A Daydream Away

Jack’s POV

I moved away from Alex, situating myself on the cold cement wall closest to the exit. My legs curled up to my chin, and my arms thrown protectively around them. I was caging myself in, protecting the only real thing I had left to keep in this world.
“Where should I start?” Max said into empty air “Should I say the worst thing he did first and make my way down, or make the worst thing the grand finale?” I could feel the smirk on his face in his words. I didn’t dare look up at him. If I saw him, my eyes would naturally slide to Alex’s face, which had now gone completely pale.
“I think we’ll just build up.” Max nodded, pleased with himself.
I wished I could fold in on myself and become small enough to fit in a sock drawer. Instead, I was sitting on a cold, hard floor on a Saturday night, hearing all of my sins read off to me.
“Let’s start with all the weed. Jack, you were quite a stoner in 8th grade, weren’t you? Started early. Not gonna lie, I’m kind of impressed that you were so young.” I heard a pleasant laugh sound from Max’s direction, almost like he was at a party with his grandparents and not ruining my life.
What he said was true though. No one had gotten me to do it though, I smoked my first blunt on my own time. I quit when I came to Baltimore. I didn’t say that though. I didn’t say anything.
“Okay, what’s next?” I heard Max’s shoes tap across the floor as he walked closer to me. “What else have you been up to, Barakat?”
“Don’t call him that.” I heard Alex say weakly from across the room. His voice was close to bringing me to tears, but I wouldn’t cry in front of Max. At least I knew Alex still had a little bit of faith in me.
“Faggot.” Max whispered, just loud enough for Alex to hear.
“Don’t call him that.” I grumbled in Max’s direction.
“Whatcha gonna do about it, Jacky?” Max walked over to Alex, almost close enough to touch him.
“Faggot.” He spat, speaking in a volume you’d use in a classroom.
“I said, don’t fucking call him that.” I said, tearing my eyes away from my legs for the first time since he started speaking and cutting my eyes to Max. If I had powers to kill someone with my eyes, this would be the perfect time for them to come through.
Max pulled his lips over to the left side of his face, as if pondering what to say. The flickering flames in his eyes told me he was just doing this for show, and he knew exactly what he was going to do.
Quicker than I could breathe, Max had spun around and knelt down, taking Alex’s face in between one of his hands. He dug his nails into Alex’s cheeks, and I saw small beads of water appear in his eyes as he fought the pain that was being brought on him.
“Faggot!” Max shouted, straight into Alex’s ear, spit flying and landing on his beautiful face.
I was on my feet, running and quickly getting into a fighting stance that I’d been in so many times.
“I’m going to fucking kill you.” I screamed, grabbing a hold of Max’s jacket and yanking him upwards. I didn’t give him time to catch his breath before I swung my arm, practically throwing him across the room. He landed with a thump on the ground, and I was soon right next to him, pulling my leg back to kick his stomach until he threw up blood.
“Careful, Barakat” Max coughed, his voice so hoarse that I could barely understand it, “You might fall back into old ways.”
Before I could swing my foot into his ribs, my adrenaline cracked, sending me stumbling backwards.
Max slowly pushed himself up, smirking. He brushed his shoulders and fixed his sleeves, leaving me in silence to fight off my past demons.
“Alex,” Max started gently “you’re probably confused as to what I mean by ‘old habits’. You see, Jack here used to like to pick fights. He was good at it too. He sent kids to hospitals with broken ribs and bashed in faces. No one would tell the teachers that it was him though, they were too afraid that he’d kill them. Once he even-”
“Stop it!” I shrieked, the ghosts of all their screams echoing in my head. I grabbed at my hair, pulling it out as if it would make my past disappear. Everywhere I turned I saw another person that I’d made bloody or bruised.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” I screamed at them, but with every breath, another mark that I’d put on them appeared, making their skin a sickly bluish purple. I spun around, trying to see them all and tell them I was sorry, but they kept fading away.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I collapsed to the ground, letting the voices swallow me whole. Above all of their noises, I could faintly hear Max continue listing my past mistakes.
“He’s even beat up girls before. God knows why he felt the need to. Someone told me he saw him slamming some girl into an open locker and splitting her head open.”
There was more screaming. So much of it.
“But, here’s the real kicker. He beat someone senseless once. They didn’t wake up until two days after it happened. He had three broken ribs, a broken nose, and brain damage.”
There was a silent moment. I heard Alex’s sharp breaths from behind me and Max’s almost quiet chuckle.
“This was the only time he’d ever had a reason to beat someone up. You want to know what it was?”
Another moment of silence.
“No.” I whispered, tears spilling out of my eyes and on to my cheeks.
“The boy he beat up was gay.”

Notes