his pitbull in the backseat. Don't worry he left the windows cracked. How nice of Bryce for making it easy for me. Roughly 10 minutes later I saw Bryce with his football gear in hand walking towards his truck. It takes perfect timing to pull this off. The wrong time can really mess you up in a situation. Luckily I'm experienced enough. I sprang out of the shed and began to choke him from behind. About a millennial passes and he finally passes out. I didn't know jocks had the ability to hold their breath for 20 minutes. I won't go into details of how I got rid of the pooch. All I'm going to say is he put up one hell of a fight. Nevertheless, I got him into his truck by throwing him in the back and taking off. After about 20 long minutes I got to my house no problems. I didn't have the best place to put Bryce but my room sufficed quite nicely. That's where I parked everything I needed. Sneaking him into the window wasn't that hard. I had already come prepared. I put my outfit on with some gloves. Now all I have to do is wait.
He finally woke up. From his point of view he sees a doctor. In my eyes I see someone as terrified as I am to be there. It's crazy, sometimes my mind slips away and I'm just a totally different person during the night hours. I love role playing, not in any pleasurable way but MY way because that's when all the truth comes out. But first I left him terrified for a couple of minutes and left him to gather his surroundings. Then that's when the questions role in.
"Are you comfortable Bryce? In this position?"
I had Bryce strapped on my bed with some rope and tape on each of his limbs. I had put hook like things in my walls before I brought him here. Not much is needed for a medium build Yeti as it may seem. But just for Bryce I put a little extra tape.
"N-n-n-no, why am I here, where am I, who are you!? Get me the fuck out of here. When I get out of this you're a dead man. A DEAD MAN!"
"Now now Bryce don't cry yet, the fun has just begun. Now I envisioned you as a sick patient that needs emergency surgery on his arms and legs. But don't worry the rest of you will get put to good use in Project O.M.L. It's like a charity, but for me."
"What's proje-"
I put a sock in his mouth. I didn't want to hear anymore talking. Peace as I do my work alone. You probably already know the details, or maybe you don't but when I was done it wasn't the masterpiece I was hoping for. But I guess it was better than nothing.
After I was done, I managed to find a warehouse. It was abandoned but a perfect place. THE perfect place. Waiting for the perfect person. Bryan wasn't the one. He was merely a fluke. I was just impatient, better yet eager. I needed to learn to wait. Soon...soon...soon. I threw the fluke away. I took him to a ditch I found not to far from my house and buried him for someone else to stumble upon another day. Maybe a kid will stumble upon it digging for treasure. Maybe it will rain and the fluke will arise from the dirt. That's be shitty.
It felt really good to be back on track ever since I moved. It was like a fresh start happened for me. New sights, new people, new places. The world can be really shitty and has a place for everyone, but finding it might take a day, a month, even years. Some people were made to sing, play sports, and build things. The important thing is that I have fun doing what I love. For me, the fun is just beginning.
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