Connectors of the Two Worlds

Chapter 19

The way I observed Alfred this morning was a whole lot different from all the experiences I had since I came to attend Saint Claire Academy. I know everyone's history, especially the bad boys department.

I know for certain that Alden Joe is one of them. An arrogant piece of bull that he once was. But seeing Alfred with his very composed state, I came to realize who was the real bad boy was.

He boastfully holds his leather paper case while his arm swung it behind his back. He walks like an arrogant old man across the huge campus stadium. His shoes were ticktacking all over the place while the students looked at him in awe and amusement. Everyone is surprised and amazed by his natural arrogance he gladly display with splendor.

While an old 80s song came to play inside the stadium, it was like the things surrounding him started to stop their noise and gave attention to his presence.

I looked at those people. I creased my forehead in annoyance. I can't believe that they're gaping at him with just the way he walks. What's so special about him anyway?

Oh, I forgot. During Physics Class, he started to show off his deadly talent...

"So, you're saying that I'm making this up?" I asked Alfred.

He didn't answer but he stared on his paper like he was trying to find the words to say.

"Is there any problem there, Miss Sanchez?" Mrs. Gomez asked me in a high pitch and strict voice, eyeing me on my seat.

"N-nothing, Mrs. Gomez..." I assured politely keeping my head down, often peeking on Alfred's side. I could hear the little murmurs around the lab from my classmates.

When the old teacher gave up, I stared back at him again. He was looking at me, too, in frustration.

"I know you're real and I know what happened last night. I can prove it..." I told him in a strong promising whisper.

"I told you, I'm not lying to you. If you just keep on pushing your alibi, then be my guess." He strongly marked his words into my head.

That made me boil my blood. "What's your reason for fooling me, huh?" I asked in sarcasm.

He didn't answer again. Instead, he stood up and grabbed his answer sheet to submit it to Mrs. Gomez's table.

Everyone was looking at him, so everyone was aware of his movements. Instead of returning back to his seat next to mine, Alfred approached the center table in front and took a new chalk. He walked slowly towards the board and started to erase something that was written there.

The students gasped at what he just did.

Mrs. Gomez stood up and arched her eyebrow at the new student. "W-what do you think you're doing, Mr. Voulner? Why are you erasing that? Your classmates aren't done writing them!" she yelled.

"I know. I was just correcting the year. This is not the year of discovering gravity. In 1687, Isaac Newton only proposed this and was officially announced as his discovery. But he went with this discovery for almost 10 years. So, instead of altering the year, I just edited the word 'discovery' into 'officially announced as his discovery'. It would fit the year the history books has declared. Isn't it, Mrs. Gomez?" he blandly asked the teacher.

"H-how did you learn that thing, Mr. Voulner? No one has ever taught us about this..." she asked.

He smirked and looked at the whole class. He was toying with the chalk as he throws it heavenwards then catch it accurately without looking. "Just because... No more questions. I might correct the entire lesson plan regarding history. Just cite your sources accurately next time..." he reminded her.

Our classmates stared to gape loudly because of his actions. Wednesday, Rex, and also Alden Joe were surprised as much as everyone was.

So, Alfred is not just arrogant. He's also a brainer. And to my dismay, this scene only added fire to my fury about his existence...

I got home so tired and frustrated. I jumped to my bed while grunting. I laid flatly on my belly while whimpering about Alfred's dubious actions. He was getting on my nerves!

How do I remove this irritation from my mind?

I just made my legs kick aimlessly while on the bed. I gave up on thinking about him. Suddenly, I remembered my alibi earlier. I almost forgot that I asked Rex about Physics today. I hurriedly read the time on my wristwatch. My eyes widened in shock as I saw that it was 6 o'clock already. I got to my feet and changed my clothes into my favorite yellow t-shirt and maroon jogging pants. I hurried outside to Rex's house.

The house is quite elegant and pleasant in my eyes. Its simplicity gave me the impression of a great governed household. I heard murmurs inside as I knocked on the door. Afterwards, it was answered by Rodger, Rex's younger brother.

Rodger smiled. "Oh, hi Clarrianne! Rex is not here right now," he greeted me in a half-disappointed voice.

"Oh... Where did he go?" I asked him.

"He is helping Dad at the resto. He's going to be home late tonight."

"Hmm... that's too bad. I was just hoping that he could help me with our Physics Project. I already talked about it with him. I thought he had arranged his schedule already," I said, dismayed.

"Well... just wait inside 'til he gets back. Would you mind?"

"N-no! Not at all..."

"Okay. You can crash inside his room. Mom wouldn't mind." He opened the door widely and let me in.

Then, I mouthed my thanks to him.

Inside, I saw Sharon watching TV and was surprised to see me. She's Rex's mother. "Clarry! How have you been? I haven't seen you visiting us in a while. You must be so busy..." she greeted me.

I smiled back at her. "Sorry. I had to attend to something these days. But I'm now available to crash in here again," I joked, half a lie. The truth is, I was trying to avoid Rex since the day I started to feel different towards him.

"Oh, that's good to hear! Come. Have a seat beside me. Let's watch," she invited me happily and I sat beside her.

Rodger just smiled and continued something on his desk. He was painting. He loves painting with his ardor for the field of arts. He differs from his 17-year-old brother, Rexander, for he's more cheerful than his brother.

Rodger and Rex are both stouthearted ones as of their inheritance to the Cervanteses family. Rodger is now 10 years old, sixth grade in Saint Claire Academy. He's smart and intelligent like his brother.

After watching a brief episode of a series with Sharon, I crashed into Rex's study room still full of junks everywhere. There were papers and school materials scattered on the floor. Others were glued or taped on the beige wall of his room.

The rain startled me. I looked at the window, and began to worry about Rex and Dad at the Resto. The drops were dominantly irritating my ears to its sound as it landed on the steel roof of the house. It's quite a heavy rain. My heart raised with them, too. It was quite odd but I let it be.

I distracted myself by finding something to read on the messy table. I saw a bunch of old car magazines and an album of cars owned by some of the influential people all over the world.

Beside the table was a book shelf divider the same height of the table. It was mostly stored with educational, history, and automotive books. I walked towards the divider and wandered to the books showing their titles at their bleeds.

One had caught my eyes, entitled, "The Book of Other Worlds" written by: Madame Georgia Salomar, colored in blue cover.

"Meaningful..." I commented at it while smiling. I pulled the big old dusty book out of the shelf and brought it as I sat on the chair on the front of the table. I blew the dust off the front cover and opened it slowly.

The first page was in handwriting:

To my dear Juanito Cervantes;

I pass onto you this book and as it must be, should you pass it on to your grandchildren who run the blood of Dion. Preserve and protect the knowledge of our world and in secrecy of our race.

Georgia Salomar 1612

The second page was in print like a diary of adventures:

As I wander around, I have felt the danger of silence around the country of Gibbon. The de Evos betrayed us. They made us believe in their despicable laws, changed our ways of living and began controlling our fate inside Dio.

They drained the bloods of the poor peaceful Daemons all over the forest of Maguinea. Horrible wasn't the right word to describe it. It is beyond our language, beyond our native minds.

Everyone died in vain. Everyone wailed and perished from the face of Dio. But we escaped. My family escaped and found a place of painful meanings of life and death, and the swift taste of the happiness. It is no Dio at all. It is nothing but a world full of forbidden knowledge of life's choices. The guarantees of self-satisfaction and cruelty. But not like the de Evos of Dio. This world is lesser evil than these Daemons who destroyed us.

Creatures of this place are same as our figure. Same as we speak and same as we move. But not the same as we fight, not the same as we live and not same as we hate ourselves...

"I'm sorry if I got home late. Dad needs my assistance in the kitchen, so I—" I heard Rex's voice behind me.

I closed the book abruptly as I was startled from his voice. I got to my feet and faced him instantly. "Umm... well... I kinda messed on your stuff. Sorry..." I apologized and faced the ground. I laid my eyes unto the book I was holding. "By the way, I happened to read this book. By any means... this book belongs to a guy named Juanito Cervantes. Was he your relative?" I curiously asked.

He walked slowly towards me and grasped the book I'm holding and stared at the cover. "He's my ancestor..." he answered. "Dad said that Juanito was an orphan that was  adopted by the Salomar Family. He said that this line from his adoptive family were the ones from the other world. They gave Juanito the blood of an immortal. A Daemon. A half-Daemon but a hundred percent immortal of this world. They say that a half-Daemon will give birth to the Dion Connectors that will soon be the bearers of a Daemon's abilities," Rex told me.

"Immortals? Daemons?" Those were the only words that I caught with his story-telling. I smiled and shook my head. I started to recall my dreams. My head started to feel hurt.

"Yep..." he answered.

"And you actually believed in that stuff?" I laughed sarcastically. Thr truth is, I just want to him him discredit this fact that I'm starting to believe. I'm afraid that this knowledge might be truth. I wanted to get rid of it from my mind but to no avail.

"Not really..." He smiled and put back the book on the table. He felt the corners of the book. "I don't really believe in fairytales or urban legends. Any fantasy in this world are just bluffs from a person's mind. But I do believe that my ancestors were real."

"Yeah. But what if the stories were true? What would you do if he's somehow... alive?" I curiously asked.

He seemed very curious about the possibility. He smiled. "Possibly..." he guessed. "So, what do you think about our new classmate?" He changed the topic as we sat on the bench near the door.

"Well... I think Alfred's a little weird," I told him.

"You think so?"

I nodded. "I don't know... but he's so weird. He's so smart and a little a know-it-all guy. It seems like he knows everything in the universe. He's so weird. Mind you about what happened at Physics class earlier." My eyebrows flattened its curve in curiosity. I sighed.

"Yeah. I agree with you. He's a bit weird. But stop being nosy around. Let's start studying," he dismissed and started walking towards his shelf and grabbed several books.

That caught me off-guard. I didn't react and as I cleared my throat, I grabbed a car magazine on the table and opened it nonchalantly.

He laughed hard because of my gesture. "I saw the both of you outside the campus earlier. You were talking to him in your unhappy face," he said in a teasing tone.

I grunted. "Did you know? He just made me like a dumbster earlier for denying that I talked to him last night. His lying tongue tried to convince me but he had failed. I will not let it slide. I will surely get back to him," I strongly told him while meeting his gaze.

Even if I could convince myself that Alfred's explanations were considerably true, I can still tell that the perspicuity of that slumber night as enormously mysterious and a missing clue from my vivid nightmares, of Alfred's true identity was still yet unseen.

Alfred, who are you really? Why are you inside my dreams?