Alone, in a small house, sat a young girl, the once lively sapphire eyes now gazing drearily through an empty glass at the smooth wooden table below. Her mind gradually began to sink deeper into her own subconscious as weighted eyelids oppressed her vision, and threatened to pull the girl back to the memories of a life she had long left behind. Her head dipped slightly, causing the short, brown hair to momentarily shift, before a lazy, slender arm lifted from it’s previous resting place on the table’s surface, and caught her cheek in it’s little palm.

Cradling her head, the girl unhurriedly lifted her eyes up to look at an old clock that hung just above, and to the right of an unyielding front door, as if to remind her of each and every dreaded second that passed.

‘She’s... really gone this time... huh.’

The terrifying thought she had been avoiding for the past three days drifted through with much less psychological damage than the girl had expected, or, at least, felt. She sighed to herself, sleepily returning her attention to the bone-dry glass while subconsciously feeding her apathetic views with pessimism, cold logic, and self-deprecation. The way she saw it, there was no use in searching for someone that genuinely loves her, and the best she could hope for is finding a decent guy who is willing to marry someone based solely on looks.

‘It’s just as well, I suppose... I would be a terrible person to fall in love wi-’

A familiar feeling washed over the girl as the big, blue eyes finally gave way to the pressure, submitting to the looming shadow of sleep that was finally able to overthrow her struggling mind, and pull her down into the bowels that held her dreams. The overwhelming exhaustion drowned the girl’s thoughts, pulling her under a placid lake of dark memories and deep wounds that still have yet to fully heal, before once again forcing her to unwillingly confront the core of her being.

Looking up at her father’s smiling face was one of the few tremendous joys in her life back when she was a child, and had made many fond memories of times when she strived against the odds to chase away his unhappiness. She used to do everything from dancing, to drawing, to simply giving him a hug when he was looking sad, and he would always smile warmly in response before praising her efforts, saying she was an “irreplaceable treasure”.

‘Treasure... yeah, right. That introverted lockbox is the closest thing I have to a friend, and I doubt even he thinks of me as anything other than a bitch after what I did to him. I don’t blame him, though. Whether it was a joke or not, he spoke first, and initiated a conversation, which I’m certain is not something he would do for just anyone.’

The girl’s thoughts turned to the dark-haired boy, recalling the time spent together over the past several years, and almost instantaneously began to noticed a small change in the images’ behavior. Each memory, without exception, would grow moderately brighter each time she set eyes on a specific familiar face, one of an emotionless, dark-eyed boy who had no visible interest in the people around him. That boy had never shown even the smallest trace of hatred towards her, even though he was absolutely justified, not to mention doing that would give her exactly what she wants, and he would never have to worry about being bothered by her again. Yet, he still won’t give in, which fascinated her beyond belief.

A brilliant ray of light abruptly penetrated ink-black liquid the girl hovered within as she stifled a giggle that tried to escape when a replay of that entertaining boy turn towards her, without any warning, and asked her out on the spot. Now that she thought about it, even if he wasn’t serious, that was pretty cute.

‘Damn it to hell, what am I thinking? My one and only purpose is to break through his indomitable barrier. That’s it. Getting emotionally involved will only...’

The girl paused halfway through an unsuccessful attempt to shake this strange feeling to watch through her own eyes as she crushed the first words he ever spoke to her, and cruelly threw it back in his face. Wait, why would she do that? All that time spent with him was something she could never get back, and instead of benefitting from it, she’s using it to emotionally destroy the one person in this world that may actually give a damn? Is there something she’s missing that everyone else seems to get? No, this is who she is, and that “feeling” is just a chemical reaction in her brain that would only turn her into everyone else, and is most likely a side-effect of becoming to excited about the completion of her plans drawing near.

The light faded, and dreams she had grown accustomed to slowly began to return, blackening her world, and swallowing her mind as she sunk deeper beneath the surface with every passing moment.

‘Besides... why would he give a damn now? Step two is already happening, and just like I thought, he’s going to shatter.’

A dull thud immediately shocked the hazy blue eyes open as the girl was jolted back to reality, and redirecting her attention to the origin of the sound, while an alarmed heart pounded wildly in her chest. The young freshman trusted her senses enough to know, without a doubt, that there was was someone on the other side of her front door, the only question that remains unanswered is... who? A young boy was the first person that came to mind, but she quickly shook the thought away, remembering her betrayal, and knowing the likelihood of him coming to see her for any reason was practically zero.

The metallic rattling of the doorknob, followed by the screeching of rusty hinges reverberated throughout the small room as the heavy wooden door swung inward, revealing a familiar face, one the girl thought she would never see again.

“Jenny...”

Jack returned his phone back to it’s proper place in his right pocket, his interest piqued at the mention of his friend’s name. Yes, over the past few days, the boy had finally come to fully recognize the only constant of his entire childhood, aside from an introverted mindset, as his one and only friend. The habitual resistance against voluntarily accepting someone into his life was gradually outweighed by the tremendous loneliness that came with instantly rejecting everyone that showed even the slightest interest in him.

A few moments earlier, Jack had caught himself feeling worried about Jenny’s absences over the past couple of days, causing him to lose his appetite and even the desire to read before he finally decided to pick up his phone, and send her a text. Jack’s mind thought back to when the girl had plucked the small device from his hands the moment she laid eyes on it, forcefully entering her own number into his speed dial before sending herself a text composed solely of the phrase [Fuck off] for some reason.

An hour had passed, and there was still no response from Jenny. A sickening feeling welled up in his stomach as he scrolled through the numerous one-sided messages of his friend endlessly ranting about nothing, noticing how she had spent nearly every night over the past six months trying to capture his attention. Jack had simply ignored the girl’s ravings in the past, dismissing it as nonsensical attempts to screw with him, but when he took a closer look, some of the things she said were a bit too realistically scary, even considering her twisted sense of humor.

Intermittently strewn out messages would occasionally appear amongst the girl’s ridiculous ramblings of espionage, aliens, and more than a couple pornographic scenarios, that would say something like [I’m hungry... wanna come over for a bite?], followed by a demon face emoji, or [Help a girl out wouldya? My blanket got a hole in it [demon face emoji] and I need a strong man willing to keep me warm.]. Most of these texts were significantly less obvious, but disturbed Jack nonetheless, especially when the boy realized that he had never been to her house, and knew almost nothing about her current living situation aside from the vague, possibly false, trail she had laid.

It was at this moment that the boy had heard something about his friend, which caught his attention, resulting in him tucking the small device away to limit his distractions, and allow him to concentrate on listening.

The cafeteria was decently large, and the various teenaged conversations that transpired simultaneously threatened to drown out the voices Jack had quickly recognized as one of Jenny’s boyfriend’s weasels.

“...this, you know Chad’s new girl? The pretty little brunette freshman?”

The dark-eyed boy slid his chair back, keeping his head faced forward to avoid discovery as the rodent-like sophomore continued with his revelation of “Chad’s new girl”, a description that nearly brought a scowl to the eavesdropper’s mouth. In the past, Jack never really had a real urge to punch someone his own age before now, but the thought of Jenny being referred to as that dick’s possession nearly caused him to lose his composure. Jack suppressed the feeling, reminding himself of the current social hierarchy he was legally obliged to attend five days a week, and quickly soothing his anger with a brief fantasy of himself crushing the weasel’s conceited illusions of grandeur with it’s own house of cards. A deep breath cleared the boy’s thoughts, and he was soon able to return his attention to the conversation at hand, which had, fortunately, strayed due to the several crass remarks about Jenny’s ass, and was coming back around to the main subject.

“Yeah, guys, guess what? Chad got one of the teachers to give him her address so he could check up on her after school, but when he went over to her house yesterday, there wasn’t a car in her driveway. So, he got closer to the window, and when he did, he saw her sitting at a table by herself, all alone.”

Sweat beaded on Jack’s clenched fists as the rough clothing in his grasp wrinkled and twisted from the effort required to restrain a violent outburst. This is heading in a bad direction.

“Chad stayed their for a while, but no one ever came home. He even checked again this morning, and there was still no car, or any sign of other people! So, he said he doesn’t have anything after lunch, and if there is still no one home with the little bitch, he’s going to go inside this time to *chuckle*... ‘check up on he-eeeii!?’”

A befitting squeal slid off the shocked weasel-boy’s lips as Jack swiftly left his seat, whipped his left hand around, and grabbed the object of his displeasure by the earlobe, pinching the fleshy protrusion mercilessly between his thumb and forefinger. Pulling the greasy boy out of his seat with with a flurry of profanity, the furious attacker brought his other arm to bare, wrapping his long fingers threateningly around his prey’s exposed throat as their eyes locked.

‘This bastard. This son of a bitch. Jenny’s going to-... and he just called her-... the hell is wrong with this world? Why... I accepted her and they... she’s my only... and he... fuck!’

Jack’s surprise at his own reaction was drowned out by the deafening roar of anger erupting from his every pore as years of skillfully repressed thoughts, desires, needs, emotions, and traumas nearly caused him to burst at the seams. The enraged freshman didn’t give a damn why he felt this way, and fixated his thoughts solely on getting to his friend before the rich prick had a chance to harm a single hair on her head.

The weasel squirmed, and the trio of goons across the table abruptly stood, staring at the odd scene playing out before them in disbelief, while a couple started to hesitantly edge forward, uncertain of Jack’s intentions, and fully aware of his experienced movements. However, the wriggling figure in the boy’s grip wasn’t quite as sharp as his peers, and instinctually began to move his mouth.

“P-p-please! I-I’ll do w-whatever you want... j-just don’t kill me!”

After a childhood spent apathetically brushing aside his troubles, making absolutely certain no one through the impenetrable cage he built for himself, and had so adamantly maintained in the past, the introvert finally relented, letting one person enter. That person immediately proceeded to strike out the moment they entered, unknowingly damaging an important part of him, but instead of simply rejecting her and returning to the lonely world he was raised in, the boy accepted this friendship along with all the hurt that came with it. Now, after all of that, a well-polished piece of shit is planning to use Jenny for his own selfish pleasure, possibly breaking her in the process, before tossing her aside as if she were nothing but an old rag... and this weasel knew about it.

Jack has no intention to kill anyone, but right now, he was the only one who knew it. A small gathering appeared around them, anxious to observe a fight as the three goons snapped out of their stupor, and began to circle the table. The boy’s eyes burned with a newfound passion; he was going to save Jenny, and officially make her into his friend.

Jack’s cage was shattered, and he was freed.

Step one: befriend | Step two: Shatter | Step three: ? |