• Tyler Wood's Journal #4
    March 13, 2010

    tab "Life comes at you fast". It was a hard lesson I learned only on the second day of school. Fifth day of my known life.
    tab Like I said, life comes at you fast.
    tab So many things. First? That one guy who hated me and tried to beat me up on the first day of school? Name was Jacob, and he had a girlfriend who didn't like him.
    tab Surprise, surprise.
    tab Second? Jacob still wanted to kill me, literally of course. Almost succeeded. All this, though, was over-shadowed by a probably unknown fact around the school: That Jacob wasn't just a school bully. He wasn't just some jerk. He was something worse.
    tab He was a criminal.
    tab But to the first thing. Came to school the next day, mixed reception from the crowd of students staring at me. Some seemed to revere me for "showing Jacob who's boss". Others? They thought I was a freak, and kept clear. Jacob, though, fit neither category, and instead took every opportunity of the day to give me a dirty look, cuss me out, push me around...
    tab Thought it was about time to make things up to him, and did so during lunch.
    tab "I tried to" would probably make more sense.
    tab He seemed happy enough, endlessly talking with his girlfriend, who uneasily tapped her fingers against the table. With courage jolting through me, I sat there. Right next to Jacob.
    tab I believe you've gotten the picture by now, but if you haven't, Jacob was what you might consider a jerk. Not just a jerk as in he just enjoyed teasing or making fun of. You do something to him, anything, that he doesn't like, bam. Top of his hit list, right on the spot. He got his way. He made sure of it.
    tab "What the hell are you doing here?" The monologue with his girlfriend immediately stopped, and he faced me, and just stared. A cold, unwelcoming stare, even more unwelcoming with that large bandage plastered on his face. There's Jacob for you. Always making sure to make a state-of-the-arc greeting.
    tab "I'm sitting down," I replied, "and I'm about to apologize for what happened yesterday. You...are upset about that, right?"
    tab "Damn straight," was his quick answer. "Helluva lot." He said this with eye brows slanted down, the creases of his forehead making distinct folds in his rough skin. His lips were parted, his contrasting white teeth grinded together like, well, like a grinder.
    tab Was he upset? Did I really have to have asked that?
    tab "Great. So I'll say it." I paused, and then finished, "I'm sorry." Jacob cackled a bit, smirked, and replied,
    tab "'Sorry'? Great, and I suppose that's supposed to actually mean something to me?"
    tab "Jacob, you know, I think--" the girl started, lightly touching Jacob's hand and weakly smiling. I could tell she was bothered by her own boyfriend, and I by the tone of her voice, there was a large possibility she didn't even like him. Made a quick note in my mind to ask her later.
    tab "Hey, Stacy," Jacob interrupted coldly, hardly even looking at her or acknowleding her being there. "Shut up." New fact: Her name was Stacy.
    tab "If sorry isn't good enough for you," I quickly said, switching back to the original topic, "I don't know what is."
    tab "Soon as no one's around, I'll be showin' you." Jacob leaped up, and grabbed Stacy's hand, loudly announcing,
    tab "C'mon, girl. Let's go somewhere...else." Stacy gave me one last glance, and picked up her lunch, and walked with his "boy friend". Couldn't imagine any decent girl like her actually sharing a mutual feeling, though.
    tab Didn't finish my lunch. I had lost my appetite.
    tab The next time I met up with him was on much difference circumstances, in-between classes. I saw him walk into the boy's bathroom, his girlfriend being dragged along with him. A boy and a girl going into the boy's bathroom usually implied they weren't actually going to the bathroom. So I followed.
    tab Curiosity getting the best of me? Probably.
    tab As I got closer to the bathroom, I could already hear the extensive dialogue.
    tab "...Ain't nobody in here but us. C'mon..." Some mumbling from the girl. She didn't sound sure, whatever they were talking about.
    tab The bell rang. I was tardy, at the expense of figuring out...something.
    tab "See? Bell rang. Everyone's in class. Nobody uses this bathroom here anyway."
    tab "Jacob..." was the first word I could get out from the girl. "I-I can't. This is wrong. We shouldn't--we shouldn't be here..." I leaned in to check on what was going on, careful not to be seen. That wouldn't be good. The girl was cornered against the counter. Jacob had complete control.
    tab "Huh. You sound like my mom. C'mon..."
    tab "Jacob..."
    tab "Look, girl, we in the bathroom right now! We will do it!"
    tab "Jacob..."
    tab "Get down! Get down!" Jacob kicked Stacy in the stomach. She hunched over and fell to her hands, gasping for air.
    tab "Jacob!" Wasn't the Stacy who said it that time. It was me.
    tab "Tyler..." Jacob just stood and stared at me for a few seconds, the soaking red bandage stuck on his cheek reminding me of what happened the day earlier. Then, he smiled.
    tab "Nice to see you." He dug into his pockets for a moment, and pulled out a pocket knife.
    tab "I stabbed you in the cheek with a plastic cafeteria knife..." I said, him slowly stepping closer and closer to me. "This is overreacting."
    tab "You stabbed me in the cheek!" he exclaimed, pointing to himself dramatically, the smile gone. Quickly, though, it came back. "But don't worry. I'll try not to kill you." Small comfort.
    tab I stared at his girlfriend spectating helplessly at the scene. She didn't say anything. Just watched. But I could see it in her face: She hated Jacob. She wasn't really Jacob's girlfriend. She was Jacob's object.
    tab "You were going to...What were you going to do to your..."
    tab "Butting into my business now?!" he shouted, not only a couple feet away. "You gonna rat me out! Tell the school what happened! You knows what we was doin'. Gives me more of an excuse...to do this!" He lunged at me. Reflexes suddenly kicked in, and I grabbed his arms, and threw him down.
    tab "I don't know how I--" I began, but wasn't able to finish as he jumped back up and began slicing at air again, me quickly ducking and dodging his every move.
    tab Quickly, I grabbed his head, and violently bashed it against the wall. I watched as he hunched to the floor, writhing in pain, his hands buried in his now bleeding forehead. Looking at him reminded me of looking at the girl. Defenseless. In pain. Insifnificant. Controlled.
    tab The wailing continued, as I continued to stare, wondering what to do. I slumped down to the ground, vision a blur, Jacobs cries resonating in my air, the girl weeping behind me...
    tab The scene made me wonder again, like so many times before, who I was, how all this happened.
    tab "Life comes at you fast" is what everyone tells you. But they never tell you that the aftershock of what comes so fast will never end.