--
Lavinia burst into her room, breathless as if the air itself was running away from her.
She moved toward the album with hesitant steps.
Her hand trembled as she pulled it from its place.
She whispered to herself as she tried to open it: "Please… just go back to how you were, please don't hurt Mikel or Rocky… please."
But the moment the first page opened, her eyes widened in horrifying shock.
The album slipped from her hand, and she covered her mouth with her palm,
as if trying to stop a scream that was about to escape.
The first picture showed Mikel…
lying on a hospital bed,
his whole body swollen, his face smeared with bruises, and his left hand in a broken cast.
Beside him, Rocky…
in even worse condition, wounds everywhere, a swollen blue eye, swollen lips.
Lavinia's lips trembled as she whispered: "Impossible… no… no… how…?"
She collapsed to the floor,
grabbed the album violently,
flipping through the pages quickly as tears fell endlessly from her eyes.
Each picture was worse than the one before it.
A picture of her… with depressed features,
faded.
Dark.
And pictures of Mikel…
with no basketball, no smile… just a cast on his hand, and his back turned, alone at school.
Pictures of Rocky with a blue, bruised face.
Lavinia screamed as she held her head with both hands: "No! What do I do? What do I do?!"
In a moment of despair, choking and shaking, a name jumped into her mind: "Fred!"
She raised her head quickly and shouted: "Yes! Fred… Fred is the only one who will save me!"
She leapt to her feet and ran out of the house so fast it felt like the ground might split beneath her steps.
Her hair streamed behind her, and the cold air slapped her face until her nose turned red.
At that moment,
somewhere else…
Mikel had arrived first.
The place was isolated, an abandoned corner behind the warehouses, a spot no one ever passed by.
The lights were dim, the walls cracked, and the air uncomfortably cold.
George stood in the middle of the area,
a wicked smile on his face.
He said as he showed the mark on his hand: "Do you see this bite? That bitch Lavinia is the one who gave it to me."
Behind him were nearly dozens of students…
different shapes, but all sharing the same aggressive stare.
Suddenly,
someone shoved Rocky forward.
He stumbled and fell near Mikel, lifted his head, and saw the huge number of students.
One of them said, laughing: "We brought him just like you asked!"
George clapped with childish excitement: "Great! Where is the other mutt?"
And then Fred appeared…
Two bullies dragged him in, pushing him forward.
Fred stood looking around…
One… two… five… ten… twelve…
He raised his hand, counting them with a trembling voice, then said: "Im… impossible…!"
His eyes filled with tears as he screamed: "Damn you, Lavinia! Is this my reward?!"
Mikel understood nothing. "Why bring Fred too?"
And suddenly…
Fred shoved both Mikel and Rocky with all his strength toward George, and said as he hid behind them: "You two! Protect me!"
Mikel turned toward him, stunned: "Have… have you lost your mind? Are you stupid?!"
Fred yelled: "Yes! I'm better-looking than you and I'm not losing my pretty face!"
Mikel said desperately: "God help me…"
Rocky, however, faced George and said with killing simplicity: "George… you idiot… you can't even fight without your dogs."
George's nerves exploded instantly: "What did you say?!!"
Mikel yelled: "Rocky, stop!"
But Fred started a performance no one could've predicted.
He suddenly sat on the ground,
and screamed while crying: "Why do you want to hurt me?! I'm a harmless person! I haven't even killed an ant! My mother is sick and she needs me!"
A strange silence fell.
Some students looked at each other, confused.
George said, putting his hand on his head: "Did we really need to bring this lunatic?"
One student stepped toward Fred, grabbed him by the shirt, and shouted in his face: "Shut up, you idiot, or I'll kill you!"
Fred raised his hands, trembling: "Sorry! Sorry! Are you seriously hitting an old man?"
The boy raised his hand and punched him hard.
Fred staggered… held his face…
then lifted his head with a look no one had ever seen before.
He said in a low, terrifying voice: "My face… you ruined my face, you son of a bitch…"
Then,
with a single punch,
the boy's body flew against the wall and hit it with a force that echoed through the place.
Mikel's mouth dropped open, and so did Rocky's.
Mikel said, stunned: "Y… you… was that just one punch?"
Fred shouted, pointing forward: "All of you in front!! Get ready!!!"
The students moved all at once, and the fight began.
---
At the same time…
Lavinia was running with all her strength toward Fred's house.
The air was cold,
and the street almost empty.
Her footsteps hit the ground like the heartbeat of someone desperate.
Suddenly,
she collided with someone so hard it pushed her back a step.
She lifted her head…
It was Drake.
His eyes were red from crying and panic.
He was searching for Rocky like a madman.
Both of them fell, then stood up at the exact same moment.
Drake said in a choked voice: "Lavinia! Have you seen Rocky?!"
Lavinia stared at him in shock, as if the world was collapsing around her…
And both of them understood…
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