The Clairvoyant

Eleven | 70 days, 17th hour

Chaotic is a super exaggerated word.

Heck, chaotic doesn't even begin to describe what's happening.

“Colton?” Audrey's voice is high, a hint of confusion in her voice. Her grip on the wooden bat in her hand tightens until they become white. Even I can see the tension in her eyes. “You kidnapped Stella? How could you?”

“You know this bastard?” Cain mutters, eyes turning into daggers. But they soften the moment they spot me, and he sends, You okay? They didn't hurt you did they? I'm going to kill them if they did. He continues as I was about to say 'no'.

I think better of it – I mean, he looks pretty serious after all.

“Audrey, this isn't what it looks like,” Colton begins, his hands rising up in the air. Chace and Tristan follow him along, their eyes darting from Audrey's to Colton who seems to be the boss. “I swear if you just put that down, I can explain what-”

“Shut up! I can't believe you!” She shouts, aiming for him with quick speed that might have matched mine. She went for a hit on his arm, but he didn't seem to attack her back. Actually, from my point of view, they weren't attacking at all.

Tristan held Cain by the hand, but they weren't punching him.

They were just standing.

“Audrey. Listen. Listen to me.” Colton says in between her hard punches. “Audrey. I said listen. Li-” he grabs the bat just in time and she tries to struggle it away from him. “Listen to me when I'm talking, babe. Why can't you stop punching for a sec?”

“Babe?” Audrey's magenta eyes flare in anger at the word. “We're over! Way over! We're f*****g breaking up you little son of a-” But she never gets to finish her words because Colton suddenly kisses her. She struggles a bit, but then she softens up and kisses him back.

And here I am, staring, wondering...

What the f**k?

That doesn't come from my mind, but I know who it comes from. I don't even have to look at Cain's expression to see him. I can tell just how surprised he is – and probably confused just as I am – just by the tone of his voice in my head.

And then they pull away and we're shocked speechless. Audrey on the other hand has this deep crimson blush on her face. “I can explain what's happening here,” Colton begins his interrupted speech. “It's Blake, he's really-”

“What about me?”

On the second his voice is heard, Colton immediately grabs Audrey's hand and pins her to the ground. It's as if the kissed didn't happen at all, and Audrey's squirming to get away from him, calling him a “jerk” “jackass” and an “asshole” the whole time.

“Blake,” Colton says through clenched teeth. “You're early.”

“Always am. Always is. Right boys?”

A swarm of delinquents come into the room. I notice a few of them – I even noticed that cashier boy at the back. Had it not been for their uniforms, their clothes, I would really believe that these guys are full time delinquents or whatever.

“That's the b***h,” The guy beside cashier boy points at me. “She got away from us the other day.”

This guy who seems to be the leader – Blake as Colton said his name – walked up to me and jerked my chin towards his name. I can hear Cain's constant cussing in my head, telling him to keep his hands off me or something.

But here I am, just staring at him, for once angry that he's touching me.

Suddenly I kick him, but he catches my foot and grips it tightly.

“That worked once, hun, but it's not going to work again.” He says with a threatening grin. “I didn't expect to see you anymore after our little battle a year ago, El.”

“I could say the same for you, but I don't go by that nickname anymore, B.” I growl at him as his hand makes a trail up my tights. “And you've grown your hair stupendously. Why don't we cut it up right now?” He takes out a knife from his pockets and takes a hand of my hair.

I try to pull away from him, but it's futile since my hands are still tied up. He would have succeeded in cutting a handful of my hair, had Audrey not shouted his name. Blake stood up from the sofa, a leg positioned in between mine.

“It's me you want, Blake – not her. Don't touch her!”

His hand suddenly grips my throat, and it’s so quick that even my tied up hands tried to fruitlessly pull them off. Tristan, Chace and Colton flinch. I can see Cain trying to struggle, but someone punches him and he staggers down.

“You remember that girl last time?” Blake whispers in my ear. “That girl you fought-”

“That girl I fought,” I said through clenched teeth, my nails digging into his. “That girl which became the reason of my expulsion? Hell yeah. I remember her, B – you made her attack me while I was defenseless. You knew I was already under account at Regis then.”

“And I really hoped you didn't get any other chances after that,” He says, letting my throat go and I cough violently onto the sofa. “And here you are, safe – say, you friends’ with Audrey? You must be a student at Memorial too, then?”

I ignore his taunting voice and point at his forehead instead.

“That scar you have,” I identify the wound I made last year. “That's my punch right?” He grabs for my neck again, but this time I don't let him. I definitely don't want to be gripped on the throat again.

Grabbing for his arms, I jerk it under mine that is tied and go over him and pull it. It slams to his face with a sickening thud, and now I'm on his back, my arm across his neck. “This is for gripping my throat, you jackass.” I whisper fiercely into his ear as flocks of his underlings come at me.

I grip tighter onto his neck and he groans in pain. They stop in their tracks, unsure what to do. “Let those two go and I'll let this one go. Right now before he loses air!” I scream at the top of my lungs, my eyes dead steady at Cain and Audrey. “I said now!”

They let Cain go, and Audrey too – she runs towards him and help him up. I see Colton's eyes glisten in relief, but I still hold onto Blake, but not as tightly until the point where he comes out coughing just like I did a while ago.

“b***h, I swear I'm going to kill you,” Blake mutters, his hand digging into Cain's jacket. “After that fight, I desperately looked for you. I desperately tried to get a chance to fight with you again and I most certainly did not come here to be beaten by you again.”

He bites my arm and I scream in pain. I release him, fall to the ground, and my ties are now loose. Unfortunately, though, Blake is above me already, keeping me firmly there. He's straddling me, his weight unbearable.

“Get of me, jerk,” I mutter, trying to push him off by hitting him on the stomach.

“Get off her!” I hear Audrey shout but Colton's already holding her by the wrist.

“You know, when I learned that my underlings lost sight of Audrey and a girl, I couldn't believe there was anyone that stupid.” He says, the knife in his hand again and he's pulling my hair. “But I guess all's good after all since that person was you.”

His lips go near my ears, I turn away and look at the fallen Cain instead.

Cain, you're such a weakling. I think, trying to laugh.

“I've waited all this time to get my revenge, b***h, and this is only the start.” He cuts my long blonde hair, the curls dropping onto the floor like feathers. I stare at it, my eyes unsure of what I'm seeing. But it's there, on the floor, cut apart from my hair.

Then like a flash, I remember how Chey tends to fix my hair every morning.

How Ian felt envious of it.

How Vincent noted that I was just like him.

How my dear mother told me to take care of it.

How my father said he loved my hair, that it was just like my mom's when she was younger.

How Jaime instructed me to outgrow it as proof that I changed for the better.

But now it was there, on the floor, as if mocking me that I still haven't changed even after all this time. That my whole year after that day I got expelled were just a dream.

A foolish little dream.

“Let go of me...” I mutter, trying to force out the words as Blake begins trailing my neck with the knife. He's pinned me down, I can hear Audrey crying out my name, and the others are stock silent at what just happened maybe.

“Let go!” I cry out, pushing his hand away from my neck and turning over.

I kick his back and he staggers forward, leaving a little space open under so I get up and kick him in the shin. He lurches forward but I evade him, the kick the knife away from the hand until it clatters on the floor not far away from us.

He reaches for it, I grab the roots of his hair and pull him backward.

I grab for the knife and place it on his side. My lips are on his ears, my voice even cold to my own. “Move and I will dig this f*****g knife in you, bastard. I can do it, you know I can. I can hurt you right now 'til you're crying in pain.”

Blake doesn't move. I may hit him with the dagger, but it'll be somewhere not lethal – but it could still harm his fighting stance. Blake understands me the best after all – he's the one who taught me my moves.

Taught me how to fight.

“You know how ironic it is that you met Audrey?” He asks me all of a sudden.

I stare at him, wondering if I should answer. Finally I do: “No, I don't.”

“Funny story is, I loved you. Loved the way you fought. Loved your stance. I wanted you to always be by my side, but strange as it is – you wanted to stop fighting, so I sent those girls after you. Then al of a sudden I get news you got expelled.”

He chuckles slowly, shaking his head. “Then here's Audrey, the girl I'm currently in love with. Who I'm hell-bent on keeping by my side since you left me. But here she is, holding my second in command's hand like there's no tomorrow.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because this fight's already over.”

I stick the dagger's sheath at his side again. “No, it isn't yet.”

“Yes it has. And you're going to leave now.”

I stare at him, like he's crazy. “Leave...?”

He picks up a lock of my hair off the floor.

The sight of it pains me than what Cain just did.

“It may seem like I've lost, but Stella, I know you far better than anyone in this room. Stella, you loved your hair. You trusted me enough to tell me what your parents said about it. And you being the delinquent back then, kept it short because of them. Because they saw a fighter in you with that hair.

“You hated how they didn't seem to take notice of you.” He continues, flipping it side by side. “Hated the idea of them not even standing up to tell you to stop fighting. But here I was, your only support, telling you it was okay. That fighting was like a release from all those worries.”

Then I soon understand how he says he's already won.

I feel my hand shake from the thought but then all of a sudden, Blake takes my hand in his, giving me a wan but evil smile. He shows me that lock of hair and puts it in my hand. “No, no, I'm not keeping this.” I say, throwing it to the floor.

He takes the knife from my hand without any problem at all, then pushes me towards my friends and Cain catches me. He's sending me questions inside our mind, but I've shut him out already. Completely and without a doubt.

I can't believe what's happening, I think, now finding myself time to look at Blake.

“You've lost, El,” He says with a ghostly grin. “I've cut it short. Even if you fix that, you'll still look like the girl you were a year ago. And when your parents see that...” He doesn't continue anymore since he knows I get the point.

And now Cain does too.

“Leave, we'll fight next time.” He says, turning his back on me. “And you guys – I don't want to see you anymore. Don't ever, I repeat, ever show your backstabbing faces to me any more than this. And especially to you, Colton.”

Whatever happened between these two, I can understand a bit as Colton bows his head, takes Audrey and leaves. Chace and Tristan repeat the same act and leave, and then Cain's pulling me but I let him go first and he does.

I stand there, my first pumped to him, his underlings on guard.

“B,” I call out, and he turns around. I drop the hair onto the floor, my eyes never leaving his. “This isn't the last of me, B. I'm coming back for revenge – to finish everything between us once and for all.” He looks at the lock of hair on the ground.

“Fine by me,” Blake shrugs.

But I'm not finish yet.

“You have to swear, B, that when I win, all this is over,” I say, a stoic expression on my face. He steps towards me until my hand hits his chest. Hits that part where the heart should be. “And when you win, I'll come back and fight beside you with all I've got 'til you're tired of me.”

“You're not what I want anymore, El,” He says with a grin. “If I win, I get to thrash those backstabbers. Not you. You get to watch. And that black haired pretty boy, El? If he had a scar above his eye, I wonder if it would look good on him?”

I shake my head immediately. “Your fight's with me. Not them.”

“El,” He clicks his tongue repetitively, a Cheshire smile forming on his lips. “You're not my only opponent this time. You're no lone fighter. You've got Audrey. And Audrey's got my men on her call. And you've got that pretty boy too.”

He steps towards me, passes me by the shoulders, and then suddenly he's touching my collar bone.

“You're not alone anymore like before, El.” His voice is cold. His tone irritating to my ears. This Blake, this person I once admired like Jaime, was already becoming a stranger to me. “You said you're tired of fighting, ey? Now you shouldn't be. You've got people to protect. People to live up to.”

“I never wanted this.”

“Then you should have stayed put, El.” I'm facing him, his back to the entrance. He's letting me leave but here I am, still talking. “If you hadn't gone and taken Audrey away when I sent my men after her, Colton wouldn't have taken her, she wouldn't have gotten her freedom. You wouldn't have created all this fuss and we could have just gone back to strangers.”

He shakes his head, chuckling as he pulls me towards the exit. “No go along, little El. Remember you can't say you're tired of fighting anymore. Remember that if you do, you're not the only one who's going to suffer the consequences.”

“I'll try.”

“Try?”

“Try not to forget that I'm not fighting alone anymore.”

He shook his head, a cunning smile forming on his face. “It's not 'try' anymore, El,” Blake's face is only a few inches away from mine. I can smell the faint scent of beer on him, or maybe that's smoke, or maybe even a mixture of both.

“It's 'do or die'.”