My mind was calmly drifting in the darkness, a rare feat if I do say so myself since a certain someone keeps on visiting me in my dreams. So having some peace is both a blessing and a rare privilege for me.
Or so I thought.
That was until I heard it.
"Little pup...little pup..."
I can vaguely hear someone singing slowly, like a leaf being drawn by the breeze. This made me frown for a bit, thinking that maybe it was the singing pyscho lady again.
"...don't be sad...Mama's here..."
I can hear it again, the voice slowly getting closer towards me, and yet I don't feel any ill intent by it. It made me even feel at ease which I find very weird. The voice was light and very soft, like a mother singing a lullaby to their child, very different from the singing lady that I know.
No.
This one was peaceful and...full of love.
"Little pup...little pup...don't be mad..."
The voice is even closer this time that I can distinctly hear their accent. It sounded...mythical and unearthly, magical even. If that's even a real thing. Like a siren singing or a fairy humming slowly...
...yeah, that seems to be the right description which makes it even weirder and a bit worrisome., since this is the first time that something like this occurred in my dream.
And I can't even decipher their gender. The voice was soft yet rich at the same. Innocent akin of a child yet mature like an old woman...or man? It's all very confusing.
But...who was singing though?
I can feel myself slowly drifting towards the voice, like a moth flying towards a flame. The voice getting closer and clearer but still sounding soft at the same time. I can even almost reach it. Then I heard them giggle as if they knew something I don't. I felt something from the pit of my stomach warming, slowly spreading on my whole body but it wasn't a bad thing...it's comforting even. It's been a while since I can feel my mind and soul being at ease even just for a moment. No worries for the present, no nightmares knocking on my mind and no dark voices...just pure peace.
I was about to call them out but they beat me first.
"Daniel..." they called out my name. Oddly enough, this made my heart skip a beat like I knew this person even though I don't.
"Daniel," they called again, this time they were right beside me but I didn't see a thing. All I can see is the ever unending abyss. I can feel them move slowly, like a child curiously poking around.
'Who is it?' I thought as I strain my ears to listen.
"Daniel."
I felt something lightly touch my cheek, like a feather brushing my skin. It was soft and warm.
So so warm.
Wha--
"It's time," it said then I felt them leave, their presence completely gone. Then all I felt is the biting coldness of the air as the shadows swallowed my whole being once again, the screaming and voices flooding my mind.
'Wha...what do you mean? Hey! Come back!' I inwardly scream as I felt myself shaking and a stinging pain sprouted on my ribs.
"WAKE UP!"
I jolted up out of my seat as I stared at my surroundings in alarm. My fist already in the position to swing at the attacker, that's when I finally heard the snickering from my side. I owlishly blink my eyes, my mind is still in the clouds.
"Wha...?" I mumbled.
"Morning, sunshine. Did you have a good rest?" Julie smirked at me.
"What," came my unintelligent reply as my mind finally started to catch up on what's happening.
"Hahaha! That was a good look you have there, Snow! You should've seen yourself! Ha! Hilarious!" Luke guffawed annoyingly. I only glared at him as a reply.
"Now now, we need to go to our next class, guys. No fighting," Brian said placatingly.
"Yeah, whatever," I grumbled and sweep past them, heading straight towards the lockers. I can still hear Luke laughing with Julie silently snickering behind me.
Bunch of assholes.
"Hey, wait up!" I heard Brian yelled but I ignored him.
It was a very short walk since our lockers were just a few meters away from our classroom. I opened mine and haphazardly throw some of my books in as I took some miscellaneous things and put them in my bag. I throw my bag on my shoulder and glared again at Luke, who's still being an ass.
"Aww, you're sulking! How cute," He grinned teasingly. I only rolled my eyes at him and flipped him off, which made him laugh even more.
"What's our next class after this again?" Julie asked as she opened her locker from my left side and put her books in it.
"Dunno, don't care," Luke, who finally calmed down, lazily reply as he carelessly throws his bag inside his locker beside Julie's. She rolled her eyes at him and looked at me instead. I shrugged my shoulders in reply. She sighed and went to asked Brian instead.
"I think it's English then P.E." he replied.
The three of us simultaneously groan.
"Fuck!" Luke cursed.
"This is the worst," Julie whined like a dying dog.
"Kill me now." I groan.
"What? What's with you guys?" Brian asked us confusedly.
"Ugh, I hate P.E. with passion," Julie muttered darkly.
"I second that," I raised my hand.
"Here here!" Luke encored.
Brian looked at us in confusion, "Why?" he asked.
"Cuz it sucks?"
"It's tiring."
"Torture."
The three of us answered at the same time as we started to walk towards our next class. We bypassed some students, some greeted us and some tried to flirt with Luke but he seems not to notice them and just pursed his lips into a pout, making some of the girls and boys swoon in his way.
Brian raised his brows at us and scoffed, "You guys are being dramatic. You even got high grades!"
"Well, duh! Just because we hate it doesn't mean we have to be suck at it. I just don't like doing troublesome things," Julie snorted.
"Same here with me," says Luke. Brian turns his head towards me.
"I don't like being drenched in sweat," I shrugged.
We've arrived from our class and took our respective seats. As soon as we got seated, people started to swarm in. Well, towards my friends anyways. Specifically, Luke.
"Hi, Luke!"
"Sup, bro!"
"Hey, did you watch the new movie last night?"
"Hey, Luke! You wouldn't believe who I shag on the last party!"
Luke only smiled charmingly at them and started chatting animatedly. Julie whistled and propped her chin on her hand. Brian was also pulled on the side with a bunch of honored students and nerd kids.
"Well, look at them go," She marveled, "still amazes me how famous those two are, especially that little shit, Luke, even after all the crazy shit he had done."
"You tell me about it," I snorted as I lean back and observe the chattering. Some tried to chat with me but I only gave them a withering look.
Julie saw me do that and gave me an annoying smirk.
"What?"
"Nothing. It's just, you guys are really different from each other, you know?" She mused amusingly.
"I thought we've established that already?" I said, unimpressed as I raised my eyebrow.
"It's just, one is a famous school heartthrob while the other's an infamous delinquent. Makes one question about your relationship," She laughed.
"I am not a delinquent," I grumbled, scowling.
"Sure, could've fooled me," she smirked.
This made me feel annoyed as I crossed my arms. How many times do I have to tell people that I am not a delinquent? I'M NOT A DELINQUENT! I'm just an unlucky dude who somehow always gets caught in gang fights, okay? I don't make my way, going around looking for it.
I am NOT a delinquent. End of story.
"You're grumbling."
"No, I'm not," I denied.
"Yes, you are."
"No--"
'Hm...today is Thursday. I should probably give them a surprise pop quiz.'
I suddenly heard our English teacher thought as I felt her getting nearer. Her steps were light and full of purpose.
'I should probably test them about Dante's Inferno. Hmm, that would be interesting.'
Well, ain't that a nice pop quiz.
This made me straightened up and smiled excitedly at the front. Julie gave me a confused look.
"Uh, why are you smiling like that?" She raised her brow at me. But I only smiled wider and put a finger on my lips.
"O...kay, now you're scaring me, dude." She looked at me like I was possessed or something. This made me roll my eyes at her.
"Whatever, man. Just go and tell Luke and Brian to get back to their seats," this confused her more but followed me nonetheless. A minute passed by and Luke was grumbling whilst Brian was confused as they took their respective seats.
"Hey, what was that about? We were at the good part of my story!" Luke whined but I only gave him an eye-roll.
"Is there a problem, Danny?" Brian, ever the worrywart, asked, his eyes frowning a bit.
I gave him a reassuring smile, "Nah, dude. It's just our teacher is gonna be here soon."
"What the hell?! You called us here just for that!" Luke yelled indignantly but I ignored him.
"Oho! Is this one of your godly intuition tingling again?" Julie asked excitedly, "What? Do we have a test? It's a test, isn't it?!"
"Intuition? Test? What?" Brian asked confusedly, his eyes looking at me then at Julie.
"Right! You don't know it yet!" She exclaimed, completely ignoring Luke, who's whining at her side.
"Know about what?"
"Danny's superpowers!"
I rolled my eyes at this, "She's just talking nonsense, ignore her."
She only grinned and continued talking, "Danny has this sixth sense that could predict the future somehow. Like, seriously it scares me sometimes of how accurate it can be."
"Somehow?" I raised my brow at her, unimpressed.
"Oh shush you!" She turned her attention at Brian instead, "Listen, Brian! Do you remember when I got a perfect score at our Chemistry class one time?"
"Of course, it was a shocker. I mean, you suck at chemistry so imagined my surprise when you--"
"Yeah, yeah! Whatever, dude, geez." She cut him off, her cheeks darkening a bit as she cleared her throat, "so yeah, as I was saying, at that time it wasn't purely luck that I got that perfect score. I--"
"Oh my god! You fucking cheated didn't you?" Luke suddenly exclaimed, this made me snort as Brian looked at Julie in shock.
"You...cheated?" came his disbelief reply.
"No! I didn't!--you--SHUT THE FUCK UP, LUKE!"
This made us laugh as Julie tried to explain and beat the shit out of Luke at the same time, who's laughing at her whilst saying she cheated, which made her beat him more. Brian was at my side, looking exasperated and confused. I can't help but laugh loudly at the sheer chaos that transpired in front of me, this made some of our classmates stared at us in confusion and amusement.
"S-snow!" Luke wheezed, his head in a headlock, "Save me! This b-bitch is killing me!"
"You better shut the fuck up, Adams!" Julie grunted as she tightened her hold on him, making him choke and wheeze out a "please!" at me.
I gave him an amused look, "I don't know, dude. I don't want to be killed too."
He gave me a scandalized look, his eyes screaming, "Traitor!", over and over again until he finally yields and said sorry profusely.
"You better!" She scoffed as she fixed her top and gave us a smile like nothing happened. "Now, where were we?"
"Uh...about you cheating the chemistry test?" Brian inputted stupidly.
"Pffft--dude!" I snickered.
"For the last time, I. Didn't. Cheat!" She scowled darkly at Brian, emphasizing every word. This made him gulped and nodded his head while internally screaming.
'Oh shit, she's gonna kill me!' Brian inwardly cursed. This had me slapping hard on my table as I try to stop my laughter.
'Oh my god! he actually freaking cursed! Brian, who is known to be straight-laced and a pastor kid and was taught to not curse once in his fucking life! Holy shit, this is gold!' I inwardly snickered.
It's only at times like this that I can appreciate my ability to hear voices, because of how contradicting their actions are on the outside compared to what they're actually really thinking inside. Of course, I tend to force myself not to use my ability around my friends since I respect their privacy but this, this is just hilarious!
"Now as I was saying, again, we were at Chemistry class at that time and I was minding my own business when suddenly, out of nowhere, Danny, here, told me to study and--"
"Wait, what lesson did he tell you to study about?" Brian intercepted.
"Something related to chemistry, okay? I don't know, I forgot already," she sighed exasperatedly.
"Well, that's reassuring. How are we supposed to know you're not making this up?" Luke scoffed, totally not buying her story. Well, if I were him, I would too but sadly I'm not so I only kept quiet on the side, silently snickering in amusement.
Now, how is she gonna handle this?
She rolled her eyes irritably at this and look at Luke as if he was stupid for even asking this. "Well, if you guys let me finish first and stop interrupting me then you would've known that I am not lying!"
"Well, I beg to--"
"Also, who gave you permission to talk, peasant?"
"P-peasant!?--"
"Shut up! Besides, it's Danny that we're talking about here?" She said as a matter-of-factly, raising her eyebrow as if challenging them to prove her otherwise. and by some stupid and unknown reason, they started to accept it like it's some known truth, like what her saying is making sense to them.
"Yeah, you got a point there," Luke said seriously with a contemplative look. This made me groan in chagrin. Like dude, where?
Brian only hummed in agreement.
"What? What's that supposed to mean? That doesn't make any sense!" I raised my hands in exasperation but was harshly ignored as Julie continued her story, of course, not without adding some overly exaggerated inputs of her own.
"Oh my god! It was just one time!" I protested indignantly.
"Not that time when you told me to bring an umbrella and save me from getting soaked in the rain!" She bickered back.
"Wha--I could've seen the news about the weather forecast at that time!"
"We all know you don't watch the news!" She fired back. I stared at her in disbelief.
"What! I always watch the news!" I protested.
"No, you don't, Snow," Luke inputted, making it two versus one. This little snitch!
"Fuck, fine. I don't then!" I resigned, "But that was just pure coincidence, okay?"
She scoffed at me and rolled her eyes annoyingly before saying sarcastically, "Yeah, suuuuure. It was pure coincidence when you saved a girl from a serial child rapist once from being abducted in her school. Sure, that was a coincidence."
"What? Is that true, Danny?" Brian marveled.
"Holy shit! Seriously?! Oh my god, Snow!" exclaimed Luke as he looked at me like I killed his dog or something.
"What? The man was wearing a red cap and was acting suspicious! What was I supposed to do then?" I reasoned. The three of them gave me a deadpan look, apparently not buying my bullshit.
"Besides, he was giving me the creeps when he keeps on staring at the unsuspecting girl. I just warned the girl on being careful on the way home and that's all. I didn't save her, I helped her. There's a difference." I huffed irritably.
Okay, maybe I was stressing this out way too much but the man was indeed giving me the creeps with all his mind fantasizing about the kid raping her and doing it with toys and such. Like, dude, that's fucked up. Since then, I have always wanted to bleach my mind to erased that image from my brain.
God, just thinking about it makes wanna beat that motherfucker for putting that image in my mind and vomit at the same time.
"Yeah, I smell bullshit and it ain't from me, boy," she said while giving me a knowing smirk.
"Oh for fuck's sake," I groaned in exasperation.
"How come I didn't know about this?!" Brian exclaimed as he looks at me in question.
"Yeah, Snow! You have superpowers! And save a young damsel in distress and you didn't even bother to tell me? How could you hide this from me?!" Luke protested dramatically.
"Because all of it was just pure coincidence and Julie is being stupid!" I hissed darkly as I pointedly glare at Julie.
She scoffed at me, "Oh sure. Yeah! It was also a coincidence when you told me to be careful for dogs on the way home or for those burglars who almost broke into my house, or for that crazy stalker who almost kidnapped me?"
I opened my mouth at this but she gave me a warning look that says, "Don't you even dare, bitch." So I just closed my mouth and pouted instead.
"What the fuck?! You have a stalker?! You?" Luke whispered-yelled in disbelief.
"You got kidnapped!?--" Brian looked at us like we just told him we got married and have a secret baby or something. Anyway, it was the look of disbelief with a mixture of fear.
"Almost. Listen to what I'm saying, please," Julie huffed.
"It's still the same! When the hell did this happened?! Wha--how come I didn't know about this?!" Brian hissed, his voice came out shocked and scared.
"Because I know you will have this kind of reaction and besides, it wasn't a big of a deal. I have Danny to help me," she nonchalantly shrugged. This made Brian gaped like a fish at her.
"Wha--how is that not a big of a deal?!"
"Seriously, aren't you guys shock?! She had a stalker! Why would anyone stalk her? She's batshit crazy!"
"Oh fuck you too, Adams," She rolled her eyes and gave him a finger.
"No really, I'm--"
At that moment, our English finally came and I can finally breathe at ease.
"Good morning, class. Get back to your seats, please." She then pointedly stare at my classmates as they fumbled their way towards their seats.
'Fucking finally.' I thought as I sighed and took my pen and paper out of my bag.
"We are not finished yet with this discussion," said Brian in a very grave voice while looking at both Julie and me pointedly. This made me groan.
Great. Just great.
"Duh! I ain't shutting up until they tell me all about the juicy details!" Luke inputted which made me even more annoyed as he gave me an "I'm watching you" look.
"Damn nosy bastard," I muttered as I tried to put my focus on our English teacher instead.
"Settle down now, class. Get your pen and paper, we're going to have a pop quiz today," She said as she wrote something on the board and started passing the handouts from the front.
Simultaneously, my classmates started groaning in complaints, including Luke.
"Ugh! No waaaaay!" he whined.
"Ha! Knew it!" Julie excitedly exclaimed while giving me a grin.
"Oh wow...it really happened..." Brian marveled while staring at me in amazement.
"Yeah, whatever. I never said anything about a test anyways," I grumbled.
"You're pouting, Snow."
"Shut up and look at your paper, Luke."
"Here, get one and pass. You have 15 minutes to answer and no cheating!"
Some students started to complain but our teacher only gave them a look that mae them shut up right away, we finally got our test paper, lo and behold, it really is Dante's Inferno. This made me internally grin as I smoothly written down my name on the paper and started answering the test. I can vaguely hear Luke cursing but I gave it no heed as I answered each question correctly. I always love literature and Dante's works are one of them. For me, his "La Divina Comedia" was by far the best out of all of his works (which is one of the parts of what I'm answering right now). I don't know why but there's just something about the poem that is so horrifyingly captivating. Of course, Dan Brown's own rendition of Dante's Inferno was delightful too.
I hummed in joy as I sailed through the questions. Of course, if you read the poem then answering this would be easy but if you didn't...well good luck I guess?
"Psst! Snow! Tell me what's the answer for number 5, please!" Luke whispered but I only gave him an unimpressed look and ignored him.
"Please, Snow! Have mercy on your friend!"
"Do you have a problem, Mr. Adams?" Our English teacher, Mrs. Hills asked as she sauntered over towards us. She gave Luke a pointed look.
"U-uh, nothing, ma'am!" He nervously replies.
"Eyes on your paper then," She then moved to the other row to scold another student for being caught on cheating. Luke sighed and gave me a puppy-kicked look but I only rolled my eyes at him. I get back on my paper when suddenly, I felt a tingling sensation in my chest. This made me paused as I stared at my chest in concern.
What the hell was that?
I lightly rubbed my chest and felt the sensation going away. Huh, well that was weird. I inwardly snorted and finally answered the last question which was about why Dante wrote the poem and happily answered it right away.
"If your done, please give your paper to me."
As soon as I heard our teacher said that, I stood up and walk towards her. She looked at me in question but it turned into shock when I gave her my paper. I suddenly felt like I was on a trial as I felt the whole class staring daggers on my back, their thoughts being relayed noisily in my head.
'What? He's finished already?'
'Shit! I wanted to be the first one to finish!'
'Hmph! He must have cheated! There's no way he finished before me!'
'Someone help me!'
'Give me some answers, dude!'
'How nice to be smart...'
'SNOW! HELP ME!'
I inwardly sighed as I forced myself to block out their voices but to no avail. Mrs. Hills took a look on my paper and stared at it in amazement. I can already hear her thoughts running miles away.
'W-wow...he answered it perfectly...he even got the last question right...' Mrs. Hills then gave me a proud and warm smile.
"Nice work, Mr. Mendez. You can go back to your seat now."
I nodded and thanked her before going back to my seat. I gave my friends a smirked and shrugged. This made Julie rolled her eyes, Brian beaming in amazement and Luke pleading for answers.
I sat down on my seat and took my phone out to listen to some music. Mrs. Hills saw me but didn't comment on it. She only nodded as if granting me permission, this made me internally smile as I put my earphones on and blasted some indie rock music. For these past few weeks, I've been hooked up to some awesome bands, who make amazing music.
BRKN LOVE'S cover on "River" by Bishop Briggs was blasted on my earphone and I felt myself relax instantly. My fingers tapping along with the music.
This is only one of the times I feel myself at ease when I listen to music.
No noisy thoughts always screaming in my head.
No dark voices whispering in my ears.
And definitely, no disfigured shadow that is...standing...behind...Mrs. Hills...
Ah.
Fuck.
'Please, God, no...please, just give me a break. Just one second, is that too much to ask?! Fuck.'
I felt my blood rushed to my head as I stared at the dark figure standing behind my teacher. It hovered closely behind her, their hands slowly inching towards Mrs. Hills' face as if trying to caress it or mauled it. Its long and pointy claws drift slowly, inch by inch towards Mrs. Hills' face. This made my heart fell on my stomach as I try not to flinch but failing completely. I choke back a scream when it slightly grazes Mrs. Hills' neck, making a small distinct red line.
Blood. I can smell blood.
My body went cold when it made a screeching sound. It was a mixture of a nail being dragged on the board and a wood being shredded in a wood chipper. It was hauntingly slow and painful, I felt my guts churning wildly inside me. It took me a moment to realize that it was laughing while licking its claw. It was fucking laughing as it danced around my teacher, sniffing her out and all I can do is sit frozen in fear.
It finally ceased from laughing as it circled Mrs. Hills, then suddenly, it stops. It just stood still for a whole fucking minute like a statue. I was holding my breath the whole time then the creature raised its head to the air then what happened next almost made me scream and vomit. I felt my face draining in color as it opened its head as hundreds, no, thousands of human hands sprouted out of its mouth as black acidic substance oozes out of each hand, the moment it's about to hit a corporal thing, it vanish away in thin air.
And god the smell.
The fucking smell.
It was foul and pungent. Like a hundred dead carcasses being mixed in one and was dumped in a minefield.
It smelled like Death.
As it stood still with its mouth wide open, the hands inside its mouth continued to grow until they finally reach the ceiling, then suddenly thousands of hands move and spread all over the place. It passed through Mrs. Hills and some of my classmates, almost cutting their face in half as it slowly swerved to where I seated and that's when I realized that it was smelling each person it passes.
And it was slowly getting closer on my way.
It was looking for me.
'It can smell me. It smelled me. Itsmelledmeitsmelledmeitsmelledme.'
As the hands were getting closer and closer, my brain went into overdrive trying to come up with ways how to drive it away. My heart was beating fast, my hands were sweating badly. My fight or flight senses were in disarray. My mind and heart were in a clash as I try to calm myself before I do something I might regret. I can feel my ear ringing painfully.
And all I can think about is, "I must not be seen."
Then I heard it talk...
Talking to me...
Fanculo.
"You can sssseeee me, don't you?" It asked gleefully, its voice was high pitch and grating, just like how it sounded earlier.
This made me still, fear overriding my body.
"How interessssting..." It cackled as it sauntered towards me.
Ah, fuckfuckfuckfuck.
I instinctively closed my eyes and tried to ignore the being.
Tried is the keyword.
It hissed at me to look at them while cackling but I stubbornly closed my eyes. It must have been angered by my response because I felt it swipe its claw towards my face but I moved to the side. I felt it slightly graze my cheeks and all I can see is red as pain flashed through my face. I felt my skin being sliced open and it fucking burns, like an acid being dumped on my skin. I felt it eating my skin slowly. Instinctively, I put my hand on my cheek but felt nothing but my own unblemished skin. This made me confused as I swerved to the right and avoid it again. I can vaguely feel some of my classmates gave me a look so I pretend to move as if engrossed in the sound of the music. It lunged at me again and I easily dodged it. This made the creature even more pissed as it screams loudly on my face. I reflexively cover my ears as I felt my head being split open as thousand of dark voices flooded in my head.
'Help me!'
'Die!'
'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!'
No no no no!
'Daddy, it hurts! Please, stop!'
'Please don't kill me!'
'Kill her! Don't let her get away!'
Shut up! You're not real!
'I will kill you!'
'Mommy, where are you?'
'Somebody help me!'
'YOU KILLED HER.'
"FUCKING SHUT UP! SHUT UP! STOP IT!" I scream at the top of my lungs as thousand of horrible images flashes through on my mind. I can feel myself being split open as the creature in front of me cackled delightedly.
I can see a son murdering his father. A father assaulting her youngest daughter. A homeless man being beaten to death by a bunch of teenagers. A boy missing. A wife being cheated on. A priest lying on a sermon. A politician being assassinated ordered by his own wife. A dog being run over. A bombing on an unsuspecting small remote village in Iraq.
And so so so many Deaths.
'Please, somebody! Stop it! I don't want to see it anymore...please, God...anyone...' I sobbed painfully as I grabbed a fistful of my hair. I felt the creature cooing at me.
"Open your eyesssss and look at meee. I know you can sssssee me, little one..." It crooned slowly. I look up and only to meet its horrendous face. I didn't even notice that I was hunched over on my table, all I can focus on is its soulless eyes and maniacal and animalistic sneer. It inch closer towards me and took a long and deep breath, I can feel hot tears slowly cascading on my cheeks. Then the creature suddenly doubles back as if it was burned and started screeching loudly.
"Youuuu! Youuu! Who are youuuu?!!" It screeched loudly.
"Why do you sssssmell like heeeer?!"
"What are youuuu? You're nooot--Oh...Ooooh...you...youuuu are--" before it can even finish its sentence, it suddenly stood still and started clawing its head, screeching loudly.
"Youuuu! Youuuuuu--" then it stopped screeching as I suddenly felt a cold gust of wind enveloped my whole being like a protective blanket as the creature in front of me violently started jerking before slowly stilling and crumbling away. I can only stare there in awe as the creature finally vanish away and then there was nothing. I felt the presence of the being gone as the lingering cold slowly ebbs away.
What the hell...
Pain and warmth started to sip on my being and that's when I finally notice the stares of the people around me. I can feel myself choke up when I finally realize that they witnessed my outburst.
'No. I must not be seen. I need to leave.'
"Snow--"
My friends look at me with concern and pure confusion as I hurriedly pack my things and stood up.
"Mr. Mendez, are you alright? Wha--wait. Where are you going?!"
I rushed towards the door and ignored the calls of the people behind me as I went straight to my locker. I hurriedly unlocked it but it took me a few tries to open it because my hands were not cooperating and keep on shaking. When I finally opened it, I took my things and booked it at the school entrance. I can vaguely hear the guards calling my attention but I gave it no heed as I opened my phone and speed-dialed my dad's number. It rang a few times before it finally reached him.
"Yello! Snow, my sweet--"
"...D-dad," came out my hoarse voice.
"Bambino. What's the problem? Why are you crying?"
I didn't even notice that I was crying again. I tried to calm myself down and took a deep breath but it came out as a hiccup instead and this broke me more.
Fuck.
"D-dad...I...I need y-you. P-please..." I hiccuped once again as my vision started to get blurry because of the tears.
"I'm coming. I'll be there in 5."
Then he hangs up.
"P-please...hurry..." I whispered to no one. I let out a last hiccup before taking a deep breath. I felt myself calming down a bit. I count down to ten first before slowly trudging towards the parking lot of the school. During my walk there, I felt my phone vibrate a few times but I ignored it. I know who it was from anyways and I know I will feel bad about it later but honestly, I don't think I'm ready to talk to them yet because all I can focus on is home. Where it's safe and quiet.
It was 4 minutes later when I heard a car park a few meters away from me. I look up from staring blankly at my shoes when I was suddenly engulfed by a warm body. I instantly smelled the familiar scent of my dad. He always smelled like tea and lemon and a hint of Versace Eros. This made me smile as I leaned closer to my dad.
"Hush now, Cara mia...I'm here. Let's get you home, hm?" I heard him whisper as he gave me a soft peck on my head.
"Okay..." I answered softly. He gave me a last squeeze before guiding me towards his BMW black sedan. He opened the passenger side and let me in before closing it and swiftly went to the driver's side. He gave me a warm smile before he locked the car and turn the engine on as we drive out from the school premises.
I finally let out a tired sigh and look at my window side, looking at the sceneries outside. Only looking but not seeing. I felt my dad took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze and the world felt right again.
*****
And done. Wow, that was a roller coaster of feelings! But I hope you guys like this chapter though. Also, the title is derived from Dante's work.
Stay safe, everyone!