The Silent Deceivers

Chapter 4

Everything Changes

It had been a week since the incident in the park and I was eager to meet up with David. I’d been getting the silent treatment for him all week, texts were read but no reply was sent. Abby hadn’t heard anything either so we were on a mission to find him.  It was also the day my parents and brother were returning home, I made sure I had done all my homework and that the house was reasonably tidy so they wouldn’t come back and have a go at me, before I left. Sam helped me to clean up the mess we had created and I gave him a brown envelope containing one hundred and fifty pounds and a bottle of whisky out of Dad’s alcohol cupboard to say thank you. He was a little suspicious until I told him where I’d got it from. He said thank you and then left, not to been seen until money was mentioned again. I wrote a note to my parents saying that I was out with Abby and Grace, just in case they came back early and then walked out the front door.

It was a miserable day, rain was pouring down and there was a strong wind.  It was like the summer had come and gone. Throughout the whole journey into town, I kept on going over what had happened last weekend and the state David was in when we finally caught up with him. Something didn’t add up. I had never seen him so angry. David never got that angry. David never got that angry.  I could still hear his words clearly in my mind and I could picture the emotions of hatred and anger in his eyes. I was praying that the storm clouds had blown over.

Water splashed my jeans as I ran down the high street. It was once again empty. As I walked through the precinct I heard someone shout my name. I stopped and turned around since it had come from behind me. I turned around to see Abby, David and Grace standing against the Music Shop doorway. I could tell that something bad had happened after just looking at them for a second. The usual banter between Abby and David was nowhere to be seen, instead Abby had tears streaming down her face and David had his hood up. All three of them kept staring at the floor as I approached, which made my stomach tighten into a knot.

“What’s happened?” I asked.

Grace looked at me and took a deep breath but just as she about to tell me, David look up, pulled down his hood and muttered the word “this”. I gasped in horror. David’s face was covered in bruises and cuts. As I looked at David closer I could see a blue cast wrapped around his wrist. I was speechless; I was so in shock. David turned and without another word he walked into the Music Shop muttering under his breath. I made out to follow him but Grace pulled me back. After the door had closed behind him, I sat down next to Abby on the bench as she began to explain what had happened. She told me that Aden did not like the fact he had been made to look weak in front of his gang so he organised a re-match. Although David had originally said no to the idea, he was ambushed and dragged at knifes point to behind the school to where Aden was, so it could be settled once and for all. David had been attacked from all angles by multiple members of the gang so it was an unfair fight. He was left lying on the ground with a fractured wrist, three broken ribs and a cut up face.  Just moments after Abby had finished, David walked back out through the music shop door.  We just stood there in silence for ages, I kept going over I had been told. I glanced at David, and I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. The cuts and grazes on David’s face were unbearable to look at. I couldn’t make sense of it. It wasn’t right. It was as if David’s light had been distinguished and his spirit had been taken. He was just lifeless.  After eleven years of knowing David, I had never seen him this way before. He normally didn’t care about what people said about him, he normally wouldn’t lash out like he did. The awkward silence was interrupted by David’s announcement that he was going home. Without looking back he walked towards the rain pouring down outside. We watched sorrowfully as David moulded into the crowd walking to the train station. We tried to carry on with other conversations but it was no good we kept doing a full circle and the conversation always turned to David or Aden. After a while Abby suggested that we go shopping to take our minds off of it and to cheer us up but it didn’t work as the atmosphere was still there. In the end we decided to head home because we all needed to recover from the shock. I looking forward to being by myself, the situation had really been getting me down as it conjured up haunting memories that I had been trying to push to the back of my mind and forget about.