11 Chapter 11

"Well, I've had my speculations for a while now."

With stiff hands, Edmund covered himself with the hoodie; his only response. Ava flinched. The table had rattled for a moment at his head-first collapse, but he sat straight up again. In deep breaths and closed eyes, it was clear Edmund had forced himself too.

Eventually, the door chimes jingled a quiet but melodious tune when sirens that blared by ruined everything. Ava, her head also hung low, out of the corner of her eyes watched as Edmund's eyes sputtered wide open.

In his trembles and avoidance, he reeked of fear. Flashbacks, she presumed, traumatic, nightmarish flashbacks now sent his sweat and breathing uncontrollable—the hallmarks of PTSD.

In Edmund's mind, the rubble of sirens, snickers, and dismay already buried him six-feet under. Unwanted memories resurfaced—first, the feeling of migraines, bloodshot eyes and forced sadism stemmed from his non-stop browsing on the forums, and second, the headlines, and the guilt sunk towards his mother. His friends. Charlize. And everyone around him. Edmund found the chatter of self-loathe an tinnitus-like haunt around his ears. In his mind, a 1900's film stock rolled out his nine months of misery in the form day-to-day images.

From the outside room to his internal mental war, only an empty black and red tears did not succumb to the nothingness. However, the absence of colours was nothing next to the devoid of his senses. Edmund found his numb body return to a state of despondent staring.

The weight of his blank gaze sagged Ava's shoulders. Like a wrench to a screw, her heart scrunched with heartbreak. as she could only watch Edmund silently on the sidelines. He pressed his two hands on his knees and lifted himself into the air—inches from the seat—and grabbed Abriel by her cradle.

As if in deep thought, Ava pursed her lips. The recurring silence came and went, and to her expectations, she saw that Edmund hadn't got up and left.

Ava continued. Unconsciously, her voice grew softer and lower. "I only overheard from your fan-girls at the cafe, and Justin on the university forums. It was shut down and gone pretty fast, but not before it made headlines. The talk of the town. It WAS shut down pretty quickly, though. Even during your months of absence, I didn't think any of it."

Edmund sniffed a stiff sniff. While he didn't want to admit it, he did find her words—whether they were fake or not—even the slightest bit reassuring. A small patch of tears started to bubble in the corner of his eyes as Ava spoke on further.

A loud stomp on the ground followed after she finished twittering around with her hair. To the glances of almost everyone in the cafe, Ava adjusted her glasses. She stood upwards, leaned forwards, and without hesitation, gave Edmund two resolute slaps on his cheeks.

The cafe answered with a little fit of giggles and whispers, which sent both Ava's and Edmund's eyes wide open. In realization, a bright red flush appeared on their faces. Edmund hid himself even further now, slumping into the depths of the corner, while Ava quickly regained her composure with two coughs. As she sat back down, the cafe, noticing no further drama or distractions, quickly returned to its normal volume.

Much to Edmund's nausea and discomfort, Ava had stared at him for quite some time as she sorted out her thoughts. The scene just now fuelled his plaguing mind even more. Nothing could compare to the stinging pain on his cheeks. What were the stares, the slap, and the giggles for... of humiliation or pure disgust at the r*pist label thrown overhead him?

As if sending a mocking, Abriel waved her finger into the air above him. She succeeded. The moment Edmund's eyes met with hers, everything blurred. The bitter, sour starch on the roof of his mouth erupted thinking about the derogatory attitudes the completely innocent Abriel would face because of him. Edmund hunched over and broke down in withdrawn sobs. Between his hiccups, tears would stream down uncontrollably, dripping onto Abriel's toes.

The commotion started to gather around the two of them again, this time with more unpleasant expressions and tch's thrown their way. Each one sent a visible line of hurt through Edmund. Seeing this, Ava made a quick decision and signalled Jocelyn, whom had been staring with concern, to come out from the back. Jocelyn understood. She gave two firm nods, and quickly made rounds around the cafe asking for anymore orders.

'The situation finally seemed to be at least somewhat under control,' Ava thought. 'Except for Edmund.' She had every qualm about how to console him—it was blatantly obvious she should've choose her words more carefully. With a clatter, Ava rose from her seat.

"Edmund," she called out. It was to no avail.

The padding of her footsteps disappeared into the whirring of blending machines.

Speckles of tears and fuzziness still blocked his vision, but Edmund could clearly see that Ava had walked away. At a loss, he looked downwards at Abriel with semblance that of a ray of hope. Alas, Abriel's shy action shrinking away from him crushed the last of it.

Edmund wobbled as he tried to stand up. The hiccups and sobs grew hysterical, then back to a quiet rhythm. Though scurrying evil voices filled his mind, everything still went completely blank.

Those satanic, evil voices of his so-called friends and colleagues, fans and teachers were just about to push him over the edge and out of the cafe when a familiar pair of glasses appeared in his sight.

With a clipboard in hand, Ava calmly walked and stood in front of him from the break-room.

"Here it is, Edmund Garamound. Your employee contract." She ripped the sheet from the clipboard and let it fly down in front of him. "I never relinquished it, these nine months."

Ava clicked her pen thrice. "Go and collect your first month's wage, one-hundred and thirty eight dollars, point seven-four. That's for the two weeks you've worked, including the bonus. You're 18 now, Edmund. A fully fledged adult." She paused. "Don't let any of my harsh words bother you, or the micro-actions of the people around you. How can you expect your dreams to making it big in the entertainment industry to succeed, when up there behind the big screen, the power of words hurt ten times harder?"

Her words seemed to have cut through time before cutting into him.

"I know all about your snarky comments about my EQ. I know all about my bluntness and inability to communicate, so I'm... I'm sorry if I hurt you. But take this—I do believe in you. Nine months I held that contract. There's people that do care for you, even after those rumours, Edmund. I know because I've gone through the same damn thing. You have me—"

Edmund looked upwards to Ava's face shining under the lights. "—and Justin. And clearly—your daughter. She believes in you wholeheartedly. Is that not enough?"

'I-it is,' Edmund thought.

Slowly, Edmund found three-saving graces that awoke him from the deepest depths of his nightmares. Ava's incessant yelling and motivational speech was one—it loosened the brown sludge pulling at his feet. Just now, Abriel's hands that had grabbed and latched onto his face and pulled his eyes open, literally. And lastly—

"So pick yourself up and pull yourself together! If you cannot, and you're still gung-ho and going to play the pity card on yourself and wallow yourself in despair, then go cry elsewhere. Not in my sight or inside my cafe. You told me that everything is misunderstanding. Go prove it. Clear your name. To me, to the cafe, your ex-friends, and to the world then. Admitting defeat is admitting everything is the truth. You admitting defeat is you admitting you're lying!"

Edmund opened his mouth, then closed it. Following another brief moment of deliberation, he pulled down his hoodie and gave her a dead-pan look in the eye. "Me admitting defeat is you not milking my 'value' for profits."

"I'm glad your tacky humour hasn't changed like my business drive." Ava grinned. She scribbled something onto the page as if she was writing income statements for the month already. "So, what about it? I'll start you over from scratch. Shipment tonight at 10, ready for unloading. You'll be there?"

—the system's light blue notification and robotic 'ding.'

[Mission Complete]

[Return to Kofiyate Cafe and secure a part-time position] (1/1)

[Rewarded: Dreamweaver, Beginner-level Singing Skill, +5 all attributes]

"Of course." Edmund hung a weak smile after a long, stumbling exhale. "Give me a moment, p-please. I'm need to excuse myself."

With his back directed towards the cafe, Edmund gently rose from his seat. His breath was still shaky, still amidst digestion of everything that had just happened. This hands were in an even worse condition—in seizure-like spasms as he raised them towards Abriel.

When they finally latched onto her cradle, Edmund gripped as hard as he could. For a few moments, he stood still, and let Abriel finish with whatever she was babbling on about. A wave of relief washed over him.

Edmund hoisted the cradle upwards. To Abriel, he whispered: "Ready?"

"Waa."

The bathroom lights of the cafe switched on, casting behind shadows of two of them. When Edmund and Abriel finally stepped in, the customers outside weren't clear with who was crying behind those closed doors.

* * *

Author's notes:

o.o thank you all for your widespread support in the last chapter. i really appreciate it! From now on, im going to write my a/n here at the footnotes of each chapter, instead of the author's notes tab (since apparently that thing is unreadable and has text limits). From the last chapter, I saw a lot of chapters asking about my update schedule, so I'm going to address that here.

I'll be completely honest—I don't know. My life has been hectic now that lock-downs have eased here in my place. Im' now writing by squeezing in sentences or paragraphs whenever I get the time to, and double-checking everything right before bed. It's not pretty and it's certainty not fast, but I really won't be able to make commitments to daily uploads, as much as I want to. I would hate to give promises I cannot fulfill, and leave you all hanging and disappointed. Thus, my final answer to you all—my updates will still be undetermined; a work in progress. However, there are things I can guarantee and will make a priority out of: a minimum of 1 chapter/per 2 weeks, and a maximum of 2 chapters/per week. Please expect anything in between and do bash me if I don't meet them. As always, much thanks for your support. Every comment makes my day just a little better, and I hope this story continues to do the same for you!