With a shrug, I answer, “Do whatever you want. I’ll be back in a little bit. If you’re here, good. If not, whatever.”
As I set off to find that old guy, behind me she curses me out for being an asshole like she thought I might be. Too bad. We could have had a nice time if it wasn’t for someone rudely interrupting us.
“I’m not waiting here, Connor. Just so you know,” she calls after me, like she’s trying to punish me for leaving.
I wave off her comments as I focus on making it back to the main path so I can find that asshole. He headed toward the road, so that’s where I’m going. If I’m lucky, I won’t have to follow him all the way back to his house since I don’t know where he lives. I’m guessing it’s in one of those houses right where we parked tonight before walking into the woods. He probably hates anyone who does that because they’re going to have a good time, and he can’t stand that.
Shithead. I can’t wait to show him he screwed with the wrong guy tonight.
I see a figure ahead of me, but I can’t tell if it’s him or not. It looks like this person is the same height as the guy, but I don’t want to go jumping some tall chick by mistake. I break into a jog to catch up to whoever that is, but a few seconds later, I see them turn around and it’s not who I’m looking for.
Dammit! I can’t lose that guy.
I run past the person in the dark and focus on finding my way to the street. He’s already home by now, I bet. That’s what I get for staying with Kelsey.
By the time I reach the edge of the woods, I see the guy I want. He hasn’t reached his house yet, thankfully. I sprint up behind him and grab him around the neck to take him by surprise. He lets out one tiny, frightened cry, but a second later, I’ve got him down on the ground. I jump on top of him and stare down into his eyes so he knows it’s me, the guy whose night he ruined.
His face is a mess of wrinkles, and around his mouth the lines from always frowning are the deepest. Just as I suspected, he’s a miserable fuck who’s always ruining things for others.
Pinning his shoulders to the ground, I grunt out, “How’s it feel, asshole? Couldn’t just leave me and the girl alone, could you?”
He mumbles something, but I don’t understand him in my rage. I’ve never been this angry in my life. I swear to God I could kill this man.
I squeeze my right hand into a tight fist and cock my arm back, and then it’s like the rest of the world suddenly fades away, leaving only the two of us in the world. He looks up at me with horror in his eyes but doesn’t try to stop me as my hand comes down toward his face. My fist connects with his nose, breaking it instantly. Blood spurts everywhere as he shakes his head back in forth in agony, spraying blood across his cheeks.
The second punch comes fast, right after the first one, but this time my fist smashes into his cheekbone. It’s like every ounce of rage I possess is being channeled into my hand, so when it hits him, it sounds like a heavy thud.
For the first time, he tries to stop me. With his left hand free, he swats at my face to make me stop, but it’s no use. I’m blinded by the need to teach him the lesson of not fucking with me. He cries out when I pound my fist into his face for a third time, but the sound seems far away and muffled, like he’s underwater screaming at me.
I couldn’t stop now if I wanted to, and not a single cell in my body wishes this was over. I feel powerful, and with every time I hit his face, that feeling grows exponentially. I’m not even sure the strongest man in the world could pull me off him right now. I’m like some kind of superhero with powers no mere mortal can withstand. I’ve never felt like this before. It’s better than anything I’ve ever felt before in my life!
Over and over, I slam my fist into his face. At some point, he stops crying out and then a little while later, he stops trying to defend himself. From that point on, it’s just me whaling on this guy and teaching him the lesson he never learned in all those years he’s been alive.
I’m like a man possessed because even when his face is so bloody I can’t tell if I’m hitting a human or some kind of pathetic animal, I still keep beating him. It’s like I can’t stop.
But the truth is, I don’t want to stop. This is how I’ve always wished I could feel but never found a way to achieve it. I’ve tried drugs and alcohol. I’ve tried all that happy talk bullshit my mother thinks helps. It never did.
This is what I’ve needed to feel good. If only I’d known this before tonight, I would have beat the hell out of someone already. This guy isn’t the first person to make me want to lash out. He’s just the unlucky son of a bitch who set me off on a night when something inside me said I wasn’t going to stop myself anymore.
The sound of someone screaming pulls me out of my ecstasy, and I sit back on his bony legs as I drop my hands to my sides. The man lays beneath me a bloody mess, his body still and his eyes closed. I look around to see where the scream came from and see Kelsey running away.
Fucking girls. They always have to make a big deal out of everything.
I push my fingertips against the guy’s shoulder to rouse him, but he doesn’t move. That only pisses me off more, so I lean down and bark in his face, “Stop playing dead, asshole!”
He doesn’t react at all, so I grab him by both shoulders and shake him. His head lolls back like some kind of oversized dandelion after the stem snaps, but he doesn’t respond.
“Wake up! Stop being such a fucking pussy! I only hit you a few times. Wake the fuck up!” I yell in his face, but it does no good.
I press my fingertips to the side of his neck to feel for a pulse. A second goes by but I feel nothing. Then two. After ten seconds, I pull my hand away as I shake my head uncontrollably in disbelief.
He can’t be dead. I only hit him a few times. What the fuck? Who dies from being hit in the face?
Panic races through me as I swivel my head left and right to see if anyone saw me. No one is there. Thank God. All I have to do is get up and run away as fast as I can, and nobody will know what happened.
I push myself off him and look around again to make sure I’m alone. My heart’s racing so fast I feel like I might puke. If anyone saw me, I’ll go to jail.
Backing away from the body, I stumble over a rotting log and nearly fall, but I catch myself by grabbing onto a limb of a tree. I can’t stop looking at him lying there.
