Devil's Whisper: A Psycho's Waltz

Ch. 6: A puppet at mercy

Looking at his careless posture and suppressively dangerous aura, the guys felt enraged all the way more... All encircling him and showing those powerful postures.

Ace who realizes that the situation got out of hand had to meddle in between the guys, "Yo-yo! Chill guys! Y'all don't wanna make a commotion and get the police over?!" Looking at the man standing alone on the other side, he said with a meaningful look, "Leo... You don't wanna get your records distorted, do you?"

Looking as careless as ever, with his smirk and his sarcastic tone, he tilted his head and revoqued, "Actually no... I just 'passed by to meet my ex-teachers and had to meddle in as I witnessed a case of a minor getting sexually assaulted'... My excuse is perfect and the victim is my witness, what do you say?"

"You!" Fhe brawly-man, howled with rage, clenching his fist and aiming for a perfect punch on Leo's face.

As huge as he was, his speed was impressive, his punch was his best trait... But all he was met with was the sarcastic note of the fearless Leo, "Is that all you've got?"

His fist didn't meet it's target, it was cut short 2 inches away as it was met with Leo's palm... Stopping him and leaving him shocked for his very first loss ever.

Leo didn't do anything, watching the man's shocked face... He was the defensive sort of men, he'd take bullets, reverse them, but never take the chance to win over a "powerless ant"... And this muscle-head was the "powerless" creature in his eyes.

A touch on the shoulder and Ace's whispers reaching his ears made him wake up of the shock's effect, "I don't recommand playing fists with this creep... He might be a nerd, but also a legend in street-fights."

Those words, and one simple look directly at Leo's empty eyes, he felt as if this opponent was looking at him as if he were an ant... The feeling of suppression and inferiority overwhelmed him, he hated it, but he was powerless facing such a league.

"Tsk!" And with a frown on the face, he turned away and called for his g**g, "Let's go bros!"

Giving a final look at the tiny shivering figure of the girl who was almost completely hidden behind Leo, and this fearless sarcastic yet empty expression with which he amplified that he had no intention of following the guys.

He turned around, not saying the words he wanted to say, and his eyes sharpening, shining with a dangerous light.

"Calm down..." As the area was cleared of all threat, the gentleman turned over and warmly put a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder, "It's over... You're safe now."

Raising her head slowly and looking at him with red puppy eyes that have just dried out of tears, something hit the two of them at the same moment...

It wasn't love for Elle, neither was it for Leo.

The girl, with a shaking voice that she couldn't control lowered her eyes shyly and expressed her words, "I'm so thankful for you... I don't what I would've done without your help..."

"No rush to thank me now..." He interrupted her midway, "Let's get you out of here... They may come for you again, this guy Jayson is so petty."

Taking on her handbag and pulling her from the hand, it seemed natural... But at that moment, each one's mind was storming thoughts.

For Elle, she's been taken aback, intimidated by the new stranger and the trauma of losing people who get close to her... Her irresolution turned into distrust, yet it was all suppressed by the perplexion she had due to this accident, and she forgot... She forgot how scared she is in front of strangers.

On the other hand, the man leading her was having a surge of contradictory feelings. He didn't know why would he save a girl he meets for the first, he's never really helped a girl unless he had an ulterior motive... And he knew himself better than anything, that at this moment, he had no motive against that girl, and still he saved her...

He wouldn't want to lose himself to some feelings he couldn't bear, thus he'll have to make her "his"... Yet he felt so heavy-hearted.

"What's your name?" Leo, finally coming to an agreement with himself, stroke up a conversation.

"... Elle..." Stuttering as she answered him, she was surprised for a moment, "... Elle Rosenvelt."

Nodding to himself as in understanding, he introduced himself too, "I'm Leonel Yves... Everybody calls me Leo tho'."

"Now take a seat!" He pointed at the bench they've come to.

As he took a halt, he realized how awkward the situation was, he forgot to let go of the girl's hand... What's more, he pulled her to the suburbs of the park that was not very far from the town's center, yet far away from eyes...

He actually blamed all that to his previous experiences with girls... He just used to being discreet, manipulative and always escaping watchful-eyes. Yet at this situation, he was nothing but a total creep, and he couldn't change that opinion that he assumed the girl most likely had of him.

In fact, Elle was just too light-headed she couldn't make any judgements... For her, the five-minutes-long walk or so felt like an excursion to her soul, with which she finally didn't have to remember the things about her misery and sorrows.

It felt just like the times her sole friend would pull her everywhere with her... Reliving the moment, she was just lost in memories. And, like a selective-amnesiac, her subconscience choose to momentarily forget about those time lapses that made her life a living hell.

Lost counting her steps, the sensation of losing the warmth of the hand holding on to hers left her feeling sort of home-sick... Yearning for something she's never ever really had.

Seeing as the girl was doing whatever he asked for, he sighed and let all his worries slide by. Putting his knee on land to reach to her level, he asked with his masterpiece smile, "Better now?"

Met with the discerning, sharp, greyish-blue eyes, Elle was confused realizing all that has just happened.

Nodding at him and lowering her head to look at the fingers she was playing with, she somehow felt an urge to get to know this man even more, "May I ask you something?"

Tilting his head at the sudden question, Leonel nodded as he stood up, only to sit right next to her on the bench and reply, "Please."

"So..." She was still uncertain despite having the consent, "What were you and those... Men doing at school?"

Looking at the distance, with his fingers tapping on the wooden bench, making a soft rhythmed tempo which he enjoyed, he absent-mindedly answered, "I just took a few days off and came back to town... That was when Ace asked me to hang out with his g**g. They've been at high-school to close some deals, hook up with some girls and go party, get drunk, ruin everything on their way too..."

"Did I make a problem?" Seeing this lost expression of his, she somehow felt guilty, "Did I ruin your day with your friends?"

As he heard these words, the hand which was tapping on the wooden bench slid, to fall on her shoulder. As he patted her, he said definitively, "No... They're not my friends. I don't know them. I didn't even want to hang out with them and waste my precious time."

"Then why did you hang out with them?" This question slipped out of Elle's mouth as she seemed to lose herself in the moment.

Leo closed his eyes, letting a deep sigh leave his lungs, he heavy-heartedly answered, "Ace has been my classmate and friend... I couldn't refuse him especially that I came back after three years in California."

The silence following made him feel as if his words were not very understandable, which made him add, "I'm studying at college there... California's Medical University."

Humming to herself in understanding, Elle didn't realize how cheeky she was acting... An aspect of hers that only her late Evie knew about her.

"That's one of the best medical universities ever... What's your dream?"

"... Nothing." He arbitrarily answered, "I have no such a thing..."

“Then why did you chose medicine?"

"I'm just curious as to how does human anatomy work... Bringing the dead back to life and controlling the science behind everything..." He put his words in such an accumulative order and a deep-toned pitch, "I just want to play this role and feel the reigns of life and death unfolding in my hands."

Those words somehow rang a bell in Elle's mind...

They're living in a society of control-freaks; This guy have saved her, he controlled his own fate, and manipulated hers... Whereas she just went with the flow.

She's always been going with the flow... Everything in her life was the result of what people surrounding her pre-assume things.

And the life she's living, her surroundings, her decisions, her dreams, her beliefs... Everything about her is her "superior" 's orders and choices.

She's just a puppet in the mercy of the great puppeteer's hands... And all it takes is a mere weakness, or mistake for her to be thrown away down the shelf... Or totally destroyed.