“Go on… Do it! It will be so funny!” said Johnny.
“C’mon, Richie! It will be great!” prompted another classmate.
So I did it.
I went up to Casey, who was walking to class, and shoved him against the wall. Sure, he was a big guy, more than twice my size, but he was a chicken. He never fought back: an easy target.
“Hey, fat boy, going to get a sandwich?” I said between shoves. He tried to walk away, so I punched him in the face. As I made contact, something in his face changed from annoyance to hate. I saw him come at me, and I tried to get away, but it was too late. Casey is way faster than he looks.
The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air upside down. I could only dread what was going to break my fall.
The feeling of cement tearing your knee cap out of place is not something you can forget.
My leg hit a cement curb before the rest of me landed on the sidewalk. I was afraid there was more to come, but Casey just walked off.
I jumped up, only to realize I couldn’t do more than limp. My friends were not impressed.
A week later I heard that Casey had committed suicide; hung himself in his family’s barn. I couldn’t help but feel responsible.
There were rumors around school that Casey left a note saying that I was next, but that was just ridiculous. He was already dead. What could he do to me now?
…
At night I began seeing bodiless shadows float across my walls. Maybe I was just paranoid… Then there were the voices… Well, it was just one voice- Casey’s. But there were so many competing: some whispering, others yelling over each other. Day and night, they wouldn’t quit.
One night, though, it was finally quiet. I lay in bed. There were no shadows; no voices. Just quiet and dark. Then
BANG! And a blinding light burst through my window with a great bloody arm. It grasped my throat and dragged me out into the night.
My parents found my body on the ground, bloody and lifeless, the next morning. Suicide, they said, because I felt so bad about Casey… I guess he got his vengeance.
