“I stepped on your toes the other day”, Ronald said, now being completely sure he knew the man. “And you were standing by the school’s gates!” Ronald frowned. “Are you stalking me?”
“Hardly”, the man said.
“Then who the fuck are you?” Ronald asked, trying to pull his arm free but the man wouldn’t let go.
“I’m Ramsey Barlow.”
“You are Ramsey Barlow. That explains everything”, Ronald hissed sarcastically through his teeth, trying not to be scared, and pulled his arm again. “Let go of me, Ramsey Barlow.”
Ramsey Barlow did not let go, instead he pulled Ronald’s sleeve up, revealing the bite mark on his arm. It wasn’t pretty because it had had stitches on it and also the wound had been deep. It was a little purple around the edges and now Ramsey was staring at it like as if he had known to look for it.
“How did you know that–“, Ronald started but couldn’t finish because Ramsey interrupted him.
“Son of a bitch.”
“Excuse me?” Ronald said, feeling angry, confused and scared all at the same time. What the fuck was this fuckery?
“I’m not talking to you”, Ramsey growled out, sounding and looking very angry. Then he did something that caught Ronald so completely off guard that he didn’t know how to react so he just stood frozen in place, eyes widened to the size of a plate; Ramsey put his hand on Ronald’s forehead to check if he had fever. “That little shit, I’m going to murder him.”
Ronald started to feel the panic raising. He was clearly dealing with a crazy man, some psychopath who hallucinated enemies because Ronald had no idea what he was rambling about.
He gathered all his strength and pulled his arm free, then he pushed past Ramsey and started running towards his home.
Ramsey Barlow didn’t follow him but Ronald ran anyway and locked the door as soon as he got in. He had made it!
“RONALD KIMBERLY QUINN!”
Ronald sighed and rubbed his face before turning to face his furious mother.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Ronald thought and braced himself for a lecture about the detentions he had managed to get himself.
“Please don’t call me Kimberly”, Ronald said and regretted it immediately when his mum started yelling at him.
“I call you whatever I want, young man! How dare you cheat like that? Make your friend do your homework? I raised you better!”
“I know, I’m sorry, Mum”, Ronald said. “It’s just that my arm was really hurting and Lucas was kind enough to help and–“
“Enough with the excuses!” Mrs. Quinn snapped. “You could’ve write with your other hand!”
“Sorry!” Ronald said desperately. “I really am sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
“Clearly not.”
Silence.
“So...am I grounded?” Ronald asked quietly.
“Oh please. When have we ever grounded you? You know we don’t believe in that scheisse.”
What Mrs. Quinn meant was that she didn’t believe in grounding her child hence the only foreign word she knew. If you’d let Mr. Quinn decide, Ronald wouldn’t see the light of day ever again. So Ronald deduced that the principal had called only his mother and his mother hadn’t told anything to his father. Which was good, really good.
“If this ever, and I mean ever, happens again, I will tell your father and let him decide the punishment!” Mrs. Quinn threatened. “Now go to your room!”
“You mean that place where my computer and television and playstation are? Sure thing, Mum!” Ronald said even though he knew better. He knew he should keep his big mouth shut but he was still creeped out because of the man on the street, Ramsey Barlow, and he was tired of everything and simply just done.
“TO YOUR ROOM, RONALD!”
Ronald waved his hand dismissively and stormed away and into his room. He sat on the bed. He noticed that his sleeve was still up and the wound was out in the open. He glared at it for a moment before pulling the sleeve down.
It had just been some crazy person, nothing else. Ronald shouldn’t get worried.
He took a few deep breaths and then took his books out of his school bag and started doing his homework.
Next morning it was Tuesday and when Ronald was walking to school, Ramsey appeared out of nowhere just before the school’s gates.
“Oh, my God, what is wrong with you?” Ronald asked, feeling restless. “Stop following me!”
“You think I want to follow you like some fucking golden retriever?” Ramsey asked, the angry vibe still flowing around him. “We need to talk before–”
“I don’t know you, you don’t know me, there’s nothing we need to talk about”, Ronald said interrupting the creepy, mysterious, completely batshit crazy man. Then he pushed past Ramsey and jogged to the school and blended in with the other students. He looked behind him and saw Ramsey standing near the gates, staring at him.
He forced himself to turn his eyes away from the man and walked inside the school, out of his sight. He seriously considered telling someone that he was being stalked by a crazy man but for some reason he had a feeling that it wouldn’t do any good if he would tell someone. Maybe they wouldn’t believe him. Maybe they would think Ronald was the crazy one. But so or so, he had this feeling in his gut which told him to keep his mouth shut and try to figure out the whole thing on his own. He didn’t want to bring Lucas into his shitty mess either. He had to try to deal with it alone.
After school Ronald and Lucas stayed in detention for another two hours which was a waste of time if you asked Lucas. He didn’t see the point of staying at school for two hours extra everyday for a week. How would that make them improve their behaviour? Lucas thought it was stupid. The whole education system was stupid.
When the detention ended Ronald and Lucas left the school and headed towards Ronald’s home. They had a group project to do together and they needed to work on that. Ronald tensed when they stepped out of the school but soon relaxed when he didn’t see Ramsey standing by the gates. Maybe he had been caught and brought back to a mental hospital.
“What or who are you looking for?” Lucas asked and Ronald quickly stopped looking around and stared ahead.
“No one.”
They kept walking and Lucas went on and on about how unfair the detentions were. Ronald listened with one ear and said a couple of words here and there just to agree with Lucas and encourage him to do the talking so Ronald wouldn’t have to. He didn’t feel like talking, he just wanted to go home, do the group project and go to sleep. He was tired. Everything felt so overwhelmed.
Ronald opened the door and stepped inside, Lucas following right behind him. Mr. and Mrs. Quinn were not home so the boys helped themselves some food from the fridge, then they conquered the living room and started doing their homework.
Lucas was first to be done with his homework while Ronald still struggled with his math homework.
“I swear to God Farrah should tutor me”, Ronald said, biting his pencil. “I don’t know shit.”
“You would just drool over your book if she’d tutor you”, Lucas said and started imitating drooling. Ronald threw his pencil at Lucas and it hit his nose.
“Stop fooling around and start researching about the dominant genes for our project, idiot”, he said and Lucas tossed the pencil back to Ronald.
“Fine”, Lucas said.
Ronald did his math homework while Lucas started researching material for their group project. The subject was biology and the title was ‘Dominant genes’. When Ronald finally managed to finish his homework, he joined Lucas and they read and searched information together.
“Are we making a PowerPoint show or some flier kind of thing?” Lucas asked as he scribbled down notes.
“PowerPoint is the easiest”, Ronald said. “Can we do that?”
“It’s fine by me.”
They concentrated on the task in hand and both of them startled when the doorbell suddenly rang.
“Who dares to interrupt us?” Lucas groaned. “I was feeling the flow.”
Ronald looked at the time. “Probably my dear mother, I suppose she has forgot her keys again.”
He got up and walked to the door, unlocked it and swung it open. His mouth dropped open and then he frowned, feeling the restless feeling taking over him again and anxiety kicked in.
It was Ramsey Barlow.
“Hardly”, the man said.
“Then who the fuck are you?” Ronald asked, trying to pull his arm free but the man wouldn’t let go.
“I’m Ramsey Barlow.”
“You are Ramsey Barlow. That explains everything”, Ronald hissed sarcastically through his teeth, trying not to be scared, and pulled his arm again. “Let go of me, Ramsey Barlow.”
Ramsey Barlow did not let go, instead he pulled Ronald’s sleeve up, revealing the bite mark on his arm. It wasn’t pretty because it had had stitches on it and also the wound had been deep. It was a little purple around the edges and now Ramsey was staring at it like as if he had known to look for it.
“How did you know that–“, Ronald started but couldn’t finish because Ramsey interrupted him.
“Son of a bitch.”
“Excuse me?” Ronald said, feeling angry, confused and scared all at the same time. What the fuck was this fuckery?
“I’m not talking to you”, Ramsey growled out, sounding and looking very angry. Then he did something that caught Ronald so completely off guard that he didn’t know how to react so he just stood frozen in place, eyes widened to the size of a plate; Ramsey put his hand on Ronald’s forehead to check if he had fever. “That little shit, I’m going to murder him.”
Ronald started to feel the panic raising. He was clearly dealing with a crazy man, some psychopath who hallucinated enemies because Ronald had no idea what he was rambling about.
He gathered all his strength and pulled his arm free, then he pushed past Ramsey and started running towards his home.
Ramsey Barlow didn’t follow him but Ronald ran anyway and locked the door as soon as he got in. He had made it!
“RONALD KIMBERLY QUINN!”
Ronald sighed and rubbed his face before turning to face his furious mother.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Ronald thought and braced himself for a lecture about the detentions he had managed to get himself.
“Please don’t call me Kimberly”, Ronald said and regretted it immediately when his mum started yelling at him.
“I call you whatever I want, young man! How dare you cheat like that? Make your friend do your homework? I raised you better!”
“I know, I’m sorry, Mum”, Ronald said. “It’s just that my arm was really hurting and Lucas was kind enough to help and–“
“Enough with the excuses!” Mrs. Quinn snapped. “You could’ve write with your other hand!”
“Sorry!” Ronald said desperately. “I really am sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
“Clearly not.”
Silence.
“So...am I grounded?” Ronald asked quietly.
“Oh please. When have we ever grounded you? You know we don’t believe in that scheisse.”
What Mrs. Quinn meant was that she didn’t believe in grounding her child hence the only foreign word she knew. If you’d let Mr. Quinn decide, Ronald wouldn’t see the light of day ever again. So Ronald deduced that the principal had called only his mother and his mother hadn’t told anything to his father. Which was good, really good.
“If this ever, and I mean ever, happens again, I will tell your father and let him decide the punishment!” Mrs. Quinn threatened. “Now go to your room!”
“You mean that place where my computer and television and playstation are? Sure thing, Mum!” Ronald said even though he knew better. He knew he should keep his big mouth shut but he was still creeped out because of the man on the street, Ramsey Barlow, and he was tired of everything and simply just done.
“TO YOUR ROOM, RONALD!”
Ronald waved his hand dismissively and stormed away and into his room. He sat on the bed. He noticed that his sleeve was still up and the wound was out in the open. He glared at it for a moment before pulling the sleeve down.
It had just been some crazy person, nothing else. Ronald shouldn’t get worried.
He took a few deep breaths and then took his books out of his school bag and started doing his homework.
Next morning it was Tuesday and when Ronald was walking to school, Ramsey appeared out of nowhere just before the school’s gates.
“Oh, my God, what is wrong with you?” Ronald asked, feeling restless. “Stop following me!”
“You think I want to follow you like some fucking golden retriever?” Ramsey asked, the angry vibe still flowing around him. “We need to talk before–”
“I don’t know you, you don’t know me, there’s nothing we need to talk about”, Ronald said interrupting the creepy, mysterious, completely batshit crazy man. Then he pushed past Ramsey and jogged to the school and blended in with the other students. He looked behind him and saw Ramsey standing near the gates, staring at him.
He forced himself to turn his eyes away from the man and walked inside the school, out of his sight. He seriously considered telling someone that he was being stalked by a crazy man but for some reason he had a feeling that it wouldn’t do any good if he would tell someone. Maybe they wouldn’t believe him. Maybe they would think Ronald was the crazy one. But so or so, he had this feeling in his gut which told him to keep his mouth shut and try to figure out the whole thing on his own. He didn’t want to bring Lucas into his shitty mess either. He had to try to deal with it alone.
After school Ronald and Lucas stayed in detention for another two hours which was a waste of time if you asked Lucas. He didn’t see the point of staying at school for two hours extra everyday for a week. How would that make them improve their behaviour? Lucas thought it was stupid. The whole education system was stupid.
When the detention ended Ronald and Lucas left the school and headed towards Ronald’s home. They had a group project to do together and they needed to work on that. Ronald tensed when they stepped out of the school but soon relaxed when he didn’t see Ramsey standing by the gates. Maybe he had been caught and brought back to a mental hospital.
“What or who are you looking for?” Lucas asked and Ronald quickly stopped looking around and stared ahead.
“No one.”
They kept walking and Lucas went on and on about how unfair the detentions were. Ronald listened with one ear and said a couple of words here and there just to agree with Lucas and encourage him to do the talking so Ronald wouldn’t have to. He didn’t feel like talking, he just wanted to go home, do the group project and go to sleep. He was tired. Everything felt so overwhelmed.
Ronald opened the door and stepped inside, Lucas following right behind him. Mr. and Mrs. Quinn were not home so the boys helped themselves some food from the fridge, then they conquered the living room and started doing their homework.
Lucas was first to be done with his homework while Ronald still struggled with his math homework.
“I swear to God Farrah should tutor me”, Ronald said, biting his pencil. “I don’t know shit.”
“You would just drool over your book if she’d tutor you”, Lucas said and started imitating drooling. Ronald threw his pencil at Lucas and it hit his nose.
“Stop fooling around and start researching about the dominant genes for our project, idiot”, he said and Lucas tossed the pencil back to Ronald.
“Fine”, Lucas said.
Ronald did his math homework while Lucas started researching material for their group project. The subject was biology and the title was ‘Dominant genes’. When Ronald finally managed to finish his homework, he joined Lucas and they read and searched information together.
“Are we making a PowerPoint show or some flier kind of thing?” Lucas asked as he scribbled down notes.
“PowerPoint is the easiest”, Ronald said. “Can we do that?”
“It’s fine by me.”
They concentrated on the task in hand and both of them startled when the doorbell suddenly rang.
“Who dares to interrupt us?” Lucas groaned. “I was feeling the flow.”
Ronald looked at the time. “Probably my dear mother, I suppose she has forgot her keys again.”
He got up and walked to the door, unlocked it and swung it open. His mouth dropped open and then he frowned, feeling the restless feeling taking over him again and anxiety kicked in.
It was Ramsey Barlow.