The Day Of

The Day Of

Ezra

742 days after

When was the last time you saw Henry Marsh? No not the one sitting on the opposite side of the classroom with his head down and headphones in. The other Henry Marsh the one who used to laugh and smile and was like every other 17 year old boy. Two Years ago was the last time I saw Henry, the old Henry.

4 days after

‘Hey Henry, howzit?’ asked James when Henry came through the school gates. He ignored him and kept on walking. He walked on towards the school. Before he could get to the school doors I stepped in front of him.

‘Hey, do you have the money?’ I asked him

‘What money?’ he said with a quizzical look on his face.

‘Don’t tell me you forget the money, because I can still tell everyone what you did’ he cowered away from me as I said this.

‘I have it…sort of’ he said quietly.

‘What do you mean sort of?’ I asked. Before he could tell me the school bell rang, and he ran inside the school.

Henry

1 day before

‘Can I go out for a walk?’ I asked my dad. He nodded but kept his eyes on the TV. I went into the hallway I stopped at the mirror and looked at myself, at my mousey brown hair, deep blue eyes and square jaw. I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself ugly, but I was no Ezra. I grabbed the house keys from the hook and put them in my pocket.  Ever since my Mother died I like to take long walks whenever I start thinking about her.

I was walking by the forest when I saw this homeless man trying to build a fire. He had a cup in front of him; I started to cross the road so that he wouldn’t ask me for spare change. I was halfway across the road when I heard him shout ‘why do you cross the road? Is it because you’re scared of me? I turned around to see him hobbling over to me. I started to run I heard his footsteps behind me. I didn’t get very far before he caught me. He grabbed me by the shoulders and started to shake me. ‘Get off of me you freak’ I screamed at him. Alas he would not let go

‘You pompous idiot think you’re better than me, well your wrong I used to be like you’ he shrieked. He reared back his head and spit on my face. His hands loosened for a bit, this was my chance I kicked him in the gut and he stumbled back. A taxi went by I screamed at the driver to stop. When he stopped I jumped in the car and told him to step on it. When we were safely away from the homeless man the driver asked me where he was driving me. I gave him my home address.

Ezra

34 days before

When henry was in school the next day he sat down without talking to anyone.

‘Are you ok?’ I asked him. He nodded. As soon as class started he perked up and was fine for the rest of the day. He always does this; he is moody one minute then beaming like a marathon winner the next.

At lunch I saw him sitting with his usual group of friends, I went over to sit with my friends. I didn’t actually have any lunch though because I am kind of in a spot with money, I knew Henry had loads of money, apparently when his mum dies she left him thousands of euros.   Henry and I are not really friends so I only knew this from rumours. In fact I kind of think he is a bit of an annoyance, what with all his mood swings and he interrupts the teachers when they are speaking and he is always trying to be funny. Half the time he is but the other half of the time it’s just awkward. I was talking to my friend Jack when I heard a tray smash against the ground, I turned and there was Henry pinning his friend to the ground, this is very normal for Henry especially on his mood swing days. ‘He is kind of like a pregnant bull’ Jack said.

Henry

The day of

I was lying in bed thinking over what had happened yesterday, nobody spoke to me like that, nobody. Especially some homeless man who doesn’t even have clean clothes. I asked dad for the car keys he said no.

‘Why?’

‘Because you got into a fight today which means no car’

‘But…but…but I always get into fights you should be used to it by now’

‘Take a hike’ he said. I wanted to argue but his head was already turned to the TV. I went up to my room, I started playing Guns N Roses, I always play them when I’m mad.

A little after 9 o`clock I went downstairs. Sure enough my dad was asleep on the couch. I went into the hallway grabbed the car keys when my conscience said something what are you doing? You can’t hurt a man without a weapon. My conscience is different that way it more reminds me then advises me. I went down to my basement and grabbed my dad’s gardening shovel. I drove all the way down to where I saw the homeless man last night and sure enough there he was hunched over his fire again he seemed to be cooking something. I parked the car across the road. I grabbed my shovel and got out; I tried to be as quiet as possible. I got all the way across the road without the man turning around. When I was close enough I lunged.

Ezra

The day of

I saw it all happen I saw it when Henry lunged for the man, then hit him with a shovel. I was standing about 20ft away behind a tree, I was there looking for my dog which had gone missing. I tried to stop watching but I just couldn’t. I wanted to call out for Henry to stop but suddenly my throat had gotten totally dry and the only sound that came out was a whisper. Henry was shouting at the man telling him off even. I forced my eyes closed, I heard a clang, and I opened my eyes.

Henry

The day of

The homeless man lay on the ground blood trickling from where I had hit him on the temple

‘Oh my god, I killed him’ I murmured. I crumpled to the ground. I heard a noise and I looked up and there stood a beautiful face belonging to a boy named Ezra.

‘You… killed… him’ he said, he had a look similar to mine on his face. I nodded

‘I am going to have to call the police’ he said to me, he started backing away from me with his hands up like he was trying to surrender.

 ‘You can’t’ I said

‘Www…why…not’

‘Because I would go to jail and I don’t want to go to jail’. His eyes lit up like he had just had an amazing idea.

‘Pay me’ he said.

 ‘What? No’ I replied. He started walking up to me; he only stopped when he was a few centimetres away from me. I never realised how tall he was.

Ezra

The day of

As soon as I thought of it I immediately said it. It was a perfect idea I would be paid by Henry to keep quiet that would definitely sort out my money problems.

‘I refuse to pay you until you help me get rid of the body’ he said. I thought about it for a bit.

‘Sure’ I was surprised by how UN shaky my voice sounded, I thought I would be more traumatised considering I had just seen a murder. ‘I need you to pay me €50 to keep quiet every day until I tell you to stop’. He nodded

Henry

Every day after

I didn’t want to talk to anyone once I got home so I had just gone to bed.

When I arrived at school the next day I slipped the money into Ezra’s bag. Everyone kept asking me how I was, I just ignored them. I thought the worst thing to ever happen to me would be my mum dying. But nothing could be worse than the guilt I feel. It doesn’t matter where I am or who I am with, I feel it. It is like a weight dragging me down until I’m nothing. I can’t even drive past the forest anymore. Nobody knows about it but me and Ezra, but I still feel like everywhere I go the police are going to arrest me.

Ezra

234 day after

I can see why he doesn’t talk to anybody anymore. I wouldn’t if I had done what he had done. I am not in any of his classes anymore. He probably asked to be transferred.

I stopped getting money on the 200^th day after it happened I didn’t ask him about it, I decided to just leave him alone just like everybody else. People used to sit with him at lunch soon after it happened but once he stopped talking everybody stopped. People avoid him in the halls, they avoid him on the street. Kind of like the way he avoided the man that ruined his life. Huh

this is a story i wrote for a writing competition for tall the junior schools in dublin, I won first place with this story and i really hoped you liked it. Even if it is really dark