Sweet Devil [BL]

Chapter 105. The Drunk Driver

Gabriel entered the bus just before the driver closed the doors, climbing the stairs two at a time. He paid for the bus fare and then sat in the front row, ignoring the strange gazes the other passengers threw at him and turning a blind eye to the bus driver's not-so-discreet glances. The middle-aged man looked at him through the mirror now and then, seemingly wanting to ask something, but Gabriel pretended not to notice it.

So what if he wasn't dressed appropriately for the cold weather and his appearance was disheveled? Right now, Gabriel couldn't care less about other people's thoughts; he didn't even bother plastering a smile on his face as an apology for disturbing the ride and instead wore a cold expression, keeping everyone at bay. Today, he was not in the mood to entertain anyone.

Sneaking out was a risky move. If his stepmother ever were to find out, it would cause many problems, but it didn't matter to Gabriel at the moment. Anyway, he had always been good at making up excuses, and Tristan said he would help him out. Although that boy was still very young, he was a bright kid. He knew he could count on him.

Rubbing his temples, Gabriel thought back on the evening news, a feeling of dread rising in the pit of his stomach. This morning, a tragedy occurred, one that shocked the whole country. It hadn't been long since classes started again as the holiday season had just ended, but there was a shooting in a high school classroom, and over ten students died; five were between life and death, three received severe wounds, and many more were injured. It had been a slaughter.

The reporter said that the perpetrator butchered his way with a hunting knife when he had no bullets left. He stopped taking lives only after the police shot him down, killing him on the spot. They had been unable to reason with the man and had to break down the door to enter the classroom, which the perpetrator had locked and guarded so that no one would be able to escape. The classroom was on the fourth floor, and the windows were too small to allow the teenagers to flee through them. Even if they had been able to jump off, there was no guarantee they would survive the fall.

It was unclear how the man managed to obtain a gun, but his identity was rapidly discovered. It wasn't hard to find. He was a well-known teacher at that high school, having worked there for a decade, and once the reporters got a hold of that information, his name was almost immediately made public. It was a name neither Gabriel nor Misha could ever forget: Eric Anderson, the drunk driver who had run over Mrs. Brown on Christmas Eve, ending her life in a gruesome way.

In the two previous timelines, he was arrested soon after the incident, then sentenced to jail. Killing someone while drunk driving sent him to prison for several years; that is to say, it made it impossible for him to slaughter a whole classroom. But by saving Gulnas, that man didn't hit anyone and wasn't imprisoned, resulting in him being free, which led to this tragedy. For the time being, no one knew precisely why it had happened; however, the consequences were there, and many lives had been lost.

Clenching his fists, Gabriel gazed out the window, feeling like tonight would be a long night. Misha always pretended to be a tough guy, but he was a compassionate soul in reality. After learning that saving his mother caused so much pain to others, how would he react? It wouldn't give birth to any good feeling for sure.

Such thoughts whirled about in Gabriel's head as the bus slowly made its way to the station closest to Misha's house. And once it reached his stop, Gabriel fled outside, not minding the biting cold of January. Because he had snuck out of his bedroom, he couldn't take his coat in the hallway closet or take his boots. Thus, all he had on him was an old pair of sneakers, jeans, and a sweater. His clothing wasn't warm enough to brave the freezing weather, and the icy wind mercilessly whipped his face, burning his skin. The cold seeped deep into the marrow of his bones, yet he didn't seem to notice it.