Vol 3 Ch 15

“It’s been a while. I haven’t seen you in days.”

 

“I took a break.”

 

Phillip replied, grabbing a book from his locker.

 

As soon as she saw the bloodstained bathroom, his mother’s face turned blue. Her first question was, “Who did you hurt?” It didn’t seem to register that her son’s hands were covered in blood.

 

Phillip laughed. She didn’t seem to believe him when he told her that there had been a minor altercation. Eventually, he was advised to take a few days off to nurse the wound. He said yes, and was sent home on probation. His mother knew better than anyone that once his eyes were back in his head, he wouldn’t stop messing around.

 

“What happened to your hand?”

 

“I was cutting an apple.”

 

Phillip laughed as he mimicked apple slicing with his hand.

 

“Ugh, that must have hurt. You should have been careful.”

 

Phillip let out a light chuckle and closed his locker door. With a wave as he made his way down the hall, he entered his classroom. He went to class and spent his breaks making small talk and working out. It was a normal day, complete with nothing missing.

 

No word from the boy after that day. Phillip didn’t think to contact him either. He didn’t want to think about it anymore.

 

“Phillip.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Are you sick?”

 

“No. Why?”

 

“Because you’ve been wearing the impression since earlier.”

 

“I’m feeling a little sleepy. I’m going to get some air.”

 

Phillip laughed and closed his book. He hadn’t slept in four days. No matter how many sleeping pills he swallowed.

 

He got up and went outside. He wanted to find a quiet place. As he walked down the road, he heard a familiar voice.

 

“I swear, don’t you believe me.”

 

It was Fred.

 

“Not that I don’t believe you, but don’t you think you’re bluffing a little too much?”

 

“Bluffing. How else would this finger and my nose have broken on their own? Phillip Levin was acting like a mad dog that day.”

 

Fred held up his casted hand and spoke in his saga-telling tones.

 

“Those Oriental a**holes must have gotten together, or Phillip wouldn’t have gotten his eye turned inside out.”

 

“Is Phillip crazy? For a boy like Peter?”

 

“You don’t understand. People like Peter act like fucking s**ts when they do. Do you know what that a**hole was doing in that room? Putting the potted plant he brought in on the side of Phillip’s bed and kissing the leaves.”

 

Fred chuckled.

 

He remembered the potted plant that he had crushed and thrown away after he shattered it.

 

“Ugh. He looks the part. Was he really a f**got?”

 

“Why were you following that a**hole anyway?”

 

Fred was visibly flustered by the joking question.

 

“Oh, no. I was just there to tease him. It’s not like I meant anything else, and I’m not a dirty f**got.”

 

Fred spat on the floor, crossed his fingers, and made a gesture of swearing.

 

“I swear. I was going to rip the Asian f**got’s clothes off and throw him in the pool, and then all of a sudden Phillip walks in and starts punching the s**t out of me.”

 

“And that wasn’t because you went into Phillip’s room without permission?”

 

Fred’s face flushed red when his friends didn’t give him an easy answer.

 

“The Asian a**hole was the one who went in there without permission in the first place, and when I told him that Phillip invited him on purpose because he knew he’d be treated like this, he cried like a baby. He cried like he’d been broken up with or something. Peter, I’m pretty sure that a**hole did it with Phillip at least once….”

 

The guy sitting in front of Fred, smoking a cigarette, looked up in surprise. Fred turned his head like, “What?

 

“Hi.”

 

Phillip greeted him in a flat tone.

 

Fred felt a chill run down his spine. He laughed about it in front of his friends, but he never wanted to meet Phillip, not even in his dreams. A cold sweat still ran down his back when he thought about it.

 

“How’s your hand?”

 

Fred breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that at least he hadn’t heard the whole story.

 

“…As long as I keep the cast on, the bone will heal. About a month.”

 

“Good to hear.”

 

Phillip smiled out of the corner of his eye. He wasn’t called the Prince of Woodson for nothing; he had an imposing physique that would have intimidated a man of his stature, but his laugh was beautiful. Even Fred, who had been beaten to a bloody pulp by Phillip, stood transfixed for a moment.

 

“Does anyone have a pen?”

 

“Huh? Here….”

 

At Phillip’s unexpected request, the guy in front of Fred pulled a pen out of his bag. Phillip took the pen and started writing numbers on Fred’s cast.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Fred tried to pull his arm back, but Phillip had a firm grip and wouldn’t let go.

 

“The number for my lawyer.”

 

“Why a lawyer?”

 

“Because he’s d**n good at getting things done. No wonder he charges three thousand dollars an hour, haha.”

 

“So why are you giving me your lawyer’s number….”

 

Phillip handed the pen back and narrowed his eyes as if searching for something.

 

“You can sue me for dog bites.”

 

“…What are you talking about?”

 

“Oh, I found it.”

 

Phillip went to the corner and bent down. He walked back to Fred, holding something in one hand.

 

“Did you get the rabies shot?”

 

“What?”

 

Everyone stared at each other’s faces, unsure of how to react to Phillip’s conversational flare.

 

“You’d better get it, because you’re going to get a good bite from that crazy son of a b**ch today.”

 

Phillip smirked. Before his graceful laugh could fade, the red brick in his hand snapped and cut through the air.

 

***

 

“Huck.”

 

“…Who’s that?”

 

Everyone froze at the sight of the man who entered the classroom. It looked like there had been a school shooting.

 

“Phillip, you have blood on your face….”

 

Joe, who recognized Phillip, barely said the words before Phillip responded by wiping the blood off his face with the back of his hand.

 

“It’s okay, it’s not my blood.”

 

“…….”

 

“Hey, where’s that kid sitting in front of you?”

 

“Peter? He didn’t come today.”

 

“Why.”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“Why wouldn’t you know? You’re in the same class.”

 

“…Uh, we’re not close….”

 

Joe stuttered. With his sculpted face and bloodshot eyes, Phillip didn’t seem like the Phillip Levin they usually knew. This was especially true in the context of this strange conversation. He felt like he was talking to a wall.

 

“Hey, you mean Peter, right?”

 

A bespectacled schoolboy cautiously interrupted their conversation.

 

“Do you know why he didn’t come?”

 

“I heard he went to the hospital.”

 

Phillip’s face hardened at once.

 

“Hospital for what?”

 

“They said he had to have some kind of surgery for that heart…. He’s been skipping class a lot anyway….”

 

Before he could finish his sentence, Phillip was out of the classroom. His pace quickened slightly as he walked down the hall.

 

‘I have a bad heart, I’ve had a few surgeries, I think they’re worried because I went out once before and had a seizure.’

 

As soon as he got into the car, he started it. As he j**ked the wheel wildly, Phillip swore.

 

He didn’t even pay attention to the boy who had brought him a flower pot as a gift that day. The boy, who had been ignored the entire time, must have caught Fred’s eye when he went upstairs to leave the pot in his room. Fred’s comment that Phillip invited him to the party even though he knew he was going to do this made the boy cry, and he almost couldn’t believe it.

 

And yet, nevertheless….

 

‘The blood…oh my God.’

 

He remembered his big eyes worrying about him , even though he was a mess from the beating. A hot dull ache spread across his chest.

 

“D**n it.”

 

He even told the boy to get the h**l out of his room if he didn’t want to be r**ed. In fact, if the boy hadn’t left the room, he was pretty sure he would have forced himself on him.

 

It was maddening to think that the boy had a heart attack that day because of him. Phillip stepped on the accelerator. The numbers on the speedometer rose to frightening heights, but he ignored them and kept going.

 

He pulled up in front of the boy’s house, walked up to the porch, and knocked on the door.

 

“Who….”

 

The man who answered the door froze in place when he saw Phillip. It was a familiar face, the man who had pulled Peter into a loving hug and kissed him on the forehead on the street that day.

 

“Where’s Peter?”

 

“What the h**l….”

 

A gleam of surprise flashed in the man’s eyes. Phillip suddenly realized that he hadn’t even changed out of his bloody shirt, but he didn’t feel like changing now.

 

“Which hospital?”

 

Phillip asked, glaring at the man.

 

“Who’s outside? Who’s here?”

 

A middle-aged woman’s voice came from inside.

 

“No one, mother. Don’t bother.”

 

With that, the man closed the front door and walked out. It was then that Phillip realized what a terrible misunderstanding he had made.

 

“Why are you looking for my brother?”

 

The man, who must have been one of the boy’s brothers, asked, glaring fiercely.

 

“Just tell me which hospital.”

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

The boy was right. The younger brother looked nothing like the boy. Unlike his older brother, he was not a spoiled brat.

 

“Aaron, we need to get ready and get out of here, there’s always traffic on the way to the hospital.”

 

He was heading to the hospital where Peter was admitted. Thinking he didn’t need an answer, Phillip turned to leave, but Aaron grabbed his shoulder.

 

“Don’t follow me.”

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

Phillip returned the answer he’d heard from Aaron. Aaron glared at Phillip in exasperation, then spoke.

 

“My brother got invited to a party once, from the most popular kid in school, and he was so excited he couldn’t sleep the night before, and you know what happened?”

 

How the f**k would he know, a**hole.

 

Holding back what he wanted to say, Phillip asked, “What happened?”

 

“Those a**holes thought it was a joke and threw my brother in the pool. It was the middle of winter, and he got pneumonia and was in the hospital for over a month. It was a joke to them, but it could have killed him.”

 

Phillip remembered the boy who had turned down party invitations time and time again. How many times did he shake his head and say, ‘I don’t think I belong there, thanks for the invitation, but I’d rather not go.’ It was awful. In the end, this party was no better than the last. In fact, it was probably worse, if the outcome is any indication.

 

“I told him not to go to that party either.”

 

“…….”

 

“He always listened to me, but not that day. He spent three hours in front of the mirror changing his clothes, and I drove him there, and he came back looking like that.”

 

Aaron clenched his fists and looked Phillip straight in the eye.

 

“I’m sick of a**holes like you, with your disrespect for people, your pecking order, and your self-importance. I don’t know what the f**k you’re thinking, but don’t you ever come near my brother again.”

 

“Aaron, what are you doing? Peter’s waiting for us, let’s get going.”

 

It was a blessing in disguise. He’d just learned from him that the boy wasn’t in critical condition.

 

“Yes. I’m coming, Mother.”

 

Aaron called out, then glared at Phillip.

 

“I’m not going to open the door for you if you come here again, so get the h**l out of here!”

 

The door slammed shut in front of him. Phillip stood there for a moment, then returned to the car. He slammed the steering wheel with all his might. Again and again, he slammed on the steering wheel.

 

The garage door opened and a silver wagon pulled out. Phillip started the car. Keeping an undetectable distance, he followed the wagon.

 

Aaron hadn’t been wrong. He was an a**hole, a crazy b**t**d who couldn’t even tell what he was feeling. But he was sure of this one thing. He had no intention of getting the h**l out of here before he made sure the boy was okay.