1 Prologue Pt1

The sun in the sky was bright and a cool wind was blowing across the parking lot of the mall where i was waiting. I had received, for the first time in my life, a love letter from somebody who had invited me on a date. Today was the Saturday on which we were supposed to meet and i had come fifteen minutes early.

Sadly, i had already been waiting here in front of the main entrance for nearly an hour.

I had arrived some time after eleven and it was now just past twelve. The sky had been clear all morning so i had spent most of this time facing the eastern sky. Needless to say, the usually shaggy hair i had combed and treated was now matted with sweat and the light gray shirt i was wearing was noticeably wet.

Still, for another half of an hour i remained until the sun was starting to set from the top of the sky which allowed the shadow of the mall to reach out to me. Slowly. Oh so slowly.

Throughout all this time, dozens of people and groups had come and gone but nobody had recognized me or come up to me. Some people i knew from school or my neighborhood recognized me, but the ones who knew me knew i was waiting for someone.

The friends offered silent support with faces and hand gestures, but those who i did not know personally but knew of me would often give me strange faces of mixed emotions. Even going so far as to talk among themselves in hushed voices.

I was actually pretty well known in school, but not for anything positive. I was known for having good grades and being easy pickings. At least twice a month i would be sent to the nurse's office or even home with injuries from bullying while the rest of the time i was being threatened and extorted for money.

Finally, though, just as the shadow of the mall was stretching out to the end of the pavement an all too familiar SUV pulled up to the curb where i was standing. I had been suspicious when i first thought of the girl being late, but i had hopefully remained. Now, i knew better.

Out of the front passenger door stepped a tall youth with broad shoulders and a thick build, a full head of medium length wavy brown hair, and a pair of dark green eyes that were smirking just like his mouth below them. His name was Chad and was somebody from my neighborhood that i had grown up with.

In no way whatsoever was he a friend.

Out of the car soon after him came his friends from various athletic groups, staying in the driver's seat was his girlfriend. He had quite a few of them, supposedly, but he never drove himself and there was often different women behind the wheel.

Both he and I came from a wealthy neighborhood and background, but where my parents had come up early and on their own he came from a strict military family that stretched for several generations. Somehow, where i was made to work for everything i owned in some way he was simply handed his entire life.

And he enjoyed rubbing it in my face.

Growing up, somehow my family had incurred his family's ire when i was a little kid because of some community event and ever since Chad had made it his life's goal to oppress and isolate me in life.

If i tried out for sports teams in or out of school, Chad or some connection to him would be there to hinder and harass me. Joining a club in school was know better, he seemed to be everywhere or have a spy in every social group in existence. It probably was not hard to do for him, he had money and looks and talent.

He was the top of almost every sports team he's ever been in, he once took up debate and won a state competition just to burn me, and he even stoops to beating me up on occasion when catching me outside of school. In school, other people did it for him.

"Well, if it isn't the world's saddest try-hard," Chad remarks after briefly feigning surprise to see me once everybody was out of the vehicle. "What finally got you to crawl out of your hole?"

Glancing down at my hands with a wicked gleam in his eye, barely even pausing for breath, he goes on to say, "Is that a letter? Now, what on Earth could this be? Actually..." he trails off, looking back into the car at his girlfriend, "...didn't i see you with something like this."

Frowning at Chad with annoyance for being disturbed during mascara, the girl glances at me and briefly flicks her eyes toward the entrance of the mall before returning to her gaze to Chad. "Yes, Chad, you're sister wrote Chuck a love letter. For you. Just kick his ass and get it over with, i have something called a JOB to get to."

It was almost satisfying to see the joy drained from Chad's face as his own friends snickered at the treatment he was receiving. After hearing this, i did not even wait for Chad to turn back around before spinning on one heel and taking off for the automatic glass doors of the mall. Luckily, his sister was not so bad.

I was far from slow, but among Chad's entourage was the star of the track team who was the first to react. I had only made it half of the way there before he overtook me with a strong draft breeze. When he stopped at the doorway to block my way, though, i kept running.

My dad was a lawyer with money, so i had no problem swinging on someone from a group of people who were trying to unlawfully detain me after my well being had already been threatened. Ryan from the track team was prepared to keep me from getting away but was wholly unprepared for a fight.

Seeing me lower my body and draw back as i closed the distance, he quickly sidestepped out of the way of my running haymaker so that i did not even have to swing. After going through situations like this all my life, with the beatings only getting worse as i got older, I had long since started fighting back.

Most of the upper echelon in school like athletes and actual geniuses did not usually take active roles in Chad's antics. Ryan himself avoided fighting in general unless it was with an advantage. As a part of a group, Ryan usually had the advantage, but separated from the others and in plain view of the world he was far from willing to trade blows with somebody who was used to one-versus-many.

Racing passed Ryan after he had chickened out of the way, i make my way toward the middle of the largest presence of bodies in the hopes of losing pursuit. Ryan, however, seemed to have overcome his initial fear with shame and kept close to me in the mall.

No matter what turns through throngs of bodies around this kiosk or that shop, Ryan's near two meters of height stood out like a sore thumb only a few yards away from me whenever i stopped.

Before long, i made the ill-fated attempt to double back and lose the tracking beacon of a body only to find myself faced with one of Chad's other lackeys. This person was literally the hand Chad wiped with all his life, we grew up together and the boy followed Chad through every sports team and club. He was currently the full safety or whatever to Chad's quarterback position on the football team.

As one of the lesser members of the popular world, he had no problem being the first to make a move and lunged for me as soon as he saw me. With Ryan closing in from nearby and this Brandon closing a pincer on my position, i had no choice but to leap back toward the weaker of the two.

Finding himself faced with yet another attack, but this one already in the air and incoming, Ryan hurriedly turned and dived for the floor out of my way.

Stumbling forward from my lunging punch that never connected, i simply took off running as voices rose from the crowd. It was already a little late, but people in the crowd were taking notice of the action going on around them. By then, though, i had already shoved my way into the gathering bodies.

The mall was an X shaped building with stairs and escalators on either side of each arm of the building leading toward the center. The mall itself was immense with four floors of department stores, sporting goods, food courts, and arcade centers. in the very middle was even a small park for children to play in.

The closest escalator is where i made my way to, forcing myself into maintain a calm and aloof air despite my sweaty and roughened appearance. Despite my best efforts of blending in, i did not even make it half of the way up the stairway before someone called out my position. Today just was not my day.

Down the following walkway from the escalator was a restroom and service stairway. For a brief moment, i considered running and hiding in the public restroom, but flashbacks from middle school restrooms made me instantly reconsider.

Leaving behind the sounds of pursuit rudely making their way of the stairs and escalators, i turn down the short restroom hallway and run straight through the large maintenance doors at the very end.

The hallway beyond was cramped, barely wider than the actual metal doors and the entire thing was white painted concrete. At the end of this hallway was a T with another service hallway that ran across the back of the bathrooms and through the stores. By the time i reached the T and turned left back toward the entrance of the mall, both large metal doors were slamming open.

The echoes of someone calling out my direction kept pace with me as i ran down the left hallway.

Here i had hoped to find access back to the ground floor, but instead i only found empty hallway. The only direction available was to run across the entrance of the building behind the walls of the second floor. i could already hear the pounding of running feet faster than my own heartbeat back the way i came.

Praying that there would be another service entrance, i ran all the way through and down the next left turn. On this route back the way i had come but on the opposite side of the building's arm, I hoped to come across another stairway entrance. With luck, i could escape right back down the escalator and out of the mall.

Today just was not my day.

Threats and oaths of all colors were following me as i turned down what i thought would be the last corner. Sadly, even from here i could see that there was no service entrance back to the second floor of the mall. However, on the wall of the building proper was another set of large metal doors under a stairway sign hanging from the ceiling.

My breath was becoming harder to take in and keep in as i continued down this final hallway stretch, a cramp was starting up in my lower ribs on one side, and my thighs were beyond the start of burning with effort. But, i did not slow down.

The others must have simply sped up because i had only just made it to the next service doors when Ryan was leading Chad and his crew down the hallway. On this open stretch with me in sight, Ryan seemed to find a new burst of motivation and energy as he swiftly left Chad and the others behind. He probably felt like he had a lot to compensate for.

To my horror, as i pushed the exit doors open and stumbled onto a small grated steel landing, i found a set of stairs that only led up. However, with somebody closing the distance at god forsaken speeds, i had no choice but the start barreling up the stairs.

My legs had already been tired from standing around for nearly two hours in the sun, but now my thighs were on fire as i rushed up the stairway two steps at a time. Before long, even my calves were complaining with a loud burning from exertion.

Ryan was in the service stairway by the time i reached the next landing, having plenty of spare air to laugh loudly at the lack of stairs leading AWAY. Then, as i turned toward the metal maintenance doors of the third floor, he started rushing up the stairs while calling out to the others.

However, once i pulled on the doors, both of us stopped in out tracks when loud metallic clanking noises made it painfully clear that the doors were locked. Ryan even took the time to call out to the others who had still not reached the doorway. Laughing about some cornered animal metaphor that i could barely hear over the pounding of my heart in my ears.

This flight of stairs leading up to the roof was the worst flight of stairs in my life, the sound of my sneakers pounding on the vibrating metal steps seemed the clang a new laughter that followed in my wake. However, halfway up, i was quickly reinvigorated by the sounds of several new sets of footsteps running up the stairs from the second floor.

At the top of the stairs was an already partially ajar single metal door leaking in sunlight onto the nearby wall. It seemed to be waiting for and welcoming me to the rooftop, even soundlessly swinging up when i arrived and pushed through. For a moment the world was dim and blurred as i transitioned from seemingly ancient fluorescent bulbs to full noon sunlight, then i was stumbling tiredly on gravely tar.

The wind was a lot stronger from a few dozen feet off of the ground, but it was still refreshing as i staggered into a large air conditioning unit. From where i leaned to catch my breath for a moment, i could not only hear my pursuers nearing the top of the stairs but also see that the nearest stairway leading back into the building was at the intersect of the arms.

"Ryan, what the hell are you waiting for?" Chad was roaring shamelessly as i spent what little energy i had accumulated running away once again. For a few seconds, as i ran as hard as i could push myself to, i thought i had a chance. However, this was open and flat rooftop with nobody around while i had let my head start slip away.

Ryan caught up to me before i even made it half of the way down the arm of the building.

Ryan passed me a split second after catching up to me, one arm stretched out to catch my like a clothesline across the back of my neck from behind. My head shot forward and my body's balance rocked with it, sending my face first onto the gravely tar rooftop with all of my weight, speed, and Ryan's force behind it.

Everything went completely black for at least a full second. Then, when light once again reached my senses, i was completely blinded by it and all that i could hear was an intense ringing coming from somewhere between my ears. It was just a single peal, smooth and constant like the sound of silence.

My vision started to clear even as the ringing continued, allowing me to see back the way i came from where i lay. Chad and the others were casually jogging, no longer in a rush now that i had been stopped. They had all the time in the world.

As the next second ticked by, I became aware of a thick warmth and wetness flowing down half of my face from above and around my eye. From the incredible coarse feel of the rooftop and the strength of the impact, i would be lucky if i merely shredded my forehead. It felt more like i had busted my head open from the ringing in my ears.

Chad did not bother to stand on ceremony as he approached while i was trying to get off of the ground, leisurely walking up and kicking me cruelly in the lower ribs. After i was once again sprawled out on the ground and coughing, i faintly noticed a blood tooth back where i had been before Chad lifts me up by the front of my shirt.

I was neither big nor small at one hundred and sixty pounds standing at six feet tall, but Chad was a protein fueled all-star weighing in at no less than two hundred pounds with almost six feet and three inches of height. I could literally feel the difference as my mostly limp form was lifted up until my feet simply dangled. He did not say anything, simply examined every inch of my current face with the same smirk he had worn while getting out of his car.

"Ryan," he said at last, drawing my attention to the track star who was looking pale and shaken near the edge of the rooftop. "Look at Chuck, bro, can you see how extreme this makeover you gave him is? Not even surgery is going to fix this face."

With that said, he seemed to lose all care for me and simply dropped me on the ground to make a show of his pride of love for Ryan. I collapsed like a rag doll upon release, Chad simply walked away while congratulating Ryan for his hard work and effort.

More feeling was slowly returning to my body and face as i tried once again to get up, seeing how mortified and even fearful the others looked as they watched me in silence. They knew something was horribly wrong with me and that they had all fucked up, i was probably dying and Chad was giving the person who did it a high-five. Regret was the most prominent emotion on the faces of those around me.

However, even as i climbed to my feet under Ryan's terrified gaze, nobody said a word to Chad who was standing with his back to me by the edge of the roof looking out over the people who had no idea we existed.

I tried to run forward at Chad, but in my current state i could only stagger forward a single step before my legs buckled and i found myself on my hands and knees. Chad was just turning back around as i struggled up to my feet once more, the look on his face the exact opposite of everybody else present.

He had money and background and government ties through the military, he somehow had zero worries whatsoever. Chad was a total Chad.

"Still got some fight left in you?" Chad asks with a laughing, putting two fists up in a boxing stance and punching mockingly at the air between us. "Come on, little guy, come right over here to daddy. I'll clean this mess up in just a jiffy."

It made sense in an instant why he had no worries. With a criminal defense lawyer for a father, i knew pretty well what he was thinking. Everybody here was a participant, so nobody here would breathe a word about what happened today because without witnesses there was little that could be proven.

All Chad had to do was kill me and find a way down from the roof that was out of sight and out of mind.

I wanted to talk as i found myself burning with an intense hatred that almost matched the pain in my head and body, but there was something wrong with my tongue and jaw. I could barely move either of them, but i could still move the rest of my body. So, i obliged him and stepped forward.

I was doing my best to take my time and acclimate to my injuries, the fact that i could even stand right now was a miracle all its own. However, as i continued to stay alive i seemed to get a little steadier on my feet. i soon took the next step.

Every nerve and muscle fiber in my body was screaming at me to run away, to just try and survive at all costs, and what blood that wasn't throbbing and pumping out of my head as refueled with adrenaline. If i wanted to, i could actually run, but not for very far. i had zero chance of survival, especially if i physically exerted myself in such a way.

This little extra energy and this little bit of strength, i needed for something more important than running away.

Even as the next few steps closed the distance and Chad mocked me the entire way, i faked another stumble at the end to create an opening. Chad, believing himself to have already won and wanting to show off, actually reached out to catch me. Just like i hoped he would.

Ducking below his arms, i lunge forward with every once of strength left in my tired body as i wrap my arms around Chad's legs below the waist and lifted. I had hoped to take another step at the very edge of the roof, but Chad was too big and i was too weak.

I stepped down just in front of the raised edge of the rooftop, buckled forward, and dropped Chad to the ground below. A split second later, the world was already turning dark as i followed along behind him.

*