CHAPTER XVIII: An Invisible Force
1030 Words
Gravis—as Noumenon heard her adoptive mother call him—was slouching, and it looks like he’s used to it which gave him an awkward posture since he is tall. More noticeably, he appeared malnourished. His cheeks shrunk, and his arms which were accentuated by his tight sweater were too thin for his age.
He lethargically stared at the both of them, yet more intently on Sister Lita.
“Gravis, what are you doing here?” A stunned Sister Lita asked.
Noumenon saw that she still hasn’t recovered from the shock of their unexpected encounter. The questions on her mind started to pile up. Who is Gravis? What is his relationship with Mama? Why does Mama seem afraid of him?
“Nay Lita,” Gravis finally spoke. “You’re supposed to be locked up along with the girl with you. How did you get out?”
There was no hint of even the slightest intimidation in his tone; he seemed like a child naively asking a question to the extern sister.
A gush of wind made their hair sway, but not the resolve of Sister Lita to safely get out of here; on the contrary, it may be difficult now with the sudden arrival of a former associate.
She hid the novice behind her. “Did you leave the Order? Why are you here?”
Order? Noumenon wondered.
Sister Lita purposely made her oblivious about the organization she once belonged to, two years ago. She felt that she was better not knowing anything about the Order with an ambitious vision.
“I didn’t,” Gravis replied, “This is only a sideline. I occasionally come here to do something for the owner of this estate. I realized I could use the money.”
“Even when it’s illegal?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, the pay is good. Why not?”
“Have you no shame for getting involved in something like this?! What happened to the vision of the Order to rid the society of injustice? What happened to defending the weak?”
He yawned and wiped the tear that escaped from his left eye. “Well, I sometimes do that when they tell me so, but I’m in dire need of money too.”
Sister Lita balled her fist and looked straight to his eyes. “Gravis, I’m begging you as someone who once worked with you; please let us leave this place.”
Gravis was still sixteen years old when Sister Lita left their Order. It wasn’t easy to sever her ties with this, but after she has served her superiors well, they permitted her to go. Nevertheless, she remembered Gravis: one of the new recruits and the youngest then. He has always had an air of eccentricity around him, yet he also reeked of poverty.
One of her superiors in the Order found him begging for food with her sick grandmother in front of a bakeshop, and he accidentally used his divinity on the person who was bullying him. Sister Lita was then chosen to supervise over him for a while.
She remembered that he was a sweet kid who dreamt of having a house for him and his grandmother, and he also wanted the best hospital treatment for her different ailments.
Looking back, Sister Lita somehow understood why he felt the need to work outside the Order, since it didn’t pay them any money for their service.
“Your grandmother, how is she?” she decided to ask. On the other hand, she failed to notice the change in the expression of his face. He looked irked.
“If she knows about this—”
Blak!
Suddenly, her entire body was toppled, and the side of her face was then kissing the ground. Definitely then, she felt the pain from her sudden contact with the ground. More than that, she couldn’t move an inch.
“Ma!” Noumenon panicked. She turned her attention next to Gravis. “Hey, this is your doing, isn’t it?”
Her round eyes were chary but indignant in contrast to his lifeless stare.
“I implore you, please stop this. Please let us go!” She tried to convince him. “You need to—”
She wasn’t interrupted in saying what she wanted; however, how her body was made to feel unable to move and only rooted in the same spot frightened her. There was something invisible that paralyzed her body.
“N—Noumenon, don’t,” Sister Lita managed to warn her even with the compromising situation that she’s in. “Don’t provoke him any further.”
Wwwrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt!
“Ma!” Utterly terrified, the novice yelled her name when she saw her body then scraping the grassy ground until she stopped by his feet.
He looked down at her and talked with an indirect warning for her to shut her mouth. “I am in no need of your lecture.”
He looked back at Noumenon who was stuck in the same spot. “Later today, you’ll meet someone who’s very eager to see you.”
The statement sent shivers to her spine, for she ascertained that it was now impossible to get out of there.
The sunset was on their left as they walked with caution through a huge gallery. The setting sun’s vermilion glow showered warmth to their sullenness through the transparency of the big glass windows. Four guys, including Gravis, were surrounding them and leading towards somewhere they were forced to be. It was until the novice and the extern sister stopped right before a wooden double door with beautiful carvings of orchids.
When it was opened for them, they were welcomed by the presence of a domineering character who was sitting in with leg over the other on a leather chair.
“Greetings to the both of you, and welcome to my humble abode,” he smilingly said before his gaze focused on Noumenon. “I am the vice mayor of Intramuros, Manica Diamond. It’s my pleasure to finally meet you."
He grinned then said, “How are you, ‘Honey’?”
Yet again, only her father used to call her that.
- Writer
