Burger Joint | T. Drake

Twisted Reality [Clown Prince]

These are the first few chapters of Clown Prince | T. Drake that I had posted a few years ago but then took it down. I got stuck midway in the story and decided to rewrite it so chances are these excerpts that I have pasted below won't be included in the rewritten version.

~•~

It's all inside your head.

Those five words summed up the conflict he was going through. A sense of uncertainty clouded over his life, echoing loudly and repeating the same words over and over again.

It's all inside your head.

None of this is real.

I am not real.

His head was throbbing from the sentences bouncing back and forth, the voices drowning out his internal screams.

Constantly banging his head on the desk had left a red patch on his forehead, veins pulsating violently from the pressure.

The phone rang, the laptop hummed, the monitor's screen lit up with unread notifications and the alarm clock shrieked, but all he could hear was the terrifyingly mocking voice jeering at him.

Ridiculing him in derision, making fun of his helplessness yet at the same time reminding him that none of it was real.

And all he could see was the face of his non-existent tormentor. Those wide icy blue eyes feigned an almost childlike innocence, the pale features striking fear even though they were curved in an amiable smile and the scariest of it all was when the smile turned into laughter.

Ear-splitting fits of laughter ensued manically from each corner of the room. Echoing loud in his ears and not coming to a halt even when he banged his head repeatedly to drown out the sound.

It went on and on and on until the terrible sentence registered fully in his conscience.

I may not be real but I won't ever let go of you.

***

Tim was headed to the cafeteria when he bumped into someone. Books were scattered on the floor and the person he had bumped into crouched down immediately, picking them up.

"I'm sorry, let me help," Tim felt quite bad for unintentionally causing a fellow student trouble, so he bent down to help him gather the pile.

"It's alright, I wasn't watching where I was going either," light brown hair fell over the boy's eyes and in his haste, Tim hadn't seen who he really was.

He handed him the books though he seemed occupied elsewhere as he made no attempt to pull his hair back, instead he had resorted to counting the books.

Realizing that Tim hadn't left yet, he mumbled, "I'm sorry I... I'm new here and I don't know where the library is. I have to deliver these books over but no one here has been telling me the right location."

Tim nodded, knowing that it was quite common for the school kids to pick on new students by not giving them the right directions, running off with their lunch or bags and basically annoying them in every possible way. He had been a victim of all such things when he had newly joined as well.

"If you're new here then why are you tasked to deliver the books?" Tim had turned to walk towards the library and the boy followed, still fully focused on checking whether any book was missing from the pile or not.

"I wasn't tasked, I was forced," he replied, "some senior student wasn't in the mood to take these herself."

"It's all part of their new kid ragging schemes," Tim replied, "I went through it all last year too."