Stolen Time

Truth within the lie

She hated it at their family home. She hated sharing a living space with her mother. How she hit her when she so much as took a misstep on the path of perfection.

She wished those slaps back right now despite all the stinging humiliation and hurt she felt. It was nothing compared to this. She wanted to hide, to disappear back then, but right now her mind was incapable of any thought apart from futilely fighting its way out of the chaotic, tangled mess of excruciating pain.

When he kept being persistent with her, desperately so, she wanted to hit him. Really wanted to. But just thinking about hurting him again caused the aching to flare up practically paralyzing her and before she knew it Arlo and those students were there and pounced on him.

Why? Was it because of her? She didn't know, but Arlo was here endlessly blabbering about something, so it must had something to do with the hierarchy. She didn't care at all. It wasn't her fight anymore.

But why wasn't it her fight? Wasn't she a royal?

No, she was a royal, just not the queen...

..what was her position then? It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

She clutched her head as the pain intensified and Arlo finally found it in himself to shut up for a moment.

Just thinking about the missing pieces of her past was plain torture, but it was nothing compared to the mental image she wanted to push out of her head so eagerly even if it meant letting other thoughts causing her misery enter her mind. She couldn't get rid of the sight though, or his voice, no matter how hard she tried.

She was paralyzed, completely numb as people kept hitting him over and over again like rabid dogs tearing on fresh meat after weeks of starvation. Even with knowing how cruel the hierarchy can be, it was still brutal. As she looked at him and he looked back at her, for a moment time stopped and she felt her whole body burning up, warning her that the worst episode she experienced so far was about to strike.

The only thing she could do was to turn away and flee. To get away before people could see her crumble and get caught up in the fray too. Her nerves started to scream at her, while her heart begged her to turn around.

'You can't leave him!' an inner thought pleaded but it was devoured by the overwhelming need to get away.

Then she heard him.

'Sera!'

It was a desperate cry she couldn't bear to listen to. She couldn't feel her body anymore just noticed it moving on its own away from the scene.

Away from him.

His desperate cry rang in her ears over and over again.

'Of course, he was desperate,' she tried to tell herself. 'He was getting beaten up, he wanted help.'

But deep down she knew it wasn't the reason. He wasn't begging her for help. He was begging her for her to listen. It was quite tragic it was literally the most unbearable thing to do for her right now.

'Sera!'

She heard it again, and her nails clawed at her scalp, desperately wishing for it to stop.

"Since when is she like this?" Arlo asked coolly after observing her for a minute. His gaze was scrutinizing the school's ace with disapproval rather than worry. At least, if he felt any it didn't show.

Elaine bit her tongue. She almost blurted out 'since we did this to her' but found the strength to stay silent. She still couldn't stand up openly against Arlo, but she had something in mind.