BETELGEUSE

CHAPTER 2

After a minute or two, they all joined the call.

Sky said, "I have a problem."

One of the boys replied, "Oh, cutie pie. Does your hand hurt? Should I come over and massage it, sweetheart?"

Sky said, "The assignment got deleted. The information I had written down by hand is gone, and I can't find it."

When Sky said this, everyone went completely silent. Then one of the boys said:

"You loser. You can't even do this correctly."

Another boy named Jack said, "Come outside your house. We will tell you exactly what you've done."Zack: "Yeah, hurry up."

He had a group of three more boys with him. After some time, Sky went outside his house and waited for the boys. After a little while, Sky saw them coming toward him on their bikes. Zack got off his bike and said:

Zack: "You loser. You can't do anything."

One of the boys, Jack, pushed Sky. Sky hit the wall. Jack grabbed him by his collar and punched him. Jack suddenly let go of his collar and slapped him so hard that Sky fell to the ground. John was watching all of this and was enjoying it. Jack forcefully pushed Sky up and pinned him against the wall. Because of this, Sky's shirt got lifted up a bit.

John didn't like this. He punched the wall and came down the stairs. John pushed Jack away from Sky and stood in front of Sky. John punched Jack, and Jack's head started bleeding. Zack came over and kicked John. John hit him backon his head with his arm. Beomgyu looked at John and ran away.

John walked toward Sky, grabbed his wrist, and said:

John: "I can do anything to you, and you will not say anything. But if someone else does something to you, I will not tolerate it."

Sky looked at John with shock in his eyes. After a moment, John shook him and gave him a questioning look.Sky looked up at him and spoke in a soft voice:

Sky: "Yes... yes."

John then took Sky by the arm and guided him all the way back into Sky's own bedroom. He carefully looked at the injury Sky had received and helped to clean and care for the wound. After he finished, he told Sky that he needed to lie down and get some rest. John then turned around, walked across the floor, and stepped out through the doorway to leave Sky alone in the room.

Later on, the family members were all gathered together and sitting around the dining table for the morning meal. Sky finally opened his door and came out of his bedroom. He was holding his personal water bottle in his hand and had his school backpack draped over his shoulders. He walked into the living room first to put his water bottle and his backpack down safely on the sofa. He entered the dining hall, and sat on the next chair beside his mom. His father had already left for his office.

Sky started his breakfast. John was sitting in front of Sky. His mother came towards John and whispered in his ear:

Mother: "Plz! Bring Sky with yourself while returning from school. He is scared while returning alone."

John: "Ok --- I will."

After having breakfast, they left for school. John went into his class, and Sky went into his class.

During break, Sky went towards the washroom. All washrooms were empty except one. Sky went into an empty washroom. When he heard someone else's voice, he came out of the washroom. He saw Beomgyu, Jack, and Zack standing there, looking at him with weird smiles on their faces. Sky gave them a confused look and washed his hands.

Jack looked at Sky with a mean look and said:

Jack: "So, princess, how are you?"

Zack then spoke up angrily and added:

Zack: "You dragged your own brother right into the middle of our fight."

Sky shook his head quickly and tried to defend himself in a scared voice:

Sky: "No... I did not call him. He came out there completely by himself."

Beomgyu smiled wickedly, stepped closer, and said:

Beomgyu: "But baby, we have to complete it."

Right after saying those words, Beomgyu punched Sky directly in his stomach. The punch was so hard that Sky immediately fell down onto the hard floor. He lay there on the ground with both of his hands pressed tightly against his stomach because of the intense pain. At that exact same moment, the boys suddenly heard the sound of someone unlocking the main door of the washroom. Another student came inside the washroom, walked over to the sink, and washed his hands. Sky looked up from the floor and recognized the boy; he realized that this student was actually one of John’s own classmates. After washing his hands, the classmate turned around and went outside the washroom. As soon as he walked out into the school hallway, he happened to see John walking by. The classmate quickly approached John to warn him about what was happening and said:

Classfellow: "Your brother is getting beaten up by some boys inside right now. Your brother is so completely innocent."

John stopped walking immediately, shocked by the sudden news, and asked:

John: "What... where?"

The classmate pointed back toward the doors and answered:

Classfellow: "In the washroom. You wanna—"

But before the classmate could even finish his sentence, John did not stay to listen to anything else. John rushed down the hallway as fast as he could and ran straight toward the washroom. When John finally threw the door open and entered the room, he saw Sky lying completely flat on the floor. Jack was actually sitting directly on top of Sky's back, and he was aggressively snatching and pulling at Sky’s hair. Seeing this, John charged forward with full force and pushed Jack away from Sky. John then stood over them, and right before he prepared to leave the room, he looked at the bullies and said:

John: "Never dare to touch him."

After the fight was broken up, John and Sky went straight to their teacher's office together. Once they were inside, they sat down and told her all the details about what had happened. They explained the entire situation and told her how Sky's school assignment had gotten completely lost and destroyed. After listening to their story, the teacher understood the situation and gave Sky an extension, giving him a total time of one week to redo the project. Right after that meeting, both of the brothers left the office and went back toward their own classrooms to finish the school day. After some time passed and the school bell finally rang, they left the building and returned to their home together. Sky was going towards his room when John held his shoulder and said:

John: "I am still the same. Don't think about me as a good brother."

After saying this, he left. Sky finished his homework in his room, and he was sitting on his bed when John entered. He just stood on the door entrance, smirked, and left. After some time, his mother asked him to come downstairs for dinner. He was going towards the stairs when he saw his father appear. He grabbed Sky by his collar and said in anger:

Father: "That's why I don't want you to study anymore. You spend time with boys and take money from them."

And he pushed Sky into the room, locked the door, pulled his belt out of his pants, and started beating him. Sky was crying and was asking for help. His mother was standing outside. John was downstairs. She called John. John came upstairs and asked what happened:

Mother: "Your father has locked Sky in the room and he is beating him. Do something. Do something."

John looked at the door and started kicking it while saying:

John: "Dad, it was a lie. It is not true."