His True Colors - 8. Chapter 8: It's Been Awhile

His True Colors Chapter 8: It’s Been Awhile

It seemed like an eternity had passed. Jack had been avoiding Kade at school, and Kade never wanted to set foot in Jack’s home ever again.

It had been a week. It felt like it had been years, at least in his head. Not talking to Jack, confronting him about that horrible incident….

It was all boiling in his mind, replaying again and again. It made him feel sick. He wanted to fix Jack. Fix his problem.

Maybe through that he could fix himself.

Finally on the 8^th day since the nightmare, Jack had appeared. He looked as if nothing had happened, as if Kade had imagined what he had seen.

Only after Kade managed to find Jack alone did he speak. The words shocked Kade.

The words that parted from his mouth were nothing but lies. Lies that angered Kade.

“Please don’t tell me everything is going to be alright”.

That concept, that fantasy seemed so perverse to Kayden Jones. What a nightmarish lie that statement had been.

“Everything is going to be alright”. Jack Belzer had the gall to say this to his face. To utter this shit from his lips.

“Liar”

Kayden Jones had tried to appeal to Jack’s heart. But perhaps Jack’s heart was too broken to be mended.

“I can make him change. I can make him end this.” Kade thought desperately.

And so Kade tried to help Jack. But Kade’s newfound sympathy and attention for Jack had only angered him.

He was shamed, humiliated and violated by his father, all for Kade to witness in its disgusting glory.

So Jack put on his mask.

“I swear if you keep following me I will knock out your teeth!” Jack growled, louder than he intended.

Just like that the swirl of footsteps, chatter and voices paused. Jack had been coasting through the days. He wasn’t really aware of his surroundings, such as the school hallway that he had just screeched in.

The students passing by slowly inched closer to Kade and Jack, hoping for a fight.

Kade suddenly became self-conscious of the students, lowering his voice significantly.

“C’mon Jack just let me help you. I want to help you.” Kade whispered with pleading eyes.

The look in Jack’s softened for an instant, and then mingled into fear. They finally settled into a venomous glare.

“Stay the fuck away from me you faggot!” Jack spat out with an extra and cruel emphasis on the slur.

Kade stood there dumbfounded at Jack the liar. Jack the hypocrite. Jack the victim. Jack the abuser.

Jack had fallen behind the safety of his mask. For extra measure he threw a nice hard punch to secure his image.

Kade was spread-eagled onto the floor, clutching his nose and upper lip. The disgusting taste of blood on his tongue combined with the loud jeering of the crowd accentuated his pain.

He glanced upon his blood soaked hand and then up to Jack, who was veiled in an unreadable expression.

He lifted his fist for another strike. Kade noticed some bizarre looking scars on his arm.

Then cheers grew wilder and Kade snapped his eyes shut.

The sudden interruption of bell jolted Jack into reality, removing him from his trance and the high of the crowd.

He shot Kade a disgusted look and walked away, eliciting disappointed groans from the crowd.

As they dispersed Kade felt himself being harshly jerked upwards. Strong arms were moving him away from the small drops of blood that was now smeared onto the floor.

Kade closed his eyes, expecting to be beaten further. Instead he heard a door opening and the sound of water running.

Opening his eyes he noticed the strong arms again. The skin tone was a peculiar mixture of pink and white. Orange-red hairs populated the arms.

“Fuck my life”

Kade looked up into Ritchie’s eyes. Ritchie was focused on the wet paper towel in his hand, but soon locked his eyes into Kade’s as well.

“I don’t understand. Why does he do this shit?“

They said nothing as Ritchie wiped the blood from Kade’s grimacing face.

After a few minutes the silence was broken.

“You.” Kade murmured softly.

“Me”. Ritchie grunted in response. “Got a problem?”

Kade looked away from Ritchie. The pain in his nose was dying down but was still overwhelming.

Tears began to fall onto his bruise. “Yes, Ritchie I do.” Kade focused back onto Ritchie, his anger rising.

“I’ve been doing some thinking. Why didn’t you call the police when I stumbled upon your place? Why did you just let it slide?” Kade felt a sickening pain in his stomach as he realized the hypocrisy in his own words.

Ritchie looked down in shame at Kade’s words. “How am I supposed to explain to the police about why I have a half-naked boy on my couch? What if they thought I did something to you? What would my mom say?” Ritchie yelped out in an exasperated sigh.

Kade was having none of it. “You could have just told the truth. You could have been honest!”

Ritchie shook his head. “Why don’t you fucking do something? You’re the victim? You haven’t done anything yet because you’re ashamed! You don’t want people to know that you’ve been used and abused by a fucking guy!” Ritchie grabbed his head in frustration.

“Why do I have to do something about your mess? It’s not my problem! I wasn’t fucked!”

It’s not my problem. Those words echoed in Kade’s mind, bouncing around the walls of his brain.

Kade let out a soft laugh. “Or maybe you just don’t want to rat out your buddy to the cops”.

In an instant Ritchie grabbed Kade’s arms roughly, his teeth gritted in fury.

“Don’t you ever fucking say that I am buddies with that piece of shit!!” Ritchie spat.

Kade had enough. “Let go of me!” he shouted, causing Ritchie to loosen his grip. Kade then elbowed him in the ribs, edging away to the exit of the bathroom.

Ritchie’s pain betrayed his common sense, as he spat out “I would never tell the police what I know. The last thing I want is for people to know I’m associated with a fag like you!”

Ritchie’s face paled and he instantly regretted the words that had escaped his mouth.

The cold feeling that sank in Kade’s stomach was followed by an uncontrollable rage that possessed Kade.

His left hand curled into a fist and made contact with Ritchie’s face, leaving him stunned as blood dribbled from his nose.

“I’m through with all this shit! I hate you! I hate all of you! You, Jack, everyone! STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MY LIFE!” Kade didn’t remember the last time he had screamed like this, but he didn’t care about what other people would think about him in this moment.

In this moment he saw red. In this moment he pounced onto Ritchie, flailing and pounding his arms away onto the bewildered redhead.

Ritchie was pinned onto the floor, until a sweep of his arm knocked Kade of him. He then pushed himself off the floor and bolted out the door of the bathroom.

The anger Kade felt was still strong. He hated Ritchie. He hated Jack. He hated everyone. He wanted to make them suffer.

He chased after Ritchie in the hallway, pulling him down to the floor again and resuming his attack.

Ritchie must have been really bad at fighting, as he was struggling to simply defend himself from Kade’s onslaught.

Kade sought a new purpose for his hands, and so he let his anger guide him. This anger led his hands around Ritchie’s throat, squeezing as Ritchie struggled against him.

It felt good to Kade. To have power. To not be a victim.

The gasps and paling of Ritchie’s face brought Kade to reality quickly. He released Ritchie, and looked upon his hands in horror. The worst part for Kade was knowing he received enjoyment in making Ritchie hurt.

So when the teacher who came running down the hall broke them apart, he simply didn’t care.

Kade was changing. He was no longer a little boy.

“Who am I? What am I becoming?” Kade wondered with a frozen expression of indifference on his face.

Both boys were walked to the Principals office, but Kade wasn’t fazed. Normally he would be in tears, ashamed that his once untarnished record of behavior had been utterly shattered.

“It’s not my problem”. Those words resonated with Kade. It helped him. It eased his pain.

Ritchie and Kade sat silently in the principal’s office, waiting to hear their punishment for fighting.

The typing of the principal’s assistant was the only sound heard in the dimly lit room, the place reeked of spices and candles.

Both boys sat in the waiting area, as far away as they could be possibly seated.

Ritchie couldn’t bear to look at Kade. He couldn’t believe what had just transpired.

“How the hell did he get me? How could he even hurt me? He’s a shrimp compared to me….”

Ritchie remembered feeling powerless. He wanted to fight back, but something held him back. Like an invisible force pulled his strings.

“I want…to look at him…so…badly….” Ritchie felt an ache in his chest, the result of his fluttering emotions. It took all of his willpower to avoid stealing a glance at Kade.

“I don’t understand what’s happening to me….why do I feel so weird around him? I want it to go away…”

Suddenly the door to the principal’s office opened.

“What am I supposed to tell mom?”

Ritchie gulped in fear, not knowing what the future held for him.