Swords of Regret – Part 1

    The pain throbbed through Regret’s left leg as he hopped out of the way of another blow. His sleek dark black hair waved in the wind obscuring his vision from time to time. It was times like this when Regret felt alive, parrying and thrusting and slashing with his sword. Sword fighting was how he escaped the confines of the real world. Regret called time and walked over to his best friend Sam congratulating him on a good duel. Sam and Regret were opposite in body but the same in mind. Regret was small and fast while Sam was built to withstand any force, Also Sam’s blonde short hair was the total opposite of Regret’s flowing black hair. Despite their differences Sam and Regret were beset friends because they both loved sword fighting, archery and everything to do with fantasy.
    “Just one more fight man,” Sam egged Regret on, “we gotta decide who’s the best today.”
    “Fine but then I gotta go, I have a rehearsal for the school play in twenty minutes.” So once again the two wooden swords met, creating a pleasing dull thunk every time they collided. Sam feinted upwards but Regret let the sword harmlessly drift over his shoulder, not falling for the classic trick. Now with Sam off balance Regret could strike a blow and end this, but as he leaned forward Regret came to a realization. Sam’s maneuver wasn’t finished, his sword came back along the path it had previously travelled slicing carefully along Regret’s neck. Regret rolled to the ground to avoid being hurt but as he rolled his necklace cord snapped and fell to the ground.
    “ I told you that wearing that thing during our duels was a bad idea.” Sam chided
    “ But you know how much this thing  means to me, I wouldn’t want to leave it somewhere.”
    “ So your not mad?”
    “ No way Sam, you were just trying to win and I respect that.” Sam proceeded to pick up the charm and handed it to Regret as they said there good byes.
    Regret was in the school play, casted as the lead role. He was excited to rehearse but not excited to go back to school. There was a bully at school whose gang loved to pick on Regret. Bruce and his posse would shove Regret around taking his books and calling him names. Today was no different, for as soon as Regret entered the school he was bombarded by blows from both mouth and hand. He had learned to live with the bullying and was hardly fazed by this latest episode. Regret kept walking.
    “ Hey you little runt, get back here.” Bruce hollered
    “ Ya get back here,” one of the grunts echoed but REgret just kept walking. Bruce  bounded over and knocked Regret to the ground.
    “ Didn’t you hear me shorty?”
    “ Ya.”
    “ So why didn’t you come back ya loser?”
    “ Because you have no power over me” Regret boldly stated as he started to get up. Just as he got to his feet Bruce pushed him back down again.
    “ Maybe you’ll respect how much power I have over you!” Bruce was practically shouting as he yanked the necklace from Regret’s neck, breaking the chain once again. Rage welled inside of Regret as his keepsake was torn from his body. That was the last straw for Regret and as he got up he thrust his knee in between Bruce’s legs as hard as he could. Bruce doubled over screaming in pain but just as Regret reached to retrieve his precious necklace one of the goons from the gang swooped in and snatched the charm out of Regret’s outstretched hand. The goon dashed  off down the hallway taunting Regret as he ran. In all of his anger Regret foolishly followed, trying to copy every exact twist and turn. Even with his amazing speed Regret could not keep up to the athletic goon. With his mind on how he would pummel the thief into oblivion Regret did not see Mr. Mallory standing in the hallway. Regret ran full tilt into Mr. Mallory causing quite a disturbance.
    “ Regret where have you been, we need you for rehearsal,” Mr. Mallory scolded “ and you know that running in school is not allowed, but today ill let you off with just a detention. You will serve it tomorrow at lunch.
    “ But…”
    “ No buts, now go rehearse.”
    Regret was mad about having detention but none the less it gave him some time to plan for how to get his precious necklace back. Bruce and his gang would no doubt be coming after him and that would give Regret a chance to counter attack. He put his medieval mind to work, deciding weather or not to create a pitfall or just outright tell a teacher. He decided on booby trapping the heck out of the ambush spot and then drifted off into his imagination.
    Thankfully Regret had study block just in last period so he got out a little early and had time to set up the traps. Today the bullying would end when Bruce and his gang realized that they could no longer push Regret around. It would only be a matter of time before Bruce rounded the corner and Regret had to be ready for this showdown. Twenty minutes  later Bruce came around the corner flanked by his minions. The posse menacingly stalked towards Regret with clenched fists. Bruce was in the lead and when he was about five steps from Regret pandemonium erupted. Brush triggered the first trap in Regrets perplexity of snares. Bruce was now hanging from the bough of the tree, suspended in mid air by a strand of thick rope. Upon seeing this horror, the bumbling buffoons raced fore ward hoping to gain the honor of freeing their leader. One by one they were picked off by nets, ropes and pitfalls leaving Regret and Bruce face to upside down face.
    “ Where is my necklace!?!”
    “ Why should I tell you?”
    “ Cause your the one hanging upside down from a tree and I’m still on my own two feet.”
    “ If I tell you will you let me go?”
    “ Maybe.”
    “ Well thats not very reassuring.”
    “ I’m defiantly not gonna let you go if you don’t tell me!”
    “ I came here to beat the crap out of you and now I’m hanging from my feet. I know how to recognize defeat so I’ll tell you,” Bruce heaved a huge sigh before continuing. “ Go into my spare locker and check on the top shelf.” Regret raced off leaving Bruce and his gang still trapped. The second that Regret opened the locker he saw the necklace sitting on the shelf, gleaming in the dim light. It was then that Regret started to appreciate why Bruce was so mean to him. Bruce was taking out all of the horror and pain of his past on Regret. Along with that epiphany moment came the realization that Regret had done the wrong thing. He should not have fought fire with fire, he should have treated Bruce the way he wanted to be treated. This thought was to much for Regret to take so he grabbed the necklace and ran home, plagued by the guilt from what he had done.
    Sleep would not come easily to Regret and as he tossed and turned he had the second epiphany of the day. Regret had an idea on how to fix everything that had happened between him and Bruce. Today had not been the final showdown by tomorrow would be. Regret versus Bruce.
    School slowly snailed by for Regret. The clock seemed to freeze in every class as teachers droned on and on. The final showdown loomed closer and closer and as lunch assed Regret debated giving up on his plan, but remembering what he had seen in the locker and his feelings of regret, Regret knew that he had to go through with his plan. Finally the bell rang, and the final showdown was about to begin. Regret waited by the same tree he had the day before and sure enough Bruce and his gang walked around the corner looking just as frightening as ever. They were much more careful where they stepped this time, weary of the traps that were ghostly there. Regret stepped fore ward ready to confront Bruce and end this conflict.
    “ I’m sorry,” Regret boldly stated.
    “ What?” Bruce recoiled in shock.
    “ I’m sorry Bruce. What I did was wrong and I’m apologizing now in order to clear the slate. I hope we can at least not hate each other. We don’t have to be friends or anything…” Regret trailed off as Bruce took as step fore ward. This was it. Would Bruce accept this apology or would he go back to his old ways. The next thing regret knew he was lying on the ground with his throbbing jaw mushed into the ground. Meanwhile Bruce walked away feeling conflicted as all of his goons followed.
    As the year progressed Regret felt more and more confident because Bruce’s bullying started to decrease. Regret’s plan had worked despite the fact that bruce could not take it at first. Now that Bruce had a slight change of hear Regret felt so much safer at school and as a result his grades increased. Love had conquered fear and violence.

(The last paragraph is just to add a good ending to this part of the story. I want to write more and add more fantasy like maybe a different dimension or something along those terms)