Polaria: Da Capo

The Chase

As Told by Raine Althea Mont Carlo

At break time, the new guy suddenly disappeared.

“Calm down, Raine.” Cynthia is saying. We are walking towards the cafeteria to eat our lunch. “Remember that he’s a man. Maybe he wanted to explore the campus all by himself. So macho.”

“Cynthia,” I groan irritably. “Open your eyes. That guy is rude, arrogant, a brute and a creep.”

“Don’t say that, you barely knew him.”

“Yeah, right? Like you do.”

“You’re just pissed because he’s straightforward, not everyone is like that.”

“There’s a big difference between straight-forward and tactless... And rude.” I roll my eyes at Cynthia. The brain really stops working the instant the heart fell in love.

We are about to enter the cafeteria when I caught a glimpse of silver hair. Could it be...?

“Uhm, reserve me a seat. I’ll come back later,” I said, turning to where I saw Drue. Before Cynthia could answer, I already ran away.

That creep’s really gonna get a piece of my mind!

I’m walking in the garden, past an enormous oak tree when something fell in front of me.

“AAGHH!” I scream in fright and jump to safety, away from the tree, but I trip on a dry branch and fell on my butt.

I heard someone chuckling from above me and I scowl automatically when I see Drue lying on his side up in the tree, on a large branch.

“Humans,” he said, shaking his head.

“What do you mean by that?” I ask. I grimaced when I realized my butt hurts. “And what the hell are you doing up there?”

“None of your business,” Drue answer in his lazy drawl. “Can you throw me that apple?”

I turn to the ground and saw an apple lying there. I think it’s what startled me earlier. I stand up to pick up the apple, then throw it as hard as I can. My hate meter toward this guy went up a notch when he caught the fruit with ease. He’s so arrogant!

“Come down here you—“ I shout, shaking my fist at him in anger.

“What do you want?” And he doesn’t even look at least bothered.

“Just get your ass down here!”

“Leave me alone.” He lies on his back, turning away from me.

Rawr! I can feel my blood reach its boiling point. This guy is really trying my patience!

I did not pause to think; I grab the trunk of the tree and inch my way up towards him, discarding the fact that I’m wearing a skirt and the little devil… he didn’t even help me! He just lay there on the branch like a hibernating monkey.

“H-hey!” I gasp halfway up the tree. I didn’t realize it’s so tall and slippery until it’s too late. “H-hey! A little help?”

I try my best to reach for the branch nearest me and grab it. Just as I thought that I’m finally safe. The branch creak with my weight, I saw it break in slow-mo. I close my eyes tight and wait for my body to crash on the cobbled ground, but it didn’t happen. I slowly open my eyes and find myself sitting on the large branch beside Drue.

“What-what?” I look around me, confused. “I’m not...?”

“Dead?” Drue offered. “No. You’re welcome.”

“What?” Is all I can say.

“This is the second time that I save you,” Drue said, taking a bite of his apple.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did. The first time was at the stairs.”

“No, you didn’t! It was I who saved myself!”

“Then how do you think did you grab that railing in time?”

“What are you talking about? I grabbed for it, that’s how!”

“Never mind. You didn’t see it, anyway.” Drue let out a resigned sigh then jumps off from the branch and drops on his feet safely on the ground. “You owe me.”

“No, I don’t,” I retorted. My eyes grew big in fright when Drue turns around to walk away. “Hey, where are you going? Hey! It’s too high, I can’t jump!”

“Not my problem anymore, President,” He said, not looking at me but giving me a wave. “Laters, Peanut.”

“Marren Drue!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “Get your ass back here and get me down!”

______________

Later...

Marren Drue is a psycho. For all I know, he might be the serial killer that everyone is talking about.

I’ve come to this conclusion because he didn’t come back for me even if I half-beg him to help me from the tree. If it wasn’t for my bodyguards, it will be nighttime until someone would find me up there. Maybe he left me there so he could kill me once it’s dark!

I shudder with this idea and look at the new guy. He’s talking to a bunch of girls, including Cynthia, in the classroom’s corner. When Drue looks up, I quickly lower my gaze. I count to thirty before looking up at them again, but their group gets to their proper places except for Drue. He gets out of the back door with pink-faced Miss Valley.

“W-where are they going?” I ask Cynthia, who settles down on her desk smiling and humming to herself.

“Who? Drue and Liza? They’re going to the Gardening Club office.”

“What? On their own?” I exclaim before I could stop myself.

“Uh...” Cynthia looks at me like I’m insane. “Yeah, on their own. Mr Drue joined the gardening club. Why are you being weird?”

“He what?”

“He joined them. Well? People that liked plants don’t turn out to be serial killers, do they?”

“There’s no scientific basis about that,” I told Cynthia about my conclusion when I got back to the classroom earlier. I explained to her what happened so that she could avoid being Drue’s next target but she just shrugs me off, saying I was just being paranoid.

I’m not paranoid, am I?

“But your conclusion does not have any scientific basis as well, Raine,” Cynthia said while tapping at her computer. Not a moment later, a paper comes out of the printer and she looks at it with pride. “Mr Drue’s joining the tea club as well!”

I groaned inwardly. Everybody’s fallen into Drue’s trap! All the girls in my class adore him and the boys look up at him. If he wasn’t so good-looking, everybody will believe me he’s the serial killer on the loose!

_____

Later that evening...

I know nobody would believe me. Even the police won’t take me seriously if I told them that the alleged killer is a high school student, so I devised a plan. I put a tracking device on Drue’s bag. It would tell me where he is and where he is going, even if I’m here at home. I keep track of all his movements and so far; he doesn’t go anywhere secluded or suspicious

That afternoon, after class, Macky—Cynthia’s geek ex-boyfriend—and his buddies invited Drue to go to the gaming center with them. The tracker shows he did not leave the premises until now.

I got bored watching the monitor and turns on the tv to keep me from falling asleep. There’s an exclusive interview to the Superstar singer Daphne—my best friend Nicolie in real life — about her upcoming movie called Behind the Mask.

“So, Daphne,” the reporter is saying. “What does it feel like to portray the vigilante, Ashkova?”

“Well,” Nicolie said, smiling demurely to the camera. “First, I would like to say hi to all the viewers today. Second, Ray, I don’t think Ashkova would appreciate that term you use to describe her. Ash is not a vigilante, she’s a superhero, isn’t that right, everyone?”

Yells of agreement erupt from the audience in the background, and I roll my eyes. Nicolie just loves this kind of attention. No wonder she entered the show business. She started off as a child singer but now she also does drama series and starred in movies just like this one where she portrays the real-life vigilante called Ashkova.

A faint blip caught my attention, and I turn to my monitor again. The tiny red dot that represents Drue... it’s moving!

I grab my jacket from my dresser and put it on, then transfer the map from the monitor to my watch. I also set up a hologram of myself watching tv so in case anyone would check up on me won’t realize that I’m out. After that, I escaped from the Manor without a scratch. Those bodyguards my mum hired to monitor me? They’re useless.

Nobody guards the front gates of our Manor because people believe that thieves and criminals don’t go in from the front door. I agree with them.

I take a cab to get to Drue faster.

I got a little freaked when I realize Drue is heading towards Emeryl, it’s the part of the town that I or anyone in their right mind don’t really go to. It’s the home of loan sharks, illegal casinos, prostitution dens and the biggest black market in Emerald City. At daytime this place looks harmless but as soon as it gets dark, its real horrors speak for themselves. Criminals and the likes frequent this place. I heard from the news that there are gang wars here every night. It’s like hell on Earth.

What on Earth could be Drue doing in a place like this?

The cab drops me off as soon as I’m just a few meters away from Drue, the driver couldn’t go any further because of the people on the road. The black market’s already started. Stalls of different sizes open so people from every part of the city gather in hopes of an excellent find.

My body shuddered involuntarily, so I wrap my jacket around me. Is it always this cold here?

I pull myself together. I’ve started this, it’s time to finish it. If my conclusion is correct, the Emerald City Killer is going down tonight, I will make sure of it. I can show my mum that I can take care of myself. I don’t need to sneak out, she’ll let me go anywhere I like. I squared my shoulders and start walking. I enrolled in a martial arts school last summer, it’s time to put my martial arts skills to good use. It’s now or never.

I push through wave after wave of people, following Drue’s little dot on my watch. I let out a sigh of relief when I reach the end of the market. That place is a claustrophobic’s worst nightmare. And Drue stops moving too. He’s just around the corner.

I enter a narrow alley and feel goosebumps break on my skin. It’s dark and quiet, with only a single lamp post to light the way. This place feels like anything or anyone will jump at you. I gather my courage—what’s left of it-and followed the dot on my watch.

“There’s no one here,” I mutter to myself as I stop at the lamppost where I overlap Drue’s dot on my watch. I look around but no sign of Drue or anyone. I notice a tin can beside the lamppost. I stoop to pick it up and examine it, there’s bubble gum sticking to it... Then I realize Drue attach my tracking device to the gum!

Drue knows that I’m following him!

I quickly turn to go but is stopped short when I saw a man walking towards me. He looks like he’s in his mid-thirties. He has bulging eyes, a tiny nose and a gaping mouth.

I turn in the other direction but I saw two other men advancing towards me. They look more sinister than the one behind me.

“What have we got here?” said one of the two men.

“Are you lost, little girl?” said the other. “Come with us, we will take you home.”

They are closing in on me; I know I only have one chance to get out of this. I have to run for it!

But my legs feel like jelly, I can’t move a muscle, and when I tried to run past the man with bulging eyes, he caught my arm and shove me to the wall of the alley.

“Going somewhere, little girl?” He said, touching my cheek, kneading it in his palm. “Such soft skin...”

I tried to scream, but no sound came out.

“We’re going to enjoy this night.”

NO!

I pushed the man off me with all my might, but he only moves a few inches from where he stood. The man did not like it and he slaps me across the face. He hit me so hard I stumble to the ground and hit my head. I’ve never felt this kind of pain in my life. I couldn’t hear anything with the ear that got hit and I fear it would be permanent. I can feel my eyes grow heavy... But before I surrender to the darkness, I heard a distinct ‘hey!’ and saw flashes of silver light.