By: Nadia Benjelloun

Kneeling on my knees, my cheeks boiling red from the discomfort of the heat, and with sweat trickling down my back, I put on the finishing touches to the Lego house. When I finish, I stand up and take in a relieved sigh, put my hands on my hips, and take a step back to gaze at my completed masterpiece with satisfaction. A year’s worth of diligence was coming to an end, and finally meeting its justice. The round table was two meters wide so that it can hold up the entire construction. The house itself was about a meter high and curved into a giant dome on top. It exploded with color and was even made with other compensatory neon colored toys when I had run out of the right shape of Lego to fit in certain areas. Something like this deserves to be taken a picture of. So, when I put my hand in my right pocket to take out my phone, I felt a sharp jab on my palm instead. When I pulled out the object, it was yet another Lego piece. I then realized that that was the last piece, and I had put it in there to be saved for later. Wow, I hadn’t realized that back when I first put it in there, I would really reach this far, and finally get the chance to put on this piece.

Excitingly, I walk over to my Lego house, and stretched my arm cautiously over the top, as if I were adding the star to the Christmas tree. Suddenly I hear multiple footsteps behind me, just as I successfully stick it in. I turn around to face three teenagers who walk towards me in an intimidating manner. They stopped when they were about a foot away from me. The one in the middle, a stocky dark-haired boy, stepped forward.

“Hey.” He says in an intense tone. He looks past my shoulder. “Nice Lego house.” I look him right in the eyes, scrunching my eyebrows, and replied,

“I remember you.” I spread my arms sideways in the air as if to protect the Lego house behind me.

“I see you do.” Says he. “No matter, you won’t be able to stop me anyways” he adds. He snaps his fingers and then his two side groupies approached me.

“NO!” I yell causing them to halt in mid-step. “Not this time…” I say angrily, clenching my teeth. “This time, I’m going to fight back.” And with that, I lung myself at him, knocking him down on the floor. Appalled, he didn’t seem to expect that I would make a move, so he was instead only yelling,

“Aaaagh! Get off of me you b-” I smacked him in the face.

“Shut it!” I yell back. I raise my hand in the air, and clench it into a fist. As I get ready to punch him next, he closes his eyes and winces. “You see?” I say, “you’re nothing but a coward with big words.” Then I let my hand drop. But before it reached his face, it ceased about an inch away. And that was because one of his friends caught a hold of my wrist. When He on the floor opened one eye to see what had happened, he laughed out loud.

“Ha! See? There’s something you haven’t considered.” Another hand grabbed my right wrist, and suddenly I was pulled up. Then he continued saying while standing up, “what you didn’t remember, is this time I’ve got friends. Who do you have? Nobody.” He couldn’t stress that more. He walked over to the table with his gleaming eyes and a smirk on his face. The two boys held my arms back, gripping tightly while pulling me away as I struggled to move.

“Nooo!” I screamed. He put his thumb and forefinger around a random Lego piece and looked up at me one more time, his smile even wider, his eyes just radiating his diabolical plan. Anger boiling up in me, I kick the guy on the left, causing him to drop his hands away, freeing my hand, so that I could shove the second guy as hard as I could. When he staggered backwards, he ended up tripping, falling down, buying me some time to deal with the one the left, whom I grab the shoulders of and bring up my knee to his stomach before he could react. As he clutched his stomach in pain, I push him too and then sprint to the table, where their leader stood now looking at me startled. But it was too late.

Like a domino effect, the entire Lego house had crumbled down within seconds. I throw myself at the table anyways. Dropping both of my knees to the ground, and slipping my arms under the pile of the now broken pieces. Even the colors look dull now, washed away, along with my dream. I lower my head, my hair covering my eyes. I hear somebody hold their breath, and the boy took a step back, observing me, as if only now did he realize what he has done. I rise slowly, using the table for support, then stand straight and looked himright in the eye, giving him a you’re dead to me look. He started to flinch, but before anything else could happen, I ran straight to him, ready to tear him to pieces. However, once more, I was stopped in my tracks. Only this time, I saw four pairs of arms coming in from the sides. The next couple minutes were blurry, but the next thing I knew, I was held up against a wall. And the one I was after, had disappeared out of my sight.

Now panic starting to rise in me, I search the eyes of each one of the boys. Though they smirked evilly, their eyes seemed lifeless. I racked my brain for trying to figure out what to do in this pickle, but I knew I couldn’t take on four people. Then, who was to materialize center front of the room, but He, the mastermind. He had a much more serious look on his face, but he smiled with confidence, and approached us, with an object in his hand, half hidden behind his back. I felt my breathing automatically speed up. Whatever he has in store for me, I cannot escape this time. The fellows tightened their grip on me, and we all watched him pull the object from behind him. Seeing what it was, my eyes widened, and suddenly I felt like I wanted to run. To cry, to fight, to do anything, but instead I continued staring at it. It was a weapon that resembled a cattle prod, but at its end were double five-inch blades. He had it aimed, and pointed at me, and did not look one bit shaken up.

“You…. wouldn’t?!” I said with a poker face.

“Oh, I would!” he shouts with a crazed look in his eyes.

“NO, but-uhhh-ahh aggggh!!!” And with that, before I could make sense of anything he penetrates the blades between my lower chest and upper stomach. I let out a horrid scream that echoes throughout the room sounding like a tortured zombie, and a jabbing pain springs throughout my body like electricity. Already I could hear the sound of my own screams feel like they were fading away, though my throat suggests the opposite. I could feel the pulse of my heart in my neck, in my arms, in my head, even in the air around me, and quite frankly everywhere else except for in my chest. I felt the throbbing, at first painfully loud, and then slowing down, just like everything else that was happening in the room seemed to slow down in time. He had pulled the daggers out, causing for a gush blood to spill outside, along with it I felt my energy was being drained. I fell to the floor on all fours and was ignored by the boys. Not that it helped, but I clutched my stomach, and the little energy that I had left, I used to slant my head and looked up at them, and muttered,

“Why….just… why do you do this?” Hues of red were constituting my vision, and their faces already looked blurry and out of place for me. But I could tell it was Him who answered when someone finally spoke, “Just…because we can.” My head slammed the cold hard ground, and I lay there rolled to one side in my own pool of blood, its warmth being my only comfort. The sight of their feet walking away was the last thing I saw.