Atdonus High

Episode 12: The Boy That Longs For Love

In the city

16-1 years ago

In a certain household

Once, there was a couple. They were a bright couple, their neighbours knew them, their neighbours’ children knew them. They were known to have quite some money and would not hesitate to help others if needed. As a result, their neighbours respected them and would never ask them to donate their money or anything like that.

When the wife got pregnant, there was a massive party held in their house, everyone they knew were invited. They celebrated and continued celebrating. They were excited to have their first child born.

Nine months later, in the hospital where the child was given birth to, they cried tears of joy, their new life beginning. However, they noticed something, the child first opened his eyes, they were the colour of dirty snow, a very pale colour.

The doctors did not know what they could do for the boy, they told the couple that it was most likely a temporary thing.

They continued with their happy life, taking care of their beautiful child, watching him grow up. Their worries did not cease as he grew up, his hair growing to also be white, his skin much too pale. His parents worried about him, but he did not have a single issue yet, whether mentally or physically. His name was Alex Lee, a boy that grew up under parents that used to love him.

When he was three and could barely walk, his mother got pregnant with her second child. Alex once looked at his mother’s bloated stomach, his pale eyes fixed and his white hair covering parts of his eyes. He poked it, making his mother giggle and hug him.

The next year, his little sibling was born, a younger brother. The younger brother took after his parents, black hair, brown eyes. Alex grew up more, feeling almost like he was in the wrong place. He was different, he did not belong. Despite all that, his parents took good care of him and his younger brother. Alex grew up feeling love, until it was taken away.

As he grew up, he noticed that his parents were obviously paying more attention to his younger brother. His brother was allowed to attend school while Alex remained at home, reading books he could find. His parents wanted to rule out the possibilities of him getting him bullied, so they had home-schooled him instead. Alex did not mind, but he felt like his parents did not want to give him much, as if they did not want to spend any money on him. He grew up like that, doubting his parent’s love towards him.

On special occasions like Christmas, they would go out with his younger brother before coming back to eat with Alex. As a child, he felt like it was unfair, why did they favour his brother to such an extent? Alex was smarter than his brother, was brighter and older, so why? He could never seem to bring up the topic in front of his parents.

They loved him, they really did, just that they wanted him to stay away from negativity until an appropriate age. Alex took it wrongly, feeling discriminated for being different from his family.

Somewhere else, a certain man heard of Alex and went over to his family’s house.

He was a short man with a poor appearance but had a confident smile. He held a suitcase as he greeted Alex’s parents, “Hello, I’m a travelling exorcist that heard that your child is possessed.”

The parents were not so stupid, they could tell it was a lie from the get go. Instead of answering, the mother slammed the door shut in his face. Men like that had one intention, and it was for their money.

Over the door, they could hear him say, “Your child is being possessed by an angry spirit, as he grows up, he will undoubtedly suffer from calamities.”

“Shut up.” The father threatened. “Leave before I call the cops!”

Something was slipped under the door, it was a business card by the man, his phone number on it. He continued, “Your child will suffer unless I help him, so please reconsider.”

He left. For some reason, the couple did not throw the card away, keeping it instead. They thought they might call the cops on him, but did not do it. Alex was ten at the time, his white hair was cut short.

At ten, his parents noticed a few more things. They knew for certain that their first child was male, but his appearance was feminine enough to make them question themselves. Alex was ignorant of his face, only caring that his hair and eyes were white.

“Who was that...?” Alex asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” His father told him, patting his head.

The next day, his brother was escorted to school. In school, he was a normal child, not on anyone’s bad side, nor was he good friends with too many people. He was only brought to school by car, he would be picked up after school too. His name was Anderson Lee, he was just a normal child. He was the same as everyone else, he felt like he was normal, too normal. His brother stood out with his hair and eyes, he wanted to be like his brother, to stand out.

He long since ignored it, as a six year old, he only went to school and came back. Anderson was not sure on what he should do, instead, he just followed instructions.

The week after the strange man visited, Anderson was approached by someone while waiting for the bus. He gave Anderson two pieces of candy, one white the other black. The man told him, “Eat the black one, give your brother the white one. Your brother needs your help, he is sick.”

“Sick?” Anderson asked.

“Yes, he is sick and doesn’t feel well. He does not tell you because he cares for you. You should help him recover.”

Anderson stared at the pieces of candy and nodded. The man walked away, smiling to himself. Anderson hid the pieces of candy in his bag right when the car arrived. The moment he got home and was out of sight of his parents, he knocked on Alex’s room’s door.

“What?” Alex asked, opening the door.

Anderson extended a hand, the piece of white candy in his palm. He said, “Brother sick, eat this.”

“Sick?” Alex asked, confused. “Whatever, I’ll take the candy anyways.”

Anderson walked away, feeling good about himself. Alex popped the piece of candy into his mouth and went back to reading.

The next day, he had a terrible headache which medicine could do nothing to relieve. The day after, the condition worsened and he constantly had an upset stomach. Occasionally, his muscles would cramp up or spasm, the pain becoming too unbearable. Doctors could do nothing to cure him, his parents reminded of what that strange man said.

His father called him and yelled, “What did you do to our son?”

“What happened?” He asked, feigning innocence. “Was he affected by the curse?”

“What curse?” His father demanded.

“He will suffer headaches, stomach problems and muscle spasms because the angry spirit within him is trying to escape. If you don’t hurry, he might die.”

That day changed everything. Alex was fed a liquid that helped relieve the symptoms, letting him rest. The man told his parents, “This might happen quite often, but I will try and relieve the symptoms for some time.”

“Is there no cure?” His mother asked.

The man rubbed his chin and pretended to think. He tapped his foot impatiently and paced a few steps. He scratched his head, “Well, there is a cure, but it’s quite expensive.”

“Well buy it!” She shouted.

The cure to Alex’s sickness was a devastating amount, furthermore, they had to follow a set of rules to completely drive the spirit out without hurting Alex. His parents believed the man, his brother believed the man, Alex did not. He was told to not cut his hair, he was trained to not show much emotion, what Alex hated the most, to drink a disgusting liquid the man brought every week. The liquid costed quite a bit, his parents paying for it.

At some point, Alex noticed something, his parents were not treating him like their son anymore, they saw him as property, that he needed to be ‘cleansed’. He hated it, compared to before, there was less love, all because of one man.

Alex grew up, his hair kept long, he looked more like a girl than ever. Alex hated it, his parents were becoming poorer and poorer everyday, and there wasn’t even a problem with him. Alex hated that man, hated that he had the audacity to try and scam his family, he hated him for breaking his family apart.

At the age of 13, Anderson was 9. Anderson went to school like usual. It was that year that snapped.

Alex was at home alone, his parents out with his brother. For safety reasons in case his condition acted up again, the man was also in the house, watching over him. He insisted that he follow Alex everywhere in the house, even to his bedroom and washroom. Unable to handle it, Alex told him, “Stop following me.”

“It’s for your own safety.” The man assured him.

Safety? Alex was safer without him, he would rather die than have that man in his life. The man had a face full of arrogance, the face of an adult looking down on a child. Alex continued to ignore him and remained in his room, the man lying down on his bed, watching him. Alex clenched his fist, unable to focus on his work. He wanted to drive the man out, he wanted to get rid of him for good.

“Aleeeeex.” The man whined. “You of all people should understand, right? Your Nadu is unstable and you might die, that’s why I’m here, to protect you.”

“Protect me?” Alex demanded. “I know the type of person you are, you’re here for our money, there’s nothing wrong with me at all. You’re a con artist and that’s it. One day soon, I will have you driven out the house.”

The man got on his feet, a dark look on his face. He told Alex, “Just to make sure, I should have a full body check of you.”

“What?” Alex demanded.

With a pen in hand, Alex was pulled by the collar of his shirt and onto the bed. Alex was held down, unable to resist. He was thin, too thin to do much. The man, before he could do anything, had his hand stabbed with a pen. He howled in pain and punched Alex in the face.

Alex curled up into a ball, the pen in his hand dripping with blood. The man grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air, “You think you’re so smart?”

Alex kicked the air helplessly before lifting his right arm. The man used his left arm and smacked the pen away, tightening in his grip. Alex’s vision became blurry from the lack of oxygen.

Just in time, the sound of the door unlocking rang through the house. Alex was thrown into his bed, gasping for breath. The man cursed and walked out the room, his hand bleeding slightly.

Alex curled up and started sobbing, he was powerless, he could do nothing.

Downstairs, the man told his parents, “It is a good thing that I came here today. He went mad for a short period of time, luckily, I managed to push the spirit down.”

“Really? Thank you so much!” The mother exclaimed.

“It’s the final stages of the exorcism, I will need to change the medication and Alex needs to do a few things.”

“Please do, save our child!”

From then, Alex was not to leave his room, he would even sometimes be locked into a room with nothing in it. The liquid he drank got more disgusting, making him throw up a few times. The man continued leeching money off his parents, increasing the price of the medicine.

Alex felt enraged, why did his parents not notice it? Why were they so blinded? Was his appearance really suggesting that he was sick? Alex wanted to change something, change his parents’ minds, convince them somehow. However, it did not work, his parents too blinded.

Alex took matters into his own hands, he found it to be the only way. He snuck out of his home and went to buy a few things. Along the way, people had stared at him and whispered among each other. A thirteen year old boy walking around with a list. He collected the ingredients he needed and went home, entering through the eh secret entrance he made.

Alex grounded a few ingredients together and added water before grinding a few other things. The result of it was odd, it was odourless, transparent and Alex knew he got it correct. He snuck out and tested it on a rat he found, the rat dying on the spot.

Alex dug a hole in his family’s garden and hid a small bottle of it underground, he needed to wait for the perfect opportunity to execute his plan. He had enough of the man, he wanted him gone, by any means, he wanted him out of his life. The method did not bother Alex, whether it was legal or not, he could not care less.

On his birthday a month later, Alex found his chance. His entire family was to have tea together with the man. There were two teapots, one for the man and one for his family. Alex, when no one was looking, poured some of the liquid into the pot.

He hid again before appearing at the living room. His long white hair was poorly kept, messy and dirty. He looked not much better, his expression non existent and dark circles under his eyes.

Alex sat down and remained neutral, just like how he was taught. The boy watched as the rest of his family entered, his parents not even giving him a glance, looking at the man instead. The man brought out a pouch and opened the teapot which his family would drink from.

“This is a ritual salt. By pouring it into the tea, I wish you good fortune.” The man told them.

He sprinkled some of it into the pot and closed the lid, pouring for Alex’s family. Alex got his own cup too, but did not drink any, not feeling it.

The man wanted all the money he could get from the family, so he had wanted to leave Alex alive to inherits the will, therefore giving in him all the money. Right in front of his eyes, Alex saw his family go limp, the man laughing.

The man laughed, “These idiots!”

Alex’s hands fell onto his lap as he saw, tears flowing down his cheeks. The man walked up to Alex, teacup in hand as he grabbed Alex’s face. He said, “Now, you work for me, your family’s will, give it all to me.”

Alex did not reply, the shock sending his mind into a mess. The man huffed and threw Alex away. He paced away from Alex, taking a sip from the teacup.

He had poisoned the Lee family, but definitely did not expect the tea he drank to also be poisoned. He froze in place, the teacup shattering on the ground before he fell over, dead.

Alex sat there, not moving.

Neighbours found it strange the next day that no one left the house, so they peeked through a window before calling the cops.

At the age of 13, Alex was arrested and charged with murder and homicide. Similar to Angela, he had a barcode tattooed on his neck and had a line tattooed for every person he killed.

The police had found the poison in Alex’s possession. He was charged for killing his own family despite not having done it. Alex remained in prison, he waited to receive his punishment, barely eating, barely living. He missed it, the feeling of being loved, he wanted to be held in his parents’ arms, he wanted to feel that warmth, instead, there was a bitter cold. With four lines on his biceps, he was a murderer.

He eventually regained some form of a mind when he was admitted to Atdonus highschool, skipping classes enough to might as well not be there. He made more of a recovery after meeting Angela.

The same day Angela injured Lesley and Sylva, another uproar broke out in the school. It was the night, most students were asleep, not many of them seeing what happened. However, Angela saw it, of course she would, she almost expected it.

The classrooms, the building with the classrooms, was on fire. The talk building, completely in flames, dyeing the night sky red, sending streams of black smoke into the sky. Alex stood in front of hit, holding an empty oil drum.

Scarlet woke up and looked at the spectacle, her jaw dropping. She quickly got changed, putting on her half veil and rushed downstairs to where Alex was. The Teachers were already there, Alex had his hands in the air, surrendering himself.

“What are you doing?” Scarlet yelled.

“Getting expelled.” Alex replied, his face as expressionless as ever.

Everyone there felt it, an anger, a killing intention aimed at not only them, but the rest of the school. Scarlet regained posture and cleared her throat, “You’re expelled, you’re leaving the same day as Angela.”

“Thank you for that.” Alex replied before walking off.

His white hair, tied into five thin braids, swayed in the wind, a raging flame behind him. Thanks to that stunt of his, classes were cancelled until repairs were completed. Students stared as Alex walked towards the dorm, eventually turning a corner and disappearing out of sight.

“That was beautiful.” Angela laughed.

“Really?” Alex asked, having just arrived at Angela’s room.

“I knew you were going to try and get expelled with me, but this? Amazing!” Angela gestured towards the fire.

Fire trucks were there as they tried their best to extinguish the flame.

Angela walked into her room, silent. She was not laughing anymore. In the darkness, she asked Alex, “You know the consequences of what we have done, right?”

“Yes.” He answered.

“For the crime of murder, the only option left is to be executed.” Angela whispered. “We’ll be separated...”

Alex hugged her from behind. “Then I’ll find you in the next life.

“Promise?”

“Promised.”