21

Chapter 3

Sighing heavily, Dullminiur walked down the hallway in silence. He looked around and noticed everyone staring at him weirdly, most likely noticing his gloomy expression. After some time passed, he decided that it was time to confront them. He knew that if he kept acting like this, then sooner or later someone was bound to confront him about it, but he didn't know who yet.

Slowly opening the door to the classroom, he stepped inside and immediately started searching through the crowd of kids. He soon found who he was looking for and walked towards him. Everyone stopped whispering, turned their heads towards Dullminiur and watched him approach the other kid.

"Hey." Dullminiur greeted him.

The other kid jumped at the sound of his voice. "Hi." He smiled shyly, and it seemed that it wasn't entirely fake. It was obvious to the people around him that he was nervous.

Dullminiur bit his lip, unsure of whether to ask what happened or not. After a minute of debating with himself internally, he cleared his throat and asked: "Were you attacked? Did you have something to do with the attack?" He held his breath, awaiting the answer.

The guy blinked and shook his head vigorously. "No! Of course not! I promise it wasn't me. That asshole's been bullying us since freshman year."

Dullminiur frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "And you've done nothing about it?" He pressed.

"Nothing. Nothing, I swear," the other responded.

Dullminiur stared at him for a few moments before letting out a sigh. He needed to believe the guy. Maybe it was just him, maybe there really wasn't anything to this attack, but it didn't seem right. Even though no one had died and even though they were okay, he felt bad about lying to the guy.

"Thank you. For telling me that," said Dullminiur, feeling bad for keeping this secret from him.

"Yeah, it's cool. I trust you, I mean, you're the one who saved us when the fight broke out. I know that you would have probably ended up dead otherwise." the guy smiled and Dullminiur chuckled awkwardly.

"Well, uh… I should probably get going... Sorry again for interrupting you." he quickly got up from the table and walked out of the room.

He walked outside into the hallway, but instead of heading toward the dormitories, he made his way outside. When he was sure that no one was paying attention to him, he took his phone out and quickly typed in his password. Once he opened his messenger app, he tapped on the text box and started typing.

'I need your help.'

He stared at his phone screen for several minutes, wondering whether he should send the message or not, but eventually decided against it. He didn't really want to come off as rude and needy, but he knew that he couldn't hide forever.

As he waited for a response, he continued walking through campus. He was used to it by now. Whenever someone asked where he was going or why he was late, he always told the truth. Sometimes people believed what he said, but sometimes not. Some students tried to convince him otherwise, but in reality no one actually cared. In college, lies are currency.

Dullminiur had just reached the cafeteria when his phone started ringing loudly. The loud noise startled him slightly. The person calling hadn't texted, so that meant that it was either his mom or his sister. Since the latter option was not the best idea for him, he decided to pick up the call.

"Hello?"

His mother was the first thing he heard, followed by his father's gruff voice saying, "What's your plan?"

'Plan? What kind of plan? My only plan right now involves getting rid of Crossroads' president.'

"Are you alright? You're awfully quiet." asked his mother, concern showing in her voice.

"Everything is fine, Mom. I'm sorry, I was spacing out." Dullminiur forced a smile onto his lips. He glanced at the nearby window and realized that it was dark outside, making it easier for his mother to see that something was wrong.

"I see." His mom sighed, clearly not convinced. "Listen, if it makes you feel better, we will help you out. But you will have to give up some money, of course."

He nodded his head even though she could not see it. His hands tightened into fists and he clenched his teeth. Money? What was that supposed to accomplish? Why did his family think that they were capable enough to help him when he didn't even deserve their help?

"Alright, well we'll meet tomorrow morning at seven in front of my apartment, and we can talk more about how everything is going to be handled. See you then." She hung up without giving him any opportunity to respond.

Dullminiur lowered his head to stare at the ground, trying hard to stop himself from exploding into an uncontrollable rage. How pathetic was he to end up needing the help of his family anyway? How pathetic was he to ever think that he deserved any of it? And how pathetic of a family member could he possibly be if he couldn't save himself from danger?

Dullminiur slowly dragged his feet as he walked back to his dormitory. He was completely oblivious to how many stares and whispers he received because of his actions.

~***~

He sat silently on the bed, staring at the blank computer screen. He had just returned from his meeting with the professors. All the professors agreed to do what he said if he joined them, but the one thing they refused to do was to let him run away and tell anyone that he was the president. Instead they decided to make sure that he was never alone. They also insisted on keeping him under strict watch for the rest of the day, which he hated to admit, but after seeing the amount of people that they had, he had to agree.

They had made a rule that nobody can talk to him during the day and whenever he left school, he had to have three guards behind him at all times.

They didn't seem to care much about the dangers that might occur during the school year, but that didn't change the fact that Dullminiur's safety was dependent on it.

The thought about the possibility of dying while running away scared him to death. Not only was it extremely risky, but the chances of failure were incredibly low.

After leaving the meeting, he hurriedly headed home. He needed some time to calm down, so he spent most of the night studying, attempting to understand everything that the professors taught in class. However, he was far too impatient to listen and he eventually gave up. He didn't have time to sit around and study.

In the morning, the teachers sent him to the library as usual to finish studying. As he entered the library, his eyes locked with those of another student. The student was sitting next to the window, watching him curiously. He was wearing black sunglasses and a cap, hiding his face. A small piece of white fabric stuck out of the pocket of his jeans which revealed his long and lean legs. If it weren't for the fact that he was wearing sunglasses, he wouldn't be able to recognize him.

The student noticed him looking at him, so he winked playfully and smiled, revealing sharp and menacing fangs.

A shiver ran down Dullminiur's spine. He felt uneasy and quickly turned away from the boy to keep his attention focused on his books. Once he'd finished reading them, he packed everything away and walked towards the library exit. As he stepped outside, a hand suddenly grabbed him by the wrist, preventing him from walking out. He turned around angrily and was met by the smiling face of a man he didn't recognize.

"Where are you going?" he demanded sternly.

"I'm heading out to look for work. Let go of me," answered Dullminiur, struggling to free himself from his grip. It was futile. He could do nothing against him.

The man laughed mockingly and pulled him further inside the building. "Look at you. You're practically defenseless. You can hardly defend yourself against me, a mere human being."

That comment stung his ego a little. "I am perfectly capable of defending myself against you."

The man smirked and shook his head in disbelief, releasing his hold. "Oh please. You're not strong enough to kill me. I already saw you trying to hit me. You don't know how to properly use your powers, so it's useless. We both know that I'm stronger than you."

With every word he said, Dullminiur grew angrier with each passing second. Who does this bastard think he is, thinking that he could just walk in here like he owns the place?

Before he knew it, his fist was already connecting with the stranger's jaw, causing him to stumble backwards. Without giving him time to regain his balance, Dullminiur swung again, hitting him on the temple and sending him flying backwards with such force that he collided heavily against the wall and fell to the floor unconscious.

It wasn't until then that Dullminiur realized what he had just done. He quickly went over to check on the man that was lying on the floor with his eyes open and blood pouring out of his mouth. He groaned in pain as he held his head, but he remained unconscious.

He stood there quietly for a few seconds to assess the situation, before turning around and walking away from the fallen stranger. He knew that it would do him absolutely no good to leave him alive, but he still wanted to avoid having to pay for any damages to his head later. There was no way that he was going to take responsibility for that.

Once he was outside the building, he leaned against the wall and took a deep breath before taking out the gun he kept hidden inside his backpack. He checked to make sure that the safety was on and put it back inside the backpack before walking back to the entrance of the building. No one else seemed to notice him except for the two guards that were standing there talking to themselves.

After a short moment of silence, he raised the gun up to his head and fired three shots into it, aiming for the heart and lungs.