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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/02321 on 2024-11-08 21:06:01+00:00.
This happened a few years ago. To be honest, I’m only now ready to get it all off my chest.
It was Halloween and the parties were insane that night. The tips in leftover candy almost made working that night worth it. The last house of the night belonged to a person I hated. Actually, to the person I hated the most in the world.
Back before I got into college, I did some dumb stuff. Or, mostly the group I hung around did some dumb stuff. We were bored without any cash to entertain ourselves. The one time we took it too far and broke into our high school at night to trash it. I hung back and mostly watched. I did doodle on some chalkboards and arranged the dead animals in jars from the science room around the school for people to find. I didn’t do that much damage, but I watched my friends cause trouble. I regret my teenage actions and have been trying since then to be a better person.
Ken somehow found out about what we were going to do back then. He recorded the crime but did not hand it in to the police, but to use the footage for blackmail. If he emailed that recording to my college that was it. I would be kicked out. In all those years he only demanded free food from my jobs leaving me to foot the bill. It was entirely possible the recording wasn’t clear enough to build a case on, but I hadn’t wanted to take that risk.
I wanted to put it all past me. I didn't even know why I let myself hang around people like that back then. That Halloween I decided I refused to be blackmailed any longer. I would confront Ken and make him pay for his own damn pizzas.
I knocked on the door as hard as I could to be heard over the music. It took a while before someone answered. The costumes that night so far were all pretty creative. When I saw the one who opened the door it made me pause. His makeup was too damn good. It made my skin crawl in a way I didn’t expect. It was a simple costume and yet it worked. The one side of his face looked as if mushrooms were growing out of his cheek. His eyes were a dull blue as if he was a corpse. When he smiled it looked as if he wasn’t really looking at me but rather at something else no but him could see. This guy was mostly likely high as a kite.
“There is a nice lady at the door.” He said over his shoulder to no one behind him.
The music poured from the open doorway and I hesitated. I could just go inside and confront Ken, but didn’t want to do so if there was a crowd. From the sounds of it, there were at least a few people inside. I waited for someone else to come by for a few minutes. When there was no sign of that happening, I asked the man who answered the door if I could see Ken. He nodded stepping aside. Honestly, the guy was a bit of an airhead and I couldn’t help but like him. Even with that creepy costume. What on Earth was a guy like this doing at Ken’s place?
I walked into the living room, the music getting louder. Scanning the room, I spotted my mortal enemy, and he noticed me at the same time. The party was just some loud music with a small crowd of his good-for-nothing friends all smoking and drinking. It made the room smell awful; I already had a headache. Ken walked over, his face hadn’t aged a day since high school. He was tall and skinny. His front teeth were a bit too large for his mouth and his eyes were a bit too small and dark giving him a rat-like appearance. Rat Face was a nickname that stuck with people behind his back. He said something but I couldn’t head a damn thing over the music. We needed to step halfway through the hallway to talk.
“I don’t see any pizzas in your hand.” He said with that rodent grin of his.
“I don’t see any cash in yours.” I shot back arms crossed.
He almost looked scared for a second someone was standing up to him. The mushroom guy from before was coming our way, not even aware of the fight that was about to happen. I didn’t think he was aware of much right then. Ken reached out to grab his wrist and pulled the guy in closer. From what I heard Ken didn’t care about anything when I came to partners. As long as he could get into someone’s pants, he was happy. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like any of this. The mushroom guy was barely present. Ken shouldn’t be around someone like that. Without any doubt, he would take advantage of this guy if I left them alone. Hell, I bet Ken was the one who loaded him up.
“You need to get people high to get them to even touch you?” I said disgusted. “What’s his name? I’m getting him home and taking your pizzas with me if you don’t pay for them.”
“Aw Gary, she’s being so mean. We even ordered them with extra mushrooms for you. He likes mushrooms in case you can’t tell.” Ken wasn’t taking my threats seriously.
He let out a cackling laugh that got on my every nerve.
“Gary, sweetie you can leave with me if you want. I’ll get you home.” I offered hoping my voice got through to him.
“He wants to stay. I didn’t even give him anything. He came like this. A nice little guy we stumbled into. He'll do anything you’ll ask. Like, anything. We wanted to see how far we can take those requests tonight, you know after we eat some pizza. Isn’t that right Gary?”
I could have punched Ken’s little rat teeth out. I looked down at the mushroom-covered face expecting some sort of worried or confused expression. Gary simply smiled and nodded as if we were talking about the weather. Ken had to be lying that Gary wasn't drugged up. That far off look in his eyes simply wasn’t natural. I couldn't leave him here with other dirtbags like Ken. I reached out my hand to grab Gary, only to have Ken pull him in closer.
“Pizzas for my new friend, please. Or do you think I only have one video of you? One of the girls owed me something and I got her to record a bunch of you changing back in school. If you don’t listen to me, that is going to be put on the internet before you can scream.”
He was bluffing, he had to be. My face grew pale and my hands started to shake. No one would do something like that for him. I thought back to school of how many times I’d gotten changed after gym class. Thankfully I always went very quickly and never fully got undressed.
“You know that shit is illegal right? You’ll-” I started and his squeaking laugh cut me off.
“Do you know how hard that is to get taken down? And how many pervs will see it before you can even get one video removed? I can make it so it’s never leaked back to me. And it’s your word against mine! So run along and-”
This time I cut him off. I punched him as hard as I could in his face. His nose gushing blood the moment I pulled my fist back. I was so sick and tired of his bullshit. He lived his entire life making up lies trying to make himself appear like a hot shot and I bought into it for too long. This bastard already took up far too much of my time thinking about him and dreading a video that might not even be real. Within seconds I lost all sense of reason. I got him on the ground and unloaded years of frustration into his face. And I soon realized this wasn’t all just for me. I’ve heard so many stories of him tormenting every person he ever comes across. How many girls had he recorded without their permission? If it was even just one, he deserved this beat down.
He got some blows in. My nose also started to bleed and he was able to yank out some hair when he ripped off my hat. Overall, I was winning.
A friend of his noticed what was going on. A set of hands lifted me from under my arms and I was dragged kicking and screaming out of the house. I swear if someone didn’t pry me off of Ken, I would have killed him. I was placed on the front porch to calm down. No one called the cops because they didn’t want that kind of attention.
A while passed and I couldn’t bring myself to leave. I just sat, dabbing at my bleeding nose.
The door opened and Gary came out with my hat and a red scarf. He handed me both.
“It’s cold out. The scarf should help.” He said sitting beside me.
His calm smile helped me settle down. I really didn’t want to leave him behind and was glad I got some punches into Ken for even considering taking advantage of this guy. I used the scarf to clean off some of the blood and put my hat back on.
“Do you really understand what is going to happen to you if you stay? I can take you anywhere you want.” I should have just grabbed him and dragged him away.
In the back of my mind, I was certain Ken really did have something on me and would drop it all online if I took away his new plaything. He might already have done it as revenge after getting his ass kicked. Gary paused to look off into the distance considering his choices. When he finally smiled again, I wanted to believe he would be alright.
“I like making new friends. I’ll be fine. I'm tough, I won’t do anything I don’t want to do. I promise.”
I chewed on the inside of my mouth still on the fence about leaving him. I would have pressed the matter if a car hadn’t pulled up next to mine. A friend of mine rushed out towards us, his face twisted in concern.
“Aiden, what are you doing here?” I asked having no idea why he just arrived.
We’ve known each other since high school. I’ve had a crush on him for years. One I never acted on always feeling as if he was way out of my league. He knew of Ken, but I didn’t think he knew where he lived.
“One of the guys called me. Did you really get in a fight?” Aiden asked the moment he stoppe...
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