No one could afford to buy a house anymore, every week a business was closing its doors for good, reports of people dying in wars overseas was broadcasted every day on the news, no one respected the President of the country, and the Earth was supposed to be destroyed at the end of this year. So what? Issac "Breedy" Geggar attended Ashtrail University as a freshman, and he knew his student activities and classwork presented more of a problem now than buying a house or people he had never seen dying, especially with his 'B' average on the lower cusp and his lack of friends. But more importantly, his lack of sex. Back in high school, he remembered rumors of guys cycling through at least six girls within their first three weeks. He turned in every assignment on time and held his weight in group projects while adapting himself to the difference in pace between high school and his new freestyle existence, yet midterms passed by and he still had no girl's nude pictures or phone number on his Blackberry. Today, he intended to control his circumstances. His efforts would not be in vain; he'd get some pleasure to accompany his hard work. He skipped class today for this purpose, and to meet the purpose's end he attended the club-meet-and-greet on campus. Students buzzed back and forth between club booths like bees gathering pollen, listening for information regarding dues and responsibilities then moving on to the next one. They looked as annoying as a hive beaten with a stick. If you knew where your likes and interests lie, what was the point in talking to each club like a headless rooster? Why not join a club you liked then leave the damn area for the next guy or gal to sign-up without needing a map or a sheep dog to herd your ass out?
Ten minutes of searching felt like hours through the beehive crowd and useless clubs. Standing at five feet, zero inches with a build built for a human-bird hybrid, Issac lacked the appearance of the type of guy capable of throwing a punch or lifting a chair. His conversational skills, which composed of "Hie" and ninety percent "Yeahs" and "Okays" didn't foreshadow a high intellect or confidence. He possessed one positive trait: his cold, blue eyes. To a few they housed a lion's passion under a house cat's exterior. To most a silent serial killer in the making. His icicle stare alone with his limited social replies tended to reinforce the latter, as the club recruiters showed little interest in enlisting him in their ranks. From guys so built they could have used him as a human volleyball to dorks who had odder quirks than his ice stare, from bombshells to ugly betties, from flamboyant gays to straight playas, all of them gave him that same damn-rejecting look as they babbled tidbits of their clubs' information in nervous or disgusted stammers. Issac could never tell which, and today, he grew tired of caring. The short guy with the creepy eyes headed for the exit, his vacant stare focused far ahead, he wishing his body could vanish from the nest of cowards.
"Issac," said a soft girl's voice from... nowhere? The voice was so quiet and fragile, in this noisy wasp's nest he could have only heard it if she whispered in his ear. Or in his head. He stopped, and saw no one paying any more attention to him than a small dog at a stilts-walking carnival show.
"Issac!" said the same voice, yelling but barely audible above the echoing buzz. Issac followed his name until he came to a club booth with no signs or banners. Just a cute girl with skin as pale as white silk, jet-black hair down to the middle of her back, the bright green, almond eyes of a foreign princess, and tits and cleavage so large they bounced the heart behind his chest and pants. Who needed a banner with her running things? A single index finger made him approach her without realizing it. He faced her within seconds. He couldn't turn his head but knew his position in line remained uncontested. He thought it odd for the whole college to ignore an angel from heaven, but he failed to summon the words to question the circumstances.
"Hello, Issac," she said through that sweet, violin voice he heard earlier in his ear.
"Hie." His mouth hung ajar.
"Don't you want to know how I know your name?"
"Yeah."
Her giggle fluttered in the breeze. "One of your classmates told me you'd be perfect for this club. Interested in joining?"
"Okay."
"Our next meeting is tomorrow at 7pm at Willis Hall in room 132G. My name is Hexia Nightshade. See you there."
"Hie."
She waved and giggled a "Bye," then he walked away. Issac couldn't believe a chick that hot remembered his name, his face, and tried to spot him in a swarm of people so he'd join a club. Him jumping off his ass to control his situation had to be the best decision he made all semester; however, a foot from the gymnasium doors he stopped and smacked his forehead. He also couldn't believe he ended their conversation with a greeting.
On a Wednesday afternoon, in a small air-conditioned room with seven people present, including himself and Hexia, he remembered he forgot to ask what club he decided to join. One of the members, he assumed the club's president considering the business-casual clothes, rose and stood facing his audience.
"Welcome to another match in our Shadow Boxing Club, ladies and gentlemen. Today we have a new member joining our ranks in the battle against a corrupt educational system. Please welcome Issac Geggar. Please stand, Issac." He stood with sweaty palms as everyone welcomed his arrival, Hexia clapping the hardest. If it wasn't for her cute face shining on him like a stage light, he would have left a sonic boom on his way through the door. Beautiful light faster than cowardly sound any day, he resumed sitting instead.
The president of the crazies club continued, "This week, as many of you have heard, Dr. Karinger is giving-out another chemistry-based exam in his biology course.
"That's fuckin' retarded!" said one of the fanatics.
"Why in the hell would a teacher teach chemistry in a biology course," said another. "Does he want his students to fail?"
"Apparently yes," said the president. "That's why we're going to find the answers in his office and give them to his students. He wants to pave the way for this backwards system, we'll break the stones of his sandy foundation." Issac leaned back in his chair and smiled at Hexia. He didn't care what they did, as long as he had nothing to do with it. "Issac, as a new club member, to display your solidity with our cause, we want you to perform this task."
The ice-eyed young man's goosebumps got goosebumps. "But..." he said before Hexia interrupted:
"Please do this little favor for us, please Issac? We need you to do this for us. You would be the last person Karinger would suspect. Please?" His lips parted but the door to the room opened and caught the attention of the club. A sigh escaped his mouth, which made him catch a frown from Hexia. A girl cute for a nerd, her brown, shoulder-width hair not fixed in any style, plain, black frame glasses hiding her dark brown pupils, her clothes looking like they were bought from K-Mart rather than Macy's... or Wal-Mart, stepped into the classroom. The occult club shrunk under her analysis of the area, their eyes sticking to the ceiling or floor every time her ocular searchlights passed over them.
"Who is she?" whispered Issac to Hexia.
"Her name's Mary Black. She's the sergeant-at-arms for School Activities. She enforces the laws all clubs and organizations on campus must abide by, which means she's widely known for poking her nose where it doesn't belong. A bureaucratic Nazi."
"She's like a T. Rex man," said a guy club member over his shoulder. "If we just ignore her, she usually goes away." He looked at her again, but this time her gaze faltered. Pink invaded her visage. Her eyes wondered across the room as if looking for something, but when it came time for her to notice the young man with the cold-blue eyes, she looked elsewhere as if a nudist was sitting in his seat.
"How long are you going to stand there?" said Issac. She jumped as a person shocked by an ungrounded refrigerator. Despite her face still flooded with pink, she kept her quivering eyes on him.
"Do you have any paperwork for using this room?"
"Of course we do. Just ask the club president. This is the Shadow Boxing Club."
"The what?"
"The Shadow Boxing Club."
"Never heard of it."
"Well, look it up." She fidgeted her thumbs while her left leg attempted to jump from the rest of her body.
"What's your name?"
"I just joined the club today. I'm Issac Geggar, but my friends call me Breedy, for whatever reason.
"I'm Mary Black."
"Can we continue our club meeting, Mary Black?"
"Y...Yeah." She shut the door on her exit as a mouse slipping out a lion's den, but the door flew open once more. "I'll let you use this room today, but I'll be validating your club status on campus. It’s my job, so don’t take it personally. Bye.” She left again and, to the room’s relief, didn’t make a repeat appearance. Hexia controlled her laugh with her hands concealing her lips. The guy who warned him about Mary sharing similarities with a large, carnivorous dinosaur patted him on the shoulder.
“Thank you, Issac,” said the president. “Even with the silent treatment, normally she doesn’t let us off so easy. You’re proving yourself to be a valuable asset to our club already."
"Please... Please Issac... We need you..." No one ever begged Issac before, or needed him for anything. For those reasons, besides a sexy girl the person begging and needing, Issac sifted through folder after folder in Dr. Karinger's office. He told one of the oblivious custodians he accidentally left an incomplete essay worth two grades under the teacher's door, thinking he wouldn't have time to finish it, because a family emergency occurred. However, he didn't have to lend his time to his family as he anticipated, but by the grace of the devil, he dropped his laptop on the way home, so he needed the paper to finish typing where he left off. The larger the lie, the more believable, and the lie was so believable the custodian gave him unsupervised access to the room. The ice-eyed delinquent smirked at his deviousness as he flipped through the folders. His smile vanished when he finished thumbing through the last one. Damn it. If not here, then where were the damn things? At his home? If that's where they were, then he failed. There's no way he'd risk going to jail for this club or Hexia. He looked around the office: two file cabinets he searched in, a desk with scissors, glue, blank CD-RW and other miscellaneous stuff, a book shelf full of biology and chemistry tomes, and a computer. The lazy ass doctor... Issac booted the computer and searched for tests. He discovered the Chapter 12 test, his target's kin, and by tracing its directory found the test answers in the same folder. No printer in the office, he copied the file to his USB key.
"Issac!" screamed a familiar, angelic voice in his head. The room became colder than an open window in winter, yet his heart pumped burning blood through his veins. What the hell was that? What the fuck's going on? He snatched his key from the computer; footsteps echoed feet from the door. Issac's sweaty fingers hold the power button. The screen flickered out; Dr. Karinger stepped inside the doorway.
"What are you doing in here," said the tall, thin teacher with glasses, his brown, burning stare more intense than Issac's blue, freezing one.
"H...Hie."
"I asked what you're doing in my office!" Issac's entire frame shrank under the weight of the professor's voice.
"I left the wrong paper under the door." Issac ran by the teacher, daring not to meet his eyes. Dr. Karinger's glare never left him, the searing gaze burning into the young man's back, magnified by the lens of the glasses. Outside the science building, during his sprinting escape, he ran into Hexia Nightshade, who extended an arm to his shoulder to calm his heart beating at a mad drummer's rhythm. Her touch not only calmed his rapid blood, but also loosened every muscle in his body. Those beautiful, jade eyes met his.
"Did you get the test answers?" she said. He shook his head; his lungs still hadn't recovered from years of lack of exercise. She held his head still and, with her lips, took the rest of his breath away. Sweet strawberry slithered across his teeth and tongue. Then she savored every sip of warm wetness from his mouth, leaving a bridge of saliva as she withdrew her tongue from between his hungry teeth. Her once glistening, princess eyes resembled a jaguar's, focused, fierce, detached. Issac found her new gaze exotic.
"Welcome to the Shadow Boxing Club."
How many test answers had he stolen, how many students had been given credits to courses they never took, how many faculty members had he blackmailed to ensure some students were allowed to graduate early? He couldn't count on his fingers and toes combined the number of crimes he committed between midterms and December, but he could remember how many times he tasted Hexia's lips, how many times she slipped on his dick and rode him while moaning and scratching his chest, and how many times the club stood in adjoined applause at his accomplishments. His girlfriend by his side, Issac Geggar walked with his shoulders back, eyes straight, and ice-eyes forward, displaying a power he never possessed before this day. College girls glanced at him as horny cats; the guys either nodded their heads up or greeted him. He felt as high as a B-2 bomber, higher than the moon, but Mary Black came in his direction, dampening the mood of the entire hallway. She further ruined his mood by confronting him amongst the curious eyes of the science wing.
"Uhmmm, hello again Issac. How have the club activities been going?" she said while adjusting her large frames, her face as red as a shiny tomato.
"What is it now, Mary?" said Issac. "Now is it against school policy to walk around with your girlfriend?" Mary looked in Hexia's direction; Hexia humped her shoulders and raised her eyebrows.
"Okaaayyy..." said Mary before putting her attention back on Issac. "I came to tell you that your club actually isn't registered, and is therefore unofficial, meaning you can't hold club meetings on campus anymore." Issac's left hand clenched his palm.
"What do you mean it's unofficial?!" said Issac, his ice-blue eyes making Mary's body step back. "The club president showed me the damn paperwork himself, so it must be your records that are fucked up."
Mary's eyes met the floor then realigned with his. "Look, if you want to keep your club that badly, I may have a solution for your problem before I make my report to Student Activities."
"Yeah."
"Come to my dorm room at 8 o'clock tomorrow night. It's room 158 in the Lucille Smith building. See you there." She walked past him, her face still redder than fire, her eyes glued to the floor. Issac remained as frozen as his icicle pupils, staring into nothingness with his body shivering along with his left fist.
"Issac," said Hexia, her voice hissing her words while her cold hand soothed his left shoulder. "We can't let the club be destroyed. All of our hopes, dreams and happiness reside there, don't they? Do you hear me, Issac?"
At the scheduled time Issac knocked on Mary's dorm door. She invited him in after the second knock, and he soon found himself seated at an oval table with dinner for two. She lived in a dorm suite, complete with its own bathroom, kitchen, living room, and bedroom. Issac scoffed, thinking she must have been as meticulous with her student activity duties as she was with her grades. Wearing a yellow night gown, she sat at the table. They caught themselves in a staring match, her dark brown bombshells versus his blue blizzards.
"Aren't you going to touch your meatloaf?" she said.
"Matters what you have to say about the club. If there's no food in my stomach, I won't be able to lose my lunch."
She giggled hard and harsh, the complete opposite of Hexia's. "Now that's funny. Always knew you had it in you, Issac. You just have to show that side of yourself more..."
"That goes to show you don't know much about me, do you?"
"Ooooh, scary..."
"How can I save the club, Mary?"
She supported her head with her palm, trying to display a cute smile, a five to Hexia's eleven. "Okay, you can cut the act now Issac. We're the only ones here; I promise."
" Act? What act?" She giggled that same loud, hoarse giggle. His eyes tensed. If hell hounds had a laugh as they mocked their victims in hell, he was sure hers was it.
"I've done the research, Issac; it's my job as the sergeant-at-arms for student activities. I know you made-up this boxing club so you could get revenge on the teachers and students, all those teachers that think I'm a prude, all the students that think I'm a bitch..."
"Are you blind? We were doing those things to help students, so they'd just pass classes they didn't need to take."
"You're serious? You really think you were helpings those students? Don't you know the purpose behind a college-level education?"
"The club, Mary!" he screamed. "I came here about the goddamn club!" She covered her mouth to block an invisible gasp, then she laughed again, her chair shaking as her roars quaked her entire body.
"She denies us," said a pleasant, familiar voice. "Hates us." The red-faced young man swiped his plate to the floor and pounded his fists against the table.
"Shut up!" His cold glare chilled her bones. Mary's eyes widened and mouth grew dry. Something was wrong here; she was frightened. She stood.
"I don't know what pipe your on, but the club you're in doesn't exist. It never has. Now get out of my room."
"You know what'll happen if we leave," said Hexia over his shoulder. He stood. His body burned like a volcano on the inside, yet his skin felt like Antarctica. Mary shivered and hugged her shoulders; Issac even saw her cold breath. He headed for the door. "We can't lose this." He walked past the bitch with the glasses. "We can't leave." An ice-cold hand gripped his shoulder and froze him in place. He whipped around to catch the source; only Mary behind him. In her eyes he saw pity... "Issac!" In those demon's eyes he saw the him he never wanted to see again, the weak and powerless him he fought to eliminate, to kill.
"What are you looking at?" the demon said. His left fist connected to its face, knocking it to its stomach. The creature had the audacity to wail, to scream. The laugh of a thousand violins mocked its agony as it had mocked his. The grin of a hyena consuming his face, Issac lifted one of the chairs and smashed it on the demon's back. When it continued to sob, to beg, he joined the fluttering laughs with his own as he smacked its body repeatedly with the chair. Somehow it still moved, fingernails clawing blood from the tile, lungs screaming a gurgled "Help" through mouthfuls of blood. A tap on his shoulder. The beautiful seraphim of his life presented him a steak knife from the table, her radiant smile abetting the righteousness of his deed. He took the weapon, gave his heavenly vixen the kiss of her life, then rolled over the demon so he could stare into its damned eyes. Crimson hands reached from the mounted monster.
"Issac... Please..." it blurted before he could darken its eyes with stainless steel and red. He had no pity for the spawn of hell just as the general population saw none for men on deathrow. He relished every stab into its skin, the ruby life-stream washing the blade and the floor, the shrill cries of a squealing pig on each assault. When the bloody hands stopped twitching, Issac laughed like a cackling crow, and he heard Hexia orgasm.
He never attended the acclaimed Institute for Upcoming Murderers, so it didn't take long for the police to suspect him. The day after the crime the cops questioned him, and the day after that he was arrested for the murder of Mary Black. No one gave him an alibi despite all the cred he earned on campus. Pats on the back everywhere he went, yet no friends. Issac sat in his concrete booking cell with an open toilet for comfort, tapping his foot, clenching his hands until they ached, sending a frigid glare at the officer through the bars. The cocky pig smirked at his hatred and misery then walked back to the processing area. Issac felt like a new animal at the zoo. Goosebumps rose on his skin with the temperature drop in an already drafty cell.
"It's cold in here, baby. You should have packed a jacket." The honey-sweet voice's source, appearing next to him on the only concrete seat in the room, made him slide across the seat, his skin dripping with cold sweat, his heavy breath creating fog in the air. His despairing situation let him notice now what he didn't while blinded by love: her voice, her looks and demeanor were perfect. The deja vu that froze his blood shrunk his pupils.
"Who... Who the fuck are you?" She smiled while tilting her head and giggled, making his body lax and fear dissipate. The cleavage of her low-cut top and tight jeans took the chill from between his legs. Never again. The young man sweating ice water bit blood from his lip and pounded his groin with his fist.
"Stop it!" he said.
"You know who... or rather what I am, handsome. You've always known since we first met."
"Why are you doing this to me?" He buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Hexia scooted next to him, her serpentine eyes as large as moons, and rubbed his thigh.
"I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry. Please save me." Drool dripped from her lips as her nails extended and tore through his pants and deep into his skin. He leapt from the bench; she lunged after him. The wide-eyed prey grabbed her arms and tackled her to the concrete. He slammed her head against the floor until the rear of the skull shattered out a pool of red and bone. "Leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone!" Puffing over his latest victim, the winner loosened his grip and smiled as a maniac who just escaped an asylum. Her eyes closed, to Issac she resembled sleeping beauty with a gory backdrop. The wild eyes sprang open; his heart stopped. Hexia Nightshade gave him the cutest laugh then licked her lips.
The police officer on duty that night heard continuous screams from the new suspect for five minutes straight. When his curses and threats couldn't silence the brat, he marched from his comfy chair to meet the annoying punk.
"Listen you little shit, no one else is watching us right now. So if I really wanted de shut you up..." He peered inside the cell upon reaching it. The sight made him forget to breathe and his lunch jump from his stomach to his throat. Blood soiled everything. The kid lay naked on the floor, face-up, deep, red claw-marks covering every inch of his body. His penis was partially severed, maybe almost bitten off. The fucking hell was this? The officer vomited, then ran to call for help.
January introduced a new year for the nation and a new semester for college students. Ashtrail University held its club-meet-and-greet, young, perspective men and women scanning for the activity and group that fits them. On the building adjacent to the gym, Hexia Nightshade and The Shadow Boxing Club stood on the roof like vultures while watching every student entering.
"How about him?" said the club president, pointing to a man with a suit and tie who ignored every female's glance headed his way.
"Too uptight and familiar," said Hexia. "He reminds me too much of you." A chubby, black student wearing glasses and a soft, empty smile on his countenance walked by. She hissed with rabid, green eyes. He stopped to speak to a group of students who first tolerated his presence, but their body language indicated annoyance and avoidance after three minutes.
"Him?" said the president with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, him. I've been wanting to add an exotic piece to my collection for a long time."
"Do you know him?"
"Yes. Very well." She pondered for a moment. The desire in her eyes changed to clenched, focused anger. She looked back; the other club members scattered away to reveal Issac Geggar bent over, gripping his skull with his fingers. "You better shape up and get with the program, worm dick, unless you want a ticket to hell." He forced his void eyes up to hers. "I'm not a complete monster, baby, I'll at least let you watch." He screamed an aching cry no one could hear. Her pitch-black hair turned brimstone red, her pale skin gained some pink, her large chest diminished, her hips grew wide and thick, and red framed glasses appeared to support her bright, hazel eyes. A loud, boisterous laugh replaced her soft, elegant one, then she vanished.
Ten minutes of searching felt like hours through the beehive crowd and useless clubs. Standing at five feet, zero inches with a build built for a human-bird hybrid, Issac lacked the appearance of the type of guy capable of throwing a punch or lifting a chair. His conversational skills, which composed of "Hie" and ninety percent "Yeahs" and "Okays" didn't foreshadow a high intellect or confidence. He possessed one positive trait: his cold, blue eyes. To a few they housed a lion's passion under a house cat's exterior. To most a silent serial killer in the making. His icicle stare alone with his limited social replies tended to reinforce the latter, as the club recruiters showed little interest in enlisting him in their ranks. From guys so built they could have used him as a human volleyball to dorks who had odder quirks than his ice stare, from bombshells to ugly betties, from flamboyant gays to straight playas, all of them gave him that same damn-rejecting look as they babbled tidbits of their clubs' information in nervous or disgusted stammers. Issac could never tell which, and today, he grew tired of caring. The short guy with the creepy eyes headed for the exit, his vacant stare focused far ahead, he wishing his body could vanish from the nest of cowards.
"Issac," said a soft girl's voice from... nowhere? The voice was so quiet and fragile, in this noisy wasp's nest he could have only heard it if she whispered in his ear. Or in his head. He stopped, and saw no one paying any more attention to him than a small dog at a stilts-walking carnival show.
"Issac!" said the same voice, yelling but barely audible above the echoing buzz. Issac followed his name until he came to a club booth with no signs or banners. Just a cute girl with skin as pale as white silk, jet-black hair down to the middle of her back, the bright green, almond eyes of a foreign princess, and tits and cleavage so large they bounced the heart behind his chest and pants. Who needed a banner with her running things? A single index finger made him approach her without realizing it. He faced her within seconds. He couldn't turn his head but knew his position in line remained uncontested. He thought it odd for the whole college to ignore an angel from heaven, but he failed to summon the words to question the circumstances.
"Hello, Issac," she said through that sweet, violin voice he heard earlier in his ear.
"Hie." His mouth hung ajar.
"Don't you want to know how I know your name?"
"Yeah."
Her giggle fluttered in the breeze. "One of your classmates told me you'd be perfect for this club. Interested in joining?"
"Okay."
"Our next meeting is tomorrow at 7pm at Willis Hall in room 132G. My name is Hexia Nightshade. See you there."
"Hie."
She waved and giggled a "Bye," then he walked away. Issac couldn't believe a chick that hot remembered his name, his face, and tried to spot him in a swarm of people so he'd join a club. Him jumping off his ass to control his situation had to be the best decision he made all semester; however, a foot from the gymnasium doors he stopped and smacked his forehead. He also couldn't believe he ended their conversation with a greeting.
On a Wednesday afternoon, in a small air-conditioned room with seven people present, including himself and Hexia, he remembered he forgot to ask what club he decided to join. One of the members, he assumed the club's president considering the business-casual clothes, rose and stood facing his audience.
"Welcome to another match in our Shadow Boxing Club, ladies and gentlemen. Today we have a new member joining our ranks in the battle against a corrupt educational system. Please welcome Issac Geggar. Please stand, Issac." He stood with sweaty palms as everyone welcomed his arrival, Hexia clapping the hardest. If it wasn't for her cute face shining on him like a stage light, he would have left a sonic boom on his way through the door. Beautiful light faster than cowardly sound any day, he resumed sitting instead.
The president of the crazies club continued, "This week, as many of you have heard, Dr. Karinger is giving-out another chemistry-based exam in his biology course.
"That's fuckin' retarded!" said one of the fanatics.
"Why in the hell would a teacher teach chemistry in a biology course," said another. "Does he want his students to fail?"
"Apparently yes," said the president. "That's why we're going to find the answers in his office and give them to his students. He wants to pave the way for this backwards system, we'll break the stones of his sandy foundation." Issac leaned back in his chair and smiled at Hexia. He didn't care what they did, as long as he had nothing to do with it. "Issac, as a new club member, to display your solidity with our cause, we want you to perform this task."
The ice-eyed young man's goosebumps got goosebumps. "But..." he said before Hexia interrupted:
"Please do this little favor for us, please Issac? We need you to do this for us. You would be the last person Karinger would suspect. Please?" His lips parted but the door to the room opened and caught the attention of the club. A sigh escaped his mouth, which made him catch a frown from Hexia. A girl cute for a nerd, her brown, shoulder-width hair not fixed in any style, plain, black frame glasses hiding her dark brown pupils, her clothes looking like they were bought from K-Mart rather than Macy's... or Wal-Mart, stepped into the classroom. The occult club shrunk under her analysis of the area, their eyes sticking to the ceiling or floor every time her ocular searchlights passed over them.
"Who is she?" whispered Issac to Hexia.
"Her name's Mary Black. She's the sergeant-at-arms for School Activities. She enforces the laws all clubs and organizations on campus must abide by, which means she's widely known for poking her nose where it doesn't belong. A bureaucratic Nazi."
"She's like a T. Rex man," said a guy club member over his shoulder. "If we just ignore her, she usually goes away." He looked at her again, but this time her gaze faltered. Pink invaded her visage. Her eyes wondered across the room as if looking for something, but when it came time for her to notice the young man with the cold-blue eyes, she looked elsewhere as if a nudist was sitting in his seat.
"How long are you going to stand there?" said Issac. She jumped as a person shocked by an ungrounded refrigerator. Despite her face still flooded with pink, she kept her quivering eyes on him.
"Do you have any paperwork for using this room?"
"Of course we do. Just ask the club president. This is the Shadow Boxing Club."
"The what?"
"The Shadow Boxing Club."
"Never heard of it."
"Well, look it up." She fidgeted her thumbs while her left leg attempted to jump from the rest of her body.
"What's your name?"
"I just joined the club today. I'm Issac Geggar, but my friends call me Breedy, for whatever reason.
"I'm Mary Black."
"Can we continue our club meeting, Mary Black?"
"Y...Yeah." She shut the door on her exit as a mouse slipping out a lion's den, but the door flew open once more. "I'll let you use this room today, but I'll be validating your club status on campus. It’s my job, so don’t take it personally. Bye.” She left again and, to the room’s relief, didn’t make a repeat appearance. Hexia controlled her laugh with her hands concealing her lips. The guy who warned him about Mary sharing similarities with a large, carnivorous dinosaur patted him on the shoulder.
“Thank you, Issac,” said the president. “Even with the silent treatment, normally she doesn’t let us off so easy. You’re proving yourself to be a valuable asset to our club already."
"Please... Please Issac... We need you..." No one ever begged Issac before, or needed him for anything. For those reasons, besides a sexy girl the person begging and needing, Issac sifted through folder after folder in Dr. Karinger's office. He told one of the oblivious custodians he accidentally left an incomplete essay worth two grades under the teacher's door, thinking he wouldn't have time to finish it, because a family emergency occurred. However, he didn't have to lend his time to his family as he anticipated, but by the grace of the devil, he dropped his laptop on the way home, so he needed the paper to finish typing where he left off. The larger the lie, the more believable, and the lie was so believable the custodian gave him unsupervised access to the room. The ice-eyed delinquent smirked at his deviousness as he flipped through the folders. His smile vanished when he finished thumbing through the last one. Damn it. If not here, then where were the damn things? At his home? If that's where they were, then he failed. There's no way he'd risk going to jail for this club or Hexia. He looked around the office: two file cabinets he searched in, a desk with scissors, glue, blank CD-RW and other miscellaneous stuff, a book shelf full of biology and chemistry tomes, and a computer. The lazy ass doctor... Issac booted the computer and searched for tests. He discovered the Chapter 12 test, his target's kin, and by tracing its directory found the test answers in the same folder. No printer in the office, he copied the file to his USB key.
"Issac!" screamed a familiar, angelic voice in his head. The room became colder than an open window in winter, yet his heart pumped burning blood through his veins. What the hell was that? What the fuck's going on? He snatched his key from the computer; footsteps echoed feet from the door. Issac's sweaty fingers hold the power button. The screen flickered out; Dr. Karinger stepped inside the doorway.
"What are you doing in here," said the tall, thin teacher with glasses, his brown, burning stare more intense than Issac's blue, freezing one.
"H...Hie."
"I asked what you're doing in my office!" Issac's entire frame shrank under the weight of the professor's voice.
"I left the wrong paper under the door." Issac ran by the teacher, daring not to meet his eyes. Dr. Karinger's glare never left him, the searing gaze burning into the young man's back, magnified by the lens of the glasses. Outside the science building, during his sprinting escape, he ran into Hexia Nightshade, who extended an arm to his shoulder to calm his heart beating at a mad drummer's rhythm. Her touch not only calmed his rapid blood, but also loosened every muscle in his body. Those beautiful, jade eyes met his.
"Did you get the test answers?" she said. He shook his head; his lungs still hadn't recovered from years of lack of exercise. She held his head still and, with her lips, took the rest of his breath away. Sweet strawberry slithered across his teeth and tongue. Then she savored every sip of warm wetness from his mouth, leaving a bridge of saliva as she withdrew her tongue from between his hungry teeth. Her once glistening, princess eyes resembled a jaguar's, focused, fierce, detached. Issac found her new gaze exotic.
"Welcome to the Shadow Boxing Club."
How many test answers had he stolen, how many students had been given credits to courses they never took, how many faculty members had he blackmailed to ensure some students were allowed to graduate early? He couldn't count on his fingers and toes combined the number of crimes he committed between midterms and December, but he could remember how many times he tasted Hexia's lips, how many times she slipped on his dick and rode him while moaning and scratching his chest, and how many times the club stood in adjoined applause at his accomplishments. His girlfriend by his side, Issac Geggar walked with his shoulders back, eyes straight, and ice-eyes forward, displaying a power he never possessed before this day. College girls glanced at him as horny cats; the guys either nodded their heads up or greeted him. He felt as high as a B-2 bomber, higher than the moon, but Mary Black came in his direction, dampening the mood of the entire hallway. She further ruined his mood by confronting him amongst the curious eyes of the science wing.
"Uhmmm, hello again Issac. How have the club activities been going?" she said while adjusting her large frames, her face as red as a shiny tomato.
"What is it now, Mary?" said Issac. "Now is it against school policy to walk around with your girlfriend?" Mary looked in Hexia's direction; Hexia humped her shoulders and raised her eyebrows.
"Okaaayyy..." said Mary before putting her attention back on Issac. "I came to tell you that your club actually isn't registered, and is therefore unofficial, meaning you can't hold club meetings on campus anymore." Issac's left hand clenched his palm.
"What do you mean it's unofficial?!" said Issac, his ice-blue eyes making Mary's body step back. "The club president showed me the damn paperwork himself, so it must be your records that are fucked up."
Mary's eyes met the floor then realigned with his. "Look, if you want to keep your club that badly, I may have a solution for your problem before I make my report to Student Activities."
"Yeah."
"Come to my dorm room at 8 o'clock tomorrow night. It's room 158 in the Lucille Smith building. See you there." She walked past him, her face still redder than fire, her eyes glued to the floor. Issac remained as frozen as his icicle pupils, staring into nothingness with his body shivering along with his left fist.
"Issac," said Hexia, her voice hissing her words while her cold hand soothed his left shoulder. "We can't let the club be destroyed. All of our hopes, dreams and happiness reside there, don't they? Do you hear me, Issac?"
At the scheduled time Issac knocked on Mary's dorm door. She invited him in after the second knock, and he soon found himself seated at an oval table with dinner for two. She lived in a dorm suite, complete with its own bathroom, kitchen, living room, and bedroom. Issac scoffed, thinking she must have been as meticulous with her student activity duties as she was with her grades. Wearing a yellow night gown, she sat at the table. They caught themselves in a staring match, her dark brown bombshells versus his blue blizzards.
"Aren't you going to touch your meatloaf?" she said.
"Matters what you have to say about the club. If there's no food in my stomach, I won't be able to lose my lunch."
She giggled hard and harsh, the complete opposite of Hexia's. "Now that's funny. Always knew you had it in you, Issac. You just have to show that side of yourself more..."
"That goes to show you don't know much about me, do you?"
"Ooooh, scary..."
"How can I save the club, Mary?"
She supported her head with her palm, trying to display a cute smile, a five to Hexia's eleven. "Okay, you can cut the act now Issac. We're the only ones here; I promise."
" Act? What act?" She giggled that same loud, hoarse giggle. His eyes tensed. If hell hounds had a laugh as they mocked their victims in hell, he was sure hers was it.
"I've done the research, Issac; it's my job as the sergeant-at-arms for student activities. I know you made-up this boxing club so you could get revenge on the teachers and students, all those teachers that think I'm a prude, all the students that think I'm a bitch..."
"Are you blind? We were doing those things to help students, so they'd just pass classes they didn't need to take."
"You're serious? You really think you were helpings those students? Don't you know the purpose behind a college-level education?"
"The club, Mary!" he screamed. "I came here about the goddamn club!" She covered her mouth to block an invisible gasp, then she laughed again, her chair shaking as her roars quaked her entire body.
"She denies us," said a pleasant, familiar voice. "Hates us." The red-faced young man swiped his plate to the floor and pounded his fists against the table.
"Shut up!" His cold glare chilled her bones. Mary's eyes widened and mouth grew dry. Something was wrong here; she was frightened. She stood.
"I don't know what pipe your on, but the club you're in doesn't exist. It never has. Now get out of my room."
"You know what'll happen if we leave," said Hexia over his shoulder. He stood. His body burned like a volcano on the inside, yet his skin felt like Antarctica. Mary shivered and hugged her shoulders; Issac even saw her cold breath. He headed for the door. "We can't lose this." He walked past the bitch with the glasses. "We can't leave." An ice-cold hand gripped his shoulder and froze him in place. He whipped around to catch the source; only Mary behind him. In her eyes he saw pity... "Issac!" In those demon's eyes he saw the him he never wanted to see again, the weak and powerless him he fought to eliminate, to kill.
"What are you looking at?" the demon said. His left fist connected to its face, knocking it to its stomach. The creature had the audacity to wail, to scream. The laugh of a thousand violins mocked its agony as it had mocked his. The grin of a hyena consuming his face, Issac lifted one of the chairs and smashed it on the demon's back. When it continued to sob, to beg, he joined the fluttering laughs with his own as he smacked its body repeatedly with the chair. Somehow it still moved, fingernails clawing blood from the tile, lungs screaming a gurgled "Help" through mouthfuls of blood. A tap on his shoulder. The beautiful seraphim of his life presented him a steak knife from the table, her radiant smile abetting the righteousness of his deed. He took the weapon, gave his heavenly vixen the kiss of her life, then rolled over the demon so he could stare into its damned eyes. Crimson hands reached from the mounted monster.
"Issac... Please..." it blurted before he could darken its eyes with stainless steel and red. He had no pity for the spawn of hell just as the general population saw none for men on deathrow. He relished every stab into its skin, the ruby life-stream washing the blade and the floor, the shrill cries of a squealing pig on each assault. When the bloody hands stopped twitching, Issac laughed like a cackling crow, and he heard Hexia orgasm.
He never attended the acclaimed Institute for Upcoming Murderers, so it didn't take long for the police to suspect him. The day after the crime the cops questioned him, and the day after that he was arrested for the murder of Mary Black. No one gave him an alibi despite all the cred he earned on campus. Pats on the back everywhere he went, yet no friends. Issac sat in his concrete booking cell with an open toilet for comfort, tapping his foot, clenching his hands until they ached, sending a frigid glare at the officer through the bars. The cocky pig smirked at his hatred and misery then walked back to the processing area. Issac felt like a new animal at the zoo. Goosebumps rose on his skin with the temperature drop in an already drafty cell.
"It's cold in here, baby. You should have packed a jacket." The honey-sweet voice's source, appearing next to him on the only concrete seat in the room, made him slide across the seat, his skin dripping with cold sweat, his heavy breath creating fog in the air. His despairing situation let him notice now what he didn't while blinded by love: her voice, her looks and demeanor were perfect. The deja vu that froze his blood shrunk his pupils.
"Who... Who the fuck are you?" She smiled while tilting her head and giggled, making his body lax and fear dissipate. The cleavage of her low-cut top and tight jeans took the chill from between his legs. Never again. The young man sweating ice water bit blood from his lip and pounded his groin with his fist.
"Stop it!" he said.
"You know who... or rather what I am, handsome. You've always known since we first met."
"Why are you doing this to me?" He buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Hexia scooted next to him, her serpentine eyes as large as moons, and rubbed his thigh.
"I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry. Please save me." Drool dripped from her lips as her nails extended and tore through his pants and deep into his skin. He leapt from the bench; she lunged after him. The wide-eyed prey grabbed her arms and tackled her to the concrete. He slammed her head against the floor until the rear of the skull shattered out a pool of red and bone. "Leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone!" Puffing over his latest victim, the winner loosened his grip and smiled as a maniac who just escaped an asylum. Her eyes closed, to Issac she resembled sleeping beauty with a gory backdrop. The wild eyes sprang open; his heart stopped. Hexia Nightshade gave him the cutest laugh then licked her lips.
The police officer on duty that night heard continuous screams from the new suspect for five minutes straight. When his curses and threats couldn't silence the brat, he marched from his comfy chair to meet the annoying punk.
"Listen you little shit, no one else is watching us right now. So if I really wanted de shut you up..." He peered inside the cell upon reaching it. The sight made him forget to breathe and his lunch jump from his stomach to his throat. Blood soiled everything. The kid lay naked on the floor, face-up, deep, red claw-marks covering every inch of his body. His penis was partially severed, maybe almost bitten off. The fucking hell was this? The officer vomited, then ran to call for help.
January introduced a new year for the nation and a new semester for college students. Ashtrail University held its club-meet-and-greet, young, perspective men and women scanning for the activity and group that fits them. On the building adjacent to the gym, Hexia Nightshade and The Shadow Boxing Club stood on the roof like vultures while watching every student entering.
"How about him?" said the club president, pointing to a man with a suit and tie who ignored every female's glance headed his way.
"Too uptight and familiar," said Hexia. "He reminds me too much of you." A chubby, black student wearing glasses and a soft, empty smile on his countenance walked by. She hissed with rabid, green eyes. He stopped to speak to a group of students who first tolerated his presence, but their body language indicated annoyance and avoidance after three minutes.
"Him?" said the president with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, him. I've been wanting to add an exotic piece to my collection for a long time."
"Do you know him?"
"Yes. Very well." She pondered for a moment. The desire in her eyes changed to clenched, focused anger. She looked back; the other club members scattered away to reveal Issac Geggar bent over, gripping his skull with his fingers. "You better shape up and get with the program, worm dick, unless you want a ticket to hell." He forced his void eyes up to hers. "I'm not a complete monster, baby, I'll at least let you watch." He screamed an aching cry no one could hear. Her pitch-black hair turned brimstone red, her pale skin gained some pink, her large chest diminished, her hips grew wide and thick, and red framed glasses appeared to support her bright, hazel eyes. A loud, boisterous laugh replaced her soft, elegant one, then she vanished.