When Matthew was in bed, he had a hard time falling asleep. All he could think about were the laughter, punching and kicking of his vindictive classmates. He wanted to cry some more, but he could not because he had no more tears left to cry. Then, his sadness turned to rage. Matthew was angry at Bryan, but then he became angry towards himself. He asked himself how he could allow a kid like Bryan to hurt him? Matthew was bigger than him, and Matthew knows how to fight. There was no reason for Bryan to beat and hurt him the way he did. Plus, he was only able to dominate Matthew because he had the help of others. Matthew concluded that he needed to attack Bryan and hit him where it hurt the most. Matthew, a smart kid, thought of a plan for the next day that would ultimately change who he was. After he had calculated everything in his head, Matthew fell asleep.
Matthew’s mom had woken him up for school, and he was ready to execute his plan. Matthew went into his closet to find something to wear. He saw his kakis and polos, and he looked at them with disgust and decided to where some jump pants and a Spider-Man t-shirt. Before he closed his closet door, he took one last look at the kakis and made the decision to never wear kakis or polos ever again in his life. As he looked at a mirror, he stared into it and promised himself that he would never make anyone, especially someone like Bryan, make him cry ever again.
Matthew arrived at school, and he could hear the snickering and laughter looming in the air towards him. He wasn’t phased by it, he was just focused on his mission. He made it to his classroom and saw Bryan sitting in his seat. Matthew saw Mrs. Smith and said hello to her. Mrs. Smith happily greeted Matthew back and watched as he went to his seating area. Matthew took the seat next to Bryan, and Bryan snickered and whispered,
“I hope you don’t mind that I took your seat, bro.”
Matthew quickly glanced and made eye contact with Mrs. Smith, then looked away and replied, “No, I don’t mind.”
Matthew looked sad, and Mrs. Smith could tell that something was wrong with Matthew. In class, Mrs. Smith noticed that Bryan was laughing and whispering things to Matthew throughout class, and it seemed to bother Bryan. How could someone be so mean to an angel, Mrs. Smith thought to herself.
All the kids were outside for recess, except for Matthew. He wanted to be inside long enough to prepare for the first part of his plan. He wasn’t nervous. There was this odd, calm fire within him that told him that he was doing the right thing, and no one could tell him any different.
He stepped outside, and he was immediately noticed by kids. Matthew searched for his target and found him within seconds. He saw Bryan surrounded by kids with his sunglasses on. Matthew started walking toward and kept his eyes on him. There were kids that were yelling and saying things to Matthew, but he just tuned them out. All he wanted was Bryan.
Bryan saw Matthew coming towards him, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at him. What was Matthew going to do/say to him? Bryan thought that Matthew wasn’t going to do anything because he beat him up good yesterday.
The kids opened the circle that they had created for Bryan to let Matthew inside the circle. Before Bryan could utter a word to him, Matthew in a flash punched him in the face. Everyone was shocked to see this, and Bryan was stunned. He tried to talk to Matthew, but he was interrupted with a right hook across the face and the red aviator sunglasses came flying off Bryan’s face. He went tumbling down to the ground, and Matthew immediately got on top of him and started swinging. Bryan sought support for his friends, but they didn’t do anything. They just watched and made noises as he was getting beat up by Matthew. He wondered if they were honestly his friends.
Thankfully, a teacher broke up the fight before it got out of hand. He saw a glimpse of it from far away and rushed within seconds to stop the fight. When he had broken up the fight, Matthew was furious because he had only gotten a few swings on Bryan and yearned for more time. He yearned for the time that Bryan and the kids had on him. Why couldn’t the teacher give Matthew more time? Thank God for the teachers, Bryan thought to himself.
The teacher put them against the wall and told them not to move an inch till recess was over. There was silence between Matthew and Bryan. Bryan was searching for his sunglasses, but he couldn’t find them. He was saddened that he couldn’t find them. He glanced at Matthew and realized that he had made a mistake in hurting him the way he did yesterday. It wasn’t fair to Matthew after he had been so kind to him ever since he came to the new school. Before yesterday and the incident, Matthew was his only friend. Bryan wanted to make things right between them. He needed to for his sake.
“Hey bro, sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t have hurt you like that. It was mean of me and wrong. Are we cool?” Bryan asked.
Matthew looked at him, grinned and said, “Yeah, we’re cool.”
“Friends?” Bryan asked.
“Friends,” Matthew responded.
Suddenly, the bell rang, and recess was officially over. The teacher that stopped the fight came over to them and asked if everything was okay between them now. They responded that things were good, and he told them to get to class. Bryan and Matthew smiled at each other and walked back into the school together. Bryan was happy that things were good between them and thankful that he had made a friend. However, there was this weird feeling for Bryan in the back of his mind. He felt like he was forgetting something, but he wasn’t sure. On the other hand, Matthew was still fueled with anger. He wanted more. He wasn’t satisfied with Bryan’s apology, even though it was sincere. He wanted retribution. He wanted tears to fall from Bryan’s face, and he was going to get them because his plan was not over yet. He thought to himself as he went into his pockets and felt the silver linings of the red aviator sunglasses.
They were back in Mrs. Smith’s classroom, and Bryan offered to give Matthew back his seat. However, Matthew allowed him to have it. Mrs. Smith didn’t see Bryan offering Matthew’s seat back, but she only saw Bryan taking Matthew’s seat once again. As Mrs. Smith was teaching her lesson and facing her board, she heard a popping sound, turned around and witnessed Bryan on top of Matthew. She immediately rushed to Matthew’s aid and got Bryan off Matthew. She asked him if he was okay, and Matthew sniffled and replied that he was fine. Mrs. Smith demanded an explanation from Bryan, and he replied that it was Matthew who started the whole thing. Matthew cried that it wasn’t true. He said that Bryan slapped him across the face and tackled him to the ground. Mrs. Smith believed Matthew because he was the sweetest student that she had, while she saw Bryan as the worst. If it was up to her, she would’ve expelled Bryan. However, Mrs. Smith had play by the rules, and so she took them to the principal’s office.
When they had arrived at the principal’s office, Mrs. Smith explained everything to the principal. She explained to the principal the incident and how Bryan has been nothing but mean to Matthew. Bryan discussed how he and Matthew fixed everything today, which made no sense to the Mrs. Smith or the principal. Finally, it was Matthew’s turn. Matthew said that things were terrible with them. Matthew explained yesterday in detail, and Mrs. Smith and the principal were horrified. They asked Bryan if the events yesterday were true, and Bryan tried to deny it but for some reason he couldn’t. He didn’t understand why it was hard for him to lie. He had no choice but to confirm the truth to Mrs. Smith and the principal.
They were horrified by Bryan and could not believe it. However, the principal needed to know more. The principal looked at Matthew and asked him if Bryan was lying about him starting the fight in Mrs. Smith’s classroom. Matthew knew the truth. He knew that Bryan was telling the truth
In Mrs. Smith’s classroom, Bryan and Matthew were joking about the fights they shared in class. Matthew said that he had power of Bryan, but Bryan explained that he had speed on him. Then, Bryan said to Matthew that he could knock him out. Matthew saw his opportunity, made a popping noise and tackled Bryan to the ground. Then, he rolled Bryan on top of him just in time for Mrs. Smith to be deceived.
It wouldn’t be a struggle for him to lie to the principal, no matter how much the principal looked into Matthew’s eyes. Matthew had his right hand in his pocket with the sunglasses and felt the shades, as he was lying about Bryan attacking him in Mrs. Smith’s classroom. There was a long pause after Matthew had finished fabricating his story to the principal. The principal stared into Matthew’s eye, and Matthew did not shy away from the battle that he was having with the principal. Eventually, the principal reluctantly gave in to Matthew.
The principal ended up severely punishing Bryan by suspending him for ten days. This destroyed Bryan. Bryan was scared to be home with his father. He knew that his father would be angry with him getting suspended in his first few days of school.
He pleaded, “Please don’t suspend me. I can’t be home. I can’t be home. My dad is going to kill me. Please don’t suspend me.”
Matthew delighted in seeing Bryan crying and begging for forgiveness. It was satisfying and pleasing to his soul. Matthew had gotten what he wanted, but there would be a suffering far worse than Matthew’s waiting for Bryan.
The next day, Matthew was alone at recess enjoying his victory over Bryan. He marveled at his new image in recess as kids were afraid to go near him. His lies and deceit spread into him like a virus, and he was content with this because it made him stronger than he ever was. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the sunglasses. He put them on and saw a whole, new, red world. He looked around and saw kids differently in the playground. Matthew looked at the trees and noticed that the leaves were extremely dark with the red sunglasses. Matthew now understood why Bryan had a distorted view of him. Nevertheless, Matthew enjoyed his new vision of the world, thanks to his red aviator sunglasses.
The Warfield Zone 