I had a plan

There is some personal physical violence involved, and people die

Journal entry 40.

It is three years from when I started the original journal, at the request of the Judge in my trials. The trials were for kicking and beating a bully named Ricky, and eventually, my being involved in his death. I didn't plan to kill him, it was a reaction to him holding a knife to me, while we walked up steps to a bank, where he planned to steal the money in my bank account. All $75.00 of it. He was behind me, holding me tight, and at the top step, I launched myself backwards, Ricky also went over backwards, and his head and neck hit the steps, and he died.

I started High School this year. It's been 2 yrs since the incident with Ricky, three years of relative peace. On the second day, I found out Ricky had an older brother, Frank. Luckily, I haven't met him yet, but everyone told me about him, and how he was bad news. They also tried to coach me on how to treat him, but it seemed too much like bowing down, and letting him do whatever he wanted. I’m told he had been held back a grade at least twice. He was also taller and heavier than anyone else in school. If he had been a better student, and person, he could have had any position he wanted on any of the school sports teams- Football, and wrestling would have been good for him.

But, he was another bully. He had put several kids in the hospital,and done some juvenile jail time. He is suspended from school often, and skips school a lot. He is definitely bad news, it seems the school system is only keeping him until he turns 18.

Journal entry 41

It didn't take long for him to find me. Like his younger brother, he had a group of hanger-ons, and someone told him about me. The first time we met, some of his friends grabbed me, while we were in school, and took me to Frank. He asked “who are you?, like he didn't know. I've grown up some, and turned into a bit of a smartass when threatened, so I responded, “well, Fransis, I’m Charlie, glad to know you”. Calling him Fransis, not exactly a girl's name, but close enough to insult him, and it hit the mark. “what the “blankety blank” did you call me”. “I called you Francis, isn't Frank short for that? He and his friends started to smack me around, luckily, a teacher came by and made them stop. Frank promised me I would pay for his brother.

The obvious thing for me to do was go on the offensive. Frank had an older model Chevy, so first, I let the air out of all of his tires. Man, was he mad. I managed to avoid Frank for a week or so, but Frank's friends had been spying on me, and, one day after school, they grabbed me and dragged me to Frank. After slapping me around a bit, Frank asked if I had anything with the flat tires on his car. “No”, I replied, “but you are so full of hot air, it shouldn't have been a problem”. Frank's friends, who had been holding me but let me go when they laughed, I was able to get away. Luckily, I was able to avoid Frank for a while, but decided I needed to give him something to make him think. He already hated me, and I decided It wouldn't get better, so I just had to antagonize him. Kind of getting my revenge in first. So, after making sure he was occupied, I removed the main coil wire from his car's engine. Frank was even madder, and made his groupies watch his car for days until they all got tired of it.

Journal entry 42

One day, in Social Studies, we were assigned to write 1000 words about the Quakers and Mennonites. I went to Frank and offered to write their essays. Predictably Frank grabbed my shirt, hauled me up to his face, and forced his bad breath on me by saying “Look punk, what are you up to”? “Frank, I am trying to be your friend. I can write your essays, and you will be good to go. I know the subject matter, and I can make them sound like you guys.” He bought it. “You better give them to me by Wednesday morning, cause that's when they are due”. I had two days. I didn't tell Frank I had already started them, the teacher had told me about them the previous week. The problem for Frank and friends was that after the first page, every 10th sentence or so, I inserted language like “This teacher sucks”, or “School bites”. Another good one was “If this paper doesn't get an A grade, someone's arm will be broken.I KNEW they wouldn't read it. I got another 2 weeks of peace, because that is how long they were suspended, along with having to work community service.

Journal entry 43

My mom and I are living at a motel, really a homeless shelter. I had started working there as a volunteer, cutting grass, and helping the regular maintenance man, Clark, by doing odd jobs and mowing the grass. I am now paid to work there, because Clark is 70, not in the best of health, and can't do all that needs to be done.

It's taken me a few days to write this entry, and there is a lot to it. Clark was beaten up and robbed yesterday, but he was able to give a good enough description of the guys who did it, and it was Frank and friends. The police picked them up, and although they denied it, a few witnesses said it was them, plus one of them was so stupid he still had Clarks wallet. After a quick trial, they went to jail, 3 months of peace. I just couldn't let it go, because Clark had treated me like a son. I took my time, and found out when Frank was to be released. I knew where Frank's Chevy was, and the night before he got out, I crawled under his car and crimped all the brake lines near each wheel. Just enough to make the brakes seem ok, but be unreliable in an emergency, panic type stop. When Frank and friends got out, they were ready to cause some destruction. First they got Frank's car, then they stopped at a package store, got beer and whiskey. They were flying around town, asking everyone they saw if they knew where I was.

There is a road in town that is relatively straight for a mile, with a hard left turn. The Speed limit is 40, but goes to 30, then 25 near the turn. Frank's car never made the turn, everyone in the car died after being thrown out. There were no skid marks, which means either Frank was too drunk to realize the situation he was in, or the car brakes wouldn't stop the car.