His name is Robbie. Robbie McNaire. He's a freshman at college. He's fairly tall and extremely thin. He has dark skin, short hair and almost always wears a polo shirt and a pair of khakis. Right now, he's getting the living crap beaten out of him.
BAM! Paulie's ham-sized fist slammed in Robbie's jaw, and Robbie, not for the first time, wondered why he was always getting picked on.
BAM! A punch to the gut. Robbie's breath shot out of his body and stars floated in front of his eyes. Ever since kindergarten, there was always some there to beat on him. Why? He never knew.
BAM! Another punch to the gut and this time Robbie fell to the ground, gasping for breath. He looked up into Paulie's face, it's normally handsome features contorted into a mocking grin. Robbie felt the usual surge of anger, of pure undiluted hatred. He pictured Paulie's head, lying on the ground, blood spouting from his severed neck.
BAM! A kick to the ribs and for a second, Robbie heard the sounds around him. He heard what everyone else in the corridor was doing. They were laughing...laughing at his pain, and Robbie once again felt the surge of anger. Laugh at him? He pictured himself holding a flamethrower and torching the school...
But that could do nothing for him now. Paulie kneeled next to his beaten prey and spat in his face. "Next time, have my fifty bucks, okay?"
Robbie felt all of his anger drain, and his usual humility return. He nodded, trying to keep himself from throwing up. "A-a-all right....P-P-Paulie...."
Paulie chuckled and got up. "There's a good boy..."
The crowd that had stopped to watch the scene began to dissipate, leaving Robbie on the cold, tiled floor. Who knew that this world was such a cruel place?
Sighing, he painfully got to his feet and limped off to his dorm. He needed to clean himself up, and that meant he was going to miss Computer Science. But he was sure Mr. Tiddler would understand. Mr. Tiddler was probably the only human being in the school who ever showed Robbie any kind of care.
It took almost half an hour for Robbie to limp to his dorm, and all along the way, people stared at his battered body, but didn't do anything to help him. Once inside his small room, he collapsed on his bed. Staring up at the ceiling, he let the pain of his beating run through his body, like fire. It was a reminder to him...a reminder to pay Paulie back some day.
He sighed and closed his eyes. No one even remembered it was his birthday. Hell, he was so busy getting beat up that he nearly forgot about it himself. Lost in thought, he slowly began to drift off to sleep....and then came the dreams...
Colors....colors....floating everywhere...and then....a painful blast in his forehead...it's as if his head is on fire....it burns...and burns...and burns....it's going to explode! His head....it explodes!
Robbie awoke with a start, body drenched in sweat from the nightmare and his head tingling softly. He stood up and looked at the clock, nearly screaming in frustration....he had slept until 8:00 pm! He missed all his classes, even English Language with Mrs. Sway, the local teacher hottie.
Standing up, his head still tingling, Robbie was about to head to the bathroom when someone knocked at his door. |