Mad

Three

"Uh hey Ethan... Sorry gotta go," Allen mumbled scuttling away from me as fast as he could. I tried to approach him to ask if he would like to hang out as usual and catch up on things, but woah, that guy's totally avoiding me.

I looked over my shoulder, hearing a slight whimper and nervous whispers, only to see that it was just two girls trying not to go too close to Zylen. He's always eyeing the students like some sick pervert, of course I can't blame those girls or anyone else.

"Weirdo, come over here," I muttered grabbing Zylen's hood and leading him away. The girls scurried past thankfully, though they glanced at me hoping I hadn't gone crazy too.

"Thank you for your concern," I muttered under my breath through grit teeth.

"Ethan, are you mad?" He asked, innocently like some two year old.

This guy... I let go in annoyance and crossed my hands over my chest.

"You seriously need to stop staring at other students. It bothers them a lot." And there I go with my naggings.

"I'm seeing if they're worthy of having the honour in being one of the specimens in my collection. To-be, collection."

I groaned. Forget those sincereness in his voice and face yesterday. I am starting to think that it's his body that grows and not his brain. Seriously, why doesn't his parents take him to the doctor?

"Imagine having a suspicious looking guy staring at you pervertedly."

"Ethan... Are you jealous?"

What!? Where in the world did that come from?!

"Wh-why should I be jealous!?"

He grinned childishly, "You're jealous because your only friend is looking at other people?"

Why was that more like a question?

"Gaaah, you're impossible," I groaned, worn out.

A boy younger than us passed by. He looked terrified. I recognised him immediately. It was Tim, a boy next door. We used to talk and just now, he looked at me with fearful eyes. Like I was dangerous as well.

I sighed rather loudly. Zylen noticed this and asked, "Hey, I've been wondering, but why are you still my friend when all the others are avoiding you now? Won't they come back to you if you stopped being my friend?"

I placed my elbow on the windowsill and rested my chin on my hand, "I don't know... It feels as if you'd wander off and do something stupid, and that worries me. And besides," I said, now leaning against the wall, "I'm not as low as them to just ditch my friends for such a worthless reason."

"Heeh~? Are you sure you like being friends with me?"

"It's not like I can walk away from you anymore." I looked out at the clear, blue sky and whispered, "You're weird, though it's fun hanging out with you..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing! There goes the bell, better get going to class!"

I couldn't walk away from him. I should've, that might've spared my life, but I couldn't. As the days passed, I wanted to know more. Learn more. And find out more about this eye-patched friend of mine.

—

The bell rang to biology period. We were to dissect a frog, and as expected, I was paired up with Zylen – who seemed to be really excited while most of the students were just grossed out.

"Ethan, hey Ethan," he pestured me with childish whines, "A frog is nice but, why won't the teacher gives us something larger?"

"Zylen, stop. You're disturbing the others," I whispered back to him threateningly, glancing cautiously at the two classmates who apparently, seems to have heard his annoying whining.

I've had it. If his parents ain't going to the psychologist, then I am!

He chuckled a sorry, "I made Ethan mad~!" He sing-sang in a hushed voice. That drove me into simulating the image of me slapping his pale face.

After a while of complaints from female students about how they want to sue the school for letting the teachers make students do disgusting stuff and distributing the apparatus needed, all of us went to work.

Why wasn't I surprised when Zylen eagerly insisted on dissecting the reptile? No offence, I thankfully handed him the scalpel. I kept it in my mind to be very cautious and aware of him when he nearly grabbed it out of my hand.

Zylen + scalpel = some creepy shit.

And my lovely calculations far exceeded my expectations. Most of our classmates looked as if they were to hurl out their lunch. Some did.

I knew he wasn't right somewhere in the head, but I never expected him to grab the hamster out of its cage...

It was just a small animal. How could he make such a huge gruesome mess out of it?

The teacher looked much more terrified than before. She looked as if she were about to faint.

I felt tremendously sorry for the hamster. Honestly.

Zylen sliced open the hamster's stomach and started pulling out the poor thing's intestines. Oh my God... The amount of blood made me nauseous. And all of this crap was done while the hamster was still alive. The blood and smashed up pieces of flesh flew about and even landed on my clothes. Oh, my clothes...!

I, given the honour of experiencing first hand gory just before my eyes, was unable to peel my eyes away from the sight as much as I wanted to.

A sea of whispers spread around like wild fire. Disgusted and horrified flashes of glares were sent towards us. I wanted to yell out, then and there, that I was so totally not part of his madness and also, for them to back off and keep their miserable glares to themselves. Ooh, and the whispers as well.

It was the teacher who finally shushed the goddamn annoying people, "Kids, calm down and slowly return to your seats. I know you're feeling uneasy but this is for the best."

No one seemed to be in the mood, and timid shouts of complaints were said by them. Okay, good. Chance.

Without a second thought, I grabbed the white haired boy's hand and dashed out of the classroom before any heavenly punishment was bestowed on us both, given the circumstance that I was his partner.

After running a short distance away from class I shot a really nasty glare at the boy I dragged along. "Hey mister, oh yes you, you're in for a whole lot of trouble. Oh yes you are~" I smiled sweetly as possible while Zylen just pushed his dirty hands into his pockets – yuck – like nothing happened.

"No mercy on you, fallen child," I hissed pinching both of his cheeks fairly hard. Boy did that make me feel a whole lot better. His actions, by far, led me into a great deal of... Happenings and this one spelt trouble. Soon enough, a deep red was visible on his pale skin. My symbol of pride until it disappeared.

"Whaaaat? I was just doing what I yearned to do!" He whimpered rubbing his cheeks tenderly.

"Oh yeah? Do I care? No." What I didn't know back then was the fact that his dream was to become a large part of my life.

—