Date: 21st January, 2016
Time: 14 : 08 hrs
Nicholas thought his head was going to explode. It felt as if someone had placed a big rock over his head. He tried to roll around, but he couldn't move. His limbs were restrained. He consciously tried tugging on the restrains. But, nothing happened. Slowly, his peered his eyes open.
Everything seemed concrete grey. He blinked his eyes. Once. Twice. His vision was blurred. The blur added up to his head ache.
He groaned.
After a minute or two he opened his eyes again. His vision seemed clearer now. The wall in front of him was dark grey. There was a table in the center, with a chair behind it. A man was sitting there, his face grim and serious. He looked young. His golden hair gleamed under the only source of light. Half of his face was distorted, probably burnt, he thought. He was curious about how that must've had happened, but he decided to ignore the man for now. There were much more important matters he had to focus on now. Like, why were his limbs restrained?
Nicholas coughed. Blood came out of his mouth. His body had still not healed completely.
"Good morning Nicholas. How are you feeling?"
Nicholas continued to ignore him. His focus was over his restrains.
He gave them a tight tug. But nothing happen. Next he tried using his teeth to cut the restraints on his arms, which was equally ineffective.
"You might want to consider changing your tactics. Physical strength will not break it. That material has tensile strength, greater than that of Nylon." The man prompted. His tone made it seem as if that man was amused,
Nicholas was no brawn, though he seriously wished he was that right now. His mana level was low. It was as if the restraints were sucking it out of him.
Giving up on trying to break the restraints, he laid down still and asked. "What am I doing here?"
"You've been charged of let's see... " The man trailed. He heard the sound of turning of pages. "...of killing a man, assaulting a student and spoiling the roses of the rose garden."
"Wait what? When did I do those? Kill a man? When? How? Why? Where?" Nicholas asked, bursting out. He felt wrongly charged.
His memory was fuzzy, he didn't remember what happened after he saw that girl. Grrrr! A growl escaped his mouth as he recalled her. But, he remembered nothing of what happened after that. It was a dark haze. It was as if someone had blindfolded him.
"The claw measurements will be coming soon. If your size matches, you'll be going to the pit. " The man said in a diplomatic tone, answering no questions made by him. "Till that time, there's mashed potato and water besides your head. Eat up. You'll need the energy for the trial."
"Wait what claws!?!" Nicholas asked shocked.
"Yeah. Claws." The man spoke, as monotonously as ever.
Nicholas had no idea what was going on. He gave a defeated sigh. He wanted to escape this, but he knew there was no way he could provide an alibi. At least not with the spaces in his memories. "At least tell me who did I kill?" He sighed in defeat.
"Jordan Kylewood. The key keeper." The man said, going back to read his papers.
Nicholas sighed and turned his attention to the food in front of him. It was only now that he realised, he was hungry. Quickly he gobbled down the sandwich and lapped the water.
His head still hurt.
-x-x-
Zulaikha hadn't gone to school since yesterday. Actually, she hadn't gone anywhere except for the bathroom and the dining arena. She could barely speak. Her throat hurt. Her vocal cords were stretched far beyond they usually would. Bottom line, she was a mute... for now. The doctor had refused to apply his healing gel on her vocal chords because it wasn't that serious. So he thinks, she humphed silently.
She couldn't remove the face of the dead man from her head. His bloody face haunted her both, in her nightmares and daydreams. His dead cold eyes seemed to be watching her all the time. She was too scared to sleep, she was too scared to stay awake. She wanted to unsee what she had seen.
Thump! Thump!
Some one knocked at the door of her dorm. "Hey Zuk," Brandon's voice called. "I am letting myself in."
Zulaikha let out a sigh of relief. For a moment she was scared. Gosh Brandon, you scared me so much! She mouthed to him. She hoped he'd understand what she meant.
"Still can't speak, huh?" He asked as he locked the door behind him. There was a bouquet of pink and red roses in his hand. For a moment Zulaikha rejoiced. But then, the red roses reminded her of the corpse's blood. Her eyes zoned out, aimless and confused. . .
"I am sorry!" He panicked. "How very insensitive of me!" Quickly, he dumped the whole bouquet inside the waste paper bin. Zulaikha could hear his footsteps approaching closer. She felt the depression on the bed when Brandon sat besides her. Yet, her eyes remained fixated at one spot. She felt the bloody face peering at her, again.
"Zulaikha . . . look at me." His voice called to her. Hard calloused fingers held her chin and tipped her face. Her trance was broken.
"Don't think about it.. I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you." The calloused fingers were now on her cheeks, stroking them soothingly. Zulaikha shifted her eyes. She stared at Brandon intensely, taking in everything he did. His eyes were comforting and warm.
Slowly, he leaned in, "If you need a distraction . . . " Zulaikha's breathe hitched. His forehead was pressed against her, " . . . I am here for you. " Softly, his lips pressed against hers.
The soft pair of lips were pressing against hers, pushing them gently yet passionately. For a few moments she did not react. But then she kissed him back. Her lips working against his.
They had kissed before. Not once, not twice, but loads of time. Yet this one seemed very different from all the others. His hands traveled from her cheeks down to her waist, as he pressed closer against her. The kissed seemed like the morning wind blowing against a budding tulip. Soft, tender and calming. Zulaikha's lips were quivering under his. She put her hands around his neck, her fingers entangled in the curls at the nape of her neck.
Slowly, Brandon's lips pulled away from hers, but neither of them moved away. They were both gasping for air. His nose rubbing against her and their hot breathes intermixing. Her hand moved from his neck to his chest. Zulaikha didn't know whether she should embrace the passion or fear from what she saw earlier.
"Don't think about it . . ." Brandon breathed against her. His lips moved to her ear, ". . . think about me." He placed a soft kiss on her earlobe.
Zulaikha shivered, not out of fear but with ecstasy.
"Think about what you have here. " He placed a soft kiss at the nape of her neck. It tickled her lightly. He placed another kiss at the side of her neck, treading dangerously close to- Zulaikha inhaled sharply. His lips were on her sweet point.
He knew he was driving her crazy, so he kissed her there, again. A weak whimper escaped throat. It was almost like a . . . moan, she thought. Heat rushed up her cheeks.
His hand slowly made its way to his locket and he slowly pressed a button and activated his power. This hand then travelled to her uniform top. Zulaikha blushed as Brandon started unbuttoning her uniform shirt. He leaned away from her, as his other hand held hers, intertwining fingers.
Zulaikha's eyes started to shut. And in the next five seconds, she was knocked out. She will be out for at least 3 hours.
Brandon got off her. He pressed the button on his locket again.The locket contained a vaporizer filled with chloroform in a very dilute form. His ability allows him to survive without air for some periods of time. His current average time is 25 minutes, but he is working on extending that.
I am sorry, Zu. But that had to be done, for love.
-x-x-
CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!
Kiara's shoes clicked against the stony floor of the school's corridor. Her long black hair was loosely tied into a ponytail. A brown coloured school bag hung clumsily from her shoulder, bouncing up and down at every step she took. Her steps were short and quick paced.
She was going to the club room.
Kiara was breathless by the time she reached the room. As soon as she opened the door she spurted, "Aaron . . ." she exhaled deeply, " . . . have a few questions for you." Her hands were on her knees. She was leaning against the door for support.
"Can we do that later? We have to submit the article today. It's the deadline day." Aaron raised his eyebrow at her.
"It's for the article!" She exclaimed, shutting the door behind her.
"Don't tell me we are doing an article on me and Nicholas!" Aaron's eyes turned stormy, his voice as loud as thunder.
"As if I don't have anything better. Sorry to say, but you guys are not the hot topic here." Kiara dismissed his loud "So, would you mind answering my questions?"
"I really mind that. But, I'll answer anyways." He calmed down.
"Good. " She said and took a seat on the chair in front of him, a notepad and pen in her hand. "So, here's the first one. In the past two days, how many times have you talked with Jade?"
"Let me see, hmmm..." Aaron tapped his chin trying to recall any conversation, " ...I don't remember any. Nope. None. Nein."
Just as I thought, Kiara thought to herself. "What about sighting her?"
"I think she has been absent since yesterday. Probably must have had succumbed to some illness because of those extra practice sessions she holds." Aaron shrugged. He had no interest in Jade. She was merely one of the few tolerable people in the school.
"She's not in the infirmary though." Kiara shrugged.
"Dormitory?"
"Not there either," she nodded her head from side to side.
"Why are you asking about her anyways?" Aaron asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
"Don't you see is? She's missing."
"WHAT?" Aaron's voice raised with shock. "Missing? From the middle of the school? How? Why? When?"
Only if I knew the answer of those questions myself, she wished. "I know nothing about that. But one thing is pretty certain and that is that she's missing. And we can use this opportunity to ...stir up chaos in the school and bring forth the culprit... write an amazing article for our club."
Aaron took a deep breath. "How is this gossip though?"
"Well, no one knows the truth except the culprit and Jade, at least I believe so. Hence, we are allowed to cook up things, just like gossips are cooked." She shrugged as if it was pretty obvious.
"Makes sense. Do we also add a small highlight on the missing Nicholas?"
"No." She responded in a dull tone.
"No?" He questioned.
"That is obviously going to be one of the main articles. Now we wouldn't want to redo our article right? Plus, he is not missing." Kiara cocked her eyebrow at him.
"Which reminds me, I need you to lie."
"Lie?"
"Not much, just provide Nicholas an alibi."
Aaron stared at Kiara confounded.
"I know this is insane. But, for once I need you to forget your enmity for a moment and help me save his life."
"I thought you didn't care about people's lives."
"Don't be so presumptive Aaron. I am a very caring a loving person. I care about every single soul on this planet and I blame myself every time one of them dies." Kiara blinked sweetly. Her eyes round and shiny like marbles.
If Aaron hadn't known her better, he'd have had believed her. "Ha ha ha," He laughed sarcastically, "Mind giving the legit reason, now?"
"Oh well, I tried. " She wiped the expression off her face. It took too much effort to act sweet. "I need him." Because he seems to be connected to that Russian girl.
"You need to be a bit more elaborate. I know I can read minds but that doesn't mean I'd misuse my powers on you."
"Of course you wouldn't, Mr head boy." Kiara mock saluted to him.
Aaron groaned. "Don't. Call. Me. That." He said, stressing at every single word. He never wanted to be the headboy. So much attention from peers and teachers. The only reason he agreed to this ordeal was because he got access to the dungeons.
"Let's focus on the article now?" She attempted to changed the topic. Pointing to her watch she continued, "You see, we're pretty short on time."
"Just this once, I am letting you off the hook." Aaron replied back, his tone dangerously low.