You can support me and read advanced chapters at https://www.patréon.com/Udaywrites
[Note: type the link with a normal e]
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ghoul
POV - Sarah Symanski
Class had yet to begin.
The chattering students wouldn't stop their chirping, it irritated her beyond belief. She didn't dare speak up though!
It affected her attention while sketching.
A rumour had started circulating. Something about a student beating twenty others in a fight recently. That was all her class could talk about today. The name Peter Parker was on everyone's lips today.
She faintly remembered seeing him in the school bus once!
'Blown out of proportion, no doubt! Typical high schoolers making a mountain out of a molehill' She thought, as if she wasn't one herself.
She wouldn't care about the whole thing if her classmates could remain quiet and let her draw in peace.
If she had some peace of mind then she could finish her new piece.
'No matter.'
She put her Sony earphones behind her blue hair and started blasting some Slipknot.
'It doesn't matter. They don't matter.'
She took her shading pencil and finished the shading on her new masterpiece.
'The ghoul,' she signed it with her name as she always did with all of her sketches.
With three heads and a thousand eyes with dark grayish skin. He would visit her in her dreams frequently.
He wouldn't hurt her, in fact he would do the opposite, comfort her in time of pain.
At first she was scared but then she began to understand that he was there to help her.
Comforting her from the pain of her mother abandoning her at a young age, the young memories of her cheerful father turning into a broken man who drank more than a fish now!
The ghoul would comfort her from the dark thoughts that kept on coming and seemed endless.
The ghoul would never judge her, even with all of its thousand eyes. Never spoke a mean word even though it had three mouths.
It gladly ate all her problems. It was one of her few true friends.
She wished that he existed in the real world instead of these people. To her the ghoul was, In some ways, more real than these people.
Perhaps that's why she drew him, so she could always remember that she had a friend and that she could cherish him.
"Look at what Sarah's drawing!" Pam, her constant tormentor since freshman year yelled out. Pam had her posse with her.
She instinctively covered the page with her hands.
'Oh no!!! if they see him…'
Pam forcefully took her drawing from her desk.
Sarah couldn't fight back. Pam's gaze was too direct and confrontational, all she could do was silently wait for her tormentors to leave when they finally got bored of bullying her.
"What the hell is this? 'Ghoul' that's creepy" Pam read her signature on the drawing.
'Don't say his name like that..' Sarah seethed inside but contained the venom.
The group of girls following Pam kept making comments.
"Scary…"
"It looks like one of the demon's in my brother's video games."
'No ghoul's not scary, he's not creepy. He's not like you people.' Sarah thought.
"Ugh why don't you draw anything nice? Geez you're such a weirdo." She threw the paper back to her, it fell to the ground.
Pam's group shared a look of disgust amongst each other.
'I should be the one disgusted.' She thought as she gripped her shading pen tightly.
She wanted to yell and fight back but she froze. Her anxiety took over and it felt like her mouth was sewn shut!
Pam turned her back to her and turned her attention back to her group.
'What did I ever do to you people? Why don't you just let me draw in peace!'
A small voice in her head screamed with rage, 'STRIKE HER NOW!!!!! JAB THAT PEN INTO HER NECK!! AVENGE YOURSELF….AVENGE GHOUL! DO IT!!!! NOWW!!!!!'
'Yes…. maybe… I should teach her a lesson-' her thoughts were interrupted when another girl spoke up.
"Hey that's not cool, apologise to her now!"
It was Jessica Thompson.
"Excuse me?" Pam said with furrowed brows.
"I said you should apologise to her now!" Jessica didn't leave any room for debate.
The girls around Pam got nervous. Jessica Thompson was the most popular girl among the Junior high schoolers and not to mention her brother was the star football quarterback. Her father was also famously a cop, she had quite the influence on Midtown High.
"And why should I do that? Did you see her drawing? It looked like something a serial killer would draw!" Pam, still unfazed by Jessica's presence, asked defiantly.
"That doesn't change the fact that you were being rude to her. If you don't apologise I'll make sure the teachers hear about this and that's if I'm feeling nice." She left the threat hanging in the air.
Pam looked surprised at first and then anger took over her face but she was held back by her friend's. from doing anything rash
It looked like she swallowed a bitter pill.
Pam looked at Sarah for a few seconds. There was a hint of sadness on her face.
"Whatever…. Sorry." The apology didn't seem sincere but she'll take it if it means they'll leave her alone.
Pam along with her mean girls turned and left while mumbling mean things under their breath.
She turned to the popular blonde girl, the one who came to her rescue.
She, the blue haired, heavy metal loving, sketch artist wanted to thank the blonde cheerleader.
"Umm…Th..Thanks Jes..Jessi..Jes." She couldn't even thank her without stuttering like an idiot.
"That's quite alright, Sarah. I personally think your art is great." She smiled like a goddess.
THUMP!
Her heart began beating faster.
'She knows my name.'
"Don't let anyone walk over you Sarah. If you let them do it once, they'll keep on doing it to you again and again."
Jessica picked up her sketch drawing from the floor.
Her heartbeat sped up. Dark thoughts started swirling around her head!
'What if she doesn't like it?'
'What if she also thinks I'm creepy or a weirdo?'
She couldn't imagine someone so kind making that face but what if...…..
"I think he looks cute!" She said with her bright smile.
'Of course she does!!!! She's not like them. She understands me!!! She understands Ghoul!!!'
Sarah Symanski, the depressed loner for the first time in a really long time, smiled from ear to ear.
"Thank you Jessica."
"You can call me Jess! That's what my friends call me!" She radiated light.
THUMP!
'What's this feeling? Why are my cheeks heating up? Why do I feel so happy!'
"Do you mind if I see some of your other work!!!" The beautiful blonde girl said with excitement.
THUMP! THUMP!
"Yeah..sure thing."
She opened her bag and within it was the big red sketchbook. She bought it by skipping several days of lunch!
It was her most cherished personal item, even her dad didn't know about it.
'And here I am showing it to a stranger!…'
"Woah so cool!" Jessica began flipping through the pages. All of her true friends who helped make her life bearable were in the book.
It was a shrine for the gothic creatures she called her friends!
Jessica was in awe of her drawings.
The very same Jessica Thompson everyone talked about, the cold distant younger sister of Flash Thompson.
The girl that every boy was in love with even if they all denied it to their girlfriends.
"Look at this octopus looking guy!!! That's so cool Sarah!"
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
"Jessica….um Jess, you wanna hang…I mean you wanna hang out after school. I mean if it isn't too much trouble…some coffee maybe!!"
Jessica looked looked shocked,
'I knew I shouldn't have asked her! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Who do you think you are? Some weirdo! She's the beloved head cheerleader! Everyone loves her, nobody loves you!!!! Idiot! Idiot!-'
Jessica saw the fear in Sarah's eyes and said to her in a gentle tone.
"Of course I would love to. You don't mind if my brother tags along?" She ended it with doubt.
"Umm."
"I have to teach him calculus anyways, his test is coming up. Might as well do it in Moe's cafe. I know the owner there.
I understand if you don't want to do it today-" Jessica Thompson said with hesitation.
She didn't want to miss this chance to make friends at any cost!
"Okay! How about at 5." Sarah jumped at the opportunity before Jess withdrew her invitation all together.
Jessica laughed and gave her a thumbs up!
"You got it Sarah, at 5 in Moe's Cafe"
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
POV - Peter
"Where were you dude? You were almost late again." Harry was chiding me for being late.
Wow, what has the world come to. the irresponsible and carefree Harry Osborn was lecturing me on punctuality!
We were sitting on our usual desks, waiting for Mr White to get to the class. This time it was his turn to be late.
All that talk about getting early, being in control of your luck and this man was ten minutes late to his own class. 'God I hate hypocrites'
"Tryouts my young Padawan!"
"Tryout?.... For what? The debate club." He snickered.
"No…The basketball team." I said with slight annoyance.
"WHAT….you…the basketball. Don't make me laugh." His jolly mood became sour as he realised I wasn't joking around.
"Wait, you're actually being serious right now!"
"Yeah." I replied
"You are Peter Parker right? My best friend Peter Parker." He said humorlessly.
I looked at my hands and feet, and replied with "Yeah, it's been that way since the last time I checked."
He grabbed my head and put it in a lock.
"Stop being such a smart ass and spill it all, the details!!"
"Alright, alright. Stop… you're tickling me." I burst out laughing.
.
.
.
After we calmed down with the playful teasing, I gave him my pre-prepared explanation.
"Look it's for my Uncle okay."
"Umm….what?"
"I want to make him proud, Harry, I don't want to be his dweeb nephew. He loves the damn game and he would go over the moon if I told him that I made the team. It could cheer him up..you know. He needs to take his mind off things now!."
My fingers were crossed, I really hoped he wouldn't probe anymore. If he really knew my Uncle, he would say something like, "Idiot he loves you no matter what!" But I'm pretty sure he didn't know Uncle Ben that well.
'Just accept the story Harry, don't ask too many questions! Don't make me lie!'
"To make him proud huh….." He didn't say anything for some time,
After some time he continued.
"I guess…..I can relate to that!"
'Oh yeah…that's right!' I remembered Harry's complex about his father.
He always acted like he hated him but inside, he probably wanted his father's admiration more than anything in this world!
"Wait a minute did you say you made the team?" His stony face broke out in surprise.
"Yeah, I got lucky I guess."
"You're unbelievable dude!" He proceeded to fist bump me.
"You're Uncle's gonna be really happy when he hears that, right?"
"Yeah I hope so. I plan to surprise him today."
It hurt that I couldn't be more open to him but I knew better than revealing everything to him.
'Just this once more! Then no more secrets from here on.'
"Oh yeah, why did your dad call you in a hurry that day?"
"Huh…Oh that. That's...…nothing."
'I guess I'm not the only one keeping secrets.'
"If you say so!"
Right then Mr white came in and the class quietened down. He was sweating like a pig and his shirt was a little dusty. Looks like he had been running all the way from his home.
"Sorry guys, it was a flat tire."
'Ironic how he has excuses!'
Funnily enough for the entire class he avoided looking at my direction.