Once Again

"I’m nobody" he replied.

"My mom says not to talk to strangers."

"That’s ok, I won’t hurt you. You can trust me."

"Weeell…"

"That’s the spirit, now tell me why you’re mad."

"Well, there’s this kid that’s always been bothering me. He is the teachers pet and gets away with anything. Like today, what happened was that we were playing a quiz game in class and I missed a lot of questions, which I just heard wrong, and Anthony, that’s his name, got ‘em all right. Then he came over and started making fun of me at lunch. He started taunting me and annoying me. I reached a point when I just couldn’t hold it in anymore and I started fighting with him. Then there was a teacher the broke up the fight, but I got the worse punishment. I just know I did because the teacher’s pet never gets punished."

"Do you wanna get back at this Anthony kid?"

"Sure."

"Well, I have something here that might just help you get back at him. I have a gun here; you can use it to scare Anthony out of his pants. I promise you, once you point this at him, he will never bother you again. Just come back here and hand this back to me tomorrow. I’m trusting you kid, don’t show this to anyone, especially your parents and teachers."

"Yeah okay. Thanks for giving me this. I really owe you one, I wish you could be there to see the look on Anthony’s face when I point this at him."

"Yeah, Yeah, sure, me too kid. Now go away, I don’t want anyone to see us together."

"Bye."

Dave then walked away after putting his gun in the innermost area of his backpack, where it would be safe. He arrived home late because he had talked to the stranger. He also had a blue sticker on his shirt. This told his mother that he had breached one of the rules of the school.

"Dave, what did you do?" His mother demanded sternly.

"Well, I… Well I got into a scuffle with Anthony because he was making fun of me for missing some question on today’s quiz game. Then, when the fight was broken up both of us were taken to the office and I was given an unfair punishment." Dave replied.

"Dave, we’ve had this conversation before. The teachers are treating you both fairly. I’m sure he got punished just as much as you did. Now, why were you late?"

"I was walking home with Justin."

"Who is Justin?"

"A new friend, I met him at school today." Dave fibbed.

"All right, now go start your homework and never get in trouble like that, honey. I don’t want you to become a bad boy now. You understand, right?"

"Yeah, I do."

The rest of the evening flew by. Dave did all the routine things and went to sleep, dreaming of the look on Anthony’s face. To him this was as much fun as contemplating his visit to the stars.

That morning, Dave was up before his dad and was ready 30 minutes early for school. He could not have been happier when he boarded the bus.

"This is going to be fun," said Dave to himself.

That afternoon, at recess, Dave finally had the opportunity to get back at Anthony. Dave had the gun in his pocket, and Anthony, as usual, was coming to make fun of him. When Anthony came close to Dave, Dave pulled out the gun.

Anthony’s face became pure white and he froze in his footsteps. Dave pointed the gun at Anthony, feeling jubilant inside. He had done it; he was now sure Anthony would never make fun of him again.

Then, the unthinkable happened. In his jubilation, his arm pulled the trigger. The moments that followed were horrifying. Dave could see the bullet leaving the shiny barrel of his gun. He had thought that the gun was not loaded. The bullet tore through the air and hit Anthony in the chest. Anthony’s eyes grew large with pain and his eyeballs turned over as he fell the ground.

Dave realized the enormity of his action and started asphyxiating.

"I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to." He said hoarsely to no one in particular

He fainted and fell to the ground. He would never walk on a star.