[XXXV] - School of life

Right behind me was standing a tall man, whose gaze suddenly became terrified just as I turned my face to see his face.

There was more to it just than someone sitting on this man's regular place.

Glaring at me with a pair of piercing, ice blue eyes, I could feel the insanity beaming through them, making my entire body freeze. The elegant face of this man was petrified, leaving an expression of disturbance on his face covered by messy strands of dark brown hair. A narrow nose, frowned thick eyebrows, pursed lips, and a small mole under his left eye… these were the facial features of a man I knew. But I wish I didn't.

I wish all these years ago I haven't met him at all.

He was the one who changed my life. After what has he done in the past… I couldn't bring myself to ever forgive him. So, I tried to forget about what happened.

But seeing this cursed face of his, my heart grew heavier and heavier, being clasped by a painful force. My lungs filling with mercury, the air around getting harder to breathe, the cause of my nightmares was standing just right behind me. Us both looking at each other, in the depths of his furious eyes, I remembered and realized everything.

Orbis. He was the one who caused a massacre in the back of the streets. He was the one pursuing me eagerly, without me knowing, why was he so stubborn.

The pieces of the puzzle slowly started to match.

He recognized me back there, while I haven't. Why didn't I… These eyes… Are hard to forget…

This man tried to prove I don't know what, by attempting to kill me, yet not doing it.

When I was trying to deliver the copy of my evidence to the RR, he was there too, following Icto, the very person being the most harmed by him in the past.

And he is with them. These people wanted to hurt me. They wanted to kill my best friend. Using such means to convince me to join them?

Why… Why am I still here? How could I get reasoned to stay here?

My mind has been suddenly freed from the shackles I didn't even feel I had.

Looking at all that has happened, why am I in a room full of people that don't hesitate to harm to get what they want?

Aura, she killed an officer right before my eyes, and tried acting all nice, thinking I would obediently follow her to an underground den.

Silen, he destroyed my evidence and toyed with me, finding himself an easy victim. But he didn't expect I would awaken my powers and crush him.

Orbis, he executed hundreds of officers, even if they were the ones persecuting the people of our district, I think everyone deserves a chance for redemption.

Pursuing me… Then and after… How could they know I was the last one necessary for their plan? All of this…

Isn't this all too perfect?

Me unconsciously meeting my greatest enemy, being a witness to his sins. I thought I was being pursued for the evidence I recorded… But out of nowhere… A mysterious power in me awakened…

And now I belong to the force of enemies.

It's… because of them… I lost everything…

I looked at the people standing around me.

Seeing that something was evidently wrong, they halted their actions and all nervously observed the tension between me and Orbis.

My lips started to wobble, I felt like exploding any second. The surrounding air suddenly grew warmer, as the grief inside of me was getting close to reaching the peak.

Why am I with these freaks…

Why is he here?

Why am I with the mindless murderers who tried to hurt me…

Everything around me became hotter, like the atoms in a heated iron at around me.

I bit my lips and the immense pain filled my face. How dare he show his guilty face to me…

And then, when I was about to stand up and pour all of my churning problems on him, all of a sudden, an explosion sound came from the countertop Ignis was standing by.

The whole room was surrounded in a white light, blinding us for a moment.

"SHIIIIT!" — I opened my eyes. He yelled, with us all just seeing his dark silhouette contrasting with the huge fire that appeared before him.

Everyone gasped in shock. The dining room started to fill with black smoke, making the throats itchy. The team started to cough and panic, while my mind was getting dizzy.

"You fucker! You can't even keep an eye on a dumb burner!" — The raised voice of Aura screamed at him, while he tried to somehow control the situation.

The alarm was turned on, and the entire room was sprinkled with a water shower, making an even bigger smoke appear, and fill the room entirely with a gray mist.

The fire was becoming smaller, but some part of it still burned, being unrestrained and unable to put off.

While everyone around were yelling, getting heavily soaked by the unfinishing water sprinkler, Ignis got desperate at trying.

"Orbissss, man, don't stand like that and help me!" — He turned towards the person who was still standing behind me, and made him return to his senses.

Turning his glare away from me like I had never existed anyways, He rushed to the countertop, to analyze why the fire couldn't be extinguished.

Being all wet from the water, my white oversized shirt started to become transparent and adhesive to my body.

Shit. Everyone thinks I'm a man… I just can't stay like that here…

I've had enough of staying with these people in a one room anyways. Who cares about eating… I'm tired of acting alright…

When I get out of here I will eat anything I want and not be exposed to fucking explosions, fire and other harming things. Oh lord… What facility is this anyways…

I sighed deeply, with my head feeling like in a vice, and quickly stood up, using the opportunity created while everyone was busy with helping Ignis put down the fire.

At the table I was sitting by, was still Stella, which all of this time glared at me, with the same despair in her eyes she had since we met. And at the opposite site, the one person that hasn't moved an inch since all of this happened, Silen.

His empty gaze was staring at the whole situation happening. However, he noticed that I stood up.

Our eyes have met, yet the only feeling coming out of mine was disgust and having enough of it all.

But, what surprised me thoroughly, was a faint smile that appeared on his face, when our stares collided. What emotion could that show?

All of them are mad.

Using the smoke to my advantage, I quickly came out of the room with a passage that was just right behind my back.

The air in the dark corridor was soothingly fresh, despite us being locked in an underground sort of maze, far away from the surface. But the air out there isn't clear either. Yet better than the sort of otherworldly atmosphere inside of that kitchen.

However, I still felt like suffocating. Everything around me was squeezing my body, a heavy force I couldn't repel. I just want to run away.

•••

I've met Paul when I was 13. At that time, I was still attending the obligatory school, but begged inside of my mind that something happened to it, the school exploding or collapsing, anything, so I wouldn't go to that hell anymore.

This object was always crowded with different aged children. From those who just finished their 4th year, to these of 15, whose future life would be only based on hard work. Because the further education was granted to only those extraordinary ones, or those from the higher districts. The rest were sent to work.

My district was on the verge of futuristic progress, and industrialization that was supported mainly by people's hands, so many just took jobs right after graduating. No other future awaiting them, there weren't many options to choose. To survive in this jungle, you must have money. To have money, you need to work. That's how it works, no spare time and free will, no one will take pity against the weaker ones who can't cope with life problems. That's why the refining process was starting so easily, already in the school. A cruel educational system which deserted all of the creativity one had, and exposed them to the first brutal laws the society lives on. A universal classification — The ones with power and those without it.

Many people were disappearing from the classes, and none came on their places.

But there was one special case in which this didn't happen.

The district school was a tall, many leveled building, reaching from meters below the ground, high up to the sky. It was an enormous, made to fit every student in the district. The governors didn't want the schools to be scattered around the district, being harder to control. That's why a one big facility existed, fitting thousands of us inside.

Each floor of it was dedicated for different ages of students. The teachers were supposed to look after the peace between the students, strolling the corridors, but most didn't care about it at all. Being a teacher of thousands of students, not knowing any more whether what you're teaching them is truth or not, most just ignored the reality and judgements happening around them between the teenagers. It wasn't just a school of practical knowledge, it was a school of life.

In the basements, a place where barely any light comes in, the locker rooms were put in, creating an endless labyrinth of the same looking objects, with only the owners recognizing the location of their own ones. In reality, there was too little space for every student to have their own locker, so they were granted either by the lottery, by renting it or by sharing one with a few people at once.

Either way, the locker hall was a grand area with many corners and placed to hide.

Only one teacher ever watched the area, but most of the time he did, he snoozed over a cup of coffee which didn't seem to fulfill its roles. It was all because the directors couldn't concern anyone with guarding such a big place. Every teacher was already busy with a million of tasks. It's believed that there were surveillance cameras scattered around, but none was ever seen.

That's where my nightmares were always happening.

Not knowing where to hide myself during the breaks, I always sneaked out of my floor and tried to hide here, in this maze, where people only came when starting or ending their lessons.

But the bullies, they always found me here, wherever I hid, they knew exactly, as if they were some wild predators relating not on the human senses. And at some point, I preferred being humiliated in front of a small group of people instead of a whole class. Their pitying looks… I hated them.

None took any action to take my back.

I was always considered different. My skin being slightly darker, my eyes having such a weird color, being so interested in the reliability of the knowledge being passed upon us, and the difference between it and the things my aunt told me…

I've attracted attention in the least sort of way I wanted.

"Here you are!" — A loud metal clanging sound could be heard, from a big kid punching the locker.

Shivers went down my spine, as I expected the fat hand of my bully to reach out for me from behind the locker.

But contrary to the daily routine, nothing like this happened.