A few days passed, and Christopher stopped seeing Paul in school, but his buddies had gotten terrifying. Christopher tried to avoid them, but he couldn’t stay out of their way. They would corner him, and throw him against the wall, beating him to a pulp.

He raised his arms over his head in defense, but they would pin his arms to the wall, as one would punch the hell out of his stomach until he threw up. When he did, they would let him fall before kicking him. Christopher would miss school, and his teachers didn’t know how to keep him up…

His mom saw that Christopher had no more happiness in her son’s eyes, even the small amount that was still there, and instead, there was a tint of gray that seemed to get worse and worse as each day passed on. He didn’t want to go to school, he didn’t want to go anywhere.

“I don’t know what’s wrong…” Christopher’s mom told his counselor. “Ever since Paul left… he’s been a mess.”

“He left a few days ago, he should be used to it by now… I would be happy that he were gone if he broke my wrist. Your son...he’s a smart boy, but… The boys who keep picking on him are degrading him.” The counselor replied.

“They aren’t just degrading me!” Christopher spoke up. “They’re beating me up!” Christopher had been beaten up the day Paul left. Paul apparently told his buddies that he was leaving.

“We know they are… You’ve said that multiple times, Christopher. We’re doing as much as we can. We’ve tried to expel them, but their parents think that they’re good kids… Obviously, their behavior says naught, but…” He sighed, going through the papers. “They have good grades, so we can keep them until they are able to leave here… The most we can do is suspend them, but they continue to do what they do.”

Christopher looked down, quiet. He didn’t feel anything but sadness. He was knee deep in depression, but he didn’t know why. He whimpered as he felt his mom lift him up to take him outside, but he followed. “This is about Paul...isn’t it?” Christopher’s mom asked him as they went home. “You’ve been like this ever since he’s been gone.”

Christopher sighed, and nodded. “I-I do miss him…” He spoke for the first time since inside the counselor’s office. “I-I don’t know why though. I just feel like I’m...not wanted or given a purpose. It’s weird. I hate his guts, but at the same time, I feel important. And every time I look at him, I see that somewhere in that black pit that he calls a soul, he’s hurt. He doesn’t want to hurt me, I think.”

“You think you have it all put together, don’t you Christopher? I think you’re onto something…”

“When Paul was over the other day… He was about to say something… I want to know what he was about to say.” Christopher put his hands together, and as the car came to a rough stop, and they pulled into their driveway. He sighed and got out, going to the mailbox, finding that the mailman had been by today.

His mom walked over, gently taking the mail from his hand. Christopher walked inside, not really feeling like doing anything again. He opened up his phone, and saw that he had gotten a message…

Hey.

What do you want Paul…

Just wanting to say hello.

Good. You said your “hello.” Now leave me alone.

What’s up with you?

Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. Totally not being beat up or anything.

What?!

Two words: Your boys.

Technically that was four, but why?

Don’t play dumb! I know you told them to beat the she out of me!

Damn autocorrect!

I mean, people think you’re a she.

Shut it, you’re not helping.

Who said I helped?

Christopher felt a laugh crawl up his throat and broke a smile. No one said you did.

Then why bring it up?

I dunno.

Exactly what I thought. Now, I have to leave to go do some errands… I’ll let the boys know that the reason I left had nothing to do with you.

Christopher sighed, putting his phone to sleep, and curling up on his bed. He was tired… He closed his eyes and fell asleep, hugging his pillow in comfort.

~~Paul’s POV~~

Paul growled lowly under his breath, roughly setting his phone on the nightstand. He looked around his cheap house, licking his teeth. “I miss him… I admit it, I miss him. I miss his eyes, I miss his smile, I miss the way he looked happy when I first saw him.” He got up and began to pace back and forth. “I miss him, I miss him, I miss him!” He stomped his foot in a rather childish way and growled under his breath.

His phone went off, and he went over to it, answering it. “Paul speaking.”

“Hey, I wanna show you something.” It was his friend Kyle… he sounded worried. “I just sent it to you.”

Paul pulled away from the phone, seeing a link to a video opened up. He opened it and saw it was a few minutes long. He turned his phone to view it full screen, and at first, the focus was all blurry, but there was someone on the ground, boys laughing. Eventually, the image was less blurry, and he saw a mass of blood and bruises all over the boy’s face. At first, he couldn’t recognize the kid, and then Kyle spoke up.

“It’s Christopher…”

Paul’s eyes widened, and his hand went up to his mouth.

“So, whatcha gotta say, pretty boy?!” The boys laughed, and the one holding the camera kicked him in the mouth, Christopher crying in pain. “Well, you can’t say much can ya?”

Christopher curled up small, coughing up blood all over his clothes. Oh, Chris…I’m…so sorry… Paul felt himself about to cry, but his demons laughed. They were telling him to grin, but his good side was fighting not to. And finally...he won.

“Now, what did you do that made Paul leave?”

“I-I had nothing to d-do with it!! S-stop!” Christopher cried.

“One more chance, blondie. That’s all you get.” Christopher’s widened.

“I-I didn’t do anything!”

“I tried to stop them, Paul. I tried. As hard as I could. But one of the boys moved me away before they started beating him up…”

“When did this happen?!” Paul was distraught to the point that he himself, the boy who was known to have an ironclad heart, was beginning to break under the pressure.

“It happened as soon as you left, but… they wouldn’t send it to anyone if Christopher didn’t bring it up anymore. Apparently, Christopher told the counselor about it, and they sent it to just about everyone.”

Paul shook as he gripped the phone. “Alright. Put’em up, boys.”

Christopher’s eyes widened, his pupils shrinking visibly. “No! N-no! No!” He screamed and Charlie and Luis picked up Christopher, pulling his arms away, making his body form a limp “T”. “NO!!!” Christopher screamed, weakly struggling. The boy that was doing most of the talking was seen finally as the camera moved up.

Leroy. That fuck… He bit his tongue, and Christopher was shaking badly, unable to stand up straight. Suddenly, Christopher ripped his arms down and ran, getting grabbed immediately around the waist. Leroy had put on brass knuckles in the meantime. “Oh, now it’s gonna hurt.”

NO! Paul internally cried, and Christopher was slugged in the head, metal attacking bone, and Christopher fell on the ground in a whimpering mess. Paul cried out and covered his mouth. “I-I’m sorry, Kyle. I-I…” Paul hung up and turned off his phone, about to cry.

He dropped on his phone, and fell on his chair, holding his head in his hands. “No, no, no…” He-for once-cried. He felt his world fall apart, and he cried harder than he ever had. He felt the tears roll down his face, and he tried to make them stop, but they kept coming with no end. His eyes burned, and he kept seeing Christopher bloody, and his mind even went as far as seeing Christopher dead. He didn’t want his mind to continue, but it did anyway, even as he didn’t want it to. I-I didn’t want any of this to happen… Chris… I’m so sorry…

“I’m sorry!!!” Paul screamed at the top of his lungs, and fell off his chair, sobbing. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He hit the floor with his fist, “Why?! Why--” Instantly he stopped crying, and he rubbed his eyes, trembling. “Leroy…” His face went metal cold, the ironclad becoming obsidian, his entire layout of insides turning dark with hatred. His eyes became dripping with poison, his whole demeanor becoming darkening and frightening. Paul stood up, and picked up his phone, calling Leroy.

“Hey! You got the video!” That was what Leroy first said. No “Hello?” or, “Hey!” just “You got the video!”

“Oh, yeah I did. In fact, I want to meet back up with you. Our old hangout. Be there in 50.”

“A’ight.” Leroy hung up, and Paul turned off his phone, walking out of his house, shutting his door with a slam.

He got into his car, driving fast to get there. Leroy was going to get the surprise of his life when he realized what was going on. He dialed a number and smirked. “Hey, there’s been a disturbance, and it consists of a boy getting beat to a pulp. Here’s the place…” After a moment, he said his last sentence, “No ambulances needed, ma’am. Well, maybe. No guarantee.”

~~Christopher’s POV~~

“Christopher! Honey, wake up…” Christopher grunted, and opened his eyes, sitting up rather sluggishly. He looked at his mom, who was pale. “Mom…? W-what’s wrong…?”

“Look at the T.V.” She whispered, shaking.

His mom had turned on the T.V., and he looked at it, seeing the news. The video of Christopher getting beat up playing as the woman spoke. “--the man behind this has been comprehended, and the boys who followed him. A high schooler by the name of Leroy McWillian has been arrested today, along with his friends.”

“All thanks to Paul Holland, the boy known for how his parents left him in barely living conditions.” The man next to her said, and the video vanished, “Now… Our team is live at the scene.”

The whole screen transitioned to the place where Christopher was beaten up, and he stood up, walking over to the T.V., his eyes wide in disbelief. Paul… Christopher was about to cry. “Why did you tell the police about the crime your friend committed?”

“He did something that was unforgivable, and he went way too far than what would have normally been done. When I first saw the video, I nearly had a heart attack--”

A boy was dragged out in handcuffs, struggling. “Why’d you do it, Paul?!”

Paul looked over, and the camera turned, “Reasons you won’t understand.”

“I know! You like him, don’t you?! You like Christopher!”

Paul stood there quiet, not showing if he did or not.

“I knew it!!!” He laughed, and Christopher turned the T.V. off, walking over to his bed, sitting down.

“D-does he?” Christopher looked up at his mom, and she sighed quietly.

“I can’t tell you that.” His mom said, “I honestly don’t know.”

Christopher sighed shakily, and he whined softly. The last thing he wanted was to get Paul involved.