Before After

CHAPTER VIII

Chapter VIII

Kaiser Aldeguer

THOUGH she was slowly appreciating Sera’s presence, Wendy still couldn’t help but to feel irritated at the girl. Because Sera had been pulling her to act into a more active role—a role her inner warrior would want to assume, but a role which she knew she couldn’t perform in real life.

“I know what I’m asking you is too much. But I hope what you see will make you change your mind.”

Those were Sera’s words before she brought her to this cemetery. She was standing in front of that grave where a name unknown to her was inscribed. Charles F. Attens was the name written at the grave, and according to Sera, this was the man who opposed Kaiser and his friends two years ago. He was a sophomore student and Kaiser was at his first year at Crawfordsville High. But though the latter was younger, Charles, though courageous enough to spit his guts to Kaiser, had no match to the power of an Aldeguer.

“Charles, he was so outspoken. He had principles, and he’d never let anyone crumple those principles he firmly believed in. He also wasn’t someone who’d turn a blind eye from injustice. He was a great campaigner of equality,” Sera had narrated.

Sera had told her, his world turned upside down when he fought the elites. He was bullied severely. His family also suffered as their business slowly fell into bankruptcy. Many thought it had something to do with the clash against the Aldeguer. Charles was kicked out of the school, and no other school was willing to accept him. He was absolutely ruined. And the last resort he saw to escape all these catastrophes was to kill himself.

“He hung himself in his own room.” Wendy could still recall Sera’s own words, her voice filled with melancholy. Wendy felt goosebumps; her heart felt sick with the revelation. And until now, as she was staring alone at the grave, she could still feel that sickening feeling.

“How come you know all of this?” she had asked Sera.

“Because it was such a big news. Everyone knew about this. But not everyone knew the entire story. But I knew almost everything,” Sera had told her. “Charles and I were friends. But I wasn’t able to stand as his friend during those times. Because I was afraid; I was a coward.”

She blew a long sigh. She knew this was not her business, but she couldn’t help but to feel her heart swell with empathy. She now knew where Sera’s hatred for Kaiser and his friends were rooted. But at the same time, she couldn’t seem to digest the fact that the elite’s rule in the school was severely unfair that it pushed someone to kill himself. How could they take it into their conscience knowing that they did not just ruin someone’s life—they made that someone desire to lose his life?

With her mind occupied by this new revelation, she finally decided to walk her way back home. It was already seven o’clock. She didn’t realize she stayed at the cemetery for an hour, merely looking at the grave of the unfortunate Charles Attens. The sun had already set, and it was already dark. However, the street was still busy. People were all over the street—some hurrying to get themselves inside the already full public vehicles, while some were agitatedly waiting, knowing that they were defeated by this rush of people.

Wendy stood in between these self-concentrated random strangers. They were standing under the stop light, waiting for it to change its color from green to red. She raised her head, her eyes locked to the flickering lights. She remembered that this post was the very same spot where she first met Kaiser. This was where Kaiser played as her hero. And now, she couldn’t understand why he acted like a knight saving a damsel when he was that rude emperor whose rule was so crooked. If he was able to digest the fact that someone died because of his unjust and unfair way of manipulating people, then he’d also be able to stand unaffected even when he saw a body crashed and killed by a running vehicle. But why did he save her?

She felt confused and too occupied with thoughts that shouldn’t be running on her mind. She blew a deep sigh. Pushing those unnecessary thoughts away, she closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them again, she saw the people already crossing the street. She put her right foot forward, marching her way along with these random strangers. They were all busy minding their own trails. But someone was careless enough and bumped at her. She raised her head automatically in reaction to the abrupt force. And then, their eyes met.

She felt her world stopped for a moment before it turned upside down. Her heart raced fast. She could feel her limbs starting to weaken, like her energy was slowly escaping her body. She felt chills with the way he was staring at her. His eyes spelled menace. It was like he was ready to kill someone right at that moment.

She was sure she didn’t know the guy, but probably it was her instinct which told her he was dangerous.

“Finally, I found you,” he told her in an eerie whisper.

She felt she ran out of breath when he seized her wrist. But adrenaline rushed through her veins, and all she knew was that she was able to pull herself away from him. She ran away, fast and afraid that that guy would catch her. She had no idea who he was, but she knew he was looking for her. He was looking for her on purpose.

She ran as fast as she could, looking back from time to time to check the guy’s advances. She was so afraid that in a few seconds, he’d be next to her. She felt a little calmer when she saw no traces of him following her. But to her shock, he was already in front of her, grasping her wrist tightly. She screamed her lungs out, trying to get attention from the bystanders. But she couldn’t see anyone right that moment. No one could help her.

“You can’t escape this time!” the guy said in a chilling voice. She felt her tears at the side of eyes. But even her tears felt too scared to freely flow on her cheeks.

“Who are you?!!” she demanded, trying to sound strong enough though her voice came out hoarse, too shaky and unstable.

“It doesn’t matter,” the guy replied, his voice booming which sent chills to her system. His eyes were glaring at her, like he was ready to devour her whole any minute. She tried hard to get away from his tight grip, but unlike a while ago when she was able to pull herself from him, he seemed to be stronger now. She didn’t know if it was because of the obvious difference of a man’s strength from a woman, or because she had just became tired of their chasing game, plus the rattle she was feeling inside.

“Somebody, help!” she cried out in the hopes that there would be someone who’d hear her. But to her dismay, her ugly captor just laughed out loud, which to her ears sounded more like a roar of a hungry monster.

“Don’t waste your energy, young mistress. You can’t get away from me. And even if you can, you can’t get away from the others.”

She gritted her teeth when she heard those words. She felt too much abhorrence which she couldn’t even call abhorrence. The word itself sounded less of the insurmountable hatred and anger she felt deep inside.

“Aahhh!!!” a shout escaped her mouth—a shout too loud even for her own hearing. She felt pain in her throat, but that pain couldn’t and wouldn’t stop her in expressing the rage she was feeling. She struggled like a wild beast trying to escape in a hunter’s trap. She put all the bit of energy stored in her body to unshackle herself from his strong arms, but it was to no avail.

Her tears finally found its way to her cheeks. She felt her heart being crushed as she saw the ugly man only laughing at her struggle.

“Tss. You’re too weak!”

Her captor’s mockery added more to the fury she felt inside. But he was right; she was weak. She had always been weak. She had always been the one who needed to be taken care of. She always needed someone to depend onto. But now, she was alone. So how could she practically survive in this game? When that realization hit her, all her remaining energy seemed to vanish. It was as if her whole system accepted her weakness, claimed it, and lived on it.

“Very good, little girl,” her captor said in a tone of mockery when he felt her submission. He even patted her head like she was a dog.

His arms held her waist and put her on his shoulder, carrying her like a sack of rice. She felt sick with the position, but she felt too tired to try fighting for her freedom once more.

‘Maybe, this is it for me.’ She closed her eyes, and in her mind, pictures of the people she knew really well flashed. She felt her heart became heavy, and her tears seemed to drown her.

She groaned when she felt pain in her back. She didn’t know what happened but she just felt that she was thrown away. There was a force that took her captor by surprise. And to her fortune, or maybe not, she just hit the bricked wall before she landed on the concrete ground. It was painful; her right hand was even bleeding because of some bruises, but it was not that painful considering the height of her fall.

“Tsk.” She saw her captor spit some saliva because the side of his lips was bleeding. His ugly face was now darker. She didn’t know that he could look even scarier than what he looked some minutes ago. “Boy, stop playing hero. If I were you, I’d start to run away now and hide on my mummy’s—“

“Shut up and just punch me if you can!” He said as he threw his fist directly on her captor’s face. It hit the ugly man again.

Wendy could only stare in disbelief. She was too appalled to even consider this as reality. Maybe, she had hit her head on the wall and collapsed, so what she was seeing now was nothing but a dream. But amid the darkness of the night in this cold and seemingly isolated street, the moon had shone to that brave man who seemed to save her from the hands of her ugly captor. His posture, his cold aura, his haunting eyes—she knew it was him. She felt fear when she saw her captor’s face, but she felt more scared as she was seeing Kaiser’s serious face.

“What the—“ her captor couldn’t believe that he was punched twice by that someone he addressed as a ‘boy’. “You really have the guts! You’re gonna pay for this.”

The ugly man became mad. He advanced to knock Kaiser off his feet, but the latter was faster. Before the captor’s fist could even touch the end of his hair, he had already punched the ugly man straight to his stomach.

“You’re too talkative,” Kaiser said in mockery.

And then, the war had begun right before Wendy’s eyes. Her captor looked like a hungry beast wanting to take revenge. He was mad. But Kaiser was intelligent. He moved strategically, like he had calculated every movement of his opponent. There was never a time that her captor was able to touch Kaiser. That ugly man was strong, she knew. But it seemed like he had no match to this ‘boy’. Kaiser was really skilled. And Wendy couldn’t help but to feel frightened with the greatness of this young man’s skill in fighting. How could a guy like Kaiser, who was just the same age of her, be this strong?

Kaiser cupped her captor by his collar. “Who are you? What do you need from her?!” he asked, his voice booming. Even she, herself, was rattled with his voice. His eyes settled to her captor like he was going to tear this man anytime soon. There was rage in his eyes.

Her captor just smirked. “Who are you, too?” He spit the flowing blood on the side of his lips. Wendy couldn’t recognize the face of her captor now that there was blood all over his body. She couldn’t believe Kaiser was able to do this damage. “Listen, boy. You don’t know who you messed up with.” The man slowly looked at her direction. She felt scared with the way he stared at her. “Saving this girl is your ultimate mistake.”

“Why do you keep on telling nonsensical things?!” Kaiser yelled before he became a monster again. He punched the man as if there was no tomorrow. He didn’t stop even when the man had already lost his consciousness.

“Kaiser!” she yelled. She didn’t know how she was able to walk away from her place when she felt she was glued on it a while ago, but she just found herself right on his back, hugging him and holding his arm to stop him from killing the man. “Please stop. Please… stop…”

She felt his arm tensed, like he was trying to weigh whether to grant her request or punch the man nonstop. Truth was, she was really scared of Kaiser now. She was afraid that he’d turn in that monster again and just throw her, punch her like what he did to her captor. He was dangerous. He could kill with his strength. He almost killed the man.

But then, she felt Kaiser slowly lowered his hand. And when he faced her, there was no tinge of the devil she saw in him a while ago. Maybe it was her hallucination, but for the first time, she saw him like an angel. Rare as it seemed, she saw worry in his eyes. For the first time, he had an emotion on his face.

He wrapped his arms around her fragile frame as if he was protecting her. And there, she felt so emotional. She cried like a child on his chest, as if he was her refuge. She knew he was dangerous, but right at this moment, she felt safe in his arms.

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