bbeeboyy

If the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, then Zacharie Kane was effectively insane. Ever since his mother and older sister had left Zach had been forced to live alone with his father, day in and day out it was the same. Go to school where he was treated like garbage by his peers and then go home and hide in his room until his father passes out after further killing his already decaying liver. Due to this, aside from a small handful of online friends, Zach was effectively alone though he never really minded it too much when everyone, his peers, his sister, hell even his own mother were liars and cheats; it didn't make him want to socialize that often.

Most people didn't like Zach and Zach felt the same way whether it be his own family leaving him to the wrath of his father or his peers who often harassed him over his tics or his tendency to 'overreact' to things. They often called him names like freakshow or grinny or barcode arms, baiting him into fights where he would get into trouble with his teachers, it pissed him off to no end that no matter what he did it was seen as bad. He wanted to make them pay but he always pushed away that thought, even if he did ever resort to that it wouldn't help...would it?

It was a Friday and it had been another disappointing day for Zach who was riding home on his skateboard, the music from his headphones blocking out the noise of the cars that would occasionally pass by with his head lost in thoughts related to the day's earlier events he rubbed his black eye that was now slightly faded, a result of an argument with a classmate after school that had quickly gotten out of hand. The fights and bullying had gotten much worse after a kid had been pulled out of the school due to the amount of bullying Zach knew he had been at least acquainted with but he couldn't seem to remember his name, though he seemed to be forgetting a lot of things recently.

The woods that surrounded his town was one he was very familiar with and one that he was also cautious of, remembering the stories of creatures as tall as the trees and murderers that lurked in the dark shadows. He was brought to a stop when he noticed someone standing between the trees, while normally he would've just ignored whoever this person was, something about them stopped him in his tracks. His ears started to ring as he squinted to try to get a better look when a feeling of horror struck him, this person, no this thing, it didn't have a face.

He only saw the thing move slightly before he quickly grabbed his skateboard and ran the rest of the way home, feeling grateful he didn't see his dad's car as he slammed the front door closed behind him and grabbed a kitchen knife for protection before he ran upstairs to his room. He clutched the knife breathlessly as he dropped his skateboard on the ground, cautiously looking out his curtains and letting out a long sigh of relief when he just saw the normal sight of the empty street and the trees surrounding the area. He felt silly about his overreaction when it could've just been a person in a costume, it was October after all and it wasn't too uncommon for teenagers to try to scare locals as a prank.

He closed his curtains before setting the knife down on his bed's side table next to his old laptop, deciding he would put it away eventually. He surveyed his room as he went to lock the door, his bedroom was medium and didn't have too much in it, the most he had was the PlayStation 2 his sister had left and one of those old TVs from probably 2007 as well as the many band posters he had bought or stolen that hung over the walls with a few on the sloped ceiling.

He sighed as he dropped his backpack on the ground, flopping onto his bed before he booted up his laptop, getting on Skype to see if anyone was on yet. While Zach didn't have any friends in school, he did have a handful of friends from Tumblr and MySpace, mainly his best friend Toby who he talked to often. As soon as Zach fully got logged in on his laptop he was called by Toby which he quickly accepted "Zach!!! Where were you? I've been wanting to play Minecraft for hours!" Toby shouted impatiently, Zach laughed slightly at his friend. "Well unlike you I actually have to go to a physical school," he replied. While Zach didn't know everything about Toby he did know that he was about the same age as Zach and in homeschooling, he also had an older sister and tics as well, though Toby knew a lot about Zach due to Zach often going on personal rants.

The two talked and played games for a few hours until Zach quickly fell quiet when he heard the front door slam open and shut, he felt a chill run down his spine as he heard the loud and haphazard steps coming up the stairs. He froze up when the door to his room hit the wall with a bang, didn't he lock it? He looked over to see the very obviously intoxicated face of his father, Bob Kane, a disgusting excuse of a life who sucked the joy out of other people, the man was somehow a doctor which was hard to believe due to how often he came home inebriated.

"Why isn't the house clean, girl." Zach's hands clenched into fists but he kept an emotionless expression, trying to suppress the rage he felt "It is clean, I cleaned it yesterday." he replied with a toneless voice, Bob scoffed "You call that disgusting mess of a kitchen clean? And your room, when will you grow up, leave these delusions behind being...what did you call it? Nonbinary? I raised you thirteen goddamn years and you can't even be grateful." he slurred as he held onto the doorframe of Zach's room for support. "Sixteen years." "What." "I'm sixteen years old, almost seventeen." Zach retaliated, voice dripping with hatred if given the chance, he would've left years ago but it was a small town and the shit cops got along well with his dad.

The man gave Zach an enraged look as he stumbled towards him, Zach's ears started ringing as he quickly jolted off of the bed, grabbing his backpack, phone and headphones as he ran out of the house and into the woods. He was pretty deep when he fell to the ground out of breath, looking around at the dark trees that surrounded him. He really didn't want to be alone in the forest but anything was better than that place, Zach rubbed his temples as he checked the time on his phone, it was only six and he had the worst headache. He looked around a bit when he froze up, right where he had run from was that creature he had seen on his way home. He quickly grabbed his backpack, shoving his things into it, before he ran deeper into the forest, doing his best not to trip over exposed roots or holes in the ground as he ran for his life.

It felt like he had been running for hours, he leaned against a tree for support, breathing heavily as his legs trembled under him, he knew he couldn't run forever but he couldn't let it catch him. He fell to his knees as a coughing fit overtook him, his nose bleeding as his ears ringing loudly and his head pounded, he looked up to see the inhumanly tall creature seemingly staring at him with a tilted head. He tried desperately to use the tree as support to get up, to force himself to run but exhaustion overtook him and the last thing he saw before he went unconscious was the creature stretching an arm towards him.

Zach woke up in the forest across the street from his house, it was very dark out and he felt weird, he cautiously got up as he surveyed his surroundings. He felt in control of his actions but his head was dizzy with thoughts and he couldn't entirely tell if they were all his own. He checked his phone to see it was midnight and he had many missed messages from Toby who called him as soon as he got on "Hel...Hell...o?" Zach answered, the cloudiness in his head still staying ever present, "ZACH WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!" he winced at the loud but concerned voice of his friend "Not really sure….uhm...I….I think I blacked out in the woods?" he stumbled over his words slightly as he made his way back to his dad's house, feeling relieved to see his dad's car was gone.

"YOU BLACKED OUT IN THE WOODS?!?!" "Ye..yeah...when I was coming home from school earlier today I saw…. something and then when I ran away from my dad I saw it again." he replied as he got some water and food from the kitchen before going back to his room to relax, making sure the door was actually locked. "You saw something? like a person or an animal?" he flopped onto his bed and sighed tiredly "It could've been someone in a costume but I'm not sure anymore." "Well….what did it look like?" he thought for a bit, trying to fully remember and clear a bit of his brain fog. "Like….super long limbs... inhumanly tall...and no face...It was either some sort of horrible prank or I am actually starting to lose it." "Hm...it probably was just a sick joke of some kind." "I think it was just a prank, but it's kinda fucked up to stalk someone on their way home and then make them blackout in the woods." "Yeah..but you're okay right?" "Yeah...yeah just….a bad headache."

They talked for a little while longer before Toby eventually had to go, Zach thought about the situation for a bit longer, it had to be a prank right? but what kind of person does that shit and all of the bleeding stuff was a pretty big coincidence for that moment. Now thinking about the bloody nose stuff he got out of bed and went into the bathroom, turning on the light as he stared at himself in the mirror. He wasn't bleeding anymore and the only things left to indicate what had happened was dried blood on his yellow hoodie and many scrapes and bruises that covered his limbs. He examined himself in the mirror, he had lost a bit of color in his already pretty pale and slightly sickly looking skin, but that could've just been from shock or something, the only thing that really appeared different was that the bags under his eyes had deepened quite a bit. He sighed tiredly and opened the medicine cabinet, grabbing a bottle of painkillers and taking two to hopefully soothe his pounding head, he stared at himself for a bit in the mirror before leaving the bathroom and locking himself in his room.

He laid down on his bed, turning off the lights and staring at the ceiling as he thought about the day's events. In truth he was so tired of the fights, he just wanted a normal life as a normal person but he knew his dad would never change. “Why not just kill him?” The voice rang out in his head as his ears started to ring again, he sat up startled, maybe he was losing it. Zach surveyed the room nervously when he noticed his curtains blowing in the wind that came from his open window, he swore he had left his window closed, he got up and walked over to the window, stumbling a little in the relatively dark room his eyes still adjusting to the faint bit of light from the street lamps. He quickly fell backwards when he saw the thing standing under a flickering streetlight staring up at him, his eyes watering as he choked back a small sob, if this was a prank it wasn’t funny anymore. His ears rang loudly, his head buzzing with words like “kill him'' and “something as useless as him won't be missed”, he balled his fists and quickly stood up, no, he wasn’t a killer and he wouldn't listen to...whatever this thing was. Zach quickly stood up, glaring out the window at the now empty street before he slammed his window closed, roughly closing the curtains only to collapse to the ground when he saw the creature standing over him. It wasn’t human, it couldn’t have been human, Zach stared up at it, his eyes glossy as the room around him seemed to spin, the ringing and pounding in his ears being all he could hear or perceive until he fell unconscious.

The next day Zach woke up with a haze over his mind, time seemed to move like a slow trudge through mud as he waited for his dad to come home, thunder boomed and lightning flashed through the dark room as he sat at with his back against the door, he knew what he had to do and gripped the knife tightly in the pocket of his yellow hoodie as he sat against his door “he doesn’t deserve to live, what has he ever done for you.” He soon heard the sound of a car pulling up and a door opening before roughly being shut. He got up robotically and quietly opened the door to his bedroom, waiting at the top of the stairs before he made his next move. The front door opened and slammed shut as he heard someone stumble into the house while letting out curses as something fell to the ground, Zach gripped the handle of the knife tightly as he crept down to the ground floor, avoiding the stairs he knew would creak or make noise if stepped on, “what's the blood of one worthless life compared to freedom?” He looked into the kitchen from around a wall and hid behind his dad who was drinking a can of soda, “do it, kill him, now.” He pulled out the knife and rushed into the kitchen, stabbing his dad in the back multiple times, the man yelled in pain as he turned around, glaring at the smaller figure who was shaking with laughter as his shoulders jerked “You-YOU BITCH I’LL-” he was cut off as Zach shoved him roughly to the ground and stabbed him multiple times in the stomach, neck, and face. By the time his father had stopped twitching his face was a bloody pulp and the knife was bent to the point of uselessness, Zach stood up, jerking and shaking as he leaned against one of the counters for support, dropping the knife on the tile floor as he laughed at what he had done, he grinned wildly as he gasped for breath, tears forming in his eyes, what had he done.

After a few minutes he made his way up the stairs, packing a backpack full of things he would need, he wasn’t sure where he would go but he knew he couldn’t stay, he zipped up his backpack and slung it over his shoulders before he grabbed the baseball bat he owned, he looked around his room and bathroom for anything he may have missed before heading down the stairs. He stepped back into the kitchen, staring at his work before putting his fingers in the blood and drawing a smiley face on the wall, “come here”, he headed out of the house and into the woods, the pouring rain quickly drenching him and his blood soaked clothes, he walked into the deepest part of the forest where the sun barely shined through the crowd of trees, he was trembling heavily from the cold but he didn’t care, it didn’t matter at this point. Zach stood shivering, the only sounds being the pounding rain and the occasional thunder that would boom throughout the forest, he was soon met with the very familiar ringing in his ears and he looked up to see the empty face that seemed to bore into his very soul, as the creature seemed to stare back, Zach forgot everything about who he ever was, he only knew that his name was Grinny and he did what he was told to do by this creature.