Forced

31 - Battled

Be bullied, be outraged, be killed, but do not kill. ~Wilfred Owen

Luke's POV 

I took a deep breath as I walked through the bitter cold the next day. Maybe I felt like I just needed to clear my head, maybe I just felt like being away from people I could not stop looking at without feeling guilty. I know that they had decided to quit, and at the time it was a brave and welcomed tactic. They all seemed fine, but I felt like they have been robbed out of this opportunity. 

I did not get far on my walk before hearing someone yell my name, usually I would ignore that but this voice sounded familiar. So I turned and could see Manny running towards me. He reached me and took a deep breath and let out a sigh before putting a hand on my shoulder. 

"Yeah?" I raised my eyebrows. I knew what this would be about, I just did not expect Manny to pick me up and throw me over his shoulder. "Um..Alright? Manny you can put me down, it's not like I'm going to run away." 

"Sorry, Ivan said not to let you go." Manny said. "I have to follow orders." 

"Oh of course Ivan did, what is this about?" I sighed. 

"You'll find out soon enough." Manny replied. I decided just to keep my mouth shut at this point. If Manny was not going to tell me, he would stick to that. He placed me in the passenger seat of his car and I waited patiently while he got in his own seat and drove off. 

"Are the boys going to be there?" I asked, lifting my eyes to Manny. 

"I am going to go get them too. But they're not there yet. I'm dropping you off first." Manny said. 

"That's an awful idea." I replied. Manny did not say a word though, instead, he drove me to the office where I walked inside and could see several other large men ushering me up the stairs. I felt as if this whole situation was ridiculous. If Ivan wanted to talk, we could talk. But I did not want to feel like I was wasting my time by going through all of this. 

I walked inside the office and the door was shut behind me. I shoved my hands in my pocket as I saw Ivan smiling at me from behind his desk. 

"You don't look well." I told him. It was true, he was of a sickly color. His eyes had shadows and bags underneath them and they were bloodshot, enough for me to see the red from where I was standing. His hair was a mess too, usually combed and orderly - it was now everywhere. Ivan just smiled at me, did not say a word. "Ivan?" 

"Hm?" 

"Are you alright?" I asked. Sure, Ivan and I did not get along but that did not mean I was just going to turn around and slap him in the face. 

"Yeah." Ivan nodded. I walked around the room, looking at him carefully. "You don't trust me, I know." 

"Am I making it too obvious?" I replied. Ivan shook his head, stood up from his desk and started laughing. Laughing. "Why are you laughing?" Ivan only continued to laugh, in a way that made me nervous and made me want to run out of the room. Ivan walked around his desk and took slow steps towards me. "Ivan?" 

"I hate you so much." Ivan smiled. "You just ruined my career. My life." 

"How so? I didn't do a damned thing to you." I snarled. 

"You know, I have a boss too." Ivan said. "And when he got news that you all were quitting, he called Michael and asked why you were all quitting. When he found out, he fired me! Said I was lucky he wasn't filing charges.." 

"You are lucky." 

"That's not the point, boy." Ivan said. "I have nothing to lose now. You were right, I am alone. And I have no soul. I have no family to lose, no friends to lose. I have nothing. All I ever had was my work, and you took that away from me." 

"You did this to yourself." I replied. 

"You couldn't just do what I said!" Ivan yelled, he picked up a nearby vase and threw it, shattering against the wall near my head. 

"Ivan!" I hissed. "Stop it!" 

"Why!? What have I got to lose! I could kill you right now and feel no regret!" Ivan said, part of me wanted to believe he was speaking metaphorically. The other part of me knew better, knew that Ivan was crazy enough to do it..

"Ivan, cut it out." I said. 

"I hate you, so much." Ivan snarled. He then began to smile and started laughing again, this is where I knew he was serious. I looked down and could see the pocket knife in his hand. "What are you going to do, Luke!?" 

"Ivan, stop it." 

"Why?! We're having fun! Aren't we!?" Ivan screamed. 

"No, Ivan. Stop." I said. I put my hands up. Ivan looked slightly confused at this point.

"I was expecting more fear.." Ivan said, biting his lip. 

"I'm not afraid of death." I shook my head. "I'm ignorant enough to believe that I have nothing to lose. Ivan, we're more alike than you think." 

Ivan blinked a few times, I saw him pocket the knife and take a few steps back with a smile. "I know exactly how to play you." 

"Play me?" I asked. 

"Yes, play you." Ivan said. "You may think you have the upper hand on me Luke, but in all reality I always have the upper hand on you. I want you to feel what it's like to lose what little you have left!" 

"You need to get a grip on yourself!" I yelled. "This is the twenty first century! You don't always get the last laugh! You get your heart ripped out, but you know what you have to do? You have to learn to live without it! Eventually you've done all the things that could kill you, you've been with all the people that like to rip your world apart." I took a step closer to Ivan. "But you know what? You aren't measured with how you are in situations where you're winning, you are measured by how you act when you're falling apart!" 

"You gave up when you were falling apart!" Ivan yelled. 

"You're right! I did give up when I was falling apart!" I replied. "And now, I am measured by the fact that I am a coward! I am unstable! That is how people see me!" 

"Oh boo hoo, everyone cry for Luke!" 

"No! No one cry for Luke!" I snapped. "That's where we differ, you want everyone to feel bad for you, because of what happened to you. But no one feels pity because all you do is hurt yourself! How do you expect to get anywhere if all you ever do is pity yourself when everyone spits on you!" 

"What's the point in trying anymore!?" Ivan scoffed. 

"There is no point!" I said. "There is never a point, but we keep trying anyways. I don't know why, but we do because it's just the thing to do!" 

"You think this is going to convince me just to leave you alone?" Ivan asked. I could see the amusement dancing in his eyes. 

"I have put up with you for a long time Ivan. I always did what you said. Always. But guess what?" I smirked.

Ivan's expression turned grim. "What?" 

"Life starts now." I said, smiling wide as I took a swing and knocked Ivan back into his desk. I grabbed him by the back of his suit and threw him to the floor. The knife went sliding out of his hands as I grabbed him and slammed his head off the floor. Ivan elbowed me and pushed up as he slid over me. 

"If I'm going down, I'm doing it in your blood!" Ivan snapped as he began to punch me, struggling slightly I managed to land a punch and get him off of me. I rolled over and grabbed him by his throat and squeezed as tightly as I could. At this point I could hear people screaming, and I felt myself being yanked off of Ivan. 

I heard certain exclaims of fear and looked down and could see my shirt soaking in blood, I looked up slightly and could see Ivan smiling. 

AUTHOR'S NOTIFICATION; Lucy 

That cliffhanger though. Lol this was pretty extreme I was shocked when I read it, thank you Ariana xD She also wanted me to say that this book is almost over. So :( but that's alright! Because we have other stuff planned as well. We have all our other books and she said that she has another she might want to put up, but we're thinking about that later. For the time being..

Hugs, Kisses, Cuddles and Serenades xX