A warning for all you kids. Adult language used ONCE in a lyric at the end of this chapter. If you get offended easily; don't read the last two lines. Or just get over yourselves. Whichever

The Yin Yang Sequence

Chapter 4

"No," I said simply, and turned to continue up the street.

"What?" Kate screeched from behind me. "No? No, no, no, Mark. I'm not taking no for an answer here."

She jogged forward and cut me off again.

"Just knock her out of the way and be done with it," snarled Ice. "I would rather not listen to her bitching all the way home."

"You're running away again," Cross muttered.

"It doesn't matter," I growled.

"Don't you tell me it doesn't matter," Kate said venomously, thinking the comment was aimed at her. "I love him, so it matters to me!"

Both Ice and Cross started shouting so loud at the mention of the word 'love' I couldn't even begin to guess what they were saying.

"If you love him so much…," I hissed, "Let…it…go."

I started back up the street again, shouldering past her as she tried to stay in my way.

"You know how hard it is for me to not know why he always gets so moody?" she demanded, trotting along to keep up with me.

I ignored her, trying to focus on the multi-colored trees surrounding all the houses. Anything to not hear her voice.

Or the voices in my own head…

"Don't you have any compassion?" she spat. "He still talks about you like you're his best friend. But I see how you always treat him like shit. I deserve to know why!"

"You don't DESERVE ANYTHING!" I yelled, spinning around and getting nose to nose with her.

I could feel a pounding like a million drums in the base of my skull. Everything was losing focus but her…

I was really pissed.

"He told me to ask you if I wanted to know so bad," she said fiercely, holding her ground. "So here I am. Putting aside all the…dislike I have for you. I want to be able to help him."

"You wanna help him?" I hissed. "Like I said; let it go. You don't want to know."

I turned around and continued stalking up the sidewalk, anger still coursing through my veins.

"Why don't you tell her?" hissed Ice, suddenly inches from my face. "Go into detail about her great love fell. How he screamed…"

"You should tell her for closure," said Cross, pushing Ice back a bit, The latter barred his teeth at Cross like a wild animal.

"Maybe she can help him," Cross pointed out.

"I'm not going to be the one to give her nightmares," I growled, continuing forward.

"I'm asking for it aren't I Mark?" she demanded.

She had somehow gotten in front of me again.

"Just tell me…," she pleaded.

My eyes locked onto her dark brown ones. There was a lot of emotion in there…a lot of the same emotions I had seen in others eyes…

In my own eyes once when I looked in the mirror…

"Fine," I growled. "But you're not going to like it."

I continued up the street, this time at a pace that Kate could follow comfortably.

"Five years ago," I began, "Me and Jason lived in the same neighborhood. Down in Virginia, his dad and mine were teaching at the same college."

"Yeah, yeah, he told me about that," she said, waving her hand impatiently.

"You want to hear the story or not?" I growled.

"Ok, ok," she muttered.

"Now there was a kid that was known to cause some trouble in that neighborhood," I continued, keeping my eyes firmly forward, not wanting to see her reaction at all.

"We were both still eleven, this kid was thirteen and smoking dope, thinking he was cool because his hat was sideways. Not many people liked him, but he had a 'gang' so no one messed with him."

I paused and took a deep breath at this part.

"Except me."

"Of course," she muttered.

"The kid was a jackass, someone had to stand up for everybody," I growled. "His name was Tim Gallerd and me and him were going to fight in the junkyard that night."

"Sounds like the beginning to some bad movie," Kate muttered.

"Probably should have been my warning sign," I said, the corners of my mouth twitching slightly at one of the few moments of humor I had.

"So you fought this kid. What does Jason have to do with this?" Kate demanded, both of us continuing down the deserted sidewalk.

"He came with me," I explained, glancing at her. And our two followers.

Kate, Ice, and Cross were all giving me intent looks; I could see the gears in all their minds turning.

"He figured Tim would just bring his gang like always and it would turn into a beat down with me on the bad end of it," I muttered. "So he stuck with me down there. He ended up being right, because we got there and Tim was there with four buddies to back him up."

"Asshole," Kate huffed.

I glanced at her, then continued on, "Jason wanted me to back down. Said we should've just turned back and left. It wasn't worth it is what he said."

We walked the next block in silence.

"Then…," she said, waving her hand along.

"I couldn't do it," I said flatly. "I couldn't bring myself to back down. There was…something," I glanced at Ice, "Something that would just not allow me to turn away from these guys."

She looked at me curiously while I gave Ice a hard look. I could still hear his voice whispering in my ear while I stared down Tim Gallerd…

"Tear this fool apart," he had spat, inches from my ear. "He continues to walk over everybody. Insults you daily… He's even gone as far to hurt the people you care about…"

I had a sudden flash of the girl I used to like; her face soaked while she told me how Tim had touched her where she didn't want to be touched…

A rage had consumed me back then… And nothing could have extinguished it… No amount of talking from Cross…

I had been out for blood.

"Mark… Are you alright?" Kate's nervous voice cut across my thoughts and I was suddenly back on a deserted street in Pennsylvania.

"Yeah," I grunted.

"Are you sure?" she said nervously. "You got…really pale all of the sudden…"

"I'm fine," I said forcefully. "Just…just thinking."

"So…what happened?" she asked. Her voice had dropped considerably since I began my tale.

"I told Jason he could go then," I said flatly. "I told him he didn't have to go through anything I maybe get hurt. So I did challenge Tim and his gang. But Jason didn't leave…"

Kate looked at me, horror starting to spread across her face. I think she was starting to put two and two together.

"So I fought," I continued on, my voice growing more and more monotone. "Three of them pounced on me. I remember what happened clearly… Cracked one's skull, one had a broken arm and dislocated knee… The third had to have surgery because I caved in his ribcage…"

Something had changed in my voice. I almost couldn't hear myself talking…it didn't sound like me.

It sounded like a hiss. Like Ice was talking for me, and he was reveling in the memory of what I had done.

"Jason didn't fare as well," I said. I turned around to face Kate, who had stopped dead on the sidewalk.

"He got one down. Knocked him out cold… But then Tim got to him… And guess what Tim had brought to the party? A knife," I spat.

I could hear Cross trying to say something to me but his voice sounded far away. All I could feel was Ice… Ice talking to me… Ice talking for me.

"And he carved Jason up like a pumpkin," I hissed. "By the time I could figure out where Jason and Tim had disappeared to I could hear him screaming at the top of his lungs. And when I got there… Oh, it was far to late…"

"Ok," gasped Kate, covering her ears. "Just… Just stop it! Enough!"

"Oh, no you don't," I growled. "You wanted to hear it so bad, so now I'm going to finish the damn story."

I grabbed her hands and forced them back down by her side.

"By the time I got there Tim had already had his fun. Jason was bleeding all over the place; pieces of skin hanging off his face…"

Kate was very white faced now.

"And Tim… Oh Tim just loved his handy work," I hissed, my eye's narrowing.

I remembered Tim's face… I remembered it well…

It was the face of a madman, on a thirteen year old. He had carved up a boy's face and felt it had been a valuable lesson. Even then I could see Tim was crazy.

But I was crazier… Oh, I had shown him…

"I got back at him in the end," I growled. "An eye for an eye. His face didn't look so pretty after I was done with it."

I removed my hands from Kate, and got down so I could look her in the eye. Her eyes were full of terror.

I could feel the anger radiating off my own.

"He spent weeks in the hospital," I hissed. "The doctors doing their best to try and put Jason back together again…"

Now Kate was trying to walk away from me, but I cut her off this time, inches from her face.

"But they couldn't do it. And little eleven year old Jason couldn't bare to look himself in the mirror," I spat. "The kid's teased him and called him scar face."

Tears were dripping from Kate's eyes now. But I was past caring.

A demon had taken over now.

"So little Jason tried to kill himself," I hissed on. "Multiple times in fact. He couldn't bare to remember anymore. So now, little Jason went to therapy every day for years… And you know what he eventually decided…"

I could tell she didn't want to know… But she was going to find out.

"He was going to blame ME FOR IT!!" I shouted. "He came to me and tried to pin what happened to him on ME! As if I could have somehow seen what was going to happen to him! As if I knew Tim was going to carve out his face! As if I knew that he couldn't take care of himself…"

Dripping tears were now waterfalls…

"So he moved… Far, far, away from the demon that was me," I hissed. "Far away from the person he blamed for everything… So Kate… are you happy you asked…?"

She didn't respond, she simply fled from me, sobbing into her hands.

I was breathing heavily now; a torrent of memories and emotions were running through me.

I wanted to smash something…

"You did well," said Ice slowly into my ear. "She needed to hear that."

"That wasn't necessary, Mark" sighed Cross sadly. "Just because I don't want you to run away from your problems doesn't mean I want you to scar everyone else with them!"

"I don't care," I growled, watching her retreating form. "She asked. She got her answers."

"Exactly," hissed Ice, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I shrugged it off though and continued my own way home, shouldering past both my tormenters on the way.

The brisk air hit me full in the face, rustling the trees around me and…for some reason, seeming to sharpen the flow of feelings I had.

I was seeing Tim's face again… Going over what had happened in my mind.

"You can't do this," he coughed. Blood came out. He was missing a few front teeth…he looked quite comical.

I grinned nastily, my hand tightening on the blade handle.

"What you did to him…" I hissed. "Is unforgivable. I should gut you like the pig you are."

Tim tried to back up. "No…," he sobbed feebly. Any insanity I had seen in his eyes was gone now. He was simply fearful.

"But…that's not near as much fun," I said in a low voice. "Better for you to suffer…"

"NOOO!!!"

"SHUT UP!" I screamed. My voice echoed off garage doors and bombarded the air with my scream.

Birds took flight in the distance. I was breathing heavily again.

I shook my head, and realized I had finally made it to my house.

It was a big, two story building, completely white in color. It had been built some one-hundred years ago so it was irresistible to my father.

Speaking of which…

"Oh, you're home now," said my dad, Samuel Lenords. He stood about six foot one, two inches shorter than me, and half as think. His black hair was thinning, but stood neatly on his head.

"I could say the same for you" I growled, shutting the door.

"Ha, boys got you there," said my mother, Sally Lenords. Her hair was thinning too, and beginning to turn gray. "When are you leaving again by the way? I want to know when the house won't stink of you."

"Sure that's just not your booze," I hissed, bounding up the stairs.

"Ha," said my dad lightly.

"Don't sass me," my mothers voice began to rise.

I slammed my door.

"Both of those fools…," growled Ice. "Impossible."

"They are your parents, you should make a better attempt at least," said Cross, sitting down lightly on the bed.

"I'm not in the mood," I muttered.

"One of the idiots should just leave already," snarled Ice, pacing my floor. "Or better yet, both of them should. That way we don't have to hear either one of them bitch."

"You know neither one of them can afford a new place to move out to," said Cross, glaring at Ice.

"Both of you- shut up!" I snapped.

They each spared a glance for me and then went back to glaring at each other.

I was sick of this. My head was spinning and I was ready for bed…at four in the afternoon.

I put my iPod in and rested back in my bed. The band I had been listening to before jammed back on.

After awhile I could feel myself drifting off; the music cutting off any thoughts.

I began fading, the music the only thing left…

"And it hurts to know that you belong here! Yeah… It's your fucking nightmare!"

Then I was out.