Chapter 1

05:30, September 5, 1983

First Day of School

Like normal I was up at five-thirty and went into my normal routine. The difference was that today was the first day of school. So after chores and my morning workout, I went upstairs, got a quick shower, and dressed in one of the outfits May and Mary Jane had helped me pick out. Then, with a quick breakfast with Granny and Pap-pap under my belt, I climbed in my truck and drove to pick up my girlfriends and adopted big sister.

I promised all of them that I’d give them a ride this morning so that I could make sure that Craig Jenkins and Deshawn Pearson didn’t try and mess with them. As the last two members of Kent Buckley’s gang of five that weren’t in jail, I wanted to make sure they realized who was under my protection.

When we arrived at the school I parked my truck beside my twin sisters’ little tie-dyed VW Bug. I saw them walking toward the entrance, and as I watched, Craig reached out and grabbed one of them by the arm. I wasn’t close enough to know for sure, but I knew he was pissed that Mary Jane had stood him up a week before for a date. I was out of the truck and moving before I even realized what I was doing. There was no way I was going to let that slimy, raping bastard manhandle my sister. I was almost to him when I saw movement to the left and caught a glimpse of Deshawn Pearson moving to sucker punch me. My training kicked in and suddenly I moved like smoke and wasn’t where he expected me to be. When his fist didn’t connect with my head he sort of stumbled. Without being obvious, I connected my right foot with the back of his left knee and he fell to his hands and knees. I kept moving forward with Amaryllis, Julie, and Tabby right behind me.

I was close enough now to hear my sisters telling Craig to let Mary Jane go. I didn’t stop until I was standing right beside the wide receiver. My left hand went to his right shoulder, and it looked to anyone who glanced our way as if I was just giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. What I really did was slowly start to apply pressure to his Brachial Plexus Nerve, which runs just along the clavicle in the shoulder. When pressure is applied, it starts to cause a burning sensation that the longer it’s pressed on the more intense it gets.

“Craig, I told you to leave my sisters and their friends alone. You seem to have trouble listening. So let me give you this demonstration of what happens when you fuck with the people I’ve promised to keep safe.”

I increased the pressure on the nerve cluster, digging my pointer and middle finger into that bundle. Craig, trying to not lose face, refused to cry out in pain, but I could see the color wash out of his face and the little bead of sweat that glistened on his upper lip. I leaned close. “Do you feel the fire running down your arm? That’s nothing compared to what I can do. If I even think you are putting pressure on a girl in this school, I won’t hesitate to show you exactly what I can do. It will be worse than what happened to Kent, Aaron, and Todd. Now apologize to my sisters, then you and Deshawn go away.”

I could see the hate in his eyes. and I knew that I needed to hurry up my timeline of getting my vigilante alter ego able to make his visits to those who deserved justice. Maybe tonight I’d go visit the new D.A. in my full costume. Complete with the two-inch lifts that my adopted sister had suggested when I picked up the mask and turtle neck from her. I needed to make a quick run into Lexington and Toys-R-Us. I needed to see if the incredible voice changer had been released yet. If not, then I needed to find another way to disguise my voice. I didn’t need anyone to associate me with the vigilante that was soon to burst on the scene.

Craig quickly said he was sorry for disturbing my sister’s morning, and then he grabbed Deshawn and the two of them walked off like they hadn’t a care in the world. They did, they just didn’t know it yet. After they were visited in the middle of the night by someone that didn’t exist, they’d start to realize they did have things to worry about.

My sister Mary Jane looked at me. “How did you do that Harrison? How in the world did you get Craig to just walk away like it was nothing?”

I shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “I just reminded him that I don’t play fair. I play to win, so I jogged his memory a little.

“If you see them messing with any of your female friends let me know. Mary Jane, don’t you give in and agree to go anywhere with Craig or Deshawn. I can only be in one place at a time. That goes for you too, May. If they hurt either of you then I’ll be in prison right alongside Robert for two counts of murder.”

Both my sisters nodded and gave me a quick hug. I did not follow them, as much as I wanted to. Instead, I took my girls and Tabby inside the main building. We dropped Tabby at her homeroom and let her know our morning schedule and promised to meet her for lunch. Thankfully, Rhylls, Jewel, and I all had the same schedule. We were all taking the same AP classes at the same time. So I could ensure my girlfriends were treated with respect and not harassed. Any guy who tried to put moves on them would find that they were both taken. I wouldn’t start anything at school because I had a sneaky suspicion that Principal Nicolas was just waiting for the chance to expel me after our last interaction.

Thankfully, the first day of school went without further altercations. We had a crowded table at lunch, with my girls, my three sisters, Patty Borland, Sara White, Carl Brown, Jessie James, Beth Long, and a few of the cheerleaders I hadn’t been introduced to yet. All sitting with me because the girls knew I’d keep the guys with wandering eyes and hands away from them.

I tried to relax and just enjoy my lunch. But it’s hard to relax when you can feel the eyes of the two guys whose whole lifestyle you’ve fucked up in just under three weeks following your every move. Craig and Deshawn were sitting across the cafeteria with several of the football guys, glaring at me. I wasn’t naive enough to think that they were just going to slink away into the sunset. No, they’d find a few like-minded players and try to revive the gang of five with new blood.

After lunch we had Spanish 1, then we’d be heading over to the community college for our three classes there. I let my girls know that I had other obligations after school. I could run the three of them home then I needed to deliver my papers. Once that was done, I would keep going until I was in Lexington and talked to this guy I’d heard about from the owner of the Army/Navy surplus store. A guy who was known for making quality fake IDs. Plus I needed the voice changer if it was out. Then I wanted to visit with Ms. Dent and see if any further charges were going to be pressed against the two of Kent’s original gang or did I need to take their judgment into my own hands.

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22:30, September 5, 1983

Ms. Dent’s Residence

Everything had gone off without a hitch so far. It was enough to make my teeth itch. When things seemed to be going too smoothly, that usually meant that I was unaware of some serious shit that was about to hit the fan and splatter me and everyone I cared about. After class had been one of those days. The voice-changing box I wanted was indeed out and I picked up one at Toys-R-Us, along with the batteries to use it.

I met with the guy at a little hole-in-the-wall diner just on the other side of the Army/Navy store and he gave me a price for the fake driver’s license I wanted. I told him I needed it to have the full motorcycle class M endorsement which upped the price by an extra hundred dollars. I paid him half up front and made sure that he understood that if he double-crossed me, I would find him and make him pay. He started to laugh until he saw my eyes and then he just nodded and told me he needed three weeks to procure what I needed. I gave him the photos from the photo booth in the mall and then drove back to Angel Falls.