The Blue Blaze: Chapter 1

Thump, thump, thump, my heart beat like a drum as I backed into a wall.
"You're weak, Ethan! You're always gonna be weak, and guys like me are gonna step on you for the rest of your worthless life!" Troy bared his teeth.
Should I dodge? Should I run? What should I do!? Troy shoved me against the wall and pressed his forearm onto my throat.
"Leave me alone, jerk!" I spat on his face.
The veins in Troy's neck throbbed. He let go of me, letting me fall to the ground. Garbage liquid streamed from the dumpster next to me. I nearly threw up from the smell. Troy kicked me in the stomach, hard, over and over again. My stomach begged for mercy.
My mom had reported him and his gang to the principal. Troy didn't like being scolded and took his anger out on me. Initially, I only needed to exist around him to get a beat down.
"Oh, look at him!" crouched Amanda, Troy's wench of a girlfriend. "I think the baby's about to cry!" She laughed.
Troy lifted me by the collar and drove a fist into my face; I crumpled into the fetal position. I could feel my eyes morph on and off, from human to reptilian every half second. My body reacted that way when distressed but always returned to round pupils.
"That'll teach him," snickered Jason, one of his lackeys.
"Next time, stay quiet." Troy stomped on my side. "And stay down, worm…"
Troy and his crew started to step out of the school dumpster area. "You gave him a good beating!" laughed William.
Tears burst out of my eyes. "I'm sick of this…" I whimpered, hugging my bruised stomach. At least his shoes weren't steel-toed.
Someone peeked out of the corner of the dumpster area. Though I could only see a silhouette, I recognized my best friend since grade school. "I hoped it wasn't you when I saw him leave here!"
"Let's get you to the school nurse, dude."
"School's over today." I had difficulty swallowing. "I doubt there's anyone here, Keith."
"There has to be someone." He slid an arm around me and helped me up. "Geez, he got you bad."
"I think this time was worse than usual," I coughed.

Walking inside the school building, we saw Nurse Kelly lock up her office for the day. She turned and took one good look at me and sighed. "Again, Ethan?"
"Hey!" shouted Keith. "It's not like he wanted to get beat up! Give him some slack!"
"Bring him inside," she crossed her arms and returned inside.
Keith gently let me slide onto the seat.
"Same kid?" Kelly asked as she checked my body.
"Troy… Ouch!" I winced as she checked my stomach.
"Thought so. That jock's been bringing in kids like crazy. At least ten a week, not including you."
Keith creased his brows. "Something should really be done about that guy…"
"You think the school wants to kick out their star football player? A public high school having an amazing football team is one thing. A private school having one? The odds are slim to none."
She placed an ice pack on my stomach. "Hold this, please."
I took a hold of the icepack. "So football players, specifically Troy, can do no wrong?"
The nurse took out some pain relievers. "It seems like it. The school wants to be like one of the more famous schools, so they sweep things under the rug and do the minimal."
I huffed, and what looked like slight steam came out of my nose. "That's some bull."
Nurse Kelly looked at me. "Normally, I wouldn't say anything to that statement from a student, but I'm off my work hours anyway. I agree. The school just wants your parent's money, nothing else."
"So Ethan's mom works more than half the day to pay nearly a thousand per month in tuition so the school can let him get beat up?"
The nurse frowned and gave a sad shrug. "Seems to be the sad reality of things. Alright, you're all done. Just keep that ice pack and take some of these if the pain is too much." She handed me a small bottle of painkillers.
"Thanks, Nurse Kelly." I gave a small smile.
"Uh-huh. Take care of yourself, Ethan."
Keith slid an arm around me again. "I gotcha, bud."
We left the nurse's office, but even walking hurt too much. I took the painkillers by a water fountain. The pain was eased a bit, so we were able to step out of the school without me having to lean on Keith for support.
"I thought you were trying to avoid him," said Keith.
"I was! He didn't get me during school hours, but I was running to the exit as soon as it ended. Unfortunately, Troy and his gang followed and cornered me there."
Keith sighed. "You know I train in martial arts. Why don't you let me teach you some stuff?"
"I would. I really would. But you know my mom has this 'no violence' and 'turn the other cheek' policy."
"So you're not allowed to defend yourself?"
"Guess not. She wouldn't even let me in Aikido, much less Karate."
"Let me talk to your mom. Maybe I can convince her. That big bruise on your stomach should be more than enough evidence."
"I doubt she'll budge, but you can try. If my dad were here, maybe he could teach me some stuff behind her back. From what my mom told me, he was a pretty good fighter, but she hated violence and still does. Maybe that's why they split up."
"You never saw your dad since you were 3, right?"
I grimaced and clenched my fists. "Or so my mom says. From then on, she's had horrible luck finding a boyfriend. I think she gave up at this point.” I despised him for leaving.
I wonder why parts of my body morph. My eyes turn reptilian when I'm distressed, and my nose jets steam when I'm angry. It's not natural for anyone else. Is it?
"Ever wonder what it would be like to transform into something?" I ask, trying to change the subject.
"Like turn into a dog or something? That'd be pretty cool."
"Not like a dog, a mythical creature, a dragon, maybe?"
"Ooh. That sounds way better. Never thought about that. Why?"
"They're creatures I've always had an interest in. But you know that already."
"Yup," Keith laughed. "I remember when we were younger, we always looked for them in the forest by the park."
"The most we could find was a couple of lizards and little salamanders."
"It would be pretty awesome to turn into a dragon, being a fire-breathing monster and all-."
I winced at the word "monster".
"but if you were to turn into one, don't you think you'd be hunted down or captured and worked on by those crazy scientists?"
"Yeah… I'd rather not be poked and prodded all day and possibly night. Life would be hell."
"Would you even be able to speak English? Or do you think it would just be roars and other sounds?"
"I would hope I'd be able to speak any human language. If I'm roaring, saying, 'Don't probe me, bro!' would be difficult. Though I imagine they're intelligent enough to pick up a language or two."
"But first, you must deal with your entire skeleton and body turning into a dragon's and sprouting wings. I imagine that would be insanely painful."
Well, I didn't feel any pain when my eyes were morphing. Maybe I wouldn't feel a thing if I were to turn into one.
"Hey," Keith checked inside his backpack. "Isn't one of our literature books about a dragon killer?"
"Well, a monster killer for sure, but I think I heard he did kill a dragon once. Beo-something."
"There it is!" He snatched the book from his backpack, "Beowulf."
"That's the one. It takes place around Denmark and Sweden, right?"
"Yeah… Imagine being able to rip a monster's arms off with your bare hands! That's amazing!"
"I don't think I would necessarily call Grendel a monster, though. He killed a bunch of people, sure, but the only reason he went on a murder spree in the mead hall was that the warriors were way too loud, from my understanding. I bet you've had loud neighbors you wanted to do something about, haven't you?"
"Other than the occasional parties, that's no reason to go on a massacre. From the warrior's point of view, they just wanted to have a good time, and some creature came and killed them all for little to no reason. Couldn't you say they were defending themselves?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I guess that's a fair point."

Thankfully, my house was only a ten-minute walk, just a short distance.
"Thanks for walking me back. Do you want something to eat while we wait for my mom? Maybe some soda?"
"Oh no, thanks. I couldn't possibly."
"Alright then," I said as we sat on the couch. I slid out my math homework and set it on the table before us. "Might as well get some work done while we wait."
"Good idea."
My mom opened the front door as we were on the thirtieth trigonometry question.
"I'm home- oh, there you are. Hello, Keith." she looked at us on the couch.
"Good evening, Ms. Duran," said Keith.
"How was your day, Ethan?"
"Oh…" I gulped. "It was okay. Not too much happened."
"He got the crap beaten out of him again," Keith stated.
"Keith!" I hissed. He didn't even look at me.
My mom gasped. "Oh, my goodness. What happened?"
"Nothing happened!"
Keith lifted my shirt, exposing my purple stomach. "Troy happened. Again."
I shoved my shirt down and clenched my fists.
"Is that true?" asked my mom.
"Yeah…" I slowly nodded.
"I need to talk to the school again. They shouldn't let this happen!"
"No!" I stood up and slowly sat back down, realizing my tone. "Mom, I know you're trying to help, but you're just making it worse. Telling the teachers or principals doesn't do anything. If anything, it makes Troy even more angry."
"Well, what else can I do?"
"Please, let me learn martial arts. Let me learn how to defend myself."
"No. You know how I feel about those 'arts.' You shouldn't return evil for evil. An eye for an eye makes the world go blind, you know? There is no reason why you should use violence. You turn the other cheek and forgive."
"What if you're constantly getting attacked?" I cried.
"The best way is to tell someone of higher authority. I know it's hard, but-"
"It's not just hard. It's impossible!" I stood up, ran to my room, and slammed the door, locking it. I can't believe what my mom is saying. She might as well have said just to stand there and keep getting beat. Never stand up for yourself. Never defend your life and be a useless pacifist! Being a pacifist never got anyone anywhere, just an early grave. I hated being helpless.
I heard Keith and my mom talking and the front door being shut. I was so upset that I didn't even think of saying bye to him.
I barely left my room, only getting something to eat from the fridge and grabbing the rest of my homework. It was around 6 in the evening, and I still had some reading to do.
Around 7 pm, I was reading the last part of Beowulf, where he fights and kills the dragon and dies right after the fight. I never liked that scene or any media depicting the dragons as evil and needing to be purged. I received a text from Keith.
"Meet me at the gym tomorrow after school ends."