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Everything Jake. 701 Superhero U (continued) by Mike Rosenzweig Jake fell back down, this time much harder than before. He heard the hollow conk sound ones head makes as it hits a mat. His brains felt scrambled. This must be what drugs are like. He heard Jenkins yelling insults at him. He heard the class laughing, cackling. He heard it twice, even though his was sure he should only be hearing it once. Then the ringing took over. Terrible ringing, ringing everywhere. A banshee is loose in my head, Jake thought, doubling over, covering his ears. Make it stop, he yelped again, or he thought he did, all that was left was the ringing. Then he felt a sharp pain in his gut and flew up what seemed six feet to him but Mercy would tell him it was barely an inch. He rolled until he hit the wall, and the ringing started to subside. He touched his lip, and there was blood. He touched one of his ears, and there was blood. He put one hand down, hard, and straightened himself up. He was already beginning to feel better. Artie looked as if he was sorry, but his words didn't reflect any apology. "Stupid blond muther fucker, Jake. Learn to stay down like the dog you are. Shit." "That all you have to say to him, Arthur?" It was Jenkins, standing behind him, the opposite side of the room of where Jake is. Other members of the class snickered. Mercy was silent. Paul was silent. Artie walked over to Jake and extended his hand out, and Jake took it. Artie clenched down on it, and Jake couldn't break the grip. "Fool." Jake landed on his side and heard a crunch. There goes some ribs, he thought, but he knew that wasn't true, it just felt true. He looked up and saw that he was thrown right where Mercy was sitting. He winked at her again, as Artie lifted him up by the back of his sweat pants. "Time for more pain, pansy boy."  TWO HOURS AGO: "What do you mean, not your uncle?" "Not my uncle. As in, not my uncle." "How do you figure?" "Really wanna know?" "Really wanna know." "It's just… just a feeling." "A feeling?" "A feeling. But I've learned to trust my feelings. First time I met him was early last year, he was working with my dad. My dad seemed to be old friends with him, like brothers, almost. But my dad never had any brothers. I know, I checked out family tree on the Internet-" "Well, if you read it on the Internet, than it's gotta be true." "Oh, shut it, Jake. I checked, that's the point, okay? Nothing. Not one other kid from my grandparents. Not my grandad, not my grandma. And no, Jake, I couldn't just ask them, they lived in Puerto Rico and died in the eighties, after my dad came here." "So the point is, not your uncle." "Right. What about yours?" "My uncle?" "Yeah…" "He's my uncle. My mother's brother. At first I didn't believe him… but then… I dunno. My dad said he was but they just never told me about him." "You didn't ask your mom?" "My mom died when I was a kid, Merce, you didn't know that?" "Shit Jake, I'm so sorry, I didn't know. Or maybe I did, and didn't remember. But I'm still really sorry." "It's okay, really." "So you think he's your real uncle?" "I think he's my real uncle." 
   
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EVERYTHING JAKE is TM & (C) 2000-2011 by Mike Rosenzweig. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
