Victor, Victorious

Chapter Eleven

Mr. Koontz fell back against his desk, stunned. He held his chest.

Suddenly, Victor was back. The frenzied monster he had become ran off, its tail tucked between its legs.

"Oh, no," Victor squeaked. "Koontz, man, I didn't mean to—!"

The secretary ran in, saw the Dean leaning against the table for support. "What's going on? Ray, are you okay?"

The man struggled to catch his breath. "Yeah, yeah...I'll be..."

"Koontz!" Victor cried. "I'm sorry!"

The woman glared at Victor. "Be quiet." She leaned over the man. "Do you need some help?"

Koontz shook his head. "No, no..." But it was obvious that he was in pain.

Victor looked over at Colin. The kid had backed up against the wall. He didn't seem fazed one bit by the Dean's current state. In fact, the boy smiled. For some reason not immediately obvious to Victor, the little jerk slowly opened and closed his right fist, as if squeezing something invisible.

The Dean howled. He clutched his chest and fell to one knee.

"Oh, my God," said the secretary. "Ray, your heart!" She locked eyes with Victor. "He had a Pacemaker put in last summer!"

Victor didn't know what a Pacemaker was.

Mr. Koontz's neck tensed as he collapsed onto his back, releasing tiny whispers for help. Victor was pretty sure the man was having a heart attack.

Colin continued to open and close his fist.

Open. Close. Open. Close.

Open.

Close.

"Don't worry, I'm calling for help!" the secretary said as she sprinted out of the room, terrified.

Victor felt like doing the same.

Yes, Mr. Koontz and he had never gotten along very well, but that wasn't the Dean's fault. Victor knew that his own behavior and attitude were to blame. In some other dimension, where Victor was a better kid, perhaps Mr. Koontz was even his mentor. Someone who cared for him. A father figure.

But, in this world, Victor had fried the man and triggered his downfall.

Once the secretary had left the office, Colin glanced at the door to make sure she was gone. The boy made a snip-snip gesture with his fingers, imitating scissors.

The secretary rushed back into the office. "Oh, my God, oh, my God..."

She went to the bulky phone on the Dean's desk. She held the receiver to her ear. She jabbed at some buttons. She slammed the phone down, tried it again.

"None of these phones are working!"

The woman removed a cell phone from her back pants pocket. Behind her, Colin made another snip-snip motion as she dialed.

"No!" She looked at the uncooperative device. "No! Work, damn it! Work!" She screamed at the boys, "Stay here!" and disappeared again.

Mr. Koontz groaned. Colin grinned as he opened and closed his fist.

Open. Close. Open. Close.

Open.

Close.

Victor yelled, "What're you doing, man?!"

Colin didn't even look at the other boy. His gaze was fixed on the man who struggled on the floor. "You're the one who pushed him, Victor. We all saw it."