Antithetic's Tale

Chapter 3

    "Iris, you have no one else to trust but yourself and me." I am with the woman in my dream again.

    "Now that you are in the real world, a lot will change. You will discover a lot and you will also lose a lot of things. You just have to be careful and trust me," she said. We are now in the exact place where he took me when I last dreamed. I do not know but I am able to control my dream, I know what I should answer her and what I should think. This dream feels real.

    "I don't even know you, how can I trust you?" I asked her. She suddenly appeared in my dream out of nowhere and showed me how reality looks like. I don't even know what her role in my life is.

    "It's as if you don't trust yourself if you won't trust me." I was a little confused by what she said. I barely even know her name.

    "Do you know me?" I asked her. Her appearance in my dream has a reason so it is impossible that she is not destined to be part of my life.

    "More than I know myself," she answered. I chose to stay quiet because she already answered my question. She stood up and walked away from me. Halfway, she stopped and faced face, "Be careful, Iris. Honestly, no one can be trusted in this world. Even yourself can betray you."

    "Hey, Athena. Wake up!" I opened my eyes. The last words of the woman in my dream continually played in my mind. Why would I betray myself?

Ion came out of my room so I got up and went out.

    "Ion," I mentioned his name so I could get his attention.

    "Oh? Let’s eat." he said as he tapped the chair next to him. I sat down next to him and he started putting different kinds of food in my plate.

    "Athena, going to school is part of humans’ lives. So tomorrow, you would have to go with me." Does this mean I would have a lot of humans to interact with?

    "Don't show your ability to those people. Remember, you are the only one who has it so you have to keep it from them," he said. How can I hide something that I don’t even know I possess?

    "I saw a rock floating in front me, a while ago. Is that normal in this world?” I curiously asked him.

    "There is no such thing here, Athena. It is one of your abilities," he answered. Why don't they just tell me everything that I can do? I’m having a hard time determining what kind of abilities I possess because they won’t even give me a clue.

    "Starting tomorrow, I'll be your older brother. You'll call me big bro Ion and you should respect me.” He took a deep breath as he smirked at me. “Finally, I will also feel that I am higher than you," he said while laughing.

    I just continued my meal, not minding him. When I was done, I got up and went to my room again. I wanted to go out and explore the whole world but that seems impossible because I was living in a very vast world.

    "Oh? Where are you going, Athena?" I met Ion outside the gate. I ignored him and straightly went out.

    "Hey! Why are you ignoring me?!" he shouted. I stopped walking and look at him seriously, he immediately averted my eyes.

    "Fine, be careful!" he shouted before he finally entered the house. It seems like there would nothing to harm. I continued walking and unfortunately, I encountered a group of human beings. They’re laughing happily and I did not realize that I had stopped in front of them which caused them to stop laughing. They looked at me with curiosity.

    "Hi! Are you new here?" asked a woman approaching me. I just want to ignore them but they were too many so I just stared dangerously at them.

    "Sorry, it’s our first time to see you here," the other one said. Why are they talking to me when they don't even know me? Is this even normal here, in the real world?

    "I'm Lian," the woman whispered excitedly. She offered her hand to me but I just stared at it with plain disgust.

    "Can we be friends?" I was stunned by what she said. Friend? I only considered Ion as my friend because he was the only one I could talk to for a long time. I do not know how to make friends. I don’t know how to be a friend and I do not want to be friends with these silly human beings.

    I just ignored them and cross the other side of the street. I don't care about them. I can feel them looking at me in disbelief because I turned my back on them. They can’t do anything, I do not like them and it’s my choice to be hate and disgust human beings.

    Charlotte told me that the people around me might cause me harm and nothing but danger. They are unreliable and no matter how good you are and how kind you treat them, they will still betray you. That’s why I don’t like them.

    After minutes of walk, I am no longer familiar with the place I am as of the moment. I was confused when I saw a different image of reality. Messy. Dirty. It stinks. Small and wooden houses, stinky children, the smell of smoke and alcohol and pile of garbage shouldn’t be part of the reality, right?

    "What do you want?! Let go of me!" I looked at the direction where I heard that voice. I saw a woman and a man, it seems like they were arguing.

    "Help!" the woman shouted when the man tried to kiss her. There are only few people here but I am certain that they heard the woman. She was asking for help but the people on this area left quickly. So now the woman, the man and I are the only ones left.

    "Stop fighting back, will you?!" the man shouted. What is going on?

    "Please help me!" the woman begged again. Why did those people leave? They could definitely do a lot to help this woman but they chose to leave. I don’t understand.

    "I said stop being so hard to get!" I was surprised when the man suddenly punched the woman in her stomach. I can tell that it hurts a lot based on the woman’s facial expression. They’re just normal creatures, unlike me who can tolerate pain.

    It looks like I really need to help her. It was as if someone was telling me that it was my duty to do this. I just shook my head. I am expecting that this woman would do something to prevent the man from continuing what he was planning. Human beings are weak.

    "Why can’t you shut your mouth?!" the man shouted again. The woman is now lying on the floor because of the pain the man inflicted on her. She’s crying and seemed so hopeless. Even if I don't know what's going on, I'll just help her. I have no choice.

     The man was about to touch her again when he noticed my presence in front of them.

    "Let her go," I ordered him. He just smiled playfully at me.

    "Wow, look how lucky I am right now. Two beautiful and sexy women are in front of me. Come on beautiful, I'll make you happy."

    "Go away," I said with authority. He’s still smiling as he approached me slowly.

    "You know what miss, don't be shy. You'll be really happy, I promise!" He even laughed devilishly after saying that. I hate the way he looks. This is definitely how the people in Mreine and Ion looks like. He’s wearing a really old pair of jeans and a dirty white shirt. He smelled like alcohol and smoke.

    “Come on, beautiful.” I really hate his face. The smell of his breath was penetrating in my systems.

    He finally got near me and touched my face. If I can make a rock or any other things float, maybe I can do the exact thing to him?

    I looked at him in the eye. I saw how his eyes widened in horror when he slowly floated in the air.

    "You! What did you to me?!" he shouted with fear in his eyes. He probably did not expect that I could do this to him.

    "I warned you a while ago, didn’t I?" I said playfully.

    "You are a monster! Help me!" he shouted. The woman also asked for help earlier but he did not even feel a pinch of guilt for her. So, I will do the same thing to him. Whatever he did to someone, I believe, should be the same thing to be done to him.

    "Who are you?!" I saw tears coming out from his eyes. As far as I know, when a human being cries, it’s because they are hurt or scared. Does that mean he is afraid of me? I want him to keep his mouth shut because I am nauseated by the smell of his breath. I lowered him to my level enough to see his eyes. I touched his chest.

    “Please, don’t!" he shouted. Should I feel sorry for him? Looks like no. He pulled out a gun and as much as he could, he tried to shoot me. Fear invaded his eyes when he saw that the bullets he had fired stop in mid-air.

    I touched the part where his heart is located.

    "Stop it! I beg you!" he begged again. I do not know what I am doing. I just want to put him to sleep for a long time. His body turned purple and his lips turned black. His eyes were wide open before he finally fell to the cold floor.

    I approached the woman who was still whining in pain. She groaned when I touched her shoulders.

    "Please, stop it!" she suddenly exclaimed. She seemed like she was traumatized by what happened to her earlier. She just cried as I watch her. This is the first time that I witnessed someone crying. I never cried because crying is a sign of being weak. Weakness is only for humans.

    "That's enough," I coldly said to her. I’m tired of watching her. She just proved me how frail a human can be

    "Thank you,” she said in gratitude as she wiped away her tears. She looked up at the man on the floor. Her eyes widened before turning back her eyes on me.

    "Wow. You fought with him alone?" she wondered. Is that impossible?

    "Thank you so much! If you didn’t come, he might harm me. Worst is, I might end up dead here!" I was irritated by the pitch of her voice. My ear was still very close to her mouth since she is hugging me tightly.

    "Get off, you awful woman," I said firmly and she immediately obeyed. She smiled at me. I stood up but she took my hand suddenly to shake hands with me.

    "I'm Jensen! What is your name, Miss?" smiling, she asked. She walked together with me. Now, I regret helping her. I didn’t know that she could be as annoying as Ion.

    "Where do you live?" she asked again. I simply ignored her, maybe she’ll stop when she notice that I don’t even give a damn.

    "Okay, I’ll just ask another question. How old are you? I'm 20 years old," she said. She scratched her head when I did not answer her question again.

    "Why are you so quiet? Am I too noisy?" she asked, still smiling widely.

    "Yes," I replied.

    "It's okay; I want to talk to you." I just sighed at what she said. Looks like this woman won’t stop until she gets home.

    "What's your name? That’s not even a hard question, so please answer me this time." I'm just tired. The behavior of this woman is bothering me.

    "Athena," I replied angrily. Her smile widened now.

    "Go in," I said when we reached the front of her house.

    "Thank you! Wait, how did you know that this is my house?" she asked in confusion. I don’t even have the slightest idea of how I knew her house.

    "You're so great! Are you even real?” she said in amusement. I just looked at the whole structure of their house. Small and it is made of old wood and advertisement tarpaulins. Is this her home?

    "I'm leaving now," I told her and walked away.

    "Athena! Thank you so much for saving me! I hope to see you again!" she shouted before I turned into an alley. How can I get home? Why did I even choose to save that woman? I should have just looked for the way back.

    For unknown reasons, I was able to return home safely. My feet brought me here.

    I saw Ion outside the gate; he seemed to be waiting for me. I approached him so that I could enter the house. Before I could enter the gate, he held me in my arms. I looked at him and he seemed serious.

"Why did you help that woman?"