Old Wounds Reopened

A young adult was sitting at his desk with a pen in hand and a notebook laid out in front of him. He stared at the page that only had a few words on it. He read it over and over again, but nothing else seemed to come to him. What else could he put in this part of his story?

He was still thinking when he heard his bedroom door open with a bang, making him jump and almost fall out of his chair.

“Noah! I just came up with a great idea!” The young man, Noah, turned around with wide eyes toward the one who spoke. It was another young man, whose hair was spiked up and black. His eyes shined with a joyful green as he looked upon him.

“What is this idea of yours?” Noah asked as he put his pen down.

“I was thinking of what would be fun to do, and then it hit me. How about we have a video game tournament?”

Noah was confused. He didn’t know where this idea could have come from. His confusion must have shown in his pale blue eyes because his friend explained further.

“I noticed it was getting close to dinner time, so I thought that we could order take out; however, just doing that was boring. That is when the contest popped into my head. Whoever loses, gets to be the one to order and pay for the food.”

Noah thought over his friend’s words for a moment, and then said, “It does sound like fun, Austin, but how are we going to do this? What are the rules?”

“Well it’s going to be a fighting game that we play, and I want to make it like a tournament. So I could call up some friends of mine so we have a better chance at not being the ones to have to pay for dinner tonight,” said Austin with a sly grin.

‘Friends? That meant more people,’ Noah thought nervously. He didn’t like interacting with other people like he used to, but that was a long time ago. Right now he was starting to feel hungry, so he nodded his head in agreement, feeling his brown hair brush lightly against his ears.

“Great! I’ll give them a call. Why don’t you set up the game?” suggested Austin as he lifted his phone and began calling two of his friends.

Noah got up from his chair and made his way to the living room where the TV and game system were. He walked over to the shelf that held both games and books. He skimmed through the titles of the games until he found the fighting one. He took the case into his hands and brought it over to the TV set. He snapped the case open, showing the disk inside. He popped it out and placed it into the game system while turning it on. He took the remote and clicked the TV on, watching as the game was still booting up.

Austin came into the room then. “They’ll be here in a few minutes. How about you give me a hand with the snacks?” he asked.

“Sure,” Noah replied and got up to follow his best friend into the kitchen.

()()()

Noah heard the knock at the door as he came out of the bathroom. He was going to go get it, but Austin told him that he got it and to wait for them by the TV. The young man listened and decided to cut out four pieces of paper. He wrote his and Austin’s names down on two of them and waited for Austin’s two friends to be introduced so he could do the same for them.

“Noah, my friends are here,” called out Austin. Noah turned his head to look and see the newcomers, but when his eyes landed on one of them, he felt his skin sleeking in a thin sheet of cold sweat.

One of the boys had natural blond hair, sky blue eyes, and tan skin. The other boy, the one that made Noah feel dread, had bleached hair, dark brown, cold eyes, and pale skin. Noah knew the latter of the two. He met him when he was younger, still in elementary school in fact, and he was the reason he no longer liked interacting with other people.

Noah started when he felt Austin’s hand on his shoulder unexpectedly. “No need to be shy, Noah. Everything will be okay. Let me introduce you to Jake and Ayden.” Ayden was the one Noah didn’t know and looked friendly enough, so he gave him a small wave in greeting. “Jake, Ayden, meet my best buddy, Noah!”

“Hey there, it’s nice to meet you, Noah,” said Jake in a polite tone, too polite.

Noah narrowed his blue eyes in suspicion. ‘“Nice to meet you”? There is no way he doesn’t remember me. Not after everything he’s done,’ he thought.

Austin clapped his hands. “Now then! Let’s get this contest rolling! Remember, whoever loses gets to pay for dinner,” he said cheerfully.

Noah walked back over to the couch and wrote down the other two names. He put the names into a plastic cup and shook it to mix them up. He pulled out two names to see who would go first.

“Austin and J-Jake are up first,” Noah said, his voice stuttering when he got to Jake’s name.

“This will be easy,” said Austin, taking a seat on the floor. “Get ready to lose, Jake.”

“Bring it on, Austin,” challenged Jake.

The two young adults picked their characters and began the match. Austin won the first round and Jake won the second. Whoever won the third round would be the winner. Noah watched while holding a breath unknowingly as Jake and Austin were neck and neck. It came down to just one more hit, and Austin got it. Noah breathed out in relief at knowing it wasn’t Jake who won.

“Alright, I win!” exclaimed Austin, and then he turned to face Noah and Ayden. “Okay, it’s your turn. While you two have your match, I’m going to get more snacks. Be right back.”

“Alright…” Noah said nervously. He didn’t want to be stuck in the room with Jake, even if Ayden was there with them. He mentally shook himself and took hold of Austin’s controller while Ayden took Jake’s. They picked their characters and began the match to see who would go up against Austin.

Noah heard Jake shift in his seat, making his heart skip. What was Jake going to do? Noah knew that the guy was not above beating him, but he doubted he would risk it. That didn’t stop his body from tensing up like a board, though.

“You’re so pathetic,” Jake said quietly and harshly. “Honestly, I don’t know what Austin sees in you. You’re just a wimpy, cowardly brat who can hardly speak when others are around. How can Austin stand to be friends with the likes of you?”

Noah knew he should just ignore Jake, but his words felt like knives cutting into his flesh.

“Although, now that I think about it, he’s stuck with you as his roommate. I guess it would make sense to string someone like you along and have you believe your friends just to get some kind of amusement out of you. But let’s make something clear: he doesn’t care for you, not really. Once he graduates from college, he’ll move away and never contact you again.”

Noah turned his scared yet hateful gaze onto the jerk sitting behind him on the couch. “That’s not true, you’re lying,” he said, but not loud enough for Austin to hear.

“Are you sure about that? You sure you’re not jesting to yourself just to make you feel better? Just how desperate are you that you would lie to yourself that you have a friend who cares? Face it, Noah, no one wants to be friends with someone as broken as you.”

“Winner!” the voice from the game said, making Noah turn back around shocked that he lost all three rounds while he wasn’t paying attention. His blue eyes then landed on Ayden, who wasn’t meeting his gaze. Noah felt like he was punched in the gut. He never thought that Ayden would pull off such an underhanded tactic to win. He didn’t even bother to stop Jake.

Noah felt his eyes start to burn. He thought that Ayden would be nice, but instead, he was just like Jake, if not worse.

“Wow, you still can’t do anything right, either,” said Jake with a nasty grin. “Just like that time back in history class. Your project was destroyed by… What was it you said it was? Oh right, some homeless guy used it as fuel for his fire,” Jake laughed cruelly, knowing full well that he forced Noah to lie about the project that he destroyed so Noah would fail the class. “Seriously, Austin should just dump you inside a dumpster where you belong.”

Noah shot up from the floor and spun around to face his bully. “SHUT UP! Austin is my best friend and he would never do anything like that!” Tears streamed down his rosy cheeks like small waterfalls.

“What is going on here?” Austin demanded furiously as he came back into the room.

Noah’s head snapped around to see how angry his friend looked, and felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. ‘Was Jake right? Austin must be angry that I yelled at his real friend,’ Noah’s traitorous mind supplied, breaking his over-emotional heart. He couldn’t continue looking at the one he thought of as a friend anymore and ran for his room. He slammed the door shut behind him, but forgot to lock it, and jumped onto his bed in tears. Heart-wrenching sobs filled the room, blocking out any sound that may be heard on the other side of the door. It was probably a good thing though. This way, he couldn’t hear the truth of Austin hating him behind his back.

Noah laid on his bed, face hot and wet. He tried to calm himself down but after every attempt, his cries would start all over again. His heart pounded in his chest like a jackhammer - it felt like one was jabbing through his heart too. His mind kept repeating everything Jake had said and making it seem worse.

‘You’re broken. You allowed it to happen too. You are worthless,’ a small voice in the back of his mind said, making his body quake with his sobs.

A knock sounded at his bedroom door, causing Noah to flinch, but made no move to get up and answer it.

“Noah, I’m coming in,” Austin’s voice said before Noah heard the door handle turn. He didn’t look up, he couldn’t face him. He was too scared to see mocking sneers aimed at him by his friend. “Are you okay? Noah? Hey, what’s wrong?” asked Austin, sounding concerned, but Noah wasn’t sure if it was genuine or Austin just being a good actor.

Without looking up, Noah asked in a shaky voice, “Why are you here? Was it all a lie? Were you just pretending to be my friend? Am I just a burden to you?”

He heard a faint gasp from above him and felt a weight sit on the bed next to him. “Is that what the jerk said to you?” he said, voice dripping with shock. Noah peeked up from the folds of his arms to see Austin’s expression. Through his red, puffy, blue eyes, Noah could see the shock coloring Austin’s green ones. “Noah, you are my BEST friend. The greatest friend I could ever ask for.”

“R-really?” asked Noah fearfully. He worried that his hopes would be crushed.

“Yes, now please tell me what happened while I was gone.”

Noah hesitated, but Austin did look truly concerned. So he sat up a little and looked down at his folded hands. “Jake was someone I knew when I was in Elementary school. I was a lot like you when I started there. I was outgoing, liked to play sports and games, I studied, making sure to turn in my work on time. It was my love for reading and doing my work that brought the negative attention of Jake onto me. It started small, just shoves and mean words like weird and nerd, but it got worse and worse as the year progressed. He started to beat me until I was black and blue, sometimes unconscious. His words got harsher, colder, words that no child should ever hear being thrown at them. ‘Worthless’, ‘pathetic’, and some mocking words like, ‘no one would want to be friends with the likes of you. You are just lying to yourself because that’s how desperate you are’.” Noah took a deep breath before continuing, “I knew they weren’t true, but then my friends started to distance themselves from me. They were too scared of Jake and his friends. So they picked their safety over my breaking heart. That was when I started to believe the words. ‘See, no one wants you. You are just a clingy freak who should stay away from everyone or else they would get hurt’.

“I told my mom, and she was furious at everyone. She was angrier at the teachers, though. She yelled at them, demanding to know why they didn’t help me. They kept claiming they never knew, and so my mom pulled me out of that school and home-schooled me for a few years. I was too scared to go to any school after that. Who would want to be friends with a broken kid?”

Austin’s hand was laid on Noah’s shoulder, squeezing lightly in reassurance.

Noah continued his story, “When I saw Jake today, I knew something was going to happen. I was right. When you left, he started telling me how he couldn’t understand how you would want to be my friend and that maybe you were just pretending.” Noah told him everything that happened before Austin came bursting into the room. He made sure to say it in great detail. The doctors all said it was for the better to get everything off of his chest sooner rather than later. They were right. When Noah finished speaking, he felt lighter, but the worry was still clawing at his chest. Did Austin care about anything he just said? The broken, dark part of his mind kept telling him that his friend didn’t.

Strong arms wrapped around his thin frame and brought him into a hug. Noah looked up but couldn’t see Austin’s face; however, he did hear his voice. “You won’t have to ever worry about Jake the jerk again. I kicked him out before coming in here. He tried to say you were being mean, but I knew he was lying because I know you. You are like the little brother I always wanted, Noah, and I am so proud to call you my friend. That…monster will never hurt you again. You are far more important to me than he could ever be,” he said sincerely.

Noah cried tears of joy this time. He couldn’t stop for ten minutes as he clung to his friend/brother. When he calmed down, he pulled away and looked up into those caring, green eyes.

“I’ll pay for dinner tonight. Do you want to play a game with me while we wait for it? It’ll be just the two of us,” said Austin.

Noah smiled, “Sure, but you’re going to have to read what I have written in my book so far when we’re done.”

Austin grinned gleefully. “Deal!”