Arthur was kicked from his dreams.
…
"Hm. Oh, he woke up," the man said. Arthur turned around, feeling his stomach protrude up and down with each breath. He laid on the ground, resting on his back and looking up at the group, sniffling.
"Ah."
That was all Arthur could exactly say. His lungs were exhausted, his movements being brought to a halt.
The man raised his bat into the air once more, as Arthur stared at him without any words. It crashed into his stomach, and Arthur let out a silent scream of pain, which sounded like a liquid near the end.
Arthur moaned and groaned, whimpered and sobbed, holding his stomach. His bones were broken, and he couldn't heal them, he had no stamina left to give. And even if he continuously did so, it would steal his breath to the point that he would pass out. That, and his body wouldn't regenerate fast enough to save him, relying on scraps of stamina.
His legs were broken, both at the shin and knee, his hands were broken apart with the downward swings, and the bat was moved, being put into Arthur's mouth before being taken out. A swing, like that of a golf club, and teeth were launched across the restaurant.
…
It continued for a few minutes, with the wounds being made sure to not kill Arthur. They wanted a long, drawn out video, showing everything they did to Arthur.
Arthur wished he'd pass out again. The pain was excruciating, and it was slowly killing him. Until—
"Damn bro, they got'cho ass."
That familiar tone and voice. Arthur tilted his head, seeing that presence once more. The others did as well, and before Arthur could notice, Chad disappeared.
"This is a video of my broski getting his ass beat, you ain't posting that shit," Chad said, crushing the camera in his palm. He dropped it down to the ground, taking a whiff.
"Yeesh, it smells nasty in here. Good thing I'm a lazy shit," Chad said. It was then that an exhausted Lucy entered the building. This was Arthur's first time seeing Lucy in person. He deeply wished to cover his face, so that a girl wouldn't see the depths of his shame.
"Little missy here got in contact with me while I was sleeping, it was kinda freaky. Now, let's—"
"No thanks. I'm not going to listen to your yapping," the man said. The woman, and every other member of the Assas family present – excluding Arthur, of course – immediately jumped through the window, sprouting wings and taking off into the sky.
Arthur looked at the scene before him, before passing out.
…
"You alright?" She asked.
Arthur held his knees close to his chest. His eyes were downcast and tired, and they seemed like they didn't have any life in them at all.
"Yeah… you don't need to say anything, y'know. We can be silent for as long as you'd like. Take your time, and try to rest."
Those words barely reached him. Yet, they were quite comforting. It was nice to have to respond immediately.
Arthur didn't cry. He'd been sick of crying, having spent so much time sobbing and wailing in misery from his torment. All he could really do was stare down at the chair, and the grass, and occasionally look up at the sunset.
Oh. And there was lemonade too. Arthur took a drink from it. The lemonade was perfectly cold, with the right amount of flavor. It was enough to make just about anyone lick their lips, maybe let out an "mm mm mm."
It was a long silence. Lucy herself relaxed, leaning back in the chair and looking up at the sky, which had the occasional cloud. It was a pristine, beautiful, amazing and hard to believe scenario.
The sound of the winds were the only noise, and it did help with easing Arthur's heart.
He was safe.
And truthfully, he wished he could be in the dream forever. However, reality would not allow for such a thing. But just now, even for this brief moment in time, what would hardly amount to a dot in the timeline of the universe, he was comforted.
"Am I going to wake up soon?"
"Mhm."
"Oh, alright… Thank you. For saving me."
"No problem. After all, ain't that what friends are for?"
"Friends… yeah."
A small smile. It was now brought to an end.
…
Arthur awoke in his bed. His dorm room was just the same as it always was, and Arthur himself was a little irritated.
'How many times am I gonna wake up in my dorm after a really rough night?'
Finding it in him to laugh a bit, he chuckled at his own stupid joke, turning over and looking at Tyler, who was still passed out.
'Even after a terrible night, I'm still able to laugh.'
Arthur tried to sit up, but felt excruciating pain when he did so. He leaned back, and finally took notice of the pain along his body. He healed himself, ending up gasping for air, before sitting up and scratching his head.
'Owwww… no, I'm fine.'
Arthur went and used the bathroom before he looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was currently above his eyebrows, and he stared at his reflection, bracing himself. Upon taking a good look at his own face, he felt his heart grow a little darker, before he began to brush his teeth.
'I might need a haircut.'
And then, he remembered the night before. The fear which was brought down onto his bones, the pain which broke them, the terror that ruptured his organs, the helplessness that splashed his blood onto the ground.
'I hate monsters.'
The thought of killing all of them entered his mind. If Chad was supposedly "the strongest," then perhaps it was possible, to gather the family renowned for being descendents of "death" to slaughter every single family, without exception.
No, why every family? Well, every family was indeed against him. Marked with a nasty scent, that turned him into an enemy of the world. So naturally, he would kill the world.
Arthur finished brushing his teeth, spitting toothpaste into the sink and washing his mouth. He flossed, then took some underwear, hopping into the shower.
The water washed over him, and indeed washed him along with it. His body had crusts of hardened blood, so the water was necessary. The lovely, warm water relaxed him, but it wasn't going to undo what happened that night.
Arthur's legs felt weak. He crouched down in the shower, taking the water to the top of his head as it went down his face and back.
'No. I don't want to kill anyone. I… I shouldn't want to kill anyone.'
What would he do? Deep down, in his heart, he truly, truly wanted to get revenge. That was the nature of man, and the reason laws existed. If laws weren't present, life would be one big cycle of revenge.
You hurt me, so I hurt you. And because I hurt you, you will hurt me. So I'll hurt you back, and you repeat. You repeat it, again and again until life ends.
Though he hated to admit, he truly did want to kill that man, the member of the Assas family who attacked him. He wanted to bring a bat of his own, and bash it into him until he couldn't move. Until he was crying, until he wet himself, until he begged, until he spat blood, until his bones felt everything Arthur had felt, until his heart stopped.
Over, and over, and over and over and over, again and again and again, never stopping, keeping it going, bashing him, contorting his existence, over and over, again and againagainagainagainagainagainagainagain—
'But not yet. My friends would never love a murderer. I don't want to be a murderer.'
'Or is it really murder? Is it murder or justice? I don't know. I hate that.'
Arthur stood up, washing himself properly quickly. He finished, dried himself and decided to stay in, not going on a walk. He got on his computer, as he had to work on a paper due by next Friday.
He worked on the paper for a few hours, taking breaks to eat and drink coffee, use the bathroom and watch some TV.
When Sally texted everyone to set up hangouts, Arthur let her know he wouldn't be able to do anything. And so, Arthur thrust himself into the paper continuously.
…
With Arthur unable to attend, and his reasoning being the same paper Sally would have to write, those two didn't attend. However, Tyler, Emily, and David all went out, going to a restaurant to eat together.
David pulled out a portable gaming system, hopping on an MMO RPG he was a big fan of.
"Dude, you really playing that now?" Tyler asked. "Duh. You think the grind stops? No, I'm a gamer. A real gamer, a true gamerest of gamers. I'm busy."
"Doing what? Pressing the attack button until you win?"
"No, I'm saying racial slurs while killing level 15 kids. That's how I lived playing games, so I must continue the tradition."
"Nk. When old people talk shit about our generation, y'know they're talking about you. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna blame you for everything they did. I'll blame ya for the ozone layer being fucked up. And I'm also gonna blame you for ruining the economy," Tyler said lightheartedly.
"Up yours, woke moralists. We'll see who cancels who!" David yelled in the middle of the restaurant, before immediately ducking his head. Tyler and Emily were both embarrassed, and a pretty hot waitress showed up.
Immediately, Emily got the impression that she was like Tsuneko.
"Good afternoon, what would you all like for drinks?" She asked them. David looked at her with dead eyes, before looking down at her chest, letting out an "oh wow."
"Uhhh, I'll take chocolate milk," he said, keeping his gaze to a span of 3.2 seconds. She wrote it down, and left.
"Alrighty. So, I guess we could talk about the party last night. How you holding up, David?" Tyler asked. "Chilling."
"No shit. Well, honestly, I'd rather not talk about it," Emily said. "Oh?"
"I mean, I was pretty worried for Arthur. If I were him, I'd probably die of a heart attack right then and there," she said. "Yeah, same, probably. He's been acting pretty weird lately, wouldn't yall agree?"
"Yeah, honestly. FUCK!"
"What?"
David groaned, clicking his tongue. "This bitchass fucking loser who's level 500 came in and stole my shit, then he merced my ass and now he's emoting. I wanna kill him."
"I personally wouldn't take that level of disrespect, you a better man than me for real," Tyler said. "Shut up!"
"Yeah, yeah. Anyways, for real, I think things have been pretty rough on him. He came home last night looking real messed up. Things have been really, really weird around him, actually. What even happened last night?"
"I dunno. Sounded scary though, like the roar of a dragon."
"Not really, it sounded more like a gunshot," Tyler responded. The waitress came over, and David took another look at her chest, before thanking her. She asked their orders, and wrote down their answers. When she left—
"Y'think he's gotten some cool stuff? Maybe joined the mob? He's 5 foot 9 and built pretty thin, how was he able to run that fast?" Tyler asked.
"Why the heck would he join the mob?" Emily asked. "Well, a lot of the stuff was about 'family' stuff. Plus, when he came home roughed up, this big ass fucking dude, like, he looked like he ate cows and 12 dozen eggs for breakfast dude carried him in and plopped him down on the bed."
"Ooohhh," Emily stated. "That's kinda spooky. Hah! Imagine if someone like Arthur joined the mob," David said. "He definitely doesn't seem the type."
"Fair enough. Though, there was one night where he told me he was really grateful for me, and he seemed really sad. I didn't wanna think much of it, honestly."
"Oh? Then could he be really sad? I hope not, I think the worst thing in the world is when someone is sad," Emily said, her own face kind of losing enthusiasm.
"Yeah dude, cause starving children in Africa isn't quite as bad as Arthur, 19 year old college student being sad," David said.
"Shut up dude!" Tyler yelled lightly. "You're really a fuckin' asshole sometimes, y'know that?"
"Well, kinda, but I'm myself, what can I say? If you hate me, kick me out, it's not that hard, and I'll leave ya alone."
"No, no, I won't… Do you have something against Arthur?" Tyler asked. "Why would I not? He's kinda weird. He just tags along, you can tell he was bullied in highschool."
"Hey! That's no reason to not like someone, y'know. That's a really shitty thing to say, and you're saying it behind his back too, the fuck's wrong with you? You don't usually talk like this, what's going on with you?" Tyler asked, his face scowling.
"What, were you bullied too or something? You sound like you're trying to protect yourself more than you're trying to defend him."
Tyler's eyebrows raised, as he was taken aback.
"No, I wasn't. Unlike you, I had friends in highschool. You told me that earlier, didn't you? That you didn't have any friends in highschool, and middle school too!"
David clicked his tongue.
"You said you wouldn't say that."
"Well you want to talk shit about a friend behind their back, so I feel like it's only fair. Be a bitch, and you get bitched, that's how shit is done," Tyler told him, fists clenched.
"Oh, I'm sorry for being such a shitty friend. My bad for not dickriding Arthur like you lost a bet. It's like every time that man opens his mouth, it's some stupid shit."
"The fuck're you talking about?" Tyler asked. "Seriously, what are you talking about? Why don't you like him? Sure, he's not really the most amazing, spectacular dude, but he's a chill guy. You've known him for a few months, what do you see that I don't?"
"Well, I see an insecure, selfish, worthless piece of shit, that's what I see. He clings to us like a lost puppy. Is it not in human nature to kick aside those which are desperate?"
"So that's why you don't like him? Just cause he's extraordinarily grateful to have us as friends? You really hate him for being a good friend?"
"No, I don't hate him. I'm repulsed by him, actually. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing. Trust me, when you give people like him a chance, they get hard to unstick from. His very existence is disgusting, just being around him makes you both pity him and resent him for being so annoying. Eventually, both of those feelings will explode, and he becomes a burden."
"What? You sound like you speak from experience."
"I do. I was a stupid piece of shit like him. But what people like him don't know is that clinginess, that insecurity, is exactly the kind of self fulfilling prophecy that keeps them shackled. They're so insecure that they're desperate, and will try to keep your full attention at all times. If you show even the slightest signs of not liking them, they pity themselves and cry, and cry."
He continued.
"So it's either you love them, hate them, or like them. If you don't love them, they beat themselves up over it, making you feel bad. And if you do love them, you keep giving them your attention that they become a vampire and do end up being the burdens they hate about themselves. People like him cannot be happy, because no matter what, they just keep being so insecure, and annoying."
"Are you done yet? You just admitted you speak from experience. What, does Arthur's existence remind you of your past self that you hate? Is that it? Huh?"
"It is, that's exactly true. My, Sherlock, you're absolutely unbelievable. I despise him because he's a grown ass man, still dealing with what I got over when I was 11. Eventually, after he's been pushed away from everyone, he'll learn to finally stop being a bitch and crying all the time. That's the only way he'll learn."
"In fact, I'm doing him a favor. Something like him should have learned it back when he was younger, but it's better late than never."
Tyler clenched his fists tighter and tighter, glaring at David. Emily stammered, raising her hands up a bit.
"Hey! Please, let's calm down, we don't need to fight. We're friends, remember?" She said frantically.
"Yeah, I guess we are. But I didn't know I was friends with someone like him," Tyler said. "Someone who gives up so easily on someone who's supposed to be his friend."
"Giving up? How am I giving up on him?" David asked, logging out of the game to give his undivided attention.
"Just because you have your own bad experiences and were in a similar boat doesn't mean what worked for you will work for him. People are different. Maybe what if what he needs isn't to be rejected by others, but to be embraced by them? You piss me off, David, but I do feel bad for you, what happened to you."
He continued.
"If his problem is that he's insecure, does pushing him away really seem like the right decision to you?"
"It worked for me."
"But you're not him! People are different, no one is exactly the same. Sure, situations can be the exact same, and how people respond can be similar, but no one shares the exact same thoughts. He's a good guy, he's nice and he's got a good heart. He cares about us, and there's no reason we shouldn't respond in kind. You can't go around telling people stuff just because it worked for you."
"And in fact, I'd argue that it didn't work. You still hate Arthur because he reminds you of your past self. You never learned to actually like yourself. Honestly, you're still insecure about yourself, you just put on a different personality, one you actually could love."
"And what if that's the way out?"
"Huh?"
"What if that is the way to stop hating yourself? To put on new skin, to stop being someone so absolutely unlovable?"