Underland Chronicles: 2 - The Reaper's Gate (A Gregor the Overlander FanFic)

Chapter 1

~ GREGOR (Written by Matt_0606, Edited by Anaklusmos_127)

"I know what you're doing," Gregor said through clenched teeth to a man he spotted sitting on a bench outside the school... again. He knew what the man was doing, and he knew he was evil. Gregor felt himself slipping into a rager state, and this time he didn't fight it, as he had done many times before.

The man stood up, towering over Gregor and looking down at him with as much menace as arrogance. "Oh yeah?" He challenged. "What're you gonna do 'bout it?"

That's when Gregor lost all control.

Before the man knew what he had gotten himself into, he was on his back with Gregor on his chest pummeling him into the sidewalk. With every thought of an innocent child being handed candy laced with drugs, Gregor hit harder. The man deserved pain and suffering.

Gregor was so immersed in his rager sense, so blinded by hatred, he didn't even realize two heavy-set teachers were prying him off the despicable man. He had failed to realize the man wasn't even fighting back. He was unconscious.

As Gregor was held in a full nelson by one of the teachers, he took his incapacitation as a sign to start calming down. Looking at the faces of terrified students wasn't what Gregor had in mind for a Friday morning, but it did help him get a grasp on reality. He watched as an ambulance pulled up. The man was rushed off to the hospital with a broken nose and fractured ribs. The paramedics said he most likely had severe head trauma.

Gregor was escorted to the headmaster's office. "I didn't mean to," Gregor tried to rehearse his story in his head, but it was a lie. Deep down, Gregor knew he wanted to beat the man into oblivion. He wished he could have done a whole lot more to that disgusting man, and this realization scared him the most.

As he sat in the office, waiting for his dad to arrive, he thought about his predicament. It was a blistering summer day; his dad's car's air conditioner had broken again, so he was already irritable when he arrived. He was also nervous for his final test in Language Arts, which added unneeded stress on the thin ice which covered his rager sense. It was dangerous, it was unpredictable, and it was easy for Gregor to break the ice and dive right in.

At eighteen years old, he was in his last year of high school and was struggling badly. All the time he had spent underground wasn't helping his grades, especially his English. At times, he caught himself writing in the strange way the Underlanders had spoken. Thank goodness for Lizzie, who helped him with his math. He was easily frustrated by other tutors, but Lizzie understood him.

His father arrived, and he heard the headmaster, Mr. Erasmus, call him into his office. Standing up and walking to the door, Gregor knew two things. One, he was about to be expelled. Two, he had to find Ripred. He was worried; worried that next time he wouldn't stop. No one would be able to control him, and no one could get out of his path. The idea of not being able to stop himself terrified him. It happened before, and it could happen many times again if Gregor didn't get help.

"Pull up a chair," the headmaster invited. Throwing away the bag of ice the nurse gave him for his bruised knuckles, he wrapped his fists around the arms of a leather chair and sat down.

He glanced over at his dad, but his eyes were downturned. He decided to examine the room, afraid to lay eyes on the headmaster. He had been in the office a few times to run errands, but never had the time to study it. Now, sitting across a brown ebony desk from Mr. Erasmus, time is what he wished he didn't have. The walls were an olive brown color, giving the office a rustic feel. A single silver-plated lamp illuminated the neatly organized desk. A set of papers lay before Mr. Erasmus which needed signing, and he fiddled with them incessantly.