I remember reading somewhere that in the old west, sometimes regular citizens would take the law into their own hands, dealing out justice according to their own moral compass. I thought about that the next day as I sat in my room, waiting, wondering if I would see Robert walking down the street towards my house. I clenched my hunting knife as I thought about what I would do if I saw him come near anyone I cared about. The thought of taking a man’s life because of the retched things he’s done. All those lives he’s ruined. Those girls he sweet talked into a corner and had his way with. The thought of the world being better without him, started to seem more appealing. It enraged me that a monster could exist like that with out anyone standing up and taking into their own hands, the responsibility to cease his reign of terror.
My mind wondered as I thought about all the reasons why he deserved to die. All the things Melanie had told me about him doing. All the things I had heard of him doing from his victims back in my underclassman years. I started thinking about freshman year and how we had met. He was a monster even back then.
We had PE together, well for the second semester at least. He had transferred PE classes because he had beaten a classmate senseless over the loss of a dodge ball game. There were 13 strikes in total. He had hit him four times in the face, three times in the back of the head, and six times in the stomach, all with a rubber kick ball. There had been a ban on using those for dodge ball after a kid got a concussion during a game at another school but Robert had taken one from the coach’s office. He had been suspended for a week and was put in our class when he got back.
A month had passed since he had joined our group, and we had seen him get mad over small things before, but nothing as horrifying as that. Now, our class was taking place at the same time the girls PE class was going on, just in a different gym. When we went out to run laps, often we would end up running with the girls. Some of the guys were pigs, hitting on them as they ran, and others would rather take the nice rout. They were the ones who ran along side the girls talking like friends hoping they would get a number or something. I had a friend named Lucy, who was in that class. When we had the chance to, we would run together and talk about random stuff.
That day, My class had gotten out to run laps before Lucy’s did, so I was running alone. Sure I had friends in PE but one was in cross country and left me in the dust and the others were either out of shape or asthmatic so I could have walked as fast as they were running. I could hear our coach yelling from the finish line, "IF YOU DON'T DO THE WORK, YOU GET THE ZERO!" Finally, about half way through the second lap, a familiar voice came from behind me, “Hey, wait up, stranger!” I turned around and there was Lucy, with her blond hair and brown eyes, jogging up to meet me. “Hey there! What’s new in the world of Lucy?” I said, joking around. We always said she was off in her own little world, never paying attention in class, even though she was a natural observer. Rarely did something happen to someone without her noticing a difference. She was the gossip queen of the school. Usually it was always, Oh, so-and-so broke up with their partner, or, so-and-so got pregnant, or, so-and-so got this ugly new bag, you know, girl drama. She replied in almost a serious tone, “Well actually, I think there is something really wrong with Susan. She hasn’t been herself today.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, usually she is up beat and talkative, always with a smile on her face, but today she came into class quiet and didn’t make any eye contact with any one. When Coach called out her name she answered quietly. Coach had to call her again because she didn’t hear her the first time. It’s strange. It’s like someone abducted her and returned an empty shell of her body.” Susan was a brunet, Italian girl who usually told it as it was, and always spoke her mind. She was never really a quiet person. I looked over at her. The expression on her face was one of apathy, for once. “She looks like she doesn’t care anymore. Any word on what might have happened?”
“No, none. She was gloating about how she was going on a date with Robert Daniels a few days ago, but the date was last night, and not a word about it today in the locker room.”
“What do you mean?”
“Guys gloat about their ‘conquests’ in the locker room, right? Well, some girls do the same thing, and she is usually one of them. But today, not a word.”
“Hmm, I hope everything went well. He doesn’t seem like such a great guy.”
“She’s not the only one either.”
“There’s someone else?”
“Yeah, Gloria hasn’t been the same since she went out with him either. That was like a month ago, too.”
“Wow, wonder if she’ll talk to me about it at lunch.”
“Doubt it. She hasn’t spoken of it since before it happened.”
I sighed, as best as I could out of breath and finishing the final lap. As I finished my laps, I told Lucy I’d see her later. The rest of the day consisted of indoor soccer champion ships. We were playing in the gym, basketball court. Rules were the same, with one exception. If anyone could kick the soccer ball and make it into the hoop, they automatically won. We had gone a whole month seeing pretty much everyone try and fail. No one had come close. My team sure wasn’t the best but we had proven ourselves and now we were playing the champion ship against the best team in our class. They had probably lost one game but they were out for blood. Each game was about 10 minutes long but this game was 15. About 10 minutes in, we were getting blown away, 7-2. I was doing my best to stop their shots as goalie but they were good. We started to pick up speed towards the end, though. Their goalie was getting tired and we scored 2 more times. As we started getting our confidence back, the sidelines started counting down. “10…!” Their team had already scored a couple more times. “9…!” The score was 9 to 4. “8…!” We had accepted our fate of losing the finals. “7…!” We could see the soon to be champions were already smiling and some were laughing. “6…!” We had the ball and Robert stopped it 10 feet from me. “5…!” He took a few steps back as the other team was settling into their victory. “4…!” Robert ran up on the ball and booted it above everyone’s head. “3…!!!” The cheering went silent on the other team as they watched in disbelief. “2…!!!” It looked so straight, I was debating with myself whether or not it could actually happen. “1!!!” *Swish* It was perfect. No backboard, nothing! The silence in the gym was deafening. You could have heard a pen drop in the hall. Then all at once, my team and I erupted in cheers and hollers! “BOO YA!” “SUCK IT LOSERS!!!” “WOOHOO!!! YOU GUYS CAN EAT IT!” The other team wasn’t as impressed. “You guys suck.” “You cheated!” “Oh come on. We got robbed!” We cheered and celebrated for the rest of the day.
Back in the locker room, Robert continued to glory in his own luck. “BOOM! Hole in one!” One of his buddies piped up, “Yeah, like last night? Or were you saving up your luck for today?” my ears perked up, remembering what Lucy had told me about earlier. “No way man, THAT was all skill. Just like last night. And, ooooooo, she was FINE!” Another guy interjected, “Man! First date and she just opened up for you like that?” “Well, it took some work on my part but I got in there! SWISH, just like today, baby!” I got disgusted and couldn’t stop my insult from coming out. “You must have been horrible because sources tell me Susan hasn’t mentioned a word about it all day. She’s usually chatty isn’t she?”
He wasn’t very amused. “Ha, I’m better than you! How many girls have you been with?”
I couldn’t say none because I was forever in the friend zone, so I improvised. “Enough. As a matter of fact, I heard the last two girls you’ve been with would rather act like it never had happened. You must be treacherous in bed! How bad does a man… sorry, Boy, have to be to shut up their dates up for months on end?...” He was fuming at this point.
He cut me off, “Shut up! You don’t know shit!”
I started laughing, “You know, there’s got to be at least ONE HONEST reason why ANY girl would be SO ASAMED that they slept with you and that would be that they were STUPID enough to think you had ANYTHING worth WHILE in your PANTS!”
He was so mad, that if it wasn’t for the coach stepping in to break up the argument, it would have been an all out brawl in the locker room. “Hey, knock it off in here. No one leaves until the bell rings. Got it?” “Yes sir.” We replied. The bell rang right after we had said that, and I escaped out the door as soon as it did. I wanted to get out and to lunch before he got a chance to fight me on school campus. I’d rather keep my nose clean in school and mess his up later out on the street.
After I had gotten the greasy pizza and tots from the lunch lady, I walked around, looking for Gloria. I had to talk to her, maybe get her to trust me and open up. Took me about five minutes to find her sitting alone by the library. No friends, no loiterers, nobody was around. She was sitting with her dirty blond hair draped down over her face. Her pretty green eyes were now dark and grey. Obvious signs of depression were degrading her pretty figure and the usual gleam she gave off. She was slumping over her own lap keeping to her self, barely eating her salad and drawing dark pictures in her notebook. I sat down next to her, ready to eat my lunch. She scooted away barley glancing up at me. “How are you doing, Gloria?” She grunted, hardly even acknowledging my greeting. I saw her lunch sitting next to her. “That looks good. I’m glad to see not everyone chooses to eat badly.” Nodding towards my pizza. “Guess I should take notes, huh?” She giggled. I was making a break through. “My name is Nick. I’m a friend of Lucy’s.”
She spoke (shocker), “I know who you are. Your one of the nice guys everyone knows.”
I smiled, “Well thank you. I heard you’ve been down lately so I figured I would try to cheer you up.”
“Heh, good luck.”
“Well, I’ll try.” How could I cheer someone up if I didn’t know what was wrong? I noticed she had a geometry book in her bag. “I see your taking geometry. You must be pretty smart to be a freshman in geometry. I like a girl who’s smart.”
She smirked. “Yeah sure. That’s what they all say.”
“No really! Do you know how many girls would rather act dumb to get guys? It’s hard to fake real genius. That’s a valuable characteristic.”
“Hmh. I guess so.”
“You know, you have a lot to offer. You’re kind, smart, and caring. There’s so much value in you.”
“Not according to some.”
I could tell she wanted to talk about it but wasn’t quite there. “Well, I see value in you. Don’t ever let anyone tell you other wise.” I got up and started to walk away. She stopped me before I got too far. “Wait!... Can I tell you something?” I turned around and came back. As I sat, she continued. “I feel like I’ve been ripped away from who I was. I can’t explain it any better than I feel broken.” She was opening up to me finally. Her eye’s started welling up with tear so I put my arm around her to comfort her. “Oh Gloria,” I said in a calm, caring voice, “What happened?”
“Robert was such a smooth talker. I can’t believe I fell for him. We had gone on a date a moth ago and things were going well. He took me to a nice restaurant. He bought me a lobster salad and a nice dessert that we shared. I couldn’t eat much but it was nice. After dinner, we went for a walk around town, and saw the lights. It was nice. We went to see a movie but we didn’t do much watching.” She blushed a little bit. “Things were going well until after wards.” She started crying worse. I hugged her and let her cry into my chest. I didn’t know what to say. I could easily jump to conclusions but I needed to know facts. “Gloria, you’re a strong girl. Something bad must have happened. What was it? It’s ok to cry. You can tell me when you’re ready.” She sobbed for a good ten minutes before continuing. “He… He went to drive me home but we didn’t go back to my place. We stopped in the middle of nowhere and he said get out. I asked him what he was doing but he shut off the car and got out. I didn’t move but he came around and pulled me out of the car by my hair. He threw me on the ground and undid his pants…” I sat there in horror and enmity for the atrocities this monster afflicted on her that night. She went on in detail, things that angered me to the core. The more I heard the more I loathed this villain who had just received a victory and praise earlier that day. How he had treated her and the things he did to her were nothing less than an abomination. This 15 year old boy needed to be thrown in jail for life for the things he had done. I wished I could have rode up on a horse, caught him in a lasso, and drag him through the desert before hanging him from a tall tree in the middle of nowhere to never be found. Citizen justice, just like in the old west.
The bell rang and she was still crying on my shoulder. I held her there to comfort her but there wasn’t much I could do other than that. We had to go to class before the final bell rang so I gave her my cell number so she could call or text me when she needed to talk. On my way to class, I came across Robert in a remote part of the school making out with a random girl. I looked around to see if there were any teachers. When I noticed there were none, I grabbed him and threw him up against the wall. I looked at the girl who was taken back and I told her to get out of there. Then I stared Robert right in the face. “You’re a monster, a piece of garbage, an ignoble barbarian worthy of hell and torture. If I could get away with it, I would part you from your pride and hang you from your balls. You’re a contemptible stain on humanity with as much fortitude as a slug. And if I EVER hear of you forcing yourself upon another girl again, I will kill you slowly and painfully. DO YOU understand?” He looked at me with animosity in his eyes and in a calm controlled voice seasoned with hatred, he said, “Are you threatening me?” I replied with as much enmity as I had in me, “Call it a declaration of intent.”
“No one threatens me. Not you, not the principal, not God himself. I will destroy you before we graduate, and you won’t even see it coming.”
“Take your best shot. I’ll see you die before I let another person’s life get ruined by your depravity.”
I heard a phone ringing as my daydreaming was sucked away by the obnoxious sound of my cell phone vibrating against my nightstand. I picked it up to see who was calling. It was Melanie. I let it go to voicemail. The memory of what Robert had done and our conversation that day had left me too angry to talk to any one right then. I grabbed my car keys and headed to the gym. I told my mom where I was going as I walked out the door. Those heavy bags had no idea the punishment I was going to put them through.
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