06.05: Salem Center

‘It feels like all my fears are gone,’ Tom thought, ‘nothing seems to scare me any more. I’m a mutant and that should terrify me. It is like I have nothing to lose. And not in a bad way. It was liberating. For the last couple of months he had been going to the local game store to play The Gathering. His card pack was pretty good but it needed to be better, and although he had enough money to buy cards he preferred to win them. He had been moderately successful but needed a few more wins under his belt.
He saw his card playing friend Lucas heading in his direction and was about to wave when he saw what was clearly a group of students, not a random collection of them coming from down a side alleyway.
‘Hey loser… I mean buddy,’ one of the youths said, he was tall and bulky with a bowl cut close cropped at the sides. ‘What’s up?’
One of the others asked, ‘Yeah, what’s going on here pal?’ Glancing at Tom added, ‘Who is this? Your brother?’
This was a ridiculous suggestion as Lucas’ family was of Japanese origin and Tom was white.
‘Nah it’s his boyfriend,’ one of the others catcalled to the forced hilarity of the rest of the group.
‘I you are neither where are you taking our good friend,’ asked the first one.
‘Are these your friends,’ Tom asked Lucas.
Lucas was clearly scared. ‘They’re... um…’
‘Yep, didn’t think so. We are going to go.’
The girl of the group spoke up, she was over made up and what Mama Elise would have described as ‘a slut’. ‘He’s our friend. And where did you get dressed from? A dumpster?’
‘You would do well to shut up,’ Tom told her. Tom had been bullied a lot at school, anyone who didn’t think girls could be bullies too was an idiot. His innate ‘Robin Hood’ complex kicked in like a knee jerk reaction on seeing this bunch. This bunch were such stereotypical high school bullies.
‘Whoa this guy’s got balls.’ This was from the one Tom had identified as the group’s leader, he had been hanging back, apparently checking out his phone.
‘Are we done here? Lucas and I have somewhere to be.’
‘Tom don’t,’ Lucas almost hissed his warning. ‘They will hurt you.’
Tom was a good head taller than Lucas and gave him a wink the thugs did not see. Tom addressed the leader. ‘How about you quit loitering back there sport. Take your posse and go somewhere else.’ He looked at Lucas. ‘You could have just told me they were bullies and not friends.’
‘So rude,’ the leader said calmly. ‘How about an apology?’
Tom had been aware of the guy closing the space between them, they were clumsy and this bunch of toughs thought that they were it.
‘We really are his friends…’
Tom swept the grasping hand off his shoulder, Tom’s height accentuated how rake thin he was and people underestimated him all the time. He raised the hand high and gave it a substantial twist. ‘Just who the hell do you think you are dealing with?’ he asked rhetorically.
Tom heard the other guys moving in, they were as subtle as a stampede of wild horses. He had each of them tagged. One of them yelling ‘Grab him’ helped a lot.
Tom sidestepped, swept the leader’s legs from and sent him flying into the two advancing young men. They all went down in a flailing heap, taking the girl with them.
‘Result,’ Tom thought, although what he said was, ‘That was no fun.’ He took a step forward to where the leader lay grasping his wrist and crouched. ‘If you ever come near Lucas again, I will make you regret it.’ Tom did not wait for a response but headed off with Lucas, cussing and swearing dwindled in their wake.