Starseeds: The Broken-Winged

| 6 | Evitual

Ryker Lordaire

I'm sitting in Ms Clarke's office next to Uncle Davis. My arms were crossed across my chest as I listened to the old lady ranting about me, dismayed at what she is saying. Her face is turning red minute by minute as she explodes with outrage. Ugh. This b***h.

"Ryker's position in the school is remarkably high." She seemed to be bamboozled about how I get high grades when my manners are filthy. Ugh. This b***h. "However, we do not like his attitude in this school. Last year, he has been sent to this very office more than fifteen times –"

"Twenty, actually," I corrected.

"– and this year, he has been awfully quiet. We thought he is improving – that whatever condition he is suffering from is improving. But no! We are proven wrong! He vandalised the school's property, he harmed my students –"

"Adam's a bully," I muttered, "I was doing what you were supposed to do – to stop bullies and teach them a lesson."

"By not harming them!"

"Okay, yeah, but at least give them something to make them realise that what they're doing is wrong. You and the other teachers don't even do anything. Do you even know that one of the students in the school nearly committed suicide because you weren't handling the bullies? Did you know that?"

Ms Clarke was astonished, appalled. Well, it's the truth. A truth she needs to remember. "He vandalised the school's property," she continued, shakily and miserably discounting my information. "He harmed my students. And for doing that, I don't think I can give you or your nephew any more chances!"

This b***h's voice is squeaky.

No wonder her husband divorced her. She's annoying as f**k.

Davis bobbed his head up and down. There was no commiseration, indignity or empathy in his eyes. "I am sorry Ryker is like this. Truly, I am. But you're thinking about expelling him from the school because of his conditions? I thought the school is loving, that the school will try its' best to help all the students to reach their goals."

Ms Clarke blinked, astounded to get dissed. I snorted next to my uncle, smirking like mad. Yes, finally, an adult made her aghast. Finally, an adult realised she is a contaminated b***h.

"It says in your motto," Davis reminded. "And you mentioned it all the time. You promised me that you will try your best. It isn't my fault, nor Ryker's fault, that he has a condition."

"Well, I suppose its' the parents' fault," the woman snapped. "I suppose its' their fault for creating a disgusting human being." 

I tensed. My hand balled into furious fists. This b***h. I would've burned her skull her off. But I can't. It's against the regulations. Starseeds are forbidden to use our abilities in front of senseless humans. 

"You haven't told what the condition is to us. If we don't know anything about Ryker, how on Earth could we help?"

"By not being a probing b***h," Davis snapped back.

Ms Clarke inhaled profoundly. "Excuse me? How dare you insult me!"

"I'm telling the truth, ma'am," Davis replied. "Didn't you say you hate lies? Besides, lying is a sin in my religion. I'm sure God up there won't mind if I express my honest opinions about you – it's better than lying.

"Ms Clarke, the condition Ryker has is private. You do not have permission to know it."

"And who gave you the right?"

"The police. They know about Ryker's condition, and agreed to keep his condition private." Most of the police are Starseeds, so I'm quite lucky, I suppose.

Davis stood up. "If you don't want my nephew studying and achieving the best in St John's High School because of his personal traits, then I am sure you won't mind me writing a truthful review about this school?" Ms Clarke swallowed fretfully. "For example, that St John's High School has bullies . . . and that the school smokes . . . and that one time, a guy tried to touch a girl's arse – s****l harassment . . . and that the school has particular, selfish, horrible ideas of who is worthwhile to be taught and taken care of and who is not."

"Mr Lordaire –"

"Shh." Davis held up his hand, silencing the head-teacher. "I am truly ashamed not by my nephew's behaviour, but yours. You are a head-teacher. You are supposed to be the role model, the people look up to." He shook his head, dismayed. "Now I see why nobody looks up to you. Ryker, let's go."

"When are you going to be mature, Ry?" Davis demanded as we got into the car.

I chucked my bag into the back seat. "I'm sorry. There – I said it. Happy now?"

"Sorry isn't enough." Davis sighed, fatigued. "Look, man . . . I know what you're going through is tough. I know how you feel about school – heck, when I was your age, I hated school. But you got to control your temper. You got to control you're . . . You got to control the . . ."

"The Evitual?"

Evituals are spiritual demons. Basically, ghosts. They can seize you. I've been possessed three times by three different demonic spirits. And the one in me now decided to keep my body forever. So yeah, that's another reason why I'm a freak. That's why I'm doomed for eternity.

"Yeah."

"It ain't easy, dude."

"I know, but you're giving the Evitual what it wants – anger, temper, hatred."

"It's hard not to angry when there are humans around. They don't understand anything. I don't know why Archangel Michael gave us the Task to protect the humans from Demons."

"I don't know why, too. But don't worry, on Judgement Day, God's gonna get rid of the bad people –"

"He's gonna get rid of me," I murmured.

"He's not."

"He is. I'm a killer, Uncle."

"He's going to have mercy on you."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because you don't know Him like how I do, Ry. I know you hate Him. I know you hate God, but God ain't gonna care about the hate. He's only going to care about one thing – you. He has His reasons to let everything happen, man . . . They're confusing, but they're deliberate. We just gotta cope with it."

"Are you saying He'll understand?"

"Yeah."

I rolled my eyes and looked through the window next to me. I hate God. I hate Him so much. I am not an atheist. I believe in Him because, obviously, I'm a Starseed. Starseeds are a different type of angels. We are God-blooded: meaning we have God's blood in us. So, obviously, I believe in Him. But I hate Him. We call the people who believe in God and who hate Him Misotheists.

I went on my phone which was brightening up with notifications. Most of them were text messages from Brandon on Snapchat. I responded, saving the texts as I do so.

Dude, what happened? R u ok??

                                                                                                  Yh im gd. I beat up Morrison.

I know that. Ppl in de school too.

I just saw him now. He was bleeding badly man wtf did u do 2 him???

                                                                                                  Banged him up innit

Hard

                                                                                                That’s what she said.

Dude, now ain’t the time.

What happened with Ms Clarke?

                                                                                     Davis dissed her. Called her a probing b***h.

He did not reply for a moment. Then, his response was:

Lmao XDDDDDDD

I’m deddd.

Davis is lit, man.

Then what happened??

                                                                                                                                        We left.

Wait, r u coming back?? U expelled???

                                                                                                                                         Idk. Maybe.

k.

There’s a party tonight. Wanna come? I think Noelle’s going. It’s her friends’ bday.

                                                                                                                            Sure. I’ll see u there.

Bye, sucker.

                                                                                                                            Already got one.

Fuck off.

His last reply made me smile. My grin dropped once my phone vibrated as I received another notification.

AQUA'S BITHRDAY!

I nearly dropped the phone. 22nd April. Aqua's birthday. I completely forgot it's her birthday. She's fourteen now.

"Do you think Aqua knows about it?" I asked quietly.

Davis glanced at me with a frown. "What?"

"It's Aqua's birthday today," I explained. "She's fourteen now. Do you think she already knows?"

"Your father made sure she won't find out."

"But it's likely to happen, you know. Not everything works out the way you want it to be."

"True. Whatever is happening to her, I bet she can survive on her own. She is strong, wise, humble yet powerful like her mother, and much more mature and nicer and obedient than you. I would rather have her living in my house than you."

I rolled my eyes. "Gee, thanks for saying that. It warmed my heart, Uncle," I muttered sardonically. "Really, it did."

"You're welcome," Davis said with a smile.

I stared at him. Sometimes, I wondered if Davis knows sarcasm. Maybe he does or maybe he's too deaf to notice it. "I was being sarcastic."

"Oh, well then f**k you."

"Dude, I don't want your STDs."

"Starseeds can't get STDs. We're perfectly immune to HIV, Gonorrhoea –"

"She's cheeky, as well," I interjected, out of the blue reflecting about my memories with my baby sister. "And annoying." I remembered when Aqua did a prank on me: she put naked Barbie dolls in my bed while I was sleeping. I woke up and nearly screamed my head off, thought I was going to get r***d and get infected by those ugly toys. I smiled at memory. I didn't even get my revenge. But I still smiled. "If Aqua finds out she's a Starseed . . . do you think she knows about the other thing?"

"What other . . . ? Oh . . . oh," Davis shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But who cares?"

"I do," I said automatically. "I'm worried about her, Davis. What if she –"

My words were cut off by an ear-splitting, alarming resonance coming from behind us. I glanced at the rear-view mirror to see a police car directly at our rear. What's going on now?

Davis muttered curses under his breath as he pulled over. Two authority figures stepped out of their vehicle and approached us. Davis rolled down the window and stared at them with a fake grin. "What?"

The officer poked his head through the window and stared at me. "Are you Ryker Lordaire?"

I shook my head and said, "No" but Davis replied to them with a "Yes, this arsehole is Ryker." I glared at him.

"Ryker Lordaire, you are under arrest for smoking weed and vandalising school property."

"What?" Davis said. "What the hell are you talking about, dip-s**t?"

"Sir, we've been informed about a teenage boy with blue eyes and dark hair wearing the St John's High School uniform lurking around in the park this morning. He was smoking weed. We went to school to search for him and the head-teacher told us that you left. She told us your name, boy."

The officer behind the one talking to us said, "C'mon, lad, get out."

***

The officers took me to custody. I'm sitting on a silver chair with a rectangular desk in front of me. Davis is next to me. The walls are black, the floor is wooden. The door opened and in came Aasim Dhanial dressed in his casual Nike shirt, jeans and Adidas trainers.

"Dude, if there is one thing you shouldn't do, then that is not to wear Nike clothes with Adidas shoes," I said.

Aasim blinked, looked down at his clothes, then at me. He laughed. "You're in custody and the only thing you're worried about is my clothing?" He shook his head, smiling, and sat in front of us.

He picked up the paper on the table and read the information with his glasses on. After that, he set it back down, leaned backwards in his chair and exhaled, drained. "Ryker, you know smoking weed is illegal. You know smoking at the age of fifteen is illegal. And you know smoking will do nothing to stop the Evitual inside you. The drugs, the alcohol, everything you're immorally doing will only provoke the Evitual and make it stronger, and that's why you're finding it hard to control. So why are you doing it?"

Aasim Dhanial is a Muslim Starseed. He's one of Dad's good friends. One of his loyal friends. When he met me, when he found out I'm the son of Christian and Marina Lordaire, he immediately vowed to help me, to protect me. I have respect for this lad.

"I can't help it, man," I said. "It's addictive. And it might not weaken the b***h inside me, it might make it stronger, but it helps me forget. It makes me high, and being high helps me."

"But there are other ways to help you not think about it. There are other ways to weaken it."

"Like what?"

"Eskor."

Davis's face hardened. "No."

"Why not?"

"If my nephew goes there, if he goes to Eskor, the people won't be welcoming."

"I can harm all the Starseeds," I added in a mutter. "I can kill them without realising it. It's a risk."

"Then . . ." Aasim temporarily contemplated about other proposals. "How about informing the Regime?"

Davis slammed his hand on the desk. "Are you f*****g joking, Aasim?" he snapped. "The Regime – the Regime? You want to tell them that Ryker is possessed, not only once, but three times? Ryker's situations has never been documented before, it's rare, unnatural. They won't even put my nephew in trial, they will execute him."

"The Regime is lead by the Head," Aasim replied in a calm voice. They always have this conversation. Davis is usually the one hollering with anger, but Aasim has a talent to tolerate fury. He can tolerate anything in the most hazardous situations. "The Head is a very compassionate man. He will understand Ryker's problems."

Davis heaved a sharp sigh through his nose, leaning back in the chair. "The Head is a good man, but no," he said after a moment. 'No, Aasim, it's a risk."

Aasmin sighed profoundly. "Then what do you suggest we do? There is no other option for any of you, not even death. Our home universe won't be fond of your presence, and our home on Earth will be the same."

"We will stay here for a while," Davis muttered.

"Wait," I interposed, looking at my father's brother. "Are we moving?"

"Yes. We might move."

A million thoughts flooded my mind. Only one earned enough attention: what about Noelle? I don't want to leave her.

"'But...what about my friends?"

"You can find other friends. It's not the end of the world."

My heart throbbed with sadness, but I didn't show it. Why do we, the Lordaires, have to be the most wanted family not only on Earth, but in the universe? Why is our prosperity greater than anyone else – even than the Aristocracy?