Masquerade of Madness: School Lesions: Part three

Mr. Howl returned, figuring he would need to help Creed.

Creed continued passed the teacher, following Brandon out the classroom door. "Withdraw. I do not wish to hurt you." Creed demanded, giving Brandon one last chance to back down.

"Shut up," Brandon roared back at him. Something in Brandon's head clicked. He has to be kidding me, he thought. That guy's not going to take me on.

Mr. Howl tried to regain control of his students, who were quickly moving to follow the fight. "Now please calm down," he said as he motioned the students to sit.

"No, we don't think so," someone's voice announced from the group. "We're not going to miss a good fight. Move out of our way, old man!" Mr. Howl couldn't see who the voice belonged to, and he didn't care. As he said, he wasn't risking his life for anyone.

Brandon roughly grabbed Creed's neck to lead him to the roof. He pulled Creed up two flights of stairs and flung open the heavy door. Warmer now, the sunlight caught both teens off guard. Shielding their eyes, they could make out the figure of Terrence. He stood in the shadows of the building's chimneys, smoking, as he looked randomly out over the streets.

The boys’ sudden burst onto the roof startled Terrence. He turned around quickly to see what the fuss was about. He dropped his cigarette, stomping it out. Great, he thought, my smoke break didn't last long, and neither did Creed's first class. Maybe I should stick around. I might have to stop this. Creed might go overboard. Brandon is no match for him. Terrence casually backed up, giving the boys some space.

Brandon immediately began punching with both fists. A surprised Terrence watched as Creed took hit after hit and made no attempt to defend himself. Students began to emerge from the stairway. They ran back to the brick wall at the edge of the roof for an excellent position to watch the fight.

Sue pushed her way up the last stairway, through students still clambering to get to the roof. She couldn't stop the flow of tears from her eyes. "Please move! Please!"

But the crowd kept pushing her back, all the while chanting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

In the meantime, Mr. Howl went the opposite direction, to Miss Darlene's office. "You know what's going on up there, don't you?" He pointed up, but the motion was wasted on Miss Darlene. She remained seated at her desk, focusing on the paperwork in front of her. Mr. Howl tried again. "Please, ma'am, stop this," he begged her.

Still, she continued to ignore him. Finally, she looked up over her glasses at him. Her head remained bowed, motionless. "It's not my job," she uttered stoically.

"But you are the principal!"

"So, this is his lesson."

Even though he was ignorant of what had transpired between them, Mr. Howl knew she was referring to Creed. He understood from firsthand experience that Creed could overstep his bounds in the most arrogant manner. Still, he had to respect this young man who so innocently expressed righteous indignation. Mr. Howl retreated from the room, knowing any further persistence with Miss Darlene would be futile.

Brandon slammed Creed against one of the chimneys, then grabbed him and threw him hard onto the roof deck. "Why won't you fight?" Brandon jumped on top of him, still punching, rocking Creed's face back and forth. Creed spit out blood but again made no move to fight back.

Terrence guessed he should intervene. He didn't understand Creed's motives. Getting pulverized did not seem like a good strategy to him.

Suddenly, Creed grabbed Brandon's hand, halting a punch. "You are useless," he uttered.

"What did you say?" In a rage, he lunged at Creed, who was standing up.

"I said you are useless!" Creed repeated, as he dodged, and Brandon hit the brick wall. Brandon turned around and went for Creed again, and again Creed gracefully avoided his assault.

"You could be doing something better with your life. You do not need to prove your strength. Fighting only proves ignorance."

Brandon's rage exploded. He swung his fists wildly, only to have Creed artfully dodge every potential blow. "Quit dancing and let me hit you!" Brandon yelled out stupidly.

Creed closed his eyes and shook his head. He had no interest in macho fighting.

Still swinging wildly, Brandon suddenly lost his balance, tripped and landed face first at the feet of the student audience.

Sue finally made it to the forefront of the fight. She could see Brandon on the roof deck and Creed standing over him.

"You hit like a girl!" Creed taunted.

The crowd snickered. Sue just wanted it all to stop.

"What!" Brandon yelled, standing up. He barreled his full weight at Creed, who easily side-stepped the move.

Keeping his eyes fixed on Brandon, Creed walked slowly over to Sue. He took off his blood-spattered sweatshirt, revealing the lesions on his chest. Sue reached out her hand to touch his wounds, as he handed her his sweater. Her eyes signaled the compassion she felt.

Terrence pulled Brandon to his feet, and then whispered, "Accept your defeat."

"Oh, yeah. How'd Creed do that?"