Saving The Dark Side: Book 1: The Devotion

by Joseph Paradis

  On the bus ride home Ashley couldn’t stop talking about their weekend plans. Cole put on a smile and feigned interest, not allowing himself to believe it could really happen.

  “Oh, and Joshua can come too,” Ashley said, fixing Joshua’s hat again.

  Cole stumbled, searching for words, “Yeah, um, Joshy doesn’t like crowds and the last time he was on the train he threw up. I’ll ask my mom but she might not let him go.” Cole cast a sideways glance at his brother, who laughed absentmindedly.

  Truthfully, Joshua would probably love the museum of science, but this meant his trip just got twice as expensive.

  “So did you end up getting a lot of homework today?” Cole asked. “I hate it when Mrs. Cutler gives us homework. If I’m doing school work I feel like it should be at school. I’ve got better things to do with my time.”

  Ashley picked up her legs and tucked them crossways so she was sitting on her feet. Cole picked up his legs too. “Not too much. Just some reading and one sheet of math. I’ll probably do it before basketball practice. You should try out for basketball, Cole. You’re kind of tall, and I’ve seen how quick you are at recess. Are you too busy after school or something?”

  Cole sat up as tall as he could in his seat. “Um, no not really. I mean Joshy needs to be watched until my mom gets home from work but nowadays he pretty much looks after himself. I’ve seen him watch the Spanish channel on mute for a couple hours once. I guess I could find some time for sports. When’s the next tryouts? Baseball and soccer in the spring right?”

  “Oh yeah you should do baseball!” Ashley said, bouncing in her seat. “I love going to my dad’s softball games. And you’d probably play at the park by my house. I could come watch!”

  Cole swallowed, a bit dumbstruck by the idea. The way she looked into his eyes made him feel again like he was ten feet tall. She could have suggested he try out for bull-riding and he would have asked his mom for cowboy boots tomorrow. It was decided. Cole would become a baseball player.

  The bus screeched to a halt at the end of Blossom Street. Cole grabbed his bag and made to get up but he bumped into a very stiff shoulder. Mark Sullivan and his friends were getting off here? This wasn’t their stop. Frowning, Cole tapped Joshua on the shoulder, who seemed to be distracted by a man he recognized coming out of the corner store.

  “C’mon Joshy, stop waving, you don’t even know that guy,” said Cole in a loud whisper. His breath caught in his throat as he noticed someone missing from her seat. Ashley was almost off the bus. He felt he should say something to her. “Bye, Ashley. Good luck with your… your practice tonight.” Stupid. She didn’t need luck with a practice.

  Ashley didn’t seem to notice his blunder. “Bye Cole! Don’t be sick tomorrow and make me ride alone okay?”

  Positive that Mark Sullivan and his gang were waiting for them, Cole grabbed Joshua by the arm and muscled his way through the group. He wanted to get out of there before they had a chance to really get going on him.

  “Where are you going Cole? The thrift shop is back that way,” Mark called out with his signature rapid-fire laughter.

  “Let’s go, Joshy.” Cole yanked on his brother’s arm. Joshua seemed to want to join in on whatever the sixth graders were laughing about.

  “Oh, I know!” Mark continued. “You guys must be headed to the circus. Little Joshy is performing tonight right?”

  Cole walked faster, or as fast as Joshua’s small legs could go. To his dismay, the jerks were now following them, and their long legs had no problem keeping up.

  “Steve, give me that. Joshy, hey Joshy, I know you love these. You want one buddy?” Cole jerked his head around to see Mark produce a banana and start dancing around. Like a monkey.

  “C’mon Joshy don’t you want the tasty banana?” asked Mark, who was now on all fours and hopping sideways.

  Joshua, who was very good at imitating people, started making monkey noises and waving his arms around. Thinking he was a part of the fun, he laughed and contorted his face into the most ridiculous shapes.

  “JOSHY NO!” Cole bellowed, “Stop that right now! I’ll tell mom you’re acting up and you’ll be in big trouble. Let’s go, now!”

  “C’maan Cole!” Joshua started crying now. Cole was twisting his arm in frustration. “That’s my friend!”

  “Ha-ha-ha-ha,” Mark could barely get the words out, “Steve you’re right, the little retard looks just like a monkey.”

  “Joshy they are not your friends!” Cole barked over Joshua’s obnoxious sobs. “They’re making fun of you, don’t you understand? Come on!”

  Cole only made the situation worse as Joshua broke down into a full-blown tantrum, showing his true mental age of a four-year-old. He flopped on the ground and cried as if being flayed alive. Joshua’s tantrums were rare, but very embarrassing for even the passerby. Mark and his friends however were indulging in the pitiful sight.

  Cole couldn’t hear what they were saying now as the cacophony coming from his brother drowned out their jibes. He didn’t really care at this point. He just wanted to get Joshua up and home as quickly as possible. He would carry him if he had to, but he didn’t want to resort to that just yet.

  Sour guilt coated the inside of Cole’s mouth. He didn’t need to be so harsh. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Joshua would only get worse if he was wound up too. “Joshy, I’m sorry for yelling.” Cole started rubbing his back gently. “I was being mean, Joshy, I’m sorry for yelling at you. Cole was being bad. Can we go home now?”

  “Don’t-yell-at-me,” Joshua squeaked in between sobs.

  “Okay Joshy, I’m sorry all right,” Cole said in a gentle tone. “Let’s get you up.” Cole grabbed Joshua under the armpits and hoisted him to his feet.

  SMACK

  A broken banana landed at Joshua’s feet just as he planted them on the sidewalk. Joshua stopped crying altogether and rubbed his face, confused. Chunks of mashed banana adorned Joshua’s hair and face as a thin line of blood crawled down from his lower lip. Mark and his friends doubled over with renewed howls of laughter. Joshua bent down and picked up the remains of the banana and offered it to Mark, as if it had been simply dropped by accident.

  The sixth graders were laughing too hard to notice Joshua, who had turned around and said something to Cole. Cole didn’t hear what it was, however. A loud ringing accompanied by the accelerating drum of his heart filled his ears. Before he knew it he was walking directly towards Mark, who was laughing too hard to see him coming.

  • • • •

  “Tara I’m telling you I’ve never seen anything of the sort. Carrying on like a bunch of animals over a scrap. Heavens, even my boys… and Colton! Your son has a temper in him, Tara. He was so blind with it he couldn’t even tell I was there, let alone three other boys twice his size walloping him. If I wasn’t putting the trash out I guarantee Colton would have ended up in the hospital too.” Nana Beth bobbed slightly on her toes as she held a crying Joshua, patting his back. “Shush now Joshy, Shush now,” she cooed in a sweet tone. “We’re all right sweetheart, we’re all right.”

  Tara slammed the front door, dragging Cole into the kitchen by the collar of his coat. Sulking, Cole wiped the tears from his face and opened his mouth.

  “Colton Carter, I don’t want to hear it!” Tara roared, looming over him. “You put yourself and your little brother in danger! Real danger! How can I trust you when you pull stuff like this? If Nana Beth hadn’t been there those boys would have killed the both of you. And that one kid is now in the hospital! What did you do to him?”

  Fumbling with his zipper, Cole looked at the floor. “I…I don’t remember.”

  “Oh, ‘I don’t remember’,” Tara laughed maniacally. “The famous words of Colton Carter, ‘I don’t remember’. We’ll see what you remember when the kid’s parents have the cops showing up at our door because you hurt their son. Are you trying to get you and your brother thrown in foster care? We have no more strikes, Colton. If we have even a li
ttle hiccup this family will be torn apart. What were you thinking?” Her voice broke and tears welled in her eyes.

  Cole winced as his mother’s words fell like hammer blows. He hadn’t thought about getting in trouble with the court. “They were making fun of Joshy because he has Down Syndrome, calling him a monkey and a retard. Then Mark Sullivan threw a banana and it hit Joshy in the face and hurt him. I got mad and I fought them. I’m sorry.”

  Tara seemed to deflate as she looked over at Joshua, who was now in the living room being serenaded by Nana Beth.

  “Are you ok?” she asked, brushing Cole’s hair aside and inspecting his face. “They got you pretty good on the nose, and your ear.”

  “My hand hurts the most. I think I punched Mark in the head. Ouch!” Cole cried out as Tara took his puffy appendage in her tender hands.

  “Dammit Cole, that looks broken,” Tara hissed as she ran her fingertips over his swollen flesh. “Looks like you’re going to the hospital after all. I have to go call out of work. I hope Danni can cover for me. We’ll put some ice on it till we get there.”

  Tara cracked some ice cubes out of the tray, and a plastic bag from the drawer. Cole took the ice pack and nursed his injured hand while his mother called in to work. His hand hurt pretty badly. He could feel his heartbeat inside it, each pump sending a spike of pain up his arm.

  Cole made his way into the living room to see how Joshua was doing. A shaft of golden light from the setting sun blinded him momentarily as he passed the front window. Nana Beth was cradling a snoozing Joshua in her vast arms. It was funny, Cole thought, how just five minutes ago those arms were easily managing a street brawl, and now they were rocking Joshua to sleep.

  “Busted hand huh?” Nana Beth must have been listening while she was singing Joshua to sleep. She usually heard everything within a mile. “Never punch someone in the face without gloves on. If you’re that close, use an elbow or go for a choke.”

  Cole was taken aback. He had expected a good telling off from his pseudo grandmother. And what did she know about fighting?

  Nana Beth laughed at Cole’s bemusement. “What, didn’t think Nana Beth knew how to fight? I’ve been in my fair share of rumbles before even your mom was born. You need to keep your hand above your heart by the way. The swelling’s getting worse.”

  Holding gently onto the ice, Cole lifted his hand up as instructed. The pain was getting much worse now and he couldn’t move his two littlest fingers at all. Through his teeth, Cole asked, “Nana Beth, where’d you learn how to fight? You’re really good for…for someone your age.”

  “Oh on these streets of course, but your hand will be the size of a basketball before I could finish half the stories.” Nana Beth laughed again. Cole liked her laugh. Her talking voice was deep but it went really high when she was laughing or singing. “You know, there’s no shame in what you did, Colton. I saw the whole thing. I could have stopped it sooner, and I probably should have, mind you, but I wanted to give you a chance to show those boys what you were made of.”

  Cole managed a small smile through the growing pain in his hand. “Really? But what about the police? What if Mark is really hurt and they come to arrest me?”

  “No one is getting arrested today, Colton. I know Mark Sullivan’s parents and when he wakes up in the hospital his father will knock him out again for what he did. I’ll have a talk with Randy and Patty tomorrow and make sure we’re all on the same page. Tormenting a person without the mental capacity to defend himself is a low thing. Those boys deserve worse than the bruising we gave them. Maybe not a K-O punch, however.” Nana Beth finished with a wink.

  A stuttering laugh escaped Cole’s lips, which were now turning a bit pale. At Nana Beth’s instruction, he lay on the couch next to her with his legs and hand elevated.

  “They make fun of me and Joshy every day,” said Cole, staring at the ceiling. “Every day it’s something. Either my clothes, or Joshy, or how I have no friends. I can’t take it anymore.” Cole shook his head as tears flowed from the corners of his eyes and tickled his ears.

  Nana Beth ran her fingers through Cole’s damp hair. “Trust me Colton, these aren’t the only bullies that life’s going to throw at you, and that’s a Nana Beth Guarantee. Most will be bigger than you, some may even be smaller. Some will even be your best friend after you square up. Everyone has their breaking points and today you hit yours. You won’t hear me say that you did wrong by standing up to them. Do you know where bullies get their power from?”

  Cole thought for a moment. “They are big, and have stupid friends.”

  “Very true, very true,” Nana Beth replied, tapping her fingers on a sleeping Joshua. “But that’s not where they get their power from. Marcus Sullivan relies on you and others like you for his power.”

  “But…but how? I didn’t give that jerk-,” Cole stammered.

  Nana Beth flicked Cole on the forehead, silencing him. “You gave him something if I say you did. Bullies get their strength from the people they torture. You gave Marcus Sullivan power and influence because you gave parts of yourself to him. You gave him your anger, your shame, your impatience, and he used these parts against you. When he gets a rise out of you, Marcus and his friends have a good laugh and then they all join in. The bully grows stronger. People will even give bullies their fear, which makes them the strongest.”

  Cole scowled, ashamed at the truth in Nana Beth’s words. He dismissed them, however. At the moment he was too angry to say something nice.

  “It’s okay, Colton. No need to think on it overmuch right now. You’ll understand when you’re a bit older and wiser like me.” She paused as Tara wrapped up her conversation on the phone.

  “Danni can’t cover for me but Chelsea doesn’t mind working a double,” said Tara as she threw her Jacket on. “All right Rocky Balboa, let’s get you to the doctor’s.”

  Chapter 3

  Time Travel

  As Nana Beth had predicted, the police did not call at Tara’s apartment. Once Mark Sullivan had recovered from his mild concussion, he and his gang seemed to think that Cole had enough going on with his broken hand. In fact, they never bothered him or Joshua again after their sidewalk brawl. Cole had several more disappearances over the next few months, though his broken hand made for a good excuse as he needed a few surgeries to fix it.

  Eventually Cole’s hand healed up and he hadn’t experienced a single disappearance in several years, though his bad luck with injuries had only just begun. The following year he broke his leg while trying skateboarding. A couple years after that, the same leg cracked under the pressure of learning how to ride Nana Beth’s old dirt bike. The next year was even worse as he broke his hand on a machine in shop class, only to break his collarbone a month later during a sledding accident.

  Cole’s injuries, while not life-threatening, were certainly life-altering. All those months of recovery weakened him to the point where he was useless for most physical activities. He was almost always cut first from tryouts. The sports themselves didn’t matter to Cole as much as the missed opportunities to make friends and be a part of something. The popular kids all played sports, not to mention they had no problem getting girlfriends.

  Aside from his bad luck, another constant in Cole’s formative years was Ashley. Besides Joshua, she was the closest thing Cole had to a friend. The two could be found playing video games on weeknights or seeing how fast Cole’s wheelchair could go through the halls at school. She meant more to him than Cole would admit, though he never could pluck up the courage to tell her how he felt. Years passed and Ashley began to make new friends, and she eventually fell in with the popular kids. Every year she seemed to have less and less time for playdates and trips to the Museum of Science.

  Cole would find himself pushed out of social circles more often than not, which resulted in cries for attention that landed him in the principal’s office at least once a month. Tara would have to listen to the staff’s complaints about Cole dropping stink bombs, going
over the intercom and saying vulgar things, or throwing snowballs at the principal herself. To Tara, the offenses were highly embarrassing and drew entirely too much attention to their family. To Cole, the stunts were a way for him to get a quick laugh and some recognition from the kids at school. The punishment seemed worth it if it meant someone would strike up a conversation with him in the hallway afterwards.

  As Cole entered high school the pranks had lost their appeal, as the school was so large that even the popular kids he’d grown up with didn’t give him much notice. Ashley stopped taking the bus and started riding to school with other guys. Cole had picked up a few friends by now, though they never seemed to remember him when someone threw a party. If popularity were measured by how fast you could beat a video game, Cole would be prom king for sure. All of this was about to change, however, because today was basketball tryouts.

  Cole had been training all month for this day, shooting hoops at the YMCA, running the track, and watching basketball on TV, which bored him nearly to death on several occasions. This was it though, it had to be. This was his final chance to get out there and make some real friends and be a part of something. He had the sense not to go for varsity, but he was a senior now and pretty tall for junior varsity. Besides, he saw a JV game last year and they didn’t look all that amazing. He had been sinking shot after shot no problem at the Y.

  Cole entered the locker room feeling very out of place, but determined. He found an empty spot in the corner and began to change into his gym clothes.

  “My dad says I’m good enough for varsity,” said a tall redheaded boy Cole recognized as a freshman. “It’s a shame they’re making me try out for JV. At least I’ll look pretty damn good this season next to all the midgets.”

  “I just hope they don’t hold three cuts again,” said an equally tall black boy who looked like he could play for a state university. “Last year they smoked us for all three cuts until they weeded out all the failures. You wouldn’t believe how bad some of those kids were. It’s like they’d never touched a ball before.”