It was the final day of the school year. Eddie was ecstatic and was looking forward to summer break, playing video games, reading manga,and watching Japanese anime all day on Cartoon Stream. His mother Cassandra wanted him to study more and she said she would work with him on his archery and fencing skills. He could never understand his mother's motives because he was not allowed to join any archery or fencing club. He was annoyed by his mother's lectures about how the art of archery should never be used for public festivities and sporting. Training with these skills would hone the body, mind, and spirit, she said.

The bus driver pulled into the school parking lot and came to a complete stop. Grabbing his backpack, Eddie paid little attention to the commotion and chatter in the bus and headed toward the exit. He had few friends at school and kept mostly to himself. He was an outcast among his peers and was mainly treated like a scapegoat because his upperclassmen Brad Chickles and his gang always picked on him. Brad had a tendency to bully the geeks and special-ed students, and no other students had the courage to stand up for Eddie. Even worse, they occasionally would join in with the jests and public humiliations.

Exiting the school bus, he felt a pair of eyes glaring holes into his back. He hurried away from the bus parking lot and entered the school's plaza. There was no lunch to be served today due to the half-day schedule. Kids gathered in the courtyard and played around. Eddie exited the courtyard and headed toward the basketball court. An elderly homeless man, dressed in olive linen robes with a hood over his head, sat down on one of the concrete benches and glanced up at Eddie. Although quite a distance away, Eddie vaguely had a clear image of the man's face.

The man had a long sparkly beard, with his whiskered mustache overlapping it. An eye-patch was strapped over the man's right eye. He was smoking a tobacco pipe. Bile formed in Eddie's gut--the unexpected and uninvited guest had probably ruined his and his friend's meeting spot on the basketball court. His only school friend Jacob Napkins,must have fled away due to this homeless bum. Maybe he should get the school security guards to chase this man away. On second thought, he should just leave the old man alone.

Eddie cringed when the man's eye stared through him with malice. He could feel the man's killing intent radiating from him. It was like a sixth sense to Eddie. Suddenly, a hand latched onto his right shoulder, making him shudder in surprise. He turned to meet his longtime childhood friend.

Jacob was born and raised in an African American family. Unlike Eddie, Jacob was a regular-ed student and a promising one with a high GPA rating. Most of the private junior high schools in the state of Michigan were after him.

"Ready for some MMO action? Pizza is on the house," Jacob said.

"Is it okay? Your parents won't turn me loose?" he apprehensively asked.

Being young, Eddie had little understanding of the racism crisis in America between black and white people. Would he be rejected? Countless thoughts ran through his mind. It was nauseating to think about how he would deal with possible rejection.

"Hey! My parents are not like that. They will welcome you with open arms as if you're part of the family," he laughed. "Don't sweat it."

Trouble came quicker than Eddie anticipated when Brad and his cohort of mischief-makers came after him.

"Well well well! What do we have here? Two stranded geeks for the taking." They laughed.

Eddie and Jacob's only path to escape was blocked off. The gang was surrounding them like a pack of hungry wolves, eager to pounce on their prey. Eddie gritted his teeth. He did not want Jacob to suffer the same fate as him. Unexpectedly,Jacob had the courage to step forward and held out his hand, warning the gang from approaching any closer.

"What business do you guys have with us?"

"What business we have, he says,"Brad said sarcastically, as his gang members laughed. "Move it,four-eyes!"

Brad grabbed the collar of Jacob's shirt and shoved him to the grass. In the process, Jacob's glasses fell off from his face and landed on the concrete sidewalk. The right lens cracked. Recovering his friend's damaged glasses, Eddie plunged to Jacob's side, but Brad pinned Eddie onto his belly. Eddie squirmed, but Brad had put enough of his weight by squatting and had immobilized him. Brad checked Eddie's pockets to see if there was any cash. To his surprise, Eddie was not carrying anything,not even a penny. Eddie wailed and made a disgusted face as he inhaled Brad's cruddy, bad breath, which smelled as if he had not brushed his molars for months. The stench was so foul that it gotten trapped within his nostrils.

"Hey, Mr. Special-Ed. Where's the money? You know how my business turns out without money," he spat.

"Let him go, Chickles. There's nothing to gain from all this bullying," Jacob said, getting to his feet.

"Let us just go about our business and act like nothing happened."

"This is my turf! I can do anything I want. When I want!"

Chuckles escalated among the bullies."He's asking for it," a boy named Alex muttered in Brad's ear.

"Alright, Mr. Tough-Guy. You messed with the wrong guy," he beckoned his pals and pointed at Jacob."Mr. Tough-Guy is all yours. Leave Ferguson to me!"

Suddenly, the sky above them dimmed. The bullies halted and looked to the sky. The chirping of the nearby birds grew ever louder. Spontaneously, out of the blue, a flock of ravens by the hundreds soared out of nowhere and swarmed the cohorts. Talons clinched and tugged on the kids' clothes. Brad's lips were being pulled in a comical way. Not being fatal, the flock's attach was both futile and relentless. A hollering and frightened Alex was hauled away by a dozen ravens, only to be dumped into a nearby small puddle of mud. Wailing echoed throughout the basketball court.

"Let's get out of here!" Brad squawked.

The boys fled, while the flock pursued them until they were out of sight. Jacob helped Eddie to his feet,stunned and at the same time amazed at the event that had just occurred. They were the only ones left unscathed by the swarm of ravens. It was like the ravens had come to their aid. It was very eerie, Eddie thought. Looking ahead, the basketball court was empty. No sign of the homeless, elderly man. It made him shiver. There was only one exit from the court and that was in their path.

"He was there," he pointed."Where's the old man?" Eddie asked and shivered.

"Huh? What old man?"

"I swear! He was there right before you came."

Jacob gave him a puzzled look.

"He had an eye-patch and long beard and was smoking a pipe."

Jacob shrugged, "Beats me. I did not see this 'old man' when I approached you."

"That's very strange," Eddie murmured.