Hell-Borne

Lies

Ace sits in the chair in the back. He looks down at his math worksheet.

I don't get any of this shit.

Ace crushes his pencil, Akivo looks at him, frowning.

"You okay man?" He asks.

"I will be once I get out of this class." Ace mumbles.

Carson is gonna chew me out after he reads my report card, I really need to raise my GPA.

"To determine the formula of..." Ace balls up the paper.

"Fuck this." Ace growls.

Ace had been struggling with math since the first day. He wasn't stupid. It was just....Ace was impatient.

"Williams! Do you have anything important to share with your peers?" Ms. Archibald asks.

The fact that you're wearing a really short skirt.

"Do you hear me Williams?!" She asks.

"Enough of this, get out." She says. Ace gets up, walking out of the classroom. He storms down the hall.

I don't get any of those questions. To hell with school anyway.

Hoping he'd be left alone, the bell rings. Someone hurries out, a flicker of black hair and honey colored skin slams right into his chest.

"What the hell?" He almost yells, he grabs the girl by the shoulders, slamming her against the wall, but not too hard to hurt her.

"If you don't let me go, you'll be meeting the end of my fists." Lyric warns.

"Maybe you should watch where you're going." Ace says.

"Maybe you should shut up." Lyric says, walking past him. He hated how she couldn't look him in the eye. How she flinched as if she was a delicate porcelain doll.

"What's your problem woman?" Ace asks.

"I don't have a problem." Lyric says, she sighs. "I'm too tired to fight Ace, just leave me alone. Sorry for bumping into you." Lyric says. Her voice was soft, tired and melancholic.

She sounded depressed as hell. One moment she's her upbeat and headstrong self-now she sounds....just tired.

"Where are you going?" Ace asks.

"I'm sorry Williams but that's none of your concern." Lyric says emotionlessly, and with that said, she walks away. Ace rolls his eyes.

"Fine." Ace said.

They used to know each other.

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Lyric changes into her leggings and a white t-shirt. She puts her hair in a low ponytail. She ties her shoes.

The most refreshing moment besides writing stories and reading was running. It felt like running away from the stress, and feeling whole.

"Lyric, we have to do the running test." Her classmate Ruby says. With her two short braids and wearing her jacket over her adidas jogging pants.

Lyric walks down the hall and into the gym, her coach liked her. Lyric had something people wanted in this case, her running speed.

As the class starts running, she zips past a group of girls, even that girl she saw earlier with Ace scowled at her.

"You don't have to run fast." Chantelle says.

"Why does it matter to you?" Lyric asks. Chantelle had been rude to her since day one, Lyric tries to understand people but she also has limits. Especially when they have a really bad attitude.

Lyric speeds up, her ponytail shifting side to side.

Boys were at the bottom of her list. Parties close to last, popularity close to parties and the main priority was to find Leo a better place.

Leo deserved someone strong and able to provide love. Their aunt Naomi was in New York without kids and a man. Lyric fits into that strong mother figure for Leo.

No hard feelings love.

Lyric shakes her head. If one thing she promised was to not let someone hurt her.

Like her Mom, her Dad, Jason.

Lyric opens her eyes to see herself lying on the ground, curled in a ball. Her eyes were halfway open, her mouth was slightly open, she looked almost dead, and she didn't notice Jason holding his phone over her.

"Lyric got waaaasted. I told you not to drink babe, now look, you're just like your mommy." Jason taunts. Lyric couldn't do anything.

"Speak Lyric! You think it's funny to reject me? To play with my emotions??? Huh? Huh?!" Jason yells, nudging her with his foot.

Everything was a blur, but she heard every bit.

She refused to sleep with him because of the risks of getting pregnant, or catching a STD or something like that. And for that she was grateful.

He recorded the whole thing. Without thinking about how broken she felt about feeling weak. How stupid she felt.

When Lyric recovered, she slapped him.

"I hate you Jason. You broke me not only physically but mentally." Lyric growls, she grabbed his phone, throwing it to the wall. Jason slaps her.

"We're through." Lyric says.

"So I'm not your boyfriend anymore?" He asked.

"You're damn right you aren't." Lyric said without looking at him.

"You're ugly Lyric. I don't see what a guy would see in you." Jason said. It hurt Lyric, a lot. That was the last day they were together and the first day she made herself throw up.

"You're another asswhole who needs to burn in hell." Lyric said, he laughed.

"And you're another girl with a deadbeat daddy." He shot back, Lyric punched Jason in the stomach, he crumbled over.

"I'm glad I never slept with you." Lyric said. She walked away, his mother glared at Lyric.

"Working on the streets darling?" She asked.

"Working on raising your son?" Lyric shot back. The woman rolled her eyes.

Lyric ran out of the house.

Lyric keeps running, her stomach turning into neverending knots. For, she realized she wasn't only running from her stress....she was running from her life.