As
Black as Night
Part 2
by Carolyn Brown
(Jason tries to come to terms with the changes happening within him,
in Part 2 of this Paranormal Serial - 680 words approx.)
We both fell
silent, each of us dwelling on our own thoughts for the rest of the ride to
school.
The day
passed without any incident and as Jason’s English teacher was away he got away
with not completing his assignment.
He felt a
little embarrassed when he saw Diane in the afternoon as they boarded the bus
to return home, but his unsettled feelings were soon forgotten when she sat
beside him and cheerfully started chatting about how she had spent her spare
period in the Library, researching the internet for information on panthers and
mystical were creatures.
She bombarded
his senses with a mountain of information which she was more than happy to
share with him.
An apple core
hit Jason in the back of the head, as he lent over closely to Diane to hear what
she was saying. He looked towards the
back of the bus to find Brett Anderson smirking and looking straight at him.
“Get lost,
Brett!”
“Make me,
freak!”
Diane grabbed
hold of Jason’s wrist to stop him from getting out of his seat and smashing
Brett in the face.
Jason could
feel anger bubbling up from deep within him and knew that if it wasn’t for
Diane’s firm grip, he would be lunging at Brett’s throat tearing it to pieces.
Jason was
shocked at this impulse because he usually had the good sense to ignore
bullies.
He turned to
continue the conversation with Diane, taking deep breaths to calm his
aggressive behaviour. Diane seemed to be
aware of his struggle and tried very hard to keep his mind from wandering back
to Brett and his gang of bullies.
As they
disembarked from the bus, Jason was pushed from behind, but instead of
stumbling on top of the students below him, he lifted himself into the air,
leaped over their heads and landed gently on his feet.
“Told you he
was a freak!”
Jason gained
his composure and stood up erect to face Brett as he dismounted from the
bus. Brett directed his ‘boys’ to
position themselves to surround Jason.
Diane moved
away from them and started to make a call on her phone. Jason had no idea who she would be calling,
but was glad that she had at least removed herself from the crisis.
The gang of
boys taunted and teased Jason as they tightened the circle around him. Brett stepped forward and pushed Jason in the
shoulder.
Jason looked
him in the eyes and showed him no fear, even though Brett was one of the
schools best football players and was built like a brick out-house.
“Well, pussy!
What have you got?”
Mumbling and
giggles came from the rest of the boys, and then Brett took a swing and
collected Jason in the nose with the full force of his fist. Blood sprayed from
Jason’s nose and his anger rose to the surface as he began to lose control. At first he felt a stretching sensation in
his fingers which was followed by cracking sounds as the bones began to
lengthen and change shape. It took no time at all before his hand had changed
into a large paw, with razor sharp claws extending from its extremities.
As Jason
straightened his stance and wiped the blood from his face with the back of his
sleeve, Brett lunged at him again.
This time
Jason reacted quicker and lashed out with his newly formed paw, slashing Brett
across the face. The other boys closed
in and tried to kick and punch Jason, but he was quicker than any of them and
it wasn’t long before they gave up and moved away.
Brett wasn’t
so easy to stop though, and he tried to tackle Jason to the ground. He raced
forward to grab hold of Jason’s legs, just as a car pulled up alongside them. It was full of strangers, they grabbed Jason
before he was able to lunge at Brett and dragged him into the car and sped off
down the street.
Find out what happens next week….
