Chapter 68

Andrew had finished his homework already and packed away his books, ready to go home. He loved mathematics. It just made sense. But then again, he probably got his dad's mathematical mind. He never knew the previous mathematics teacher, but he thought the current one was not bad at all. Andrew felt relaxed as he scanned the classroom. He noticed his classmates still fighting the numbers subject. Some were biting the back of their pens while others consulted their handbooks.

There was a last announcement for the day over the intercom system which Andrew knew will be followed by a prayer. Andrew closed his eyes in respect to God when the words of the daily prayer sprung from a speaker in front of the class. The world around Andrew started to fade away. He felt isolated from the outside world, like someone slowly turning down the volume control of the intercom system until there was no sound flowing through his ears.

Hello Andrew. The voice said. The evil had awakened. It is all around us. It is time to act. Kill them. Kill them all. We are with you. The battle will be a great one and requires the strength of a warrior. The dark forces are growing stronger every day. You must act. Act now. Feel the hate pumping through your veins. Feel the despair in your heart. What they have done once will not be forgotten. What they have done once, they will do again. We need to correct them.

The voice in Andrew's head was interrupted by the shuffling of tables and chairs as scholars started leaving the classroom. Andrew looked around to see if anyone noticed his extended meditation, but most of the scholars had already left. Andrew got up, grabbed his school bag and left the classroom.

He came down the stairs and wondered what the voice meant by the dark forces that were growing stronger. He had so many questions he needed answers to and he did not know how to summon the voice at will. Were they really with him all the time or just sometimes?

Andrew came to the foot of the stairs and noticed Emily and Patrick in the distance as he headed towards the bus stop. To their left, he saw something that caused an uneasy feeling to grow inside. The cult group boys were leaning against the wall in a large hallway leading towards the bus stop which Patrick and Emily had to walk through. Andrew noticed how the group regarded his brother and sister. He started walking faster.

Victor pushed himself away from the wall in a cool and lazy manner and slowly made his way towards Patrick. Victor stuck out his foot when Patrick was about to pass causing Patrick to trip and fall to the ground. Fortunately, Patrick was quick enough to block with his hands otherwise he would have fallen on his face. His schoolbag flew from his shoulder and landed almost two meters from his head.

Andrew felt anger rising. He remembered the voice from earlier. Feel the hate pumping through your veins. Feel the despair in your heart. Andrew noticed how Patrick struggled to get up from the ground. Victor sent a blow which Patrick took square in the face sending him flying backwards. Emily screamed at Victor to stop. Victor simply laughed and spat in her face. His laughter was joined by the other boys leaning against the wall enjoying the show in front of them. School kids started to gather fully prepared to watch a fight that had already begun unfairly.

Andrew was close enough to hear Patrick trying to call off the fight. It was then that he realised the group of boys had cracked him eventually with their persistence and cruelty. To Andrew, the fight was far from over. In fact, it had not even begun.

Andrew cut through the crowd to get to the clearing in the form of a ring.

'Ah, look who has come to join us,' Victor said looking at Andrew. 'The prince charming has come to save the day for his faggot brother.'

Andrew struggled to restrain himself from the anger. The voice he had heard earlier made it even worse for him. He walked towards Patrick, 'you okay?'

'I'm fine,' Patrick said. His lip was busted and blood was pouring down his chin. His face was red by the time he dusted the dirt off his hands and clothes.

'You're sure you're okay?' Andrew asked.

'Yeah man, I'm cool,' Patrick said spitting out blood.

Andrew nodded. He turned towards Victor and noticed that some of his friends stepped forward just in case a fight broke out, but this did not bother Andrew in any way. They could have been a hundred and he would not have had a care in the world. For now, he was focused on Victor alone.

'What's the problem here, you with my bother?' Andrew asked pausing inches away from Victor's face. He suppressed the urge to put a fist in Victor's face and let his brain splatter against the wall in the back.

Victor looked around mockingly. He grinned and spread out his hands in a gesture that said look-at-this-brave-guy. 'He wants to know what my problem is.' Victor imitated and stared into Andrew's eyes.

Andrew could smell the nicotine and tar on Victor's clothes. 'That's right, maybe you don't hear so well. I'll repeat, what's your problem with my brother?' His face was a mask of hatred.

For a moment Victor saw something in Andrew's eyes and he wondered if it was his imagination. Andrew's eyes changed from brown to yellow and back to brown again. He was certain he noticed small flames in his irises. He knew that sometimes emotions could change a person's eye colour slightly, but not entirely. Something was not quite so normal with Andrew's eyes and Victor had the feeling that he messed with the wrong person's brother. He wondered if anyone else noticed what he saw, but he knew that Andrew was standing too close to him for anyone else to have noticed. He knew he could not back out of the situation because it would destroy his reputation in school. He had to do something to stand his ground and maintain what he had built over the years.

'You better get your family and go home before things get out of hand my boy,' Victor said. He pushed Andrew with all the strength he could muster, but he could just as well have pushed an oak tree. Andrew did not move.

Andrew remembered the voice in his head from earlier, Kill them. Kill them all. For Andrew, nothing rhymed and there was no reasoning. Nothing mattered anymore as he felt his left hand shoot up towards Victor's throat. He knew Victor's feet were off the ground for he was now higher than he had been before. Andrew drove him back against the wall until his head made a thud sound against the solid bricks and concrete behind him. Andrew noticed the expression of fear on Victor's red face as he was deprived of oxygen. His eyes bulged as if they wanted to pop out of their sockets. Andrew pulled Victor towards him again. Still suspended in the air like a puppet on strings, Andrew slammed him back against the wall again with another loud thud. Andrew could feel the evil coming from Victor and running through his veins. It was the same evil he had felt when he picked up the brick that was thrown through their window over the weekend. He could hear the scream of the woman and children in the distance again and he knew he was dealing with the same evil force that had killed his Viking brothers so many years ago. He noticed how Victor was trying desperately to free himself from Andrew's iron-like grip.

'Can you hear me now?' Andrew asked. He knew Victor would not be able to speak with his vocal cords and air pipe being crushed. He would not even be able to move his head. 'I know you can hear me. Know this, know that I'm coming for you. Tell your friends. Tell them all. You have fucked with the wrong man.' Andrew looked into Victor's terrified eyes for a moment and released him from the strong grip he had around his neck.

Andrew watched Victor fall to his knees. Victor coughed while trying to breathe at the same time. Andrew turned around and headed towards his schoolbag which he could not remember putting down. It was only then that he realised Emily had been screaming his name in terror. He looked at her and realised the expression of complete surprise and terror on her face. He realised he was in one of his comas again while he had a grip on Victor's throat. He must have been because he did not have the strength to lift anyone up in the air with one hand. He picked up his school bag and looked around him. He saw the confused expression mixed with fear on everyone's faces. The expression that meant he might have been possessed by some monster. Maybe he was becoming a monster, but he did not care. Those guys needed to be taught a lesson. He did not have to break through the crowd to get to the bus stop. A path opened for him as the scholars stepped aside allowing him to pass.