Sapience (9 page)

“Come on guys, we are playing like crap.” A kid on the other team complained a few seconds later as Brianna and I passed the puck around him. He worked frantically to try and steal the puck but it was never quite within reach. “It’s not fair.”
 I couldn’t help but feel empowered by how helpless we made the other team look.

I caught Blake swearing at his other teammates a few times. He was actually getting so angry that I decided to slip out of class early before he decided to whack me with his stick or something. I waited until the puck was at the other end of the court and then slipped away to the locker room.

By the time the gym teacher called for the end of class I was on my way to my car. Better to leave school early and let him cool off.

“William.” I heard Brianna call from behind when I reached the parking lot. When I turned to look I was surprised to find she had already changed.

“You didn’t think I was going to watch you skip and not skip myself, did you? I kind of felt bad for our team though. They lost their two star players.”

“Yea” I nodded “I think we gave them a big enough lead to hold out though.”

She stepped up and started walking by my side.

“Do you want to drop me off at my house?” She asked. “I don’t have a car.”

Where had this girl come from? She was acting one hundred percent different from yesterday.

“Sure, as long as you don’t think this is all part of my plan to capture you.”
 I didn’t think that was pushing anything. 

“I think I could get away pretty easy. You know, since you don’t have any powers anymore and all.” She said.

“We would still be in a moving vehicle.” It was starting to sprinkle, turning the pavement a darker black than it already was. Beads of water were building up on all the cars.

“You can’t hit the gas pedal if you are dead.” She pointed out.

I just laughed and kept walking.

“Though I would probably just maim and disfigure you.” She continued, making sure to get the point across.

I stopped to face her, leaning back on my car with my hands in my pockets. I didn’t know if she wanted to go right away, so I decided to drag out my time with her as much as possible.

“So, you’re saying that I shouldn’t try and capture you?” I asked. She smiled and nodded, clearly happy I had seen her reasoning.

I looked over Brianna’s shoulder. Near the field house I could see Blake burst out the doors sprinting in our direction. He was still in his gym clothes and he was madder than before, which seemed impossible.

“I told you so.” Brianna was still smiling. She had no idea of the huge force charging in our direction.

I grabbed her arm above the elbow and pulled her up against my car.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

I took five or six steps toward Blake in an attempt to get as far away from her as possible. I didn’t want to be anywhere near her in case a fight started.

“Stay back there.” I said and pointing toward my car. Blake was only twenty feet away, still sprinting.

“I guess I will let you take this one.” She said, sounding alarmed.

I braced for him to tackle.

“Blake!” Brianna screamed.

I could have dodged Blake’s lousy tackle, but I knew the best way to handle this fight was to lose. That way he would use his victory to get over it and not hold a grudge. The wet pavement ripped the back of my shirt as we slammed into the ground. I could feel the air slip from my lungs and I struggled to get it back. Had I not been trained by the Kingdom I would have been panicking. Instead I pushed away at Blake’s chest in a phony attempt to escape his grasp.

He got up on his knees in an untrained posture and wound up to throw a punch. How easy it would be to adjust my body weight and throw him to the ground. How simple to just move my head at the last second making him punch the pavement, breaking his hand. They were both good sound options that would have worked perfectly. Instead I closed my eyes as the whole world shook from the blow.

“You’re not so cocky now are you?” Blake yelled into my face. I could feel blood trickle down from my cheek. I wanted to really show him how cocky I could be. Instead I let him throw another devastating blow.

It was for the better, I had to keep telling myself. To fight back would only make things worse and increase the chance of retaliation in the future.

“I told you to stay away from her!” He threw a third punch. I wasn’t sure how many more I could take before losing consciousness.
 My guess was two.

“We’re not dating Blake!” I heard Brianna yell. She was still standing next to my car. “William, let me help.”

“No.” I struggled to say. The last thing I needed was her to get into a fight on my behalf. I would never win over the others that way.

My lungs inhaled a rough breath of air as Blake stood up and took a step to the side. Anyone could tell he was about to kick me. I’ve gone this far why stop now? I decided to take the kick rather than send Blake crashing down. My ribs were still sore from Adrian attacking me, making Blake’s kick all that much worse. I doubled over in pain.

“Don’t ever cross me again.” He spit on me after he spoke.

Before I knew it he was walking over to Brianna. I wiped the spit off my cheek and got to my hands and knees. It felt like there was a knife in my side.

Brianna tried to run but he caught her arm before she could. The hairs on my skin stood up on end. I knew she must have been playing dumb like me, she could have incapacitated him a thousand different ways but she didn’t.

“I made you Brianna!” He grabbed her by the neck and forced her face against his. She pushed against his chest but he was too strong.
 I could see the air begin to ripple around her hand and knew she was about to conjure up an ice spear.

Blake pushed away and threw her by the neck before she could.
 She stumbled and tripped. With all the strength and speed I could muster I dove and caught her before her head hit the ground.

My breathing was labored. As far as I could tell she hadn’t been hurt but that didn’t mean Blake hadn’t just crossed a line. This fight just got real.

As calm as I could muster, I helped Brianna up to her feet. Blake had already started walking back toward the school.

“Hey Blake.” I called after him. I could feel Brianna take a few steps away.

“Go back to my car.” I said in a low voice. She didn’t hesitate.

I watched Blake turn, a smirk on his face.

“I was trying to let you off easy.” I used the back of my hand to wipe blood from the corner of my mouth. “But you just crossed the line.”

It had the desired effect. He was once again sprinting in my direction.

This time when he tackled with that sloppy dive I stepped to the side. While he was still in the air, I shoved his back forcing him hard into the ground.

Anger, it was something the Kingdom had tried to burn into my soul. I had fought it my whole life, at times like this it felt like I was losing control.

Before he even knew what was happening I had already pinned him to the ground and unleashed a heavy string of punches. Each punch felt better and better.

It was like I was scratching an itch that could be scratched no other way. The warrior's itch.

I pushed him to the edge of unconsciousness. His blood covered my knuckles.  With every punch I wanted more. I had been brainwashed to want more.

Before he could pass out I decided I was being too easy on him. I was going to make him pay for what he had done. I got off of him and stood up.

He came staggering to his feet. Blood covered his face and clothes.  Not enough blood if you asked me.

He took a mighty swing in my direction.
 I blocked his hand and responded with two quick punches of my own.  He stumbled backwards, stunned.  Before he could get his bearings back I ducked under his arm and maneuvered behind him.

Though he fought to free himself from my grasp he was no match as I locked my hands around his waist. I knew how much what I was about to do would bring him pain but yet I searched my mind to find a way to make it worse.

With my knees in place and my weight adjusted it took little effort to throw him backwards over my shoulder. Years of training made my movement fluent and graceful.  I never let go of his waist as I guided his upper back to the pavement.

I could tell by the way he gasped for air that I had knocked the wind out of him.

I hated myself for what I was doing, but I was so enraged. Brianna and I, the countless other victims, we had done nothing to deserve the way Blake treated us. Just because we seemed smaller and weaker he thought he could control us and bully us around.  In a way he represented everything the Kingdom stood for. He was a smaller version of their tyranny.

He was wheezing, I decided he had had enough and stood up.

With stubborn stupidity Blake followed and grabbed my wrist. I easily flicked my hand free with no effort and spun, letting my foot find his head on the way back around.

That was all it took to send him falling back down to the ground. Right then I decided there was only one way I was letting him out of this fight.

In one hand I took a fist full of hair from the back of his head holding him in place. With the other I made a fist and held it ready to strike so he could see it.

“Apologize.” I said and turned his head so it was facing Brianna.

He struggled to get away so I struck him with my fist.

“Apologize!” I repeated.

He tried to punch me in the ribs so I struck him again.

“Apologize!” I said again.

“I’m sorry!” He cried.

“Good. Now get out of here.” I picked him up and shoved him toward the school. He stumbled at first but didn’t turn back. Defeated, he walked away.

Looking down at my blood stained hands and breathing heavy, I was ashamed. It would have never come to this if I still had my old mind. The rain was beginning to pick up, I wished it could wash away what I had done just as easily as it was washing away the blood.

“You didn’t have to do that” I turned to see Brianna standing next to my car, her arms folded.

“He shouldn’t have done that to you.” I said as I made my way around to the driver seat.

Brianna hopped in at the same time I did.
 Before I had time to turn the key she was dabbing my cheek with a tissue.

“You still want to ride with me?”
 I half expected her to run away.

She didn’t say anything, she just browsed through her backpack to find another tissue.

I started the car and headed out of the parking lot. I wonder what she thought of me now.

“That’s never happened to me before.” I said. “But when he grabbed you I just-“

“Did the right thing”  She cut me off.  “Sort of.”

“He shouldn’t have touched you.” I said.

“He shouldn’t have laid a hand on either of us.”  She added.

I turned on the radio and started listening to the music. The rain had made the roads foggy but it didn’t bother me. In my mind I could still see Blake’s bloody face underneath me struggling to get free. It bothered me to my core.

“What’s it like living in that big house you took me to?” She asked after a while. She was staring at me with genuine curiosity.

“It’s not bad.” I said. “It can feel a little empty from time to time but other than that it’s great.”

“And Adrian and Lillie are nice?” All the stress from the fight had vanished.

“Lillie is great. She makes sure I’m on top of everything all the time.” I paused. “Adrian and I haven’t really spoken too much since you last saw him.”

“He wasn’t very happy with us.” She said.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“What?” A smile was playing at the edge of her lips.

“I’m pretty sure the only one he was angry with was me.”

She scowled and looked out her window. “I seem to get you beat up a lot.”

I was surprised to hear guilt in her words.

“I don’t mind, it’s not as bad as the Kingdom used to do.” I said.

“Is it?” She turned to face me, a frown on her lips.

“So far” I paused. “It’s pretty fun actually. I mean, not getting beat up but sharing my secret with somebody.”

Sharing a secret, I was using the term as a tool, creating our own little world that nobody at school knew about. It was true which made it that much more powerful.

“Why is that?” She asked.

“It just is.” I shrugged.

“It just is?”

“Yea.”

“You’re getting beat up all the time and somehow that is making everything else more fun?”

“Do you have a problem with that?” I asked.

She scowled.

“I think you might have lost a lot more than your mind.” She said.

“I don’t get it?”

“You’re insane!”

“No I’m not.” Or maybe I was. “Besides, who can grow up like we did and not turn out crazy?”