The Red - Handed Boy

Chapter 8 (Part 1): Suicide

[The Fall of Kent Arc]

Kent was a boy that was always loved because of his friendly personality. Every friend he had was loyal, every girl he liked dated him. He was truly and completely popular. He sat by many people during lunch, and always had people wanting to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with him.
"Why am I so popular?"
He always asked himself.
Kent always spoke his mind, he's had many emotional conversations with people. His mother and father lived with him, and they were all happy together.
One day, Kent found himself becoming infatuated with a girl named Ashley.
He remembered the exact day when he really noticed her. Their first text conversation lasted all night. They hit it off instantly, and they couldn't stop. Kent told his friends about Ashley.
"I see you slidin' in those DMs." Travis said.
"You know me, I had game out of the womb." Kent replied.
"You gon' talk to her face to face though?" Rowan asked.
"Nah, not yet. I feel like we should text some more first." Kent replied.
"Just don't wait too long. If you just text her and don't talk in real life, then you kinda being a simp."
"Like Indie." Callum commented.
"Man, Indie is the king of simps." Rowan said.
"Why's everyone so critical of Indie?"
Kent asked.
"He's just a normal person like us."
Rowan, Callum, and Travis looked at each other.
Then they laughed.
"Indie is just like, too weird. Like he does not know how to talk to people AT ALL."
Rowan said.
"And he's just so desperate. Like he constantly be annoying people tryna be their 'friend'."
Travis said.
"Like if you don't chill out."
Kent contemplated.
"And don't forget, this man is always asking girls out and always getting rejected."
Callum added.
"Y'all still always bullying him for no reason. It's like the whole school is out for him. What if he, likes, kills himself or something?"
Rowan, Callum, and Travis looked at each other again.
"You real soft if you kill yourself over things that happen in middle school."
Rowan said.
"Like bruh, you have your whole life ahead of you and you decide to end it because of something that happens in middle school? I would never kill myself bruh, no matter what."
"But Indie isn't you."
Kent said.
"Some people are just weaker in spirit than others. And here, "
Kent pulled out his phone and looked something up. He showed the screen to the three boys.
"Suicide rates have risen 33% since the 1960s in teenage boys. Does this not make y'all feel bad. What if you all are the reason he kills himself?"
Rowan looked at the screen with a look of disgust.
"People nowadays bruh."
He shook his head.
"Nobody at our school would kill themselves—"
"How do you know?!"
Kent asked.
He was breathing heavier.
"Yo chill out, both of you." Callum said.
"Kent is making a point. Maybe everyone's been a little hard on Indie. What if he did actually try to kill himself?"
Kent looked at Callum.
"You know, imma try to be his friend."
Kent said.
"What?"
Travis suddenly exclaimed.
"Why?"
"He prolly gonna tryna to hop on your girl too."
Rowan said.
Kent looked at Rowan.
"Knowing my luck, he might actually get her."
Kent said jokingly.
"What happened to you having 'game out of the crib'?"
Travis asked.
"Are was the only ones that know about you and Ashley?"
Rowan asked.
"So far, yeah."
Kent said.
"Don't want too many people finding out."
They all kept talking and making jokes.
Kent and Ashley kept on texting, for months.
Their conversations continuously getting deeper and deeper.
Then, one day, another boy started texting Ashley.
His name was Indie.
Ashley didn't really want to text him, but she did it out of pity. She soon texted Kent about Indie.
"hey, guess what."  She texted Kent.
"What" Kent replied.
"india just started texting me."
"*indie"
Kent was shocked by this knowledge.
"Say you stg" He replied.
"i stg lol."
"he's texting me like whole paragraphs and every time i respond to him he texts me back in like milliseconds."
Kent laughed.
"Simp" He texted.
"big simp." She replied.
The next day Kent told Rowan, Callum, and Travis about Indie and Ashley.
"What I tell you!"
Rowan exclaimed.
"King of simps."
"You better lock her down." Callum said.
"No need."
Kent said.
"Ashley texted me and said that Indie was a big simp. He wrote paragraphs to her, and responded in milliseconds."
"Dang."
Travis said.
"I lowkey almost feel bad for him."
"This just gon' teach him not to resort to simpery in order to talk to girls."  Rowan said.
"The crazy things is, I'm kinda friends with him now. Indie's not that bad of a guy when you get to know him. He's just... a little socially awkward. If he works on himself he could make a lot more friends."
Kent said.
"Have you ever told him that?"
Travis asked.
Kent thought for a moment.
"No..."
He said as if he was surprised.
The group of boys heard someone coming.
"H-Hi."
It was Indie.
The group looked at each other. They had to stifle laughs.
"Ayy! Wassup Indie."
Rowan said as he got up. He put his arm around Indie.
"Y'all know Indie right here is my best friend."
The group couldn't hold in their laughs.
"W-What?"
Indie asked confusingly.
"Are we really best friends?"
Rowan looked directly at Indie.
"Of course man. And you know, best friends give each other money."
Indie looked at Rowan.
"What? You're gonna give me money?"
Indie asked naively.
The group were laughing really hard now.
"No."
Rowan said.
"You give me money."
And he held out his hand.
"B-But all I have is $15."
Indie said.
Rowan glared intensely at Indie.
Indie felt like he was going to die by how intense the glare was.
"Then I guess that's what you're going to give me."
Indie got the money out of his book bag and was about to give it to Rowan.
Kent started to stand up.
"Wait Indie don—"
"Yo chill bruh, I was just playing with you."
Rowan said.
"Don't actually give me $15."
Kent sighed in relief and sat back down.
"Oh."
Indie said.
"Indie, man, you gotta be smarter than that or people will take advantage of you."
Rowan said.
"Not everything people say is the truth. Everyone here is just tryna survive, you can't trust anyone out here except your family and your day ones. And even then..."
Indie looked down at the floor with a look of disappointment.
"Does that mean, you were lying about us being best friends?"
Rowan looked down to Indie.
"Well, yeah. I mean we don't even talk like that for real. No offense, but I don't even know your last name."
Indie looked heartbroken.
"I should be going now."
And he went off.
And with that, they all laughed and kept talking. Kent and Ashley kept texting and Ashley and Indie kept texting.
Months passed.
Slowly, Kent and Ashley's relationship was reaching its climax. They started talking in real life. Always playfully teasing each other and touching.
Ashley eventually blocked Indie because of how creepy he was.
And then, Kent and Ashley decided to announce that they were officially a couple in the cafeteria at school.
In that moment, Kent and Ashley were the only ones in each other's lives. No one else mattered to them when they officially got together, and that includes Indie. Indie saw them get together right in front of his eyes, but Kent and Ashley didn't care.
After they got together, Kent texted Indie.
That text message impacted Indie's life, more than Kent could ever know.
Kent and Ashley lived in euphoric bliss after that, besides from the constant messages that blew up Ashley's phone with people asking her to unblock Indie. Soon, Kent couldn't stand it anymore. He texted Indie and asked him why he kept paying people to text her. It was because Indie was scared. Kent eventually told Ashley to unblock Indie, and she did.
But Indie never texted Ashley again.
Kent and Ashley kept texting, they talked, they hugged, they kissed.
Kent had girlfriends before Ashley, but he never felt this way for someone before. Kent truly believed that he was in love with Ashley. And Ashley felt the same way.
Their relationship stayed strong over the summer and into the new school year. They planned to go to the same high school, Victus Academy.
Kent and Ashley planned to celebrate their one year anniversary by eating at a restaurant. Ashley went home to take a shower and get ready. But then, a boy met her at her home, and burned her alive while Kent was forced to listen to her final moments.
After that, Kent decided to run away from home after his father's speech.
He has been out on his own for eight days so far.
And he vowed, to get revenge on Indie...