1

A teenage boy wearing loose jeans and converse shoes walked into the classroom. He looked around at all the kids talking and laughing with each other. He frowned and tried to walk to the back of the room without being noticed. He was about to sit down when the teacher noticed him.

“Mr. Delaney?” she asked. The boy stopped and looked up at her. She was probably in her mid forties and her hair was pulled into a casual bun. She smiled at him. “Come here, please. I want to introduce you to the class.”

The boy groaned inwardly and moved back to the front of the room. Standing in front of the now quiet class, he looked at his feet. The teacher, Ms. Peters, smiled.

“Class, this is our new student from Ohio. His name is Mark Delaney. Say hi to Mark.”

Most people said hi, but Mark just wanted to melt into the floor. He couldn’t believe that they still did this sort of thing in high school. An obvious jock in the back of the room snickered and whispered something to a very pretty blonde who, Mark could only assume, was a cheerleader. She covered her mouth and laughed softly.

Great. It was going to happen here too. Mark looked away and let his hair cover his eyes.

“Do you have anything to say, Mark?”

He frowned, his hair still covering his eyes. “No.”

She looked somewhat disappointed, but continued to smile as though he’d said something completely different. “Okay, why don’t you take a seat then?”

Mark didn’t respond, and instead found the seat farthest from the front of the room. It so happened to be in a corner, which suited Mark just fine. At lunch, he sat by himself and read a book. This was his routine that he had practiced since the sixth grade.

A week passed, and kids continued to bully him. The teachers pretended that they didn’t see anything, which was nothing new for Mark.

“Hey Mark!” someone yelled down the hallway, “Why does your dad keep moving Mark? Is he a criminal?”

The hallway erupted with laughter. Mark scanned the hallway for the bully and saw that it was the jock from the first day. He sneered and turned away. To ignore was always best. He began to walk away, but two football players grabbed his arms and held him steady.

“Please let me go,” Mark said flatly.

The jock was in front of Mark now. “Please let me go,” he mocked. His face contorted. “And why would I do that? You’re the son of a criminal. You should be punished.”

“My dad is not a criminal,” Mark countered.

The jock laughed. “Then why don’t you have a mom, Marky? Did she leave you, or did your dad kill her?” he snickered.

Mark almost lost his cool. He dropped his head and took a few deep breaths. “Don’t talk about my mom,” he whispered menacingly.

The jock grinned. “And what are you gonna do about it, huh?”

Cuss words streamed through Mark’s head, and a hundred different ways to kill this boy went along with them.

“What’s going on here?”

Everyone looked around to see the principal. The jocks let go of Mark immediately, but it was already clear what had happened. Mark rubbed his arms.

“We were just talking, sir. That’s all,” the jock said, laughing. Some kids nodded and went along with it. They knew what would happen if they didn’t. The principal sighed.

“What do you take me for young man?”

The jock whispered some words under his breath that the principal didn’t hear.

“Come with me, all of you.” Mark started towards the principal as well, but he held up a hand. “Not you. What happened here is clear. Go on.”

Mark was surprised, but the situation wasn’t any better. So the kids would get detention or maybe even suspension. Big deal. Now, the next time they saw him, it was going to be even worse. That was guaranteed. The jock looked over his shoulder to look straight at Mark. He mouthed two words.

You’re dead.

Mark shoved his hands in his pockets, and turned to walk away. Kids parted for him, as if they were afraid of getting sick by touching him. He trudged outside behind the school and sat down on the curb. He didn’t care that he was skipping class. A girl walked up from behind him and sat down on his right. Mark glanced at her and looked away.

“Shouldn’t you be in class?” he asked without any interest.

“Shouldn’t you?” she responded. Okay, he should have expected that.

“What do you want? I guess you want to make fun of me too.”

The girl laughed. “Hardly. What they did to you in there…it wasn’t right. Especially the way the rest of the kids went along with it. I’m sorry about it.”

Why was she apologizing? She didn’t do anything. Mark looked at the girl closely this time. She was beautiful. Mark blushed and looked away. “I still don’t understand what you want,” he muttered.

She looked at him and cupped his face in her soft hands so he would return the gaze. “I want to be friends.”

Mark’s face turned a deep red and he wrenched his face away from her hands. “I don’t have any friends,” he said. She laughed.

“I can see that. So what?” She waited for the response he wouldn’t give. “My name is Samantha,” she said finally, “but you can call me Sam.”

Mark smiled softly. “I guess you already know mine.”

She nodded. A few minutes later she asked, “So what does your father do?”

When he didn’t respond right away, Sam looked at him, afraid that she had offended him. And then he started to laugh. She smiled and laughed with him. Once done, they sat in comfortable silence until the bell rang.

Weeks passed and Mark and Sam became closer friends. When kids picked on Mark, Sam always stuck up for him and pulled him away when necessary. They hung out for hours after school every day and talked about the future. Sam said she wanted to be a movie director. Mark told her that he would watch all of her movies, and she laughed.

And then one day, Sam wasn’t at school. Mark didn’t think much of it, assuming that she was sick. After another few consecutive days of Sam’s absence, Mark began to worry.

One afternoon he stood in front of her house. He wouldn’t leave until he knew she was okay. It was a nice house with dark red bricks. There was a swinging bench on the porch. Mark knocked on the door. He knew that Sam’s father didn’t approve of him, and waited nervously. When the door opened, a large man stood in the entrance. His face contorted in anger.

“YOU! You have no business here! Get out!”

Mark flinched. “Sir, I don’t know what you’re talking—”

“You know very well what I’m talking about!” the man roared. “It’s your entire fault that she is this way now!”

Mark took a step back, uncomprehending. “What happened?”

The man shook with anger. “GET OUT!”

The door slammed in Mark’s face. He had no idea what just happened, only that Sam was hurt. Did the jock hurt her? Was it someone else? Mark began to turn away. The father’s words rung in his ears.

Was it his fault?

A force hit his stomach like a sledgehammer. Was it his fault she was hurt? If she had just left him alone, she would still be okay.

The door behind him opened, but it wasn’t the man. Instead, a small tired looking woman stood in the door frame. She beckoned to him.

“Hurry,” she whispered.

Mark walked in with no hesitation. The woman led him up a flight of stairs into a bedroom. It was purple. In the bed lay Sam.

“We have doctors come to treat her,” the woman said quietly. “We don’t want her in a hospital.”

“What happened?” Mark barely managed to get the words out.

“Some boys from school. They told her to stay away from you.” The woman backed up and closed the door behind her, leaving Mark and Sam alone. Mark didn’t know what to do as he walked to the bed. Sam had a black eye, and Mark inwardly winced.

“I’m so sorry Sam,” he whispered to her sleeping form. He reached forward and placed his hand on hers. “This is all my fault…I’m sorry.”

He removed his hand and walked back to the door. Sam’s mother stood outside it, waiting for him.

“Will she be alright?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Mark nodded and let her lead him out of the house. He thanked her for letting him in. That night he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Something knocked on his window and he ignored it. Just a stupid bird. It knocked again, and then again. Mark looked over, slightly annoyed. Sam sat on the curving tree outside his window. She smiled and waved. Mark’s jaw dropped and he ran to the window.

“Sam,” he hissed, “What are you doing here? You should be resting.”

She climbed through the window. “That’s so overrated.” She smiled at the face he made. “I came to tell you that my parents have decided that we are moving. My father wouldn’t even let me talk to you, so I snuck out.” She made a funny face.

“Where?”

Sam sighed. “It’s a long way away.”

Mark looked at his feet. “At least you won’t be in danger because of me.”

“Don’t say stupid things,” Sam snapped. “I chose to hang out with you and I don’t regret it. I’d do it all over again.”

“Do you mean that?” he asked.

“Of course. Jeez, Mark.” She took his hand and pulled him closer. “I hate this,” she whispered. “But I guess this is goodbye.”

“I’ll miss you,” Mark whispered.

Sam smiled, almost bitterly. “Yeah.” She leaned forward and kissed him. When she pulled back, her eyes were watering. Mark watched her climb out the window and down the tree. She disappeared into the darkness.

Mark sat down on his bed and touched his lips. Those boys had to pay. They all did. Mark remembered his father telling him once that control is power, something he never had. Mark glanced at his psychology book and smiled. Yes, they would all pay.

2

The room was silent as Delaney finished his story. Jake stood up and looked at Anna, his eyebrows narrowed in confusion. There was something that was still nagging her too as she thought about the story.

“I don’t understand…why couldn’t you just punish those boys…why did it have to be everyone?” Anna asked.

Delaney laughed, and Anna wondered if telling this story out loud had unhinged him just a little bit. “Don’t you understand, Anna? It wasn’t just those boys. I was bullied consistently everywhere I went, and we moved around a lot. Everyone has the potential in them, and that’s just the way it is.”

“But who are you to judge?” she demanded.

Jake responded before Delaney could. “Yeah, I mean, your story is terrible and I’m sorry that you went through that, but you have no right to control people’s lives like this!”

“You’re sorry? You’re sorry? What do I care that you feel sorry for me? People are weak and flawed. They are cruel and judgmental. I’m helping them; don’t you see?”

Jake looked around the room at the children. “Weren’t you listening? He just admitted to controlling your lives! You aren’t even living anymore; you’re being used to satisfy his revenge for something that happened almost a decade ago!”

Angie moaned on the ground. Delaney laughed and grabbed her by the shirt, hoisting her up. Jake ran to one kid with short black hair. He was wearing a tee-shirt for a band that Jake had never heard of.

“Hey!” He snapped his fingers in the boy’s face. “Are you even listening?” Jake grabbed the boy’s shirt and shook him. “He just said that he is using you! Wake up!”

For a moment, the boy resisted Jake, but suddenly began to calm down. “What?” he asked groggily. Jake looked like he could cry from happiness.

“You’re being used! You have to wake up and take your life into your own hands. If you mess up, then you mess up. Big deal. Learn from it. It doesn’t matter; just don’t let someone else live your life for you!”

The boy stared at Jake. “What am I doing here?” he looked around and spotted some of his friends. “What…?”

“Snap them out of it, okay? Tell them what I told you.”

The boy nodded. Jake turned around triumphantly as the boy went to his friends. Anna and Delaney stared at him.

“I read it in a book! It’s called ‘deprogramming’,” he explained. “You just need them to realize that they have no control and to get them to understand that. In most cases, they will then resist the hypnosis and leave the cult.”

“Wow, Jake. I’m impressed,” Anna said.

“Me too. I wasn’t entirely sure it would work,” he said with a nervous laugh. They looked at Delaney. He was stupefied. Anna took a deep breath and walked up to him.

“Mr. Delaney?” she tried. No response. She tried again, “Mark?”

He looked at her this time, but he wasn’t angry. In fact, he almost looked scared. The kids seemed to have realized what had been going on, and they began to crowd around him, all talking at once. They were yelling accusations at him. Delaney cowered slightly and let go of Angie.

“You’re a monster!” someone yelled. Delaney’s eyes went blank and he collapsed to his knees on the floor. It was clear to Anna that he was reliving his past.

“Stop it! Leave him alone!” Anna yelled. She pushed through the dense crowd and fell to her knees. “It’s okay Mark. I’m here.”

Delaney smiled. “Sam?” he asked. He looked up at her.

“No, I’m sorry, it’s Anna,” she choked out. Delaney sighed and looked down again. Anna pulled out her phone and called the hospital from the nearest town. She didn’t want hypnotized doctors. Then she called the police. The shocked children stood around and the room was silent.

3

“Mom and dad are talking about moving,” Jake said.

“No!” Anna yelled. “Things just got back to normal and now they want to move?”

Jake laughed. “Chill out, Anna. I said they are thinking about it. I didn’t say I approve of the idea.”

“Hn,” she muttered. It had been a week since the incident at Angie’s house and everyone was finally back to normal. Normal meaning that they aren’t hypnotized. The city was in a state of panic and disorder.

“Did you visit Angie today?” she asked.

Jake nodded and looked away quickly.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s nothing,” he replied defensively.

Anna snickered. “Did you ask her out?”

Jake flushed. “What? No! … Okay, maybe.”

Anna giggled. “I knew it.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Whatever. How’s Mr. Delaney doing?”

Anna sighed. “Turns out he suffers from depression. No surprise there right?”

“Will you keep visiting him?”

“Yeah. Every week. I’m trying to contact Samantha. You know what, she did become a movie director. Cool huh?”

“Hmph. Yeah, kinda.”

“I want her to come and see him…maybe it’ll help.”

Jake nodded. “Yeah, I bet it would.”

Anna looked outside from her window seat and saw some children playing in the yard next to them. A little boy pushed a toy car around and another boy and girl chased each other around, laughing. Anna smiled. She was sure it would all work out.

FINIS