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The College Years (Chapter 20)
By Vader
THE COLLEGE YEARS
Entry II: A Student Who Loved Me
Continued from Chapter 19 . . .
CHAPTER 20
Grasping Erin’s hand, I tugged her away from the dance floor to avoid the oncoming charge of Kevin. Holding her in my arms, I moved deeper into the crowd of people in an effort to veil ourselves from the temperamental young man, stepping backwards towards the exit and at just the right moment, as the predator turned his gaze elsewhere, I slipped outside into the frosty bite of cold air. Both of us dashed across the sidewalk and onto the lawn, stopping to look behind us. When we thought we’d escaped Kevin, we saw his thick silhouette barge through the door, blocking the light shining from within the Winter Party.
“Quick,” I urgently whispered, directing us to plunge into a nearby patch of bushes and trees. Once inside, I made a signal to remain as still and quiet as possible, watching Erin crumble into my lap, terrified of what was going to happen if her ex-lover found us. I felt our chests rise and fall against each others’, panting heavily. Once we caught our breath, all sound seemed to immediately short out. The unwavering moonlight hung upon the campus while the inaudible chilling wind circulated through the garden.
I squinted, peering in between two leaves on the shrubbery located in front of us, edgily watching the shadow of our pursuer approach, his head turning this way and that to look for any sign of movement. He attentively drew next to our space, halting, as if detecting presence. Out of the total, utter silence, he roared, “You can’t hide! I’m going to find you! Come out and face me like a man, you f**ker! Erin is mine!”
Holding my breath, I clamped my eyelids tight, hugging the young woman I adored protectively. As my eyelids consumed my pupils in darkness, I saw a vision, a flashback, a vivid memory. It was so clear, I could have sworn it was happening in front of me all over again. It was Autumn, and I was hunched over, feeling nauseous from the blow to my stomach. The scenario sharpened so snappily, it morphed into another and I saw Scott’s face, his hateful eyes up against mine. Almost allowing a gasp to escape from my mouth, I blinked, opening my eyes once more and staring upward, seeing the back side of the hunter standing so menacingly above us.
My demeanor changed, as dozens of occurrences that had happened since September flashed through my mind at the speed of light, not to remind me of the details, but rather the sheer number of times everything went wrong. So many horrible things had happened . . . my abandoning of my friends . . . the loss of Rachel . . . the tormenting of Scott . . . the ruining of the life that had once been mine. And in that split-second, realizing how Erin and I were fearfully hiding from such a ruthless individual, the remorse, pain, and guilt that I’d suffered over every single thing that took place in the past months mutated into heated anger.
My fists tightened as a scowl formed on my facial features. I took Erin by the shoulder, lifting her from my bosom and holding her upward, looking deeply into her eyes. “I want you to run,” I whispered, barely audible.
“What? What will you do?” she questioned, worry over my fate clearly in her mind.
“Don’t worry about me. I want you to be safe. Just run, as fast as you can, to the other side of the courtyard,” I tersely commanded, urgence in my voice.
“I don’t want you to be hurt. Please . . .” Our gaze reached a peak, our intense feelings for each other becoming obvious to both of us in the desperate situation. Neither wanted to part, but I knew that if she were to escape danger it would have to be done. Gulping, I leaned forward, and for the first time, I kissed her, putting every single ounce of love I felt for her into that one action, evoking her passionate return.
Pulling myself away from her lips, and taking one more glance up at Kevin, I repeated, “Run, Erin. Run, now!” My imperative plea finally affecting her after our embrace, my beloved was compelled to stand up and flee across the grass as Kevin whirled in her direction.
“Come back here, b**ch!” he screamed, taking off and storming away. They ran past the collectiveness of several classrooms, and upon reaching a bunker in mid-construction, he was gaining on her. He swiped at her back with vehemence, just inches away from overtaking the helpless young woman.
I jumped up, grabbing a tree branch and swinging myself through the air to slam at his back, knocking both of us to the ground. Erin sped around the corner for the parking lot, concurrently Kevin and I clamoring to our feet, posturing bodies in defense positions. We slowly moved sideways, rotating while directly facing one another, our vengeful eyes bubbling with outrage.
“Afraid you’re too late for this. If you’d come here doing this just a few months ago, I would have let you beat me, but not now. I’m not going to let you destroy the one good thing that’s happened to me!” I shouted, unable to control my rage.
“You can’t stop what’s meant to be, f**k,” he spat, snapping his forearm down towards the incomplete bunker, grabbing one of the metal poles lying there and whipping it in my direction. I ducked, rolling myself across the pavement, only to meet the side of the object. I was thrown backwards, slamming against a cement column behind. Kevin took a step forward, glaring down at me like I was pitiful. He raised his rod up and brought it down into my upper body, leaving a gash from my shoulder to abdomen as I howled in pain. “You can’t beat me. After what you did in there, Erin will never see you again. I’ll make sure of that,” he hissed, a tone in his voice to imply the dreaded.
The hot fire that burned within me, the one that had been controllably started by pain, but had now roared to overtake me, wouldn’t let me lie there to give up, as I’d done so many times in the past. I grunted, throwing myself around him and landing next to another metal pole, grasping it and tossing my body sideways to avoid another blow from Kevin, causing his rod to strike the ground with a loud ring.
I hopped to my feet, bursting forward and putting all my strength into a series of smashes, such quickness and harshness in each one, he began to falter in blocking them all. Refusing to accept even a passing thought of defeat, Kevin screamed, whirling around to direct his weapon at my head. I bent down, delivering a blow to his knees and spinning to wind up at his back, thrusting my elbow into it. He jumped backward to meet me, smashing his pole against my shoulder to leave a giant bruise. I turned my saber sideways, hurling his own in the other direction to knock his chin, afterwards taking a step back. Before he could give another reaction, I delivered a final kick to his stomach, shoving him up against the bunker, grabbing both of our poles and throwing them at his chest.
The man slumped to the ground, fatigued. “This isn’t the end, you b**tard,” he whispered, before being knocked out cold, yet not nearly as bloodily battered as I was. When the anger began to die down, the fire diminishing, I was put into a state of horror over what had just occurred. I stood still, the wind that had done its best to warn me of danger with its lonely howls before I’d even left for the Winter Party, returned in full force, sweeping around my body in mourning. I locked my vision on the aftermath of the gritty brawl, unable to conceive the magnitude pure hate had fueled me in the battle, terribly frightened by it.
As much as I’d tried to stop my relationship with Erin from being ruined, as much as I’d tried to fight to protect it . . . what I’d left behind was a horrible mess. While I walked through the dark byways of the campus, dirtied and beaten, I remembered what Kevin had said.
“You can’t stop what’s meant to be . . . this isn’t the end . . .”
Maybe I was meant to bask in the black abyss of sorrow and despair, for no matter how hard I tried, no matter what I did, everything went wrong. Every bad thing that occurred was worsened, and the lone wonderful thing that had uplifted me was now charred. As a lump formed in my throat, I hopelessly wondered if it could possibly get any worse.
It would.
To be continued in Entry III . . .
1/23/2003 9:38:52 PM
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