15 Ch. 15

*In a distorted voice

"No, it's okay Will." A familiar voice said that echoed from a distance in the dark and infinite room with only a light bulb above my head.

Suddenly, I felt chains on my wrists and the next thing that happened is I didn't realize that I was being constrained on a metal chair by myself.

"You don't have to do anything for me!" The same voice echoed in the same room.

Then, I saw a boy's face, a face filled with so much blood, he was probably around 10 feet in front of me, standing.

He was also wearing a uniform that was totally ripped. I just sat there locked up and I couldn't do anything.

Then the light was flashing, the next thing I knew, he just disappeared. Then I heard an echoing voice " I'm sorry for loving you.".

Afterwards, Mom and Dad appeared in front of me from out of nowhere. "Stop wasting our time." They said. I felt so scared, I tried to look away but I couldn't move an inch.

Then in a blink of an eye, they went closer to me, I cried so hard, I wanted to scream but my voice won't come out.

They leaned in closer to me, then they had a knife. They broke open the chains on my right wrist, then they grabbed my wrist and wounded it as much as possible.

Slowly one by one, they were dragging the edge of the knife across my whole arm while they were laughing. The pain was so excruciating but I couldn't speak but I only cried then they stopped and looked at me "Stop. Wasting. Our. Time!!!" They shouted at me.

I felt so trapped.

*Gasp. I woke up and got up from a lean to a comfortable sitting postion as fast as I could. I thought it was for real this time but again, it was just another dream, another day. My tears were still dripping and I was still in the cab, I wiped them dry and looked outside. We haven't arrived in Southeast City yet.

"Sir, what happened? Are you okay?!" The cab driver asked in shock after he saw me through his mirror. "Yes, I'm okay. Its just that I had a dream." I replied and I sat down on a more comfortable spot then all of a sudden, I felt my stomach grumbling, I realized that the moon was slowly chasing the sun away.

After a bit of driving, I saw a restaurant beside the road up ahead that read "Dinner Diner", I then told the driver to pull over to eat and rest. When we walked in, the place became more nicer, the ambience was so relaxing, just what I needed. I found a vacant table and sat down.

"Sir, take a seat, eat with me!" I said to the driver who was apparently staring at the sky full of stars. "No thanks, I'm not that hungry." He replied and still kept looking at the sky. " It's okay, let me at least get you something to fill your belly, you drived for so long!" I said.

He then went over to sit with me. The waiter came and handed us 2 menus. 66 menu for a while.

"Sir, are you okay?" He asked. "No, I'm okay, from now on to the rest of the journey, please call me Warren, it's quite weird to hear others call me sir. By the way, may I know what your name is? I asked "Uhm.. you can call me Henry." he replied. "Oh okay, wait a sec, let me order." I said.

I called one of the waiters to take our order. Actually, the reason I started into thin air is because I saw a dish there that made me remember Lina, "Beef Steak" It read. And that is exactly what we ordered.

After we ate, we head back to the road again, it was getting a bit late but Southeast City is getting closer by the second.

We got bored so I and Henry just talked for each other. " May I know the reason why you carry such a big suitcase with you? Is it for your summer vacation?" He asked. "Uhm... We can say "vacation though it's not just for the summer, I'm sort of moving out from my family because I wanted to study somewhere else." I replied. "But don't you go to school in East Gate University? Because I've seen you a couple of times before." He asked. "Uhm... Actually. Yes, I do." I replied. "But why did you transfer to USE? EGU could have or actually will give you your dreams It's one of the best schools in our country!" He said again. " Oh, it was because we couldn't afford EGU anymore." I said hesitantly.

Then my face drops so hard. And I think Henry may have noticed it. "Sorry, we won't talk about it if you don't want to, Warren." "No, it's okay. It is not your problem to deal with anyways. "I replied. "Are we almost there yet?" I asked. " Yes, probably about 15 mins left or so." He replied.

And I leaned on the window and looked at the sky filled with so much lights with a moon. Then everything was quiet. A few minutes later, city lights started to appear. It felt like as if I had seen the way to my escape from an eternal nightmare. I stared at them as they were getting bigger and brighter, I rolled the window open and I felt the breeze blowing on my hair. Then I saw a signboard up ahead saying "Welcome to Southeast City!"

I've never felt so relieved before. The colorful lights struck me like how rain drops all over your body. "New city, new places, new faces, new roads, new school, new choices to make, new paths to take and new life to begin!!! Southeast City, here I come!" I shouted out the window as we were cruising through the streets of the city.

"Henry, can you drop me off at the apartment you mentioned?" I asked while I was putting my head back in again and rolled up the window. "Sure, why not?" He said as we cruised through more roads. Then I saw USE. " Wow! USE looks so great! It is not as high as EGU but it sure is wider!" I thought as we drived down the walls of USE.

Then more turns, brakes, stops and corners after, we finally stopped on a green, 4-storey building that Henry told me about. We finally arrived at the apartment.

"This is it!" I said as I moved to open the car door. I quickly got out of the cab as soon as possible "This is really it! The apartment!" Henry said. "It's a good thing I know someone who lives here, fortunately." He said.

"Henry, how much is an average hotel stay here in SE city?" I asked. "Uhm... Around 10 to 15 bucks or so? Why?" He said. "Here take this with 50 bucks extra for you to stay in a hotel for at least some rest overnight, you travelled so far, don't worry. It's my treat." I said

"Warren, it's okay, take the 50. I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do." He replied. "No really, it's my token of gratitude." I reply then I took out all my stuff and walked away from the cab. "Bye Henry! Thank you so much!" I said. "Bye-bye!" He shouted from a growing distance. He went in the cab and took off.

Meanwhile, I took all my stuff to the owner, I paid him rent for two months and went to the 3rd floor. There are 3 rooms per storey and I am in 3B. When I arrived to the doorstep, I thought if maybe this won't work out, but I didn't let it get to me and I opened the door immediately.

It was actually much smaller than I had expected.

"Oh, that's why it's for 150 bucks a month."