Monstrous

Chapter 3: The Boss

May 8, 2022

Now, I'll have to take you back about two years in my little story to tell you about probably the second-worst person I've ever met in my life. Who's the first? Well, we'll get to that later, promise. But on the subject of this guy...didn't much care for him, to put it lightly.

His name was Isaiah Barnes. I know, real good gang name, isn't it? But, name aside, he did look like some cartel leader, right off the screen of CSI. He was Hispanic, had the brown skin and black hair you'd expect for it. To be clear, not meaning that in a racist way. Heck, first time I met him, he gave the same description. 'In case the skin and hair didn't give it away, I'm Mexican.'. He'd said that, but his accent was distinctly American, maybe even country. He didn't even say it with any pride, or even regret  in his voice or anything, just as a statement.

He was probably the most straightforward person you could imagine...and not in a good way.  He'd said, within five minutes of meeting me, 'I don't like you, and I want you out of my new turf.' I was surprised at the boldness of it, but then I took a moment to observe him.

This guy seemed to think himself a bit of a badass. He had on a black jacket, trimmed with some kind of brown faux-fur stuff. It was the middle of summer, but for whatever reason, the heat didn't seem to bother him. I could see bulges in his pocket, too small to be guns, so he must have had a collection of knives hidden away. Not to mention the look he had in his eyes, like he'd be ready to cut me in an instant...

It was almost hilarious. The jacket he wore was made for a woman, easy to tell, it had the buttons on the wrong side. All he had were a lot of little pocketknives, about as big as a thumb when folded up. And the eyes...this guy'd probably been copying the looks he'd seen off of action movie villains whenever they were talking about their plans to the girlfriend he'd kidnapped.

I just turned and walked off at this point."You don't give me any trouble, I won't give it back."I'd told him. I thought it was reasonable, and I didn't need anything more to stress me out anyways. Ideally, that should have been the end of it.
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But, a day later, there I was, sitting on the corner, a cigarette in my mouth. I'd finally gotten the damn lighter to work, but before I could even breath in, a little red-handled pocket knife flew through the air and sliced the cigarette in half. I'd looked down, seeing the still lit end slowly burning away. I looked over, and sure enough, there was Isaiah, a big grin on his face.

Well...you can guess what happened next. I walked towards him, figured I'd try the scare tactic. I cracked my knuckles, growled, got a sinister look in my eyes, everything! Even tried making my stroll look a bit more aggressive. I didn't plan on starting a fight, I promise, but what he did next...

As soon as I was close enough, I started giving him the usual spiel."Listen you, get out of this town and don't come back. Otherwise-"

Before I could even finish the intimidation, he gave an immature smile, then raised a hand and squeezed my nose."Beeeeeep!"He said cheerfully.

Now, you out there reading this might have a pretty high tolerance for this shit, but me? I was born with a short temper. I instantly punched out, but this guy...he ducked and punched my stomach instead, then rolled out of the way of a kick. He stuck his tongue out, then dashed off.

So I, of course, chased after him. I couldn't just ignore what he'd done, after all. I chased him through the streets, getting the attention of the locals. I knocked someone over while I ran, but didn't stop. Agitated as I was, I probably would have hurt more than helped. "Barnes! Get your ass back here!"

He'd only cackled a bit and kept running. He turned a corner, and I grinned to myself. He was new here, but this was my home, and I knew that street ended in a dead end. I followed him in, and grinned."Alright then, Barnes! You turn around and face me like a man!"