Chapter 27
1127 Words
Chapter 27
SPRING IS FOR FESTIVAL VII
“My friends and I went on a festival...” I trailed off. “Andy and I almost got raped.”
I played with my fingers behind his nape and continued my story. “That time, I was very scared because I was the one who dragged her outside. I was the one who brought her to that situation. It was an almost incident. I felt sorry for those people who experienced such traumatic event... and I...”
His thumb brushed my eyebrow. He placed his forehead on mine, his breathing tickled my face as he stared right into my eyes and chose to dive into my soul. “Why didn't you tell me?”
“I was afraid, too.”
“Hmm?”
“Afraid that I will be judged.”
“You know,” he whispered softly, “a r**e victim, either a male or female, is still a human who should be treated with respect and love. Despite what happened, it doesn't make them less of a person. It wasn't their choice to experience any of that. It wasn't your choice. What you can do instead is moved on—get over what happened, and fight the next demons. Being scared in this society is not good. It would drag you to a quicksand, and when no one is there to help you, you can either give up or push yourself to rise from what's dragging you.”
I hid my face on his neck and murmured, “Thank you.”
He stroked my hair. “I'm sorry I wasn't there. If only I was, I wouldn't allow it to happen. I don't want to let you live with a terrifying memory.”
“I appreciate that.”
I didn't care about what others would think that we are doing. In my mind, I wanted to live in this moment forever. I wanted to keep this scene living in my head for years. With this pureness I can't measure, there's nothing more satisfying than being in his arms. We got tired in our position, so we decided to sit side by side.
A group of teenagers left, and another group came. They proceed into changing their clothes and blasted the place with their bluetooth speaker and portable mirrorball.
“This is fun,” I said as I began banging my head according to the beat. I raised my head and rocked with the music. “Wooh!”
Seth steadied me from moving by locking me in his arms. “Do you want to hear a trivia?” he said lowly into my ears. The coldness from the water and my body just touched by the wind, plus his voice, sent me shivering. “This waterbath, as part of the festival, aims to clean the people from the mark of history. It removes the fear of citizens after the horrendous attack of the terrifying creatures. Its purpose is also to wash away the sins of Presiarellans. They believed that what happened to them were results of their greed and selfishness. So...”
I raised my brow. “So...?”
“Fire in the hole!” He threw me in the water using only the strength of his two arms. I rose from the water and found him laughing, proud of what he has done. “Nice!”
I widened my eyes at him. “You!” I groaned. I rolled my eyes and swam away from him. He planned to follow me, but he stopped midway. “Go away! The water hurt my nose!”
He listened to what I said. I pinched one side of my nose and blew. I did the other one. I tilted my head and hit my head carefully. The water was also stuck in my ears.
I glared at him. The man was enjoying what he was seeing.
“Super funny, yeah?” I moved to a group of people and greeted them even though I had no idea who they were. “Hi! Can I stay here for a while?”
They just looked at me. I realized I need not ask for their permission because we are all visitors here. Seth, who remained in his position from where I told him to stay, gestured his hand, calling me to come back to him. I shook my head deliberately and mouthed ‘no’ although he won't see because of the darkness.
I thought of something and grinned inside my head. I dipped deeper into the water and swam. I rose a little to see where Seth was, then swam again underneath to his position. The darkness made it hard to see where he was, and I was certain that it was also hard for him to find where I am. I just moved directly to the spot I remembered, swaying my one hand to sense any body parts. My fingers hit a leg; I pinched it.
I stroke my arms upwards to lift myself, but I was not making any progress as I felt a hand attached to my legs, preventing me from moving myself. My eyes opened wide, I tried to move wilder, but to no avail. My heart started beating fast as the hand dragged me deeper into the water.
“Help!” It only released bubbles. I put my hand straight above my head and wriggled it, hoping to catch any attention. A girl was drowning underwater. “Help!” Another muffled voice.
I bent my body to remove the hand, but it wouldn't budge. Then, it let go of me, but a pair of hands caged me. We both rose. I looked up and found out that it was Seth who did it.
“Were you trying to kill me?”
He frowned. “What?”
“You almost killed me!” I shouted, pointing my finger at him.
“I didn't,” he defended, “I was here, then I saw you swam. You played a prank on me, right?”
I didn't answer. The madness inside me rang.
“After that, I didn't see you, so I tried to find you.”
“So it wasn't you?”
“Of course, it wasn't me. Why would I scare you like that? Worse, why would I try to kill you?”
I roamed my vision around, trying to find any pair of suspecting eyes. Like earlier, everyone was busy on their own—laughing and chatting with their friends, dancing, swimming.
“Who did it?”
It wasn't the time to cry. I needed to know who he was, and what was his plan. Or was it all just a joke to scare me?
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