Entropy

“By any means necessary. This concept is often associated with Machiavellianism, as it rids the self from any moral standard in pos of doing what is required in order to reach an objective. For this reason…”

His head was groggy from pain, struggling to keep focus for more than an instant. 

Fuck

The boy’s eyes were growing heavy, the image of the professor blurring as they gave in.

“Hey,”

The boy lifted his head from the table and faced the person talking to him. His name was John, and he was an annoying fucker, but the closes thing to a friend he had. 

“What’s up”

“Do you know anything about James?” John's eyes struggled to meet the boy, hesitant to ask.

“I don’t, sorry” The boy said, saving John from the pain of asking.

“You think he’s okay?” 

The boy looked into John’s eyes, dead eyed. His silence spoke for itself.

“Fuck, Chris…” John dug his head into his hands, rubbing his face with his palms. Not another word was said.

The loud sneer from the bell indicated that, finally, Chris was free to leave and be alone. He packed his things into his bag and before anyone could, he left the lecture hall in stride. His gaze rarely met anything other than the patterned marble floors. Especially after that night.

He got home and almost instantly dropped himself on his bed, a sigh of relief finally letting him catch a breath. He turned on his back and, once again, thought about it. 

It had been a week ago, on Saturday. He wasn’t much of a party goer, but there was something that he had to do, so he decided to go. It was a typical college party. Football playing on the TV, tables being jumped on and enough alcohol to supply a small town for years. The house was flooded with people whose faces Chris could not recognize. All except one: Nichole. 

Nichole was like a unicorn on campus. She would turn heads wherever she went, and boys would literally, Chris suspected, die for a chance at her. In Chris’ eyes, she wasn’t all that divine. She was good-looking, but it only made up for the shit that her cranium held for a brain. That, and James. 

James was a jock, of course. Top athlete in the state, highschool valedictorian and ultimate piece of shit, all in one. A true gift, he had. Him and Chris barely exchanged glances here and there, but witnessing his acts of hedonistic debauchery was entertaining to say the least. There is a secret that is held within James’ heart. A dark, tarry secret that Chris held the keys to. 

Behind that facade of ultimate womanizing Don Juan, James’ true face hid. And it looked a lot like good ol’ John. 

The bathroom was a place where no-one would usually go to. Drugs, sex and occasional fights were what they were known for, so on-one other than the far-seeking wanted to go there. For Chris, however, they were a playground like no other. A farm of secrets and lies where masks had no room to exist. Where people showed themselves exposed like the stem of a rose. 

Charles was sitting in one of the stalls as usual, reading, when he heard two familiar voices echoing from the entrance.

“But James, you have to tell her,”  John? thought Chris huh. He closed his book and tuned his ears.

“I can’t!” Roared James “She can’t know…”

“But why?” 

“I-” Jame’s voice took a pitch that Charles couldn’t recognize. The sweet symphony of vulnerability. 

“James” 

Through the crack of the stall, Chris could see the scene unfolding in front of him. John held Jame’s face tenderly, scarce inches away from his. Their gazes blazed with desire, or so it seemed. 

“I love you, James. Whatever happens”

“John…”

In an instant, the distance that had separated them was now reduced to nothing. Their lips clashed as the heat started melting their reasoning. The sounds of stumbling into a neighboring stall queued Chris to put his headphones on and continue reading. 

This event was nothing more than data stored in Cris’ memory, in case it was useful in the future. And that day had arrived. You see, Chris was a very quiet kid. He didn’t particularly like people, so when James came up to him and tried to call him out in front of everyone, one could say that Chris’ care for morality dissipated into thin air. 

“Who the fuck said you could come?” James’ voice cracked through the sound of the party, halting the conversations around them. He was clearly belligerently drunk, the smell of whiskey oozing from his pores.

“Huh?”

“Who the FUCK said you could come?” Repeated James.

“I came with John”

“Oh” He turned to John, and then he faced Chris again

“Okay then.”

He threw a furtive glance at John before shoving his way past Chris and walking towards his friend group. 

“I’m sorry man, I don’t know what his deal is” Said John, trying his best to comfort Chris

“It’s all good,” Said Chris.

The party went on for a while, and by the time Chris decided to take action, everyone was too drunk to notice.

Chris wasn’t particularly bad looking. He had green eyes and his hair had potential if only he kept it in check. So when Nichole, in her drunken stupor, wobbled into Chris, he only had to play his cards right. 

Not a single word was spoken. She lunged onto him and, in a matter of moments, Chris saw himself in a dark room, with the school’s smokeshow stripping for him. He undressed, but not before placing his phone on the dresser, the camera capturing every moment, every sound and every gasp that they shared. 

When he got home, he started concoting his revenge. Doubts appeared, scattered, as he edited the video but morality had no room in Chris’ heart. That Monday, James’ status as jock and elite got snatched, replaced when a large banner was placed over his “Student of the Year” Picture that read: Cuck.

Chris found a letter in his locker that summoned him to the bathroom at 1pm. When he got there, he met James, red faced and his eyes tinted with a furious red. 

“You…” He said, striding towards Chris.

“You fucking-” As James’ fist rose, primed to dive into Chris’ face, Chris pulled out his phone and showed James something that turned his face white. 

“James,” Chris said, calmly.

“You have been fun to watch.”

In his hand, the phone played a video of James and John, wild as beasts, sharing their bodies in a bathroom stall.

“How did you…”James took a step back

Chris smiled kindly. The tender warmth of it sent a shiver down James’ spine. 

“I know, James”

He put his phone in his pocket and walked out of the bathroom, leaving James frozen like a man-shaped stalactite. When he got back to class, he told John about what he did and a threat of murder from James. This last part was, of course, a lie. But lies are a necessary evil, right? For the remainder of the week, James did not go to school. 

The week flew by, and now, Chris laid on his bed pondering the ramifications of what he had done. It wasn’t remorse that troubled him, but the possible consequences. Now John was involved. It wasn’t like Chris cared, but John was a helpful asset to pass his classes. Nichole had been blowing his phone up, hell-bent in accusing Chris of rape, but the video evidence would destroy her case if she ever decided to follow through with it. He wanted James gone. Not because of what he had done. But of who he was.

Chris had never been a popular kid. He was quiet and had a hard time communicating. Despite this, he never felt inferior to anyone. In his mind, he had a gifted intellect that placed him above anyone else, making those underdeveloped peasants he called classmates his toys. When he met James however, his reality risked being shattered because James was everything he wasn’t. He was popular, a pretty decent guy and had earned the respect of his teachers and peers alike despite his flaws. He was also extremely intelligent, not only academically, but emotionally as well, which made people gravitate towards him. He was perfect, and Chris didn’t like that. 

His ego swelled at the thought of this. He could not allow someone like James to exist. Chris was the chosen one, not a fucking dud like him. 

He stood from his bed and started preparing his final attack on James.

The party had been the ideal scenario to take a hit at his reputation, and now, in his phone, he held the final piece of the puzzle. 

The weekend drifted by like the leaves carried by the autumn breeze of October. When Chris got to school, he saw the results of his work, his magnum opus. A memorial was being held and the name was James Taylor. 

The video of James and John was published in a forum anonymously, and then, several accounts started reposting it to different social media platforms. “Jock turns gay after being cheated on”, “Cuck Turned Fag”. The titles grew worse, and the comments got more and more vicious with every repost. By Sunday, James’ name tag was mentioned in every single video. 

The memorial took the whole day, as the school mourned the loss of their number one student and friend. Chris couldn’t help but smile.

That Sunday, James had been driving back from the store when he saw the videos and his name tagged on it. The shame and the guilt he felt fogged his mind and as he was changing lanes in the highway, he didn’t realize he had merged into the wrong one. A sixteen-wheeler was driving when the unsuspecting pickup crossed in front of it. The driver tried to steer out of the way, but it was futile. James’ car was sent over the railings and after fifty feet of violent rolling, James’ truck came to a stop. 

He died on impact.

The tears and sobs of his classmates and tutors were like a symphony for Chris’ ears, the culmination of his masterpiece. He was delighted to see the faces of confusion and distraught, knowing that it all came from his doing. It was beautiful. Chris smiled as the doors to the hall closed, giving way to the chapel, his silent laughter drowned by the sobs of everyone else.