THE MAN THEY SHOULD NEVER HAVE TOUCHED ___By HN118___
Chapter 1 – The Day They Went Too Far
*HN118*
The final bell echoed through Jefferson High School.
Within minutes, the hallways emptied.
Students poured into buses, parking lots, and sidewalks, laughing as if nothing in the world could touch them.
Not everyone was smiling.
Emily Carter kept her head down as she walked across the deserted athletic field behind the gymnasium.
She already knew they were following her.
The footsteps.
The laughter.
The voices she had learned to fear.
"Hey!"
Jason Walker's voice cut through the afternoon air.
Emily didn't stop.
A hand grabbed the strap of her backpack and yanked her backward.
She stumbled.
Her books scattered across the cracked pavement.
Six students surrounded her.
Three boys.
Three girls.
Every one of them wearing the same cruel grin.
Jason stood in front, casually spinning a set of car keys around his finger.
Tall.
Broad shoulders.
Captain of the football team.
The kind of student teachers protected because he brought trophies to the school.
One of the girls raised her phone.
"Start recording."
Another giggled.
"This is gonna be hilarious."
Emily bent down to gather her books.
Jason kicked them away.
"Didn't I tell you to look at me?"
A heavy boot slammed into her ribs.
THUD!
Emily cried out and collapsed onto the pavement.
The group burst into laughter.
One girl walked over and grabbed a framed photograph that had fallen from Emily's backpack.
It was old.
Faded.
Emily as a little girl, sitting on her father's shoulders.
The only family photo she still carried every day.
The girl examined it before smirking.
"Aww..."
"Look at this."
"Little princess and Daddy."
She tossed the picture to another girl.
"So pathetic."
Emily's eyes widened.
"Give it back!"
She lunged forward.
A sharp crack split the air.
SMACK!
A hard slap snapped Emily's head sideways.
For a moment, all she could hear was ringing.
The taste of blood filled her mouth.
The girl smiled.
"What?"
"You gonna cry?"
Another girl stepped in, grabbed Emily by the hair, and yanked her upright.
Emily screamed.
Jason walked closer, crouching until they were eye to eye.
"So..."
"Where's your famous dad?"
Emily glared at him through tears.
"Leave him alone."
Jason laughed.
"Oh?"
"You mean the janitor?"
"The guy who fixes toilets?"
Another boy chimed in.
"My mom says he's the biggest loser in town."
"He gets yelled at by everyone."
"And all he does is say..."
The boy bowed dramatically.
"'Sorry, sir.'"
The group exploded with laughter.
Jason leaned closer.
"I heard he even apologizes when people spit at him."
Emily's fists tightened.
"My dad is better than all of you."
Silence.
Then...
Jason smiled.
The smile of someone who enjoyed breaking people.
"Oh."
"So you've still got some fight."
Without warning—
SMACK!
Another slap.
Harder.
Emily hit the ground.
Before she could crawl away, Jason planted his boot on the back of her hand.
Bones pressed against concrete.
Pain shot through her arm.
Emily screamed.
Jason slowly increased the pressure.
"You know what your problem is?"
"You still think somebody's coming."
One of the girls crouched beside Emily.
She whispered into her ear.
"Your mom's dead."
"And your dad's a joke."
"You've got nobody."
The words hurt more than the blows.
Emily tried to breathe.
Tried not to cry.
Jason looked around at his friends.
"Should we call the old man?"
"Nah."
"He probably cries if somebody raises their voice."
Everyone laughed again.
Then—
A calm voice drifted across the empty field.
"Emily."
The laughter stopped.
Every head turned.
A middle-aged man stood several yards away.
Rain had begun falling.
His faded maintenance uniform was damp from work.
One hand carried an old metal toolbox.
His shoulders looked tired.
His face looked older than his age.
Daniel Carter.
Jefferson High's maintenance worker.
Emily's father.
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
"Dad..."
Daniel looked only at his daughter.
Blood on her lip.
Mud on her clothes.
Her swollen cheek.
Her trembling hands.
His expression never changed.
He quietly set the toolbox on the ground.
Then walked forward.
Jason looked him up and down before bursting into laughter.
"No freaking way."
"The janitor actually showed up."
Another boy laughed.
"Dude came straight from cleaning toilets."
One of the girls pinched her nose dramatically.
"Eww."
"I swear I can smell bleach."
Daniel stopped beside Emily.
He knelt.
Without saying a word...
He gently wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth using his sleeve.
His hand trembled slightly.
"Can you stand?"
Emily nodded weakly.
"I'm sorry, Dad..."
Daniel looked at her.
"You have nothing to apologize for."
He helped her to her feet.
Then placed himself between her and the six teenagers.
Jason rolled his eyes.
"Oh, look."
"Big Daddy's protecting his little girl."
He walked forward until they were only inches apart.
"So what now?"
"You gonna report us?"
Daniel remained silent.
Jason frowned.
"I'm talking to you."
Still nothing.
Jason shoved Daniel hard in the chest.
The older man took half a step backward.
Nothing more.
Jason looked at his friends.
"See?"
"Told you."
"No balls."
Laughter erupted again.
Jason raised his hand—
SMACK!
The slap echoed across the field.
Daniel's head turned slightly from the impact.
Then...
Slowly...
He looked back at Jason.
No anger.
No fear.
Nothing.
Jason clicked his tongue.
"What?"
"Too scared to hit back?"
He glanced over his shoulder.
"Melissa."
"The scissors."
One of the girls unzipped her backpack.
She pulled out a pair of heavy classroom scissors used in the art department.
She tossed them over.
Jason caught them one-handed.
He twirled them playfully.
"You know..."
"I've always wondered."
He pointed the scissors toward Daniel's chest.
"What does a loser wear under this cheap-ass uniform?"
Emily's face turned pale.
"No!"
She tried to move forward.
One of the boys grabbed her arms from behind.
Jason grinned.
"Watch."
The metal blades slid beneath the fabric.
RRRIP...
The scissors tore through Daniel's work shirt from the collar downward.
The old fabric split apart.
Jason grabbed both sides.
Then ripped with all his strength.
RRRRRIP!
The shirt fell open.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The rain continued falling.
No one laughed.
No one moved.
Daniel's body wasn't the body of an ordinary maintenance worker.
It was covered in scars.
Long scars.
Deep scars.
Old bullet wounds.
Knife wounds.
Burn marks that stretched across his shoulder.
A jagged surgical scar ran from his collarbone to his lower abdomen.
Fragments of shrapnel could still be seen beneath damaged skin.
It looked less like flesh...
...and more like the map of every war he had survived.
Melissa slowly lowered her phone.
"Oh..."
"My..."
"God..."
One boy instinctively took two steps backward.
Another swallowed hard.
Jason's grin disappeared.
The scissors slipped slightly in his hand.
"What..."
"...the hell happened to you?"
Daniel calmly picked up the torn pieces of his shirt.
He folded them once.
Carefully.
As if they still mattered.
Then he raised his eyes.
For the first time...
The exhausted maintenance worker was gone.
The man standing before them now carried a gaze so cold...
...it made every instinct scream that something was terribly wrong.
Jason suddenly felt his mouth go dry.
Daniel spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.
"You had many chances..."
"...to walk away."
He looked briefly at Emily.
Then back at the six teenagers.
"But you chose..."
"...to hurt my daughter."
The rain intensified.
No one noticed.
Because every one of them had the same feeling.
The man standing before them...
Was no longer prey.
May you like
He was the predator.
End of Chapter 1
