Philip

They are mysterious about it, they just tell me it'll be quite a show- that Jimmy will be there and Little Kate.
'Little Kate?,' I say, 'really?' and they nod and smirk and thump me on the arm.
I watch the bridge appear slowly through the fog, then I see the figures in a circle; there's lots of noise and shouting. I feel nervous but I hide it; nerves are for wimps.
'Come on,' says Toby eagerly, 'let's get a closer look.'
Mike lights up his fag and takes a drag. He's all dick and ribs. He intimidates me even though he's skinny and slow. There's something not right with him. He acts like he's disconnected from feelings.
Toby on the other hand is a right live wire. He's so full of anger sometimes, it scares me. I know his dad hits him, he told me in break time last Thursday. It was my second day at the school. He had sat watching the ants meandering this way and that across the ground and then crushed them with his thumb. 'Dad's a cunt,' he'd said, and he never made eye contact with me, just kept crushing the ants and gritting his teeth, like he was ready to explode, but knew he couldn't, not just yet.

I follow them under the bridge and I see the girls from the year above standing just off to the side. They are wearing lots of make up and smoking and keep glancing over at the the noise and chaos that, as of yet I can't focus on, because I have this sense that it's something terrible causing the commotion, that something really bad is happening- and this dread knot is growing deep in my stomach, getting bigger and bigger, but I know I got to conceal it. Jimmy is with the girls, drinking cider. He catches my eye, nods- and I return the gesture- he is the hard nut, you don't want to cross him. Toby warned me about that.
Then I hear this voice, it's sharp and sweet. 'Hi, Kevin, it's cool to see you here.' And I turn round and it's Little Kate, chewing bubblegum, her hands thrust deep in her coat pockets, her blue eyes cold and scrutinising.
'Oh, hi Little Kate,' I say, and I can feel my hands getting sweaty, can feel the blood rushing to my face.
'You should come and see what's going on,' she says, silkily.
I stare at her, at her beautiful face with it's delicate features and I know, with sudden horror, that she is corrupt; that something rotten has attached itself inside of her.
I swallow and I hear myself say, 'Show me. Show me, Little Kate.'
We walk towards the circle and people make way, and I see three boys I recognise from the sixth form standing over this little kid aged maybe eleven or twelve who is naked and crying and covered in bruises.
'That's Philip,' Little Kate whispers in my ear, 'he's the toy.'
Fear and revulsion root me to the spot. I watch as the boys take turns punching and kicking the kid. They spit on his face and laugh. The crowd is baying for blood.
'Do him 'arder!,' shouts a girl sipping from a bottle of Red Square, and the jeers and insults increase.
'Yeah, fucking do the tosser!'
'Snivelling piece of shit, I'd like to get my hands on him!'
Little Kate blows a bubble with her gum and it bursts. It sounds like a gunshot. I jump, appalled.
'You can have a go if you want,' and she nods towards Philip.
'I-I-I need to find Toby and Mike,' I reply.
I take a step backwards, tripping on people's feet; they curse at me, livid faces and pulsing veins and I keep my head down, try to distance myself from them.
'Toby's right there,' says Little Kate, 'he just got permission to freestyle'.
'Freestyle?,' I mutter and she nods, 'Yeah, he can do whatever he wants.'
I look and I see he is in the thick of it, his fat neck red and tense- he is leaning over Philip and there is the ghost of a smile on his face and I just know he is gonna beat that kid up bad- that all the pain and the hatred he keeps inside will detonate with fierce ferocity.
I stumble away, blinded with tears.
Then I'm against this shape and it says, 'Watch it for fuck's sake,' and I look up and it's Mike- Mike with his eternal fag and steel grey eyes- and for a moment he resembles something like hope, like sanity- and I'm pulling at his shirt and crying, 'We gotta do something- we gotta help that kid!,' but he just looks at me, almost sadly, like I've lost my mind and he says, 'There ain't nothing you or I can do, Kevin.' and he drifts away into the terrible night.
I fall to the ground and vomit.
There is a moment of peace just after I am finished and then I get this feeling I'm being watched and I look up and I see Little Kate and she's watching me with those impossible, cold eyes.
'Kate- I...' and I reach out to her but she stands still as stone, and her expression is one of contempt- at herself and at me.
'Help,' I beg her, 'Stop this'
Briefly, something like shame flashes in her eyes. A few seconds pass, locked in each others pain and then she chooses.
'Oi, lads!,' she shouts and her voice is steady; it doesn't betray her. 'I think we got another one here.'