The Promise

Chapter 2

Ant felt terrified at this moment. Troy himself didn't understand what was happening to him at the moment. Troy's blood felt like it was boiling, the heat from his blood felt like it was penetrating his brain. Troy's body was moving on its own. "Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, smash his head on the ground. No one can talk about my mother and get away with it." Almost as if she could sense that she was losing him Leah turned to run after Troy.

When Troy reached Ant his fist flew before any words could be said. The punch landed right in the middle of Ant's nose. With a crunch ant stumbled backwards. Troy in his rage stuck close to the stumbling ant and threw a kick at his stomach. The kick sunk into Ant's stomach with a thud. Ants body folded over instantly. The impact from Troy's kick sent him rolling on the ground. Seeing all of this happening Leah, Mike, and James stare dumbfounded. Mike and James can't understand how the best fighter they know can be getting thrashed like this. Leah can't understand how its happening ether. For as long as she can remember Troy has never gotten in to a fight before. So how can he do what she just saw." Troy what has gotten into you? I've never seen this side of him." Right then Leah caught a glimpse of Troy's eyes.

"What is that? Is his eye red? What happen to the gold? Why do I feel scared by just remembering what I saw? Those eyes why do they feel so... so.. familiar?" while thinking these thoughts Leah stops in place and stares into thin air. Mike and James look at each other and start to move. Mike runs towards Troy in an attempt to ambush him from behind. James runs toward Ant to help him stand up from the ground. When Mike runs past Leah she wakes up from her daze. By the time she realizes what Mike is going to do it's too late. Troy reacts as if he has eyes in the back of his head and with a side step he sends Mike zooming past him.

Troy being in the mental state he's in was about to chase after Mike who just ran past him. "Troy stop please you have to stop." When Leah said those words a golden hue flashed past both of his eyes. "what am I doing?" Troy turns to look at Leah and that's when it happens. Wham! Mike hits troy in the back of his head with a piece of wood that he found on the ground. The right eye of Troy turns back to gold instantly after he was hit and the blood red of his left fades back to the usual red. With the head leading the rest of the body follows. Troy hits the ground hard. When James and Ant saw Troy hit the ground the both of them ran over an proceeded to stomp and kick him. "This is for my nose asshole" Ant with the help of his two friends continued to beat on the seven-year-old boy until he stopped fighting back. After Ant and his crew felt it was enough and that Troy learned his lesson they got ready to leave. Ant leans over Troy's prone body to whisper in his ear. "This is not over freak. I will pay you back for my nose." Once the threat was spoken Ant and his crew leaves to go to school.

Leah waits until she is sure that their gone before she runs to her best friend. She gets on her knees next to him on the ground. "Troy are you ok?" On the other hand Troy is on the ground trying to figure out what just happened. It felt like he wasn't in control of his own body during the entire fight. The only thing he remembers is hearing Ant talk about his mother and then blank. His next memory comes from Leah asking for him to stop. "What was that? Why did I get so angry? It felt like my blood started to boil and my mind was clouded by anger. No matter what I can't let mom see me like this." Troy sees Leah above him and tries to sit up. "Troy don't stand right now we need to get you help." "I'm fine Leah stop nagging me like you're my mother. It's not the first time I've been beaten up." Leah's body goes rigid upon hearing his words. Troy forces himself to stand. "Are you sure you're ok?" asks a worried Leah. "I'm fine so stop asking. Oh and I think it would be better if I walk to school by myself."

Leah who is still on the ground watches the boy she loves limp away by himself. She keeps telling herself to get up and catch him but her body doesn't want to listen. While on the ground she thinks about the fight again and now she wishes that she never said anything to stop him. "What happen to his eye? Why did it turn red?" While thinking of Troy's eyes at that time she couldn't help but shiver. Just by remembering the color of his eyes makes her afraid. The breeze flowing by seemed to get just a tad bit colder. The thing that she truly can't understand is why that eye color seems so familiar as if something is calling out to her.

Troy limps his way to school when his hand starts to tingle. Instantly the pain in his body drifts away. His limp goes away and his walk returns to normal. "What the hell is going on?" Troy stops walking and looks at his hand for some reason he feels like there's something helping him heal. As he stares at his hand he swears that it starts to shine a little bit. Just as fast as it came the shine and the feeling in his body disappears. The only reason that he doesn't think that he imagined the whole thing is because all of his injures are healed. "What was that? This honestly has to be the weirdest birthday I've ever had. Well whatever that was I'm happy that it happened now I might actually make it to school on time." After a quick session of stretching Troy takes off running towards his school.

The air blowing past his face helps him clear his head of everything that just happened. The harder he ran the less thoughts he had on his mind. Soon his school comes into view. On an average day it takes him a little more than fifteen minutes to get to school from where he got into the fight. With a quick look at his watch he realizes that it took him five minutes to get here. Not wanting to place anymore questions in his mind which he can't answer. Troy makes a decision to not think about how he got here so fast. Walking through the seven-foot-tall gates at the entrance of the school Troy looks for the grandmaster clock that is always placed to the right. "It's only eight o'clock I still have time before class starts." What Troy fails to notice is the way his fellow students were looking at him.

Walking into homeroom Troy finally notices that something is off. The desk that was assigned to him was not in the spot that it was yesterday. With a quick look around the room he sees a desk pushed into a corner away from the rest. Before he can even ask why his desk was moved he hears one of his female classmates whisper to her friend. "look it's the freak. You know I heard he sucker punched Ant this morning. I don't get why they let something like him sit in the same room as us." Troy who now understands why his desk is where it is starts to get angry again. "Ant I swear.." Before he can let that thought finish an image of Leah pops in his head. The image helps him calm down enough to walk to his seat.

At eight fifteen sharp the bell rings and his homeroom teacher walks in. The teachers walk in the door and makes a b-line directly to the front of the room. Troy goes to a school called Hollow Primary institution. The high, middle, and elementary schools share a campus. Upon graduating from here the students go on to attend Hollow University. This is the reason why an eighth grader like Ant has the opportunity to bully others younger then him. All the kids who live in hollow city go to the same school and eventually the same college. The city Troy lives in isn't big enough for the officials to build separate schools. Hollow city is the capital of Fallen state. You might ask why is such a small city the capital of the state but when you hear that everywhere around the city is a forest that stretches all the way from the city to the border of the next state. You understand why it is the way it is. Rarely anyone new appears in such a closed off community. Living in such a small city has its benefits and drawbacks. For Troy it has way more drawbacks then good points.

"TROY!" Troy not even realizing that he was zoning off looks to the teacher who is staring daggers his way. "I'm glad I finally have your attention. Now so that everyone can hear I say again. For today and the next couple of day's classes will be cancelled due to the tournament." Every student in the classroom starts to cheer and clap. A couple of minutes go by before the class quiets down again. "As I was saying, attendance is of course mandatory for the first and last day of the event. This Tournament is scheduled for three days with a fourth in case of an unexpected incident. With that being said anyone who wishes to take part please see me before the end of homeroom." The teacher looks back up from his clipboard to make sure everyone is listening. Troy could care less about what the teacher is saying that is until he speaks up again. "Also I want everyone in class to say happy birthday to Troy." Troy stares at his teacher for a while and then looks at the rest of the class. Not one of his classmates said a word. A small frown starts to form on the teachers face. "Why do I get stuck with the freak. Sigh even when told no one wants to associate with him. I honestly feel bad for Leah who is always by his side. Why does such a good seedling place herself next to such a rotten apple?"

"Once the bell rings I will be taking everyone to see the stage that was set up." This news sends the other students in class to clap again. Seeing his students acting this way makes the teacher shake his head. A student in the front of the classroom raises his hand. "Yes Kevin, what is it?" Kevin stands up from his seat and points directly at Troy. "Teacher I think I speak for everyone when I say that we don't want to go anywhere with that thing." Troy stares at Kevin who looks right back at him. Kevin is basic in every way except one. Kevin has an uncanny ability to kiss up to the people around him. From the teachers to the students everyone has a great impression of him. All but two students that is. Leah who everyone loves hates anyone who makes fun of her Troy. The teacher looks at Kevin and then turns his gaze to the rest of the students. "Is this truly how all of you feel?" Every student nods their heads in agreement. "Well Troy since the class has spoken ill see if I can get another teacher to take you." "No need Mr. Hardwater if possible I would rather just go home." Mr. Hardwater starts to frown again. "Going home is not an option Troy" "gong" "gong" "gong"

The bell goes off while Mr. Hardwater and Troy stare at each other. Mr. Hardwater looks at the rest of the class and gives directions to the stage. "Students stay here an ill escort you there." Then he looks back at Troy. "Those directions are for you. Go look at the stage and then you can go home." Troy sits there shocked. "Now even my teacher treats me different." The boy never felt so alone then he did in this moment. "Fine if that's how I'm treated I don't want to be here anyway." Troy gets up and walks out of the classroom. By following the directions Troy begins to walk to the stage. The more he walks the more his anger starts to build up. When he get halfway there his hand starts to tingle again. In his anger Troy doesn't even notice. When he has less than a quarter of the walk left he feels his blood start to boil again. By the time he makes it to the stage both of his eyes are an even deeper shade of crimson than before. "I hate them all. I hate this school. I hate my father. I hate the adults who look at me like a monster. Hate, Hate, Hate, Hate, Hate" Unknown to Troy the area around him became noticeably colder. The small glow that wrapped around his left hand now coats his entire body. Right then his entire body was covered in red. "Finally I get through again. Troy if you can hear me it's Angel I don't have a lot of time but in the future you will need this." After Angel finished her words a stream of information flows into his head. Before long the flow of information becomes too much for little old Troy. Right as he is passing out he hears Angel's voice one last time. "To get to me you need to survive. I hope what I just gave you can help." Troy lay's there passed out on the ground in front of the stage covered in a red glow. The last concius thought Troy has is "Was that Angel?"