Tragedy

I ran to the back of the school house, Sally’s words playing back in my mind.

“How long has it been, I hope Ein is-”

*Smack*

I heard the sound of someone being hit, and as I turned the corner I saw it. Marcus and his goons were standing over Ein, he was on the ground covered in scraps and bruises. Marcus seemed to be wiping a small patch of blood from his cheek, he gave Ein and look of disgust before addressing him.

“How many times do I have to tell you before you understand, you’re not welcome here! Especially when you’re busy doing crap like this!”

“*Sniff* W-why! Why are you always so mean to me!”

I could see it, Ein’s eyes were full of tears. His body was battered by those three, and then they have the nerve to ridicule him. At that point I saw red.

“Don’t even start! We saw you, don’t think you can-”

Marcus didn’t have a chance to finish, I pounced on him from behind and slammed his head into the ground. His cronies yelped realizing I was watching them, all it took was a death glare to make them freeze. After that I pounded Marcus’ head in, shouting at him for what he did. I couldn’t get much good hits in because he blocked the back of his head with his hands. After a while I got up, but not before kicking him in the ribs. Marcus wallowed in pain as his cronies went to nurse him. I went over to Ein to check on him.

“Ein, are you okay?”

“*Sniff* Nina…”

“Gahh, You Damn Idiot! I told you to stay out of this!”

Marcus got up with the help of his friends, the little brute’s starting to yell at me now. Seeing Ein like this makes me so mad!

“You didn’t even bother hearing our side, you bloody oaf! Look at what happened to us!”

I stared at Marcus and his cronies, and noticed something strange. Marcus’ left cheek had a small wound on it, that’s where that blood on his cheek came from. As for his goons, they both had strange cuts on their arms and knees. How did they get hurt like that?

“*Sniff* Hawthorne, why would they do that to poor Hawthorne.”

What? What is Ein saying? Before I could ask him what he meant, I heard it. It was a faint chirping sound. I turned back to face Ein and discovered the reason he was on the ground battered. In his hands was a baby bird slowly dying, an older bird laid in front of him with two other babies. They were already dead, that’s when I saw the large tree at the back of the school house. I remembered there was a family of birds living there, my mother would leave feed out for them sometimes. The nest of those birds was on the ground, with a rock next to it. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, then I looked back at Ein mourning his friends. It’s obvious what happened here, I turned back to face Marcus enraged.

“Wait, I know how this looks. Please you’ve got to lis-”

I walked over to him in pure disgust and slapped him across his face. No one said anything, not even Marcus who was red with fury before. I chose to break the silence.

“Leave here, right now.”

“W-Wait, this isn’t-”

“My mother fed those birds, they were just peacefully living and you-”

I looked back at that dying chick, and it stopped moving. Ein quietly sobbed, and I started to cry. After all, I knew what it felt like to be from a broken family. I looked back at Marcus more angry than I’ve ever been in my life.

“If you don’t leave within the next 10 seconds, I’ll make sure to tell my mom about this. You know she’ll make sure to tell own mother about this.”

“Eep! No wait-”

“And if you don’t leave in twenty seconds, you and your friends won’t be walking straight after the beating I’ll give you.”

“Gah!”

Marcus repulsed after hearing that threat, it looked like he wanted to say more but his cronies started pulling him away. They nodded their heads no as they got him out of here, at least they have some sense. With that devil gone I looked back at Ein who was crying, I walked back to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

“Ein, it’s time to go…”

“No…”

“...Ein Please.”

“...I don’t want to say goodbye. Please just let me stay here a bit longer.”

I couldn’t say anything to that, I couldn’t even summon the strength to hold Ein and give him a shoulder to cry on. I simply sat there in front of him, and my tears began to fall freely. It was weird, it was like a mirror. We were both in front of one another doing the same thing, feeling the same emotions, and embracing the same pain.