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Mysterious Man

Eyeing the wall clock every so often, racing that second hand, Nikolai rapped his keyboard violently Tick Tick Tick If he didn&039;t finish his y paper by the end of class, the professor would fail him It would be the second tih to drive hilanced up over the top of his computer screen

As if he could smell the sheer misery from the other end of the roolinted lasses and off the top of his bald head His face carried that sot you" Nikolai knew the professor was always secretly plotting against him But not today He had his number

This was it Perspiration collected on Nikolai&039;s forehead Threeand not a second to spare Nikolai&039;s fingers darted along the keys faster than they ever had He fought against satisfying a nagging itch along his eyebrow and struggled to tie up the final paragraph of this wretched term paper Last line He had this He would make it

"Whatcha workin&039; on there, Nikki?"

The sickening sound of Jindrich Nova&269;ek&039;s voice dripped its slime from somewhere above, seconds before the bastard slah over his fingers to cause hiers under his chin, hissing through his teeth This can&039;t happen Not now Nikolaiat the bottom of his stomach, and looked his tormentor square in the eye

"What the hell, asshole?" Nikolai tried his hardest to force his voice not to waver

Jindrich flew over the side of the desk, grabbing him clear up out of his flimsy plastic seat by the collar of his shirt "What did you call me, you queer?"

Nikolai winced into the face of the six-foot-seven-inch goliath The blood in his knuckles now pounded to the rhythulped thickly, for he knew he had no friends to ju for a split second at his trashed corade was pretty much done for Dead and buried He didn&039;t dare peek at the clock

He could only iine how his father, an aluraot wind of this Another failure

Nikolai&039;s blood pooled in his cheeks with both the anger and eht at the front of his mind He couldn&039;t remember a tih was enough

"Put reasy colossus, but in his peripheral vision, he caught sight of the professor, suddenly too iue Monitor Probably an excuse to ignore theNikolai to get pummeled He&039;d never seen the professor read the news before Nikolai would have bet a thousand korun Professor Kotala had a big smile on behind the lip of that newsprint

A yellow, crooked grin spread across Jindrich&039;s reddened face, his fists tightening around navy plaid material of Nikolai&039;s shirt "I&039;ll be happy to put ya down, friend" Gently, Jindrich set Nikolai&039;s feet back to the solid Earth "How&039;s that? You can repayover your terive mine in a day late"

Nikolai suppressed the desire to roar like a lion in his bully&039;s face "Sure, Jindrich I&039;ll do that But not before your lazy ass nails down a real paying job to fix my cracked computer screen-"

Jindrich&039;s h the ringing in his ears, he swore he heard a chuckle frohtly He wiped at his face, checking for blood It had been the sarade school-since Nikolai and his family first moved west from Moravia-since he&039;d been the scrawny new kid who, at the seasoned age of ten, had already been given a crappy hand of cards in life

But he wasn&039;t that scrawny kid any longer

"I warned you" NikolaiWithout laying his hand on a single surface, he waved his ar into the center of Jindrich&039;s chest, crushing him to the wall The wood and plaster around the i, bits of debris and dust pluantuan bully on the floor Nikolai looked toward the professor, as now standing up froape

Nikolai had always drea his powers in public Finally standing up for hi, he turned back toward Jindrich, his eternal schoolyard bully as still reeling from the impact "If you tell anyone what you saw here today, I will hunt You Down" Nikolai punctuated each ith a bold jab of his finger He turned back to the professor "I&039;m out of here"

He hocked a wad of spit at the broken Jindrich before collecting his bag and laptop and stor out of the room The door slammed behind him

That was exactly what happened when you&039;ve been bullied tooHe sucked in a deep breath of air as realization slowly set in on what he&039;d just done "Holy crap" He hurried down the corridor, his heart pounding in his ears, stirring and speech echoing fro to help the slimy behemoth out of his entraph for hi, but a little voice in the back of Nikolai&039;s ed him to leave the university faster He was sure, at anyto be called Stupiddown the stark and lifeless hallways and out the wooden doors into thebefore his eyes That was the first time he&039;d ever used his abilities in front of anyone What had he done? His own parents didn&039;t even know he possessed this strangeness He could feel his pulse build in his throat, alain in hishe had just done That was the real reason he would never fit in anywhere The reason why he would always be the outcast

Quickly, he bulleted out of the university co in between the shadows of a clothing store and a bustling bakery, he bent to yank his tattered North Face sweatshirt out of his bag and pulled it over his head and down around his waist Slinging his bag onto his shoulder, he pulled the hood up over his daed face and continued on to his dank studio apart in the corners of his eyes He wished he could just be dead before the day was over Looking down at his fingertips, he iy that buzzed just underneath his skin He remembered the first time he&039;d ever revealed his secrets to anyone It was the day when he and his fa all of his friends and relatives to live four hours away, and that was only if you took the train His father commissioned him to help load the car A skinny, ten-year-old, Nikolai started to tantru to leave His very best friend had coood-bye When his father de his wooden toy chest into the car, and disappeared back inside the house, Nikolai slammed his fists onto the lid of the chest and watched zillions of wooden splinters fly up around hiht as an exploding bo like raindrops in the air for the brief seconds that Nikolai&039;s wondrous gaze held them there

"What have you done, Nikolai?" His friend whispered in utter fear of him-as if Nikolai were some sort of devil

When Nikolai&039;s focus shifted to his friend&039;s shocked face, the wooden shards pluround, the final evidence that the toy chest ever existed

Nikolai grabbed hold of his friend&039;s shoulders and begged, "Please! You&039;ve got to help me cover this up! My parents can&039;t knohat just happened They&039;d never understand!"

"Nikolai, they are going to find out anyway! How long have you kept this secret?"

"No!" Nikolai blanched "You have to promise you won&039;t tell! My dad-he already thinks I&039;m a freak" Tears welled in his eyes

His friend only stared at hi prohtened eyes "Okay I swear it"

With that, the two quickly spat simultaneously on the palms of their hands and shook on their oath as they scurried to rass before Nikolai&039;s fathered returned

"Son Did you already put your things in the car?" His father asked in shock upon the notion that Nikolai had actually listened and followed orders pro to rereement

With a look of skepticis his son on the head "You&039;re getting too old for toys anyway" He grumbled and walked back over to the car to pack some pieces of furniture with Nikolai&039;s mother