Fan Fiction ❯ I Know There Is More To You ❯ The past hurts too much ( Chapter 12 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Oensaiga 
Josh disappears, and the horror of his past is revealed. Mary is in danger, and only he can save her.
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Hentai | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.29.2005 | Updated On: 06.29.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 203 | Status: Completed
Josh disappears, and the horror of his past is revealed. Mary is in danger, and only he can save her.
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Hentai | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.29.2005 | Updated On: 06.29.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 203 | Status: Completed
Josh had never felt more lost in a dream than he did when he woke up that morning. A light bit of water still rested around him, and the girl he loved still rested in his arms, a pleased but exhausted look on her face. She was still asleep and breathing gently into his chest, the very thing that woke him up in the first place.
I can’t hardly move...I’m still a bit weak and tired...the world almost seems to be spinning...but I have never felt better. This is possibly the greatest day of my life...
Josh managed to get up without waking Mary, a feat he hardly expected possible. He picked her up out of the tub and wrapped her in a towel, then carried her into her room to bed for some much needed rest.
Just for a moment or two Josh sat there and watched her sleep peacefully, the sight was alluring to him indeed. Still, he couldn’t just sit there forever. He grabbed himself a towel and wrapped it about his waist, and went downstairs to think of something he could do for breakfast, not wanting to wake Mary.
“Ok...I can’t really cook anything...and I don’t know how to operate much of this stuff...”
Josh had stumped himself. He just opened the bag of bread and took out a few slices, munching them down quickly to stop his hunger.
“Now then...breakfast is over and done with...Mary is likely still tired and I don’t want to wake her...and I’m bored. This makes out for a very dull day...”
Not sure of what else to do, Josh stole some of Mary’s baggier clothes and went outside, deciding that he would take a day out on the town for himself.
******************
Mary woke up easily a few hours after Josh was gone. Her soft colored eyes gently fluttered open, and she leaned up in her bed. She gently shook her head and looked around, surprised to see that she wasn’t in the tub anymore. She quickly blushed, remembering the recent chain of events.
Josh-Kun...she thought.
Mary took a quick trip down the stairs into the kitchen, hunger setting in before her consciousness did. On her way she looked all over the place, but couldn’t seem to find Josh anywhere. Confused in just a matter of minutes, Mary made herself some toast and sat on the couch in the living room, pondering what he might be up to.
*******************
Josh was in hiding faster than he could’ve imagined. He wasn’t even a mile from his house, but the outside world that he’d seen was far too cruel. Even after the night he’d had, his vision was clouded with painful memories and a bleak looking future. Everything suddenly felt so surreal to him. The fact that he had been taken into a great house and fallen in love was just too good to be true. Something inside, almost like a hole in his stomach, kept him thinking that he was born alone, and would end out the same way.
“Never thought I’d die alone...laughing so loud...”
He’d hidden in some bushes in the park, singing to himself a song that an older boy at the orphanage used to sing all the time. A year before Josh left, the boy had killed himself, jumping off the roof of the building. Josh never forgot the day, or the conversation. It kept running over and over in his head, no matter how hard he tried to get it out.
“I just don’t get it anymore, dude...we sit here for years in this orphanage, treated like shit and left behind like we don’t even matter, hoping that someone will be nice enough to come by and pick us up, but it never happens! What’s the point anymore?!”
The boy had been ranting for weeks before, and wasn’t stopping anytime soon.
“Come on man, just wait, someone will come for you...you’ve been here so long, someone has to come around, right?” Josh asked him, hoping to change his mind about the situation.
“No. I’m not gonna stay here anymore! This place is a hell hole, its devoid of hope! You gotta get out of here too, we HAVE to run away!” he replied, not listening at all.
“I won’t let you leave. If they find you, you’ll get beaten and punished for weeks, we can’t let that happen! You still have so much to live for, we gotta make it worthwhile!” Josh yelled at him, now ready to hold him back.
The boy grinned a little bit, then smiled softly. “Josh...look at you...you’re still so young, so innocent...you’re 15, and you see the world like you’re 8. They’ve shielded you so much...I can’t let you out there. The world isn’t made for you...”
Josh was confused. “I don’t get it, dude...what are you talking about? Where did that come from?”
The boy’s eyes got a little softer, his whole existence relaxed. “I might explain it one day, if I ever get the chance...its just, you’re so young, so much to live for...you’re so full of hope, so optimistic...if I ever see you again, I hope you won’t have aged a day...”
Josh ran to the door and stood in the way, tears starting to well up in his eyes. “Explain it to me now! And don’t say ‘if’, I know I’ll see you again one day! I have to! We’ve been together for too long, I can’t just let you leave my life like this! You were like the family I never had!”
The boy was headed for the door, but he stood frozen. 18 years of age, all of his golden moments passed up, without any family to watch it, he never realized how much those words meant to him.
“You’re right...I was like your family. You were like my little brother...and a brothers have to help each other get by.”
Josh was starting to cry, a few tears running down the front of his face as he looked down in shame. “I can’t let you leave...brothers are meant to stick together, too...and how can I help you if we’re separated? I won’t even know if you’re ok, I won’t know where you are...we can’t let that happen to us! You mean everything to me...”
The boy was starting to walk again, every step feeling like a mile, every tear he cried felt like his first. “I know, we shouldn’t...but we have to. I can’t put you in danger, so you can’t come with...and...I just can’t stay here any longer...I can’t waste my life away here anymore! I have to go, I’m sorry!”
Josh held still in the door way as he listened, but then ran from the doorway and grabbed his friend, hugging him tightly and trying to stop him, tears flying from his face as he struggled to hold him back. “No! I just can’t let you go! If you won’t stay for the others, won’t stay because of the pain...then stay for me! I need you here! You’ve been keeping me alive all this time...you said I was so hopeful, right? Well that’s because you were my hope!”
Now full of regret, but unable to turn back, the boy pushed Josh away, not hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough to get free. He took his slow, painful steps to the doorway of the room.
“Josh...I can’t ever say how sorry I am. But I can’t stay here because of the pain...I can’t take you with me because you’d be in danger, and because of all of this...I just...I can’t be. I can’t be here...I need to go.” He suddenly took off his necklace, with a large, silver stone as a pendant, and dropped it on the floor behind him, taking off running for the roof, screaming, and sniffling in between breaths.
Josh grabbed the necklace, pushing it tightly against his chest and running up the stairs after him, but his mind was full of confusion.
He’s trying to escape, trying to get out of here...why would he head to the roof? Josh thought.
His thoughts were struck dead in the next moment, however. His friend was the one who taught him about death, since before that, Josh didn’t understand it at all. Shortly after that day, Josh experienced what it was like to see someone die, and it stuck with him forever. He suddenly knew what was about to happen. He ran ever faster up the stairs, hoping to catch up in time.
“STOP! STOP IT NOW! COME BACK!!”
Josh screamed as loud as he could, but in vain. After running up several flights of stairs, he came to the open door of the roof. His friend stood by the edge of the building, hand resting on the ledge, a painful look in his eyes as they met with Joshes own.
“Josh...I still can’t ever apologize for this. But I know how strong you are...you’ve proven it to me. You’re special...you’re the most important person I know. And I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t know that you would be ok...I know you’ll be something great, Josh...I know you will be. And I’ll never forget how important you were to me.”
Josh stood there in the doorway, watching silently, a river of tears now flowing out of each eye, trying to pretend that the only person he could remember caring about wasn’t going to die. But deep inside, it felt like his friend was already dead.
“And please, never lose my necklace...its all I ever had, and I want you to keep it for me...bring it back to me when I see you again. I promise...I’ll see you again...one day.”
Josh couldn’t move, his legs were shaking and felt like solid concrete, his mouth hung agape, his vision was growing blurry with tears and pain.
No...no! This isn’t happening! He isn’t going to do it...he isn’t going to die!
No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he couldn’t. His friend stepped up onto the ledge, looking down at the sidewalk, 5 stories below him. He sighed, taking a deep breath, then dove, head first, down towards the ground, his tears sparkling behind him. Josh cringed, feeling like a part of him had died.
“NO! Please...please...WHY?!!”
Josh ran as fast as he could to the ledge, just in time to see his friend only a few feet from the ground. His friend looked back up to the roof, smiling softly and crying. He mouthed the word ‘goodbye’ to Josh, before turning his head back to the ground.
“Oh...my...God...no...no...it...can’t be...”
Josh wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn’t. His friend hit the ground head first, cracking his skull, the impact of the fall shattering his neck and a portion of his spine. The unfriendly sight of blood and broken bone came to Joshes eyes, and filled his mind with disbelief. He stood hunched over the edge, looking down, his tears dropping onto his friend’s face and blood. Josh felt his legs get weak, and he fell backwards onto the floor of the roof, choked up on his tears. He could hardly breathe.
“De...Den...no...”
Josh laid on the roof of the building for hours. Within minutes, the administrators came to the roof looking for him, and the emergency vehicles arrived outside. They told Josh to talk, they told him to explain...but he didn’t listen. He just laid there, crying his heart out, feeling like he wanted to die just so he could be with his friend. He cried until it hurt, then kept on going, until he was literally out of tears.
“Tell us what happened here! You pushed that boy over the edge, didn’t you! You killed him!”
No response.
“Say something boy! I will not stand for this disrespect!”
Josh was going to say nothing, but he couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up, covered in his own tears, and punched the first administrator right in the face, knocking him to the ground and breaking his nose. Josh beared his fangs at the man, angered horribly.
“FUCK YOUR STUPID RULES! THAT BOY WAS THE ONLY PERSON WHO EVEN MATTERED TO ME! YOU THINK I KILLED HIM!?!”
The other administrators were ready to advance on Josh, but they held back, seeing that their friend wasn’t getting up so easily. Josh just turned back to the scene of the death. His friend had since been picked up and taken away, but his some of his blood remained behind in the grass and on the sidewalk.
“You really think I did it? You think I would kill the only person that mattered to me? I pity your souls...I hope that you all go to hell, you sick, vile bastards...you killed him. Your stupid rules and system of punishment...the way you treated him, the way you made his life miserable...you killed him!”
The other two administrators hoped that Josh was distracted enough, but were horribly wrong. One ran at him and tried to punch him, but Josh sidestepped it and slammed his face on the ledge of the building, cracking his forehead. The second one grabbed Josh while he was turned around, but Josh lifted his leg into the man’s crotch, bringing him to his knees.
“That boy taught me everything. He made me strong, taught me how to live, about life and death, and how to fight for myself.” Josh said, all three men now laying around him in pain.
Here’s to your teaching...I won’t let you down...
“If he were still alive to say so, he would tell you in an instant that I didn’t kill him. I couldn’t do it...I never could. That boy...that man...was my life. If I killed him...it would be like I killed myself...but...I’ll never forget this. You pushed him to this...YOU KILLED HIM!”
One of the men stood up, running for his cowardly life, but Josh quickly grabbed him and turned him around.
“He made me strong...very strong. He taught me what I needed to know...everything. And he taught me that those who take a life deserve to lose theirs...but I won’t let this happen again...I will never let someone I love die ever again!” he yelled, the necklace glowing a little as he did.
Josh beared his fangs at the man and lashed at him, about to rip his neck right open, but then the authorities ran through the doorway and pointed their guns at him. Josh let the man go and stood there, the very picture of a boy who couldn’t have had a more horrible day.
“Excuse us, young man, but you have to come with us. We have a few questions for you,” the lead officer explained.
Josh nodded and trotted slowly to the man, arms lazily resting at his side. He had no desire to do anymore damage. He just followed obediently. What ensued shortly after was the worst interrogation ever, one that Josh could not remember. His memory always got hazy when he tried to think of it, and with good reason. All he could remember was laying in a pool of his own blood on the floor of a small room, and not moving for a long, long time.
Josh was so lost in his memories and flashbacks that he started crying quietly to himself in the bushes, hoping no one was nearby. He just wanted to be alone now, wishing he’d never thought of it.
Mary...I’m so sorry...but...I lied to you...I can never, ever let go of the past...even if I want to...I can’t do it. Not for you, not for myself...not for anyone...I’ll never let go. And I’ll never be ok because of it.
*******************
It had grown dark outside, and Mary was getting extremely worried. She hadn’t seen Josh all day, and he’d never just left the house on his own before. He didn’t even leave a note, he’d just up and disappeared.
“Josh...where on earth did you go? Its getting dark out there...he’s got to come home soon, right?” she asked herself, almost hoping he would’ve heard it too.
Josh...you’d better be alright...cause I think I might maim you for leaving like this.
She couldn’t just sit around anymore. She got completely dressed and ran outside, sniffing around the air and listening closely, hoping to find him before it got too dark outside. She started down the sidewalk and ran into downtown, people staring confusedly as she called out for Josh.
“Josh! Are you here? Say something if you are!” she yelled across the shops, getting worried that she might not find him. She lived in a small town, so not being able to find him downtown left only two places: The Park, and The School.
Lesse...the school is too far, he would turn back because he’d of been bored, there’s nothing on the way. He has to be at the park...I know it.
Mary turned on heel and ran towards the park as the full moon now shed its light above her, it was almost the stroke of midnight. Mary had no idea what awaited her when she would arrive there.
Josh still sat in the bushes, luckily he hadn’t been seen by anyone passing by, and he’d stopped crying by now, but he still felt horrible. Every single time he tried to forget the past, it only hurt him worse. He pulled the necklace off his neck and looked at it, the pendant stone was glowing very lightly.
The only other time this thing ever lit up was when I was defending myself and the name of my friend...and when it did, I felt so empowered...like I was some kind of “superman” or something...I needed it then. Am I going to need it shortly?
He’d kept the necklace hidden from her all this time, and he intended to keep it that way if he could.
Mary had just gotten past the entrance of the park and was headed towards Josh. The bushes he’d hidden in weren’t too far from the entrance, and the sidewalk that went by them was very dimly lit. Mary was about to run right past them, but she skidded to a stop. Her ears twitched, and she turned around. Her cat eyes had never been more useful. She looked and saw a beastly creature of some kind running after her, about to pounce her. She shrieked, its glowing green eyes fixed on her as a meal.
“Oh my God...someone...help me!!”
She was ready to defend herself, but she needn’t. Josh suddenly tore out of the bushes, his silver pendant glowing, he nailed the creature in midair, biting down on its neck hard and bringing it to the ground. Its blood spewed everywhere, the veins and arteries in its neck were ripped open and bleeding heavily. The creature turned onto its back and was dead in seconds.
Josh was back in a rare, rare form.
I can’t hardly move...I’m still a bit weak and tired...the world almost seems to be spinning...but I have never felt better. This is possibly the greatest day of my life...
Josh managed to get up without waking Mary, a feat he hardly expected possible. He picked her up out of the tub and wrapped her in a towel, then carried her into her room to bed for some much needed rest.
Just for a moment or two Josh sat there and watched her sleep peacefully, the sight was alluring to him indeed. Still, he couldn’t just sit there forever. He grabbed himself a towel and wrapped it about his waist, and went downstairs to think of something he could do for breakfast, not wanting to wake Mary.
“Ok...I can’t really cook anything...and I don’t know how to operate much of this stuff...”
Josh had stumped himself. He just opened the bag of bread and took out a few slices, munching them down quickly to stop his hunger.
“Now then...breakfast is over and done with...Mary is likely still tired and I don’t want to wake her...and I’m bored. This makes out for a very dull day...”
Not sure of what else to do, Josh stole some of Mary’s baggier clothes and went outside, deciding that he would take a day out on the town for himself.
******************
Mary woke up easily a few hours after Josh was gone. Her soft colored eyes gently fluttered open, and she leaned up in her bed. She gently shook her head and looked around, surprised to see that she wasn’t in the tub anymore. She quickly blushed, remembering the recent chain of events.
Josh-Kun...she thought.
Mary took a quick trip down the stairs into the kitchen, hunger setting in before her consciousness did. On her way she looked all over the place, but couldn’t seem to find Josh anywhere. Confused in just a matter of minutes, Mary made herself some toast and sat on the couch in the living room, pondering what he might be up to.
*******************
Josh was in hiding faster than he could’ve imagined. He wasn’t even a mile from his house, but the outside world that he’d seen was far too cruel. Even after the night he’d had, his vision was clouded with painful memories and a bleak looking future. Everything suddenly felt so surreal to him. The fact that he had been taken into a great house and fallen in love was just too good to be true. Something inside, almost like a hole in his stomach, kept him thinking that he was born alone, and would end out the same way.
“Never thought I’d die alone...laughing so loud...”
He’d hidden in some bushes in the park, singing to himself a song that an older boy at the orphanage used to sing all the time. A year before Josh left, the boy had killed himself, jumping off the roof of the building. Josh never forgot the day, or the conversation. It kept running over and over in his head, no matter how hard he tried to get it out.
“I just don’t get it anymore, dude...we sit here for years in this orphanage, treated like shit and left behind like we don’t even matter, hoping that someone will be nice enough to come by and pick us up, but it never happens! What’s the point anymore?!”
The boy had been ranting for weeks before, and wasn’t stopping anytime soon.
“Come on man, just wait, someone will come for you...you’ve been here so long, someone has to come around, right?” Josh asked him, hoping to change his mind about the situation.
“No. I’m not gonna stay here anymore! This place is a hell hole, its devoid of hope! You gotta get out of here too, we HAVE to run away!” he replied, not listening at all.
“I won’t let you leave. If they find you, you’ll get beaten and punished for weeks, we can’t let that happen! You still have so much to live for, we gotta make it worthwhile!” Josh yelled at him, now ready to hold him back.
The boy grinned a little bit, then smiled softly. “Josh...look at you...you’re still so young, so innocent...you’re 15, and you see the world like you’re 8. They’ve shielded you so much...I can’t let you out there. The world isn’t made for you...”
Josh was confused. “I don’t get it, dude...what are you talking about? Where did that come from?”
The boy’s eyes got a little softer, his whole existence relaxed. “I might explain it one day, if I ever get the chance...its just, you’re so young, so much to live for...you’re so full of hope, so optimistic...if I ever see you again, I hope you won’t have aged a day...”
Josh ran to the door and stood in the way, tears starting to well up in his eyes. “Explain it to me now! And don’t say ‘if’, I know I’ll see you again one day! I have to! We’ve been together for too long, I can’t just let you leave my life like this! You were like the family I never had!”
The boy was headed for the door, but he stood frozen. 18 years of age, all of his golden moments passed up, without any family to watch it, he never realized how much those words meant to him.
“You’re right...I was like your family. You were like my little brother...and a brothers have to help each other get by.”
Josh was starting to cry, a few tears running down the front of his face as he looked down in shame. “I can’t let you leave...brothers are meant to stick together, too...and how can I help you if we’re separated? I won’t even know if you’re ok, I won’t know where you are...we can’t let that happen to us! You mean everything to me...”
The boy was starting to walk again, every step feeling like a mile, every tear he cried felt like his first. “I know, we shouldn’t...but we have to. I can’t put you in danger, so you can’t come with...and...I just can’t stay here any longer...I can’t waste my life away here anymore! I have to go, I’m sorry!”
Josh held still in the door way as he listened, but then ran from the doorway and grabbed his friend, hugging him tightly and trying to stop him, tears flying from his face as he struggled to hold him back. “No! I just can’t let you go! If you won’t stay for the others, won’t stay because of the pain...then stay for me! I need you here! You’ve been keeping me alive all this time...you said I was so hopeful, right? Well that’s because you were my hope!”
Now full of regret, but unable to turn back, the boy pushed Josh away, not hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough to get free. He took his slow, painful steps to the doorway of the room.
“Josh...I can’t ever say how sorry I am. But I can’t stay here because of the pain...I can’t take you with me because you’d be in danger, and because of all of this...I just...I can’t be. I can’t be here...I need to go.” He suddenly took off his necklace, with a large, silver stone as a pendant, and dropped it on the floor behind him, taking off running for the roof, screaming, and sniffling in between breaths.
Josh grabbed the necklace, pushing it tightly against his chest and running up the stairs after him, but his mind was full of confusion.
He’s trying to escape, trying to get out of here...why would he head to the roof? Josh thought.
His thoughts were struck dead in the next moment, however. His friend was the one who taught him about death, since before that, Josh didn’t understand it at all. Shortly after that day, Josh experienced what it was like to see someone die, and it stuck with him forever. He suddenly knew what was about to happen. He ran ever faster up the stairs, hoping to catch up in time.
“STOP! STOP IT NOW! COME BACK!!”
Josh screamed as loud as he could, but in vain. After running up several flights of stairs, he came to the open door of the roof. His friend stood by the edge of the building, hand resting on the ledge, a painful look in his eyes as they met with Joshes own.
“Josh...I still can’t ever apologize for this. But I know how strong you are...you’ve proven it to me. You’re special...you’re the most important person I know. And I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t know that you would be ok...I know you’ll be something great, Josh...I know you will be. And I’ll never forget how important you were to me.”
Josh stood there in the doorway, watching silently, a river of tears now flowing out of each eye, trying to pretend that the only person he could remember caring about wasn’t going to die. But deep inside, it felt like his friend was already dead.
“And please, never lose my necklace...its all I ever had, and I want you to keep it for me...bring it back to me when I see you again. I promise...I’ll see you again...one day.”
Josh couldn’t move, his legs were shaking and felt like solid concrete, his mouth hung agape, his vision was growing blurry with tears and pain.
No...no! This isn’t happening! He isn’t going to do it...he isn’t going to die!
No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he couldn’t. His friend stepped up onto the ledge, looking down at the sidewalk, 5 stories below him. He sighed, taking a deep breath, then dove, head first, down towards the ground, his tears sparkling behind him. Josh cringed, feeling like a part of him had died.
“NO! Please...please...WHY?!!”
Josh ran as fast as he could to the ledge, just in time to see his friend only a few feet from the ground. His friend looked back up to the roof, smiling softly and crying. He mouthed the word ‘goodbye’ to Josh, before turning his head back to the ground.
“Oh...my...God...no...no...it...can’t be...”
Josh wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn’t. His friend hit the ground head first, cracking his skull, the impact of the fall shattering his neck and a portion of his spine. The unfriendly sight of blood and broken bone came to Joshes eyes, and filled his mind with disbelief. He stood hunched over the edge, looking down, his tears dropping onto his friend’s face and blood. Josh felt his legs get weak, and he fell backwards onto the floor of the roof, choked up on his tears. He could hardly breathe.
“De...Den...no...”
Josh laid on the roof of the building for hours. Within minutes, the administrators came to the roof looking for him, and the emergency vehicles arrived outside. They told Josh to talk, they told him to explain...but he didn’t listen. He just laid there, crying his heart out, feeling like he wanted to die just so he could be with his friend. He cried until it hurt, then kept on going, until he was literally out of tears.
“Tell us what happened here! You pushed that boy over the edge, didn’t you! You killed him!”
No response.
“Say something boy! I will not stand for this disrespect!”
Josh was going to say nothing, but he couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up, covered in his own tears, and punched the first administrator right in the face, knocking him to the ground and breaking his nose. Josh beared his fangs at the man, angered horribly.
“FUCK YOUR STUPID RULES! THAT BOY WAS THE ONLY PERSON WHO EVEN MATTERED TO ME! YOU THINK I KILLED HIM!?!”
The other administrators were ready to advance on Josh, but they held back, seeing that their friend wasn’t getting up so easily. Josh just turned back to the scene of the death. His friend had since been picked up and taken away, but his some of his blood remained behind in the grass and on the sidewalk.
“You really think I did it? You think I would kill the only person that mattered to me? I pity your souls...I hope that you all go to hell, you sick, vile bastards...you killed him. Your stupid rules and system of punishment...the way you treated him, the way you made his life miserable...you killed him!”
The other two administrators hoped that Josh was distracted enough, but were horribly wrong. One ran at him and tried to punch him, but Josh sidestepped it and slammed his face on the ledge of the building, cracking his forehead. The second one grabbed Josh while he was turned around, but Josh lifted his leg into the man’s crotch, bringing him to his knees.
“That boy taught me everything. He made me strong, taught me how to live, about life and death, and how to fight for myself.” Josh said, all three men now laying around him in pain.
Here’s to your teaching...I won’t let you down...
“If he were still alive to say so, he would tell you in an instant that I didn’t kill him. I couldn’t do it...I never could. That boy...that man...was my life. If I killed him...it would be like I killed myself...but...I’ll never forget this. You pushed him to this...YOU KILLED HIM!”
One of the men stood up, running for his cowardly life, but Josh quickly grabbed him and turned him around.
“He made me strong...very strong. He taught me what I needed to know...everything. And he taught me that those who take a life deserve to lose theirs...but I won’t let this happen again...I will never let someone I love die ever again!” he yelled, the necklace glowing a little as he did.
Josh beared his fangs at the man and lashed at him, about to rip his neck right open, but then the authorities ran through the doorway and pointed their guns at him. Josh let the man go and stood there, the very picture of a boy who couldn’t have had a more horrible day.
“Excuse us, young man, but you have to come with us. We have a few questions for you,” the lead officer explained.
Josh nodded and trotted slowly to the man, arms lazily resting at his side. He had no desire to do anymore damage. He just followed obediently. What ensued shortly after was the worst interrogation ever, one that Josh could not remember. His memory always got hazy when he tried to think of it, and with good reason. All he could remember was laying in a pool of his own blood on the floor of a small room, and not moving for a long, long time.
Josh was so lost in his memories and flashbacks that he started crying quietly to himself in the bushes, hoping no one was nearby. He just wanted to be alone now, wishing he’d never thought of it.
Mary...I’m so sorry...but...I lied to you...I can never, ever let go of the past...even if I want to...I can’t do it. Not for you, not for myself...not for anyone...I’ll never let go. And I’ll never be ok because of it.
*******************
It had grown dark outside, and Mary was getting extremely worried. She hadn’t seen Josh all day, and he’d never just left the house on his own before. He didn’t even leave a note, he’d just up and disappeared.
“Josh...where on earth did you go? Its getting dark out there...he’s got to come home soon, right?” she asked herself, almost hoping he would’ve heard it too.
Josh...you’d better be alright...cause I think I might maim you for leaving like this.
She couldn’t just sit around anymore. She got completely dressed and ran outside, sniffing around the air and listening closely, hoping to find him before it got too dark outside. She started down the sidewalk and ran into downtown, people staring confusedly as she called out for Josh.
“Josh! Are you here? Say something if you are!” she yelled across the shops, getting worried that she might not find him. She lived in a small town, so not being able to find him downtown left only two places: The Park, and The School.
Lesse...the school is too far, he would turn back because he’d of been bored, there’s nothing on the way. He has to be at the park...I know it.
Mary turned on heel and ran towards the park as the full moon now shed its light above her, it was almost the stroke of midnight. Mary had no idea what awaited her when she would arrive there.
Josh still sat in the bushes, luckily he hadn’t been seen by anyone passing by, and he’d stopped crying by now, but he still felt horrible. Every single time he tried to forget the past, it only hurt him worse. He pulled the necklace off his neck and looked at it, the pendant stone was glowing very lightly.
The only other time this thing ever lit up was when I was defending myself and the name of my friend...and when it did, I felt so empowered...like I was some kind of “superman” or something...I needed it then. Am I going to need it shortly?
He’d kept the necklace hidden from her all this time, and he intended to keep it that way if he could.
Mary had just gotten past the entrance of the park and was headed towards Josh. The bushes he’d hidden in weren’t too far from the entrance, and the sidewalk that went by them was very dimly lit. Mary was about to run right past them, but she skidded to a stop. Her ears twitched, and she turned around. Her cat eyes had never been more useful. She looked and saw a beastly creature of some kind running after her, about to pounce her. She shrieked, its glowing green eyes fixed on her as a meal.
“Oh my God...someone...help me!!”
She was ready to defend herself, but she needn’t. Josh suddenly tore out of the bushes, his silver pendant glowing, he nailed the creature in midair, biting down on its neck hard and bringing it to the ground. Its blood spewed everywhere, the veins and arteries in its neck were ripped open and bleeding heavily. The creature turned onto its back and was dead in seconds.
Josh was back in a rare, rare form.