The Contract

Chapter 9 - Solution?

September 5th, 9:08am

I let out an uncontrollable, incensed sigh, and rubbed my forehead exhaustedly as I tried to swallow down that scary bit of information that I had just been enlightened by. More and more questions were starting to pile up as the room for emptiness started filling up. My brain hurt as there simply was no respite from the unpleasant flow of thoughts and concepts regarding the mess I was in right now.

People were staring at me curiously as I brisk walked down the corridor, head bowed down and spine bent slightly in a streamlined shape to maximize speed. Juggling decisions between staying in college campus and heading back home caused me to walk faster and faster. I'll admit it, I was extremely flustered and distressed by the bomb that had just been dropped down upon me earlier. I wasn't entirely sure who that person looking through the small glass window pane earlier was, but I had a hunch. The figure's blond hair was slightly curled, almost wavy. There were a few people on campus who had their hair long enough to be styled that way; about eighty-percent of those people were female, and a smaller twenty-percent of them being male.

I could run amok, asking each and every one of those blond, wavy-haired individuals if they were the one who had been gazing into the glass pane earlier, but that would be a stupid idea. The hunch I was having directed me to the girl who had been ever so eager to get to know me better - Melia.

However, there was a glaring problem - I didn't know where she was now. The first time this day had repeated, she came to me at the basketball court and we had a little one versus one practice that for some reason, she ultimately destroyed me. The second time round, I was brutally slain by Adro before I could even head over to the basketball facilities in the campus indoor gymnasium, and didn't get a chance to see or meet Melia that time. I didn't catch sight of Melia the second time today repeated; I had left the lecture hall to have a talk with the so-called 'Satan' who for some reason wasn't the same redheaded lecturer who just told me off for calling him something rude.

It was common for parents and teachers - adults in general - to tell the youths of our generation that we are the most productive in the morning, but at nine ten, my thoughts were all jumbled and messed up and a headache started to swell in the middle of my brain. I would even go as far as to proclaim that notion as a myth; teens and adolescents these days are more sluggish than not in the early hours of the day.

Finally, a glimpse of blond, wavy shoulder-length curls could be spotted a few yards in front. I was pretty sure this was her as the height and hair seemed to match. Quickening my pace slightly, I tapped Melia on the shoulder gingerly, still not very accustomed to making talk or touching girls for that matter. I cringed as I felt the deft strap of the bra she was wearing, and hoped with all my heart she didn't take any offense to that.

"Yeah?"

The girl turned around and my jaw dropped. This wasn't Melia, no, not at all! My face was heating up like cake flour in a slowly baked oven; I was very sure I was beet-red with embarrassment as I had mistaken this girl for someone else. Not only that, I had touched a stranger for that matter.

"Sorry, wrong pers -" I stammered meekly but was interrupted by a rough push from behind.

"Why the f**k are you laying hands on my girl; don't you know how to keep your d**k to yourself, you little t**t?" A deep, irritated bellow, likely from the same person who had just prodded me flying a few feet.

Whipping my head around to get a good look of who my assailant was, my heart stopped beating in one abrupt motion as I recognized the person who had just shoved me. Standing five feet, eight inches and weighing probably more than two hundred pounds - a tremendous weight for his height, there stood the white-skinned boy I had been so fearful of in my younger days, and one of the main reasons why that was the first and only time I begged my parents if we could move houses. He wasn't exactly muscly and fit, I would say; just really, really big for his size.

His eyes still had that insane glint in them; the same exact twinkle that he got when he and his cronies stuffed my head in the toilet bowl back in junior high. Though now I towered over him by around a head, my knees still trembled from recalling the last time this bully socked me across the jaw.

Intimidating was his presence even though I had to slouch to look him in the eye. This sensation that I felt was extremely infuriating; it was like being suffocated with a touch of terror. Eyebrows furrowed, chest puffed up and jaw stuck out reminiscent to the times he got ready to punch someone, his eyes widened when I turned around.

"No. f*****g. Way."

That all too familiar signature chortle whenever he belittled any of his victims resonated loudly in the hallway, beckoning people who were walking to and fro lecture halls to stare over at what was going on. Jolts throughout my body caused me to tremble within, even though the last time I saw him was a good seven years ago.

"My, my, holy s**t, it's Bradley f*****g Porter, my childhood friend! So nice to see you again, my bad for the shove earlier. I do tend to get a little impulsive in some cases." He slid over to his girlfriend and slung his right arm around her, as if he was trying to establish dominance and claim his spot as the Alpha male, to my bewilderment. Not like I even fancied the chick snuggling up in his meaty arms to further emphasize the fact that she was taken; I was trying to find Melia regarding something urgent, for crying out loud.

I mustered a wane, weak smile back at Richard Carter, who was commonly referred to as 'd**k' due to a reference in his first name behind his back. He was the most hated and feared kid back in junior high, and would pulverize every single one of us in gym class dodgeball. It definitely didn't help that he had been an early bloomer; I've heard stories about him that said he hit puberty at the wee age of nine.

Apparently there had been too much testosterone inhabiting his body, and that caused him to sprout up to his peak height of a hundred and seventy-two centimeters at the mere age of twelve. He was already the size of a grown man when all of us were still preteens who still had some baby teeth that hadn't loosened yet. To say that he didn't take advantage of his physical capabilities and size at that age would be a terrible lie to tell someone.

Dick looked at me up and down in scrutiny. "Damn, Porter, you really had huge growth spurt, huh? I guess all those times I dunked your head in the toilet allowed you to... dunk on the basketball court."

Not knowing what came over me for what happened next; one second I was listening to the same exact snicker I had heard for some of the worst memories I had of my childhood, and the next I slammed him onto the concrete wall, my hands fastened on his throat in a tight fashion. His eyes widened in shock as I held him in the same position - three feet off the ground. My arms were burning from lifting him up on the air, but the scorching adrenaline rush of anger I felt overwhelmed the pain.

People were looking over at what we were doing; many already whipped out their mobile devices to film the whole thing, but I didn't care what the onlookers were doing even though d**k's girlfriend was screaming and beating at my left shoulder vigorously. At the moment, it was just him and I. I could smell fear from my prey, who was starting to show signs of difficulty breathing, but that just made me grip onto his neck even firmer. His face was starting to turn a nasty hue of purple from suffocation, and I would've probably continued the strangling of my old bully had something not hit me at the back of my head.

I collapsed on the floor, dazed as my vision blur, my hearing amiss and my body coordination was extremely disoriented. The faint scent of blood reeked in my nostrils and the air tasted bitter; smell and taste seemed to be the only two out of the five senses I had that remained intact. My head throbbed with unyielding agony as I fumbled around the ground, trying to force myself back up. But I couldn't; my consciousness threatened to fade away for the umpteenth time in recent memory even though I wrestled with it to remain awake.

A lightheaded feeling washed over me and I could feel strong hands dragging me somewhere. Trying to look at the person who was yanking me was futile; my eyesight was distorted at the moment. After what seemed like an eternity, my vision returned to being crystal clear and I looked up to see Melia pulling my limp body somewhere dark - it seemed as though we were at the science lab area.

"Are you crazy? Why the hell did you engage in a fight with that guy like that all of a sudden?" Her voice was a blunt and sharp knife to my ears, a sharp contrast from her usual sweet, soothing tone. "I'm not sure what exactly happened between you two. But can you imagine what sort of impact a recording of that fight would have on the internet? Your career would be over."

Groaning as my numb brain tried to process all that she just said, I grunted a sound of agreement. Indeed, what came over me was a mystery even to myself. My relatives and acquaintances would describe me as a soft-spoken, gentle lad who was somewhat socially awkward. Not a easily triggered animal who started fights by mere insults. Embarrassment and shame started to surface within my emotions as I regretted what I had just done. The fact that my childhood bully was studying in the same place of education as I was really got on my nerves.

Had I met with Richard Carter a couple of years ago, chances are I would've waved off his insult and meekly walked away as I normally would, but somehow all the pent-up frustration that lingered in me was set alight brusquely by the fuel of his words. I exchanged a brief glance with Melia, and sighed. There was just so much I wanted and needed to get off my chest that I simply didn't know where and how to start. A single mistake could have me labelled as insane. As much as I hated admitting it, she was correct; the path I had to being a professional basketball player would be tarnished and stained by something so elementary as having a phone camera pointed at me taking part in a brawl.

And that was something to consider; even though my family was in jeopardy of the upcoming threat Adro, basketball was still the way to get my family out from the sunken, cruel depths of poverty. I had to find a way to accomplish both effectively and correctly if I wanted my life to get back on the right track.

Melia was still eyeing me expectantly, as though she wanted me to say something. Like she had a hunch there had been so much on my mind ever since we had met. But the question was, could I trust her? Earlier when I confronted my irate microeconomics lecturer, Mr. Isaiah, someone who looked vaguely similar to Melia had gotten a good look at the scene that had played out; probably even heard a thing or two about what had gone on.

I didn't know if she was the same person who had the strange, creepy grin, and who instantly moved away quickly when he or she caught me noticing. My phone read that it was nine-forty, and that my next class would start in twenty minutes time. It was at my next class that I had witnessed my father's death in a brutal manner. I suppose there wouldn't be much to lose; especially if today would repeat once more and every mistake that I had committed would fade away to dust. That the ship would be righted no matter what I attempted or tried to do. That thought provided a slight bit of relief and comfort for my restless and agitated soul. It would time to spill the beans on what exactly was on my mind.

"Okay, first of all. I would sincerely like it if you won't judge me wrongly or anything, alright?" My words garnered a nod as a response, and that urged me to carry on. "You wouldn't believe it, but today is the third time I've lived through this day. The first two times, I never made it past ten-twenty in the morning. I suppose you're probably wondering why I'm telling you I didn't make it past ten-twenty, and that's only if you accept the truth in what I'm saying. But the first time this day repeated, it was when my father was murdered in cold blood by a powerful individual known as Adro. I don't know who Adro is. I wish I knew, because he's the person I'm trying to stop right now. Shall I go on, or do you need some time to swallow down the chunk of information I just gave you?"

"Keep going."

I sighed and inclined my head. "After my father's death, it seemed as though I just sifted from the realm of the living dimension to a distant memory even I myself do not know where it stemmed from. It was in those memories that the reason for why this Adro was so intent in killing my father and destroying my family. Apparently, there had been an accident when I was seven years old, one that I can't remember at all. My legs were messed up; my parents were devastated. And my father, with his state of mind at the point in time, made a decision to form a deal with Adro. The complete recovery of my legs in exchange for the emerald amulet in my father's possession that had been passed down from generation to generation."

Melia seemed so calm, so poised at what I was telling her even though I definitely didn't want to believe it myself in the first place, and that sort of made me feel uncomfortable to some extent. Nevertheless, I had already gone over more than a third of my tale up till now, so I might as well finish it no matter how I felt about revealing my secrets.

But, Bradley, what if she's not on your side? The nagging voice at the back of my head demanded, and if that voice had been a person, I could picture steam billowing out of his ears. The voice was partially correct. If Melia wasn't on my side or simply didn't have a clue on what was going on, I would be in trouble, I think.

On the other hand, wouldn't you feel better if you told someone about your troubles? You're not alone, Bradley; you should learn to confide in other people more. Stop being a lone wolf. Talk! The second entity residing in my conscience spoke up with a reassuring affirmation of approval regarding telling Melia the whole thing.

Before the two voices in my head would start to argue, I scratched my head while chuckling nervously. "To be honest, Melia, you seem so calm about the entirety of what I'd just said that I feel like you may just be humoring me, in an attempt to make me feel better."

She shook her head. "No, I believe and understand what you just said perfectly fine. Now I have a question of mine that I'd like to ask, if that's fine by you. It's not yet ten-twenty, right?"

My phone read that it was nine forty-six. "We have a little more than a half hour to talk."

"Alright. Would you like to know why I joined Toren, this relatively small college?"

I shrugged, genuinely unsure of what the reason was.

"It's because of you."

My jaw dropped. "You can't be serious, right? You joined Toren because of me? Are you like, a hardcore fan of mine or something? You've gotta be -"

"You i***t, you might assume that because that's the most logical rationale for your mortal brain to comprehend my statement, but that's not the case. Not at all. I'm assuming you wanted to talk to the Devil?"

Every hair on my body tensed up. How in the world did she know that? I knew she knew more than she let on, but this completely exceeded my expectations of her. Maintaining my silence, I was sure she could somewhat sense my feelings on the matter. The fact that she had suddenly revealed a key cog in what would likely be a clue to this entire mystery was, in fact, mysterious. It was yet to be determined whether the Devil was an ally, or a foe; only time would tell if I even got that far.

Still, something was direly off here - I couldn't point out what it was exactly that made me feel so disturbed and on edge, but it was certainly present in the air. The atmosphere was like a thick cloud shrouding all over me; threatening to suck out all the oxygen in my lungs like a vacuum. That's just how perturbed I was at the moment.

"How do you know I wanted to talk to the Devil?" I said, partly giving her a reply but also forcing her to answer my question as well.

"So that's a yes?"

"I suppose so." I nodded, and what came next was unexpected. Melia, whom I didn't expect to be so strong based off her petite form, slammed me against the wall like I had slammed Richard Carter earlier. Her eyes were a glowing fire of sapphire with a touch of lime

Melia broke eye contact with me with a blank expression on her face, staring at the empty, desolate darkness behind us instead. "Well, I have a long story of my own to share, but unless you're wrong, you don't have much time left today, right?"

Right... I didn't really have much time; it was about five minutes till ten in the morning. Five minutes until the next class started, and with every second that passed, there was less time I had for today.

"You know what, we should head to class now, Brad." Melia spoke in a hushed tone as her eyes darted from left to right anxiously, matching the worried tone of her voice impeccably. As though she could see something that I couldn't see - or someone.

I nodded, and the two of us made our way quietly out of the shadows of the science lab area. A sudden sensation befell upon me and urged me to turn around, to take a glance behind me so as to quell the foreboding feeling I was carrying with me after Melia and I started moving, and so I looked. My eyesight was perfect, but even with flawless eyesight one would have difficulty peering through the darkness. Still, if I wasn't incorrect with the judgment of my vision, there was a red, floating haze glowing faintly behind us.

"Melia, look back for a sec, will you?" I tapped her on the shoulder, wanting to know if the levitating, crimson haze was simply a hallucination or something more. She stopped in her tracks like a statue all of a sudden without turning her body. When I touched her shoulder, her body turned stiff like stone for some odd reason.

As fast as it had come, it passed pretty quickly. She wasn't frozen to the spot anymore, and looked at me with a rather annoyed expression plastered upon her face.

"What is it this time? I don't see anything." She grumbled, huffing an exasperated sigh. "Let's keep moving. We're late for class and you need to be there for personal matters."

"I'm pretty sure there was a red mist behind us earlier..." My voice trailed as there was nothing back there; a blank, null space of pitch black darkness was all there was to see.

Was my mind playing tricks on me again? I really, really hoped not. I tried to shrug off this feeling of unease but it kept clinging onto me like a disease. Walking alongside Melia, I couldn't help but notice a strand of blood red maroon in the many hairs of blond that covered her head, but there was too much to think about at the moment to bother with trivial matters like that. I would write it off as yet another possible hallucination, but my body felt prickly throughout.

The more time passed since the incident with my father, the more confused I got, and the stranger the situation had gotten. I had a hunch; a very bad forebode regarding what was about to come next. But what? What was it?