June 8, 2010 (11pm)
“Stop!”
The man
stopped, held his hands up, and pleaded, “Please, don’t kill me!”
The
small cans that the man had been holding fell to the ground, and made noise in
the night. It seemed that he had been digging into Callon’s trash can, which
stood beside the garage.
“Get
out of this place,” Callon ordered. The man ran out of the gate in fear,
forgetting to bring his dirty bag of cans with him.
Callon
walked to the gate, putting his gun back to its holster. He examined the lock
of the gate. The lock wasn’t broken. How did the man open the gate …? Callon
stepped out, and locked the gate. He began to walk to the precinct.
June 9, 2010 (3pm)
Class was over. The students took their things, left their desks, and hurried out of
the classroom. The air smelled a bit like chalk. Chalano stood beside his desk,
and waited for Kim. His gaze wandered to Row 3, and he saw John.
John
was still sitting before his own desk, and flipping through his own notes. He
ignored all of the other students. He had a black eye, and there were some
bruises on his face and neck.
Chalano
carried his schoolbag, and began to hurry out of the classroom because he was
scared of getting left alone in the classroom with John.
“Come
on,” Kim said in a hushed voice as he joined Chalano. The two friends walked
out of the classroom.
As they
walked past the auditorium, Chalano glanced at Kim’s face. Kim’s face was as
neat as ever. Kim had no wounds, nor bruises. Chalano was going to ask him
about what happened the other night.
Kim
asked before Chalano could speak, “I was just thinking, do you have a problem
with integers?”
“Huh?
No. Why?”
“They
confuse me. I keep getting wrong answers.”
“But
you answered Miss Lola’s question correctly this afternoon, right?”
“Yeah,
you’re right, but I got a wrong answer after that, and ---“
“Good
afternoon, guys,” a musical voice greeted. It was Rella, the Muse of their
class. She had been walking near them.
“Well,
hello,” Kim reluctantly greeted back.
“I
would just like to tell you that you are welcome to audition for our stage
play,” she said with a smile.
“Sorry,
John does not want us to join. Even if John allowed us, we would be not that
interested,” Chalano retorted.
“Oh, I
don’t know about what John said ---“
“You
heard it, you were there when he said it,” Chalano argued. “We don’t mind not
being able to join in your stage play. What we mind is getting discriminated in
your school, and by your partner ---“
Kim
gently elbowed Chalano’s side to shut him up. Rella didn’t see it.
“Oh.
I’m totally sorry. Yes, I was there,” Rella gently replied. “But you are
welcome to join any workshop in this school. You are nice, kind people. People
from 4th Project Town are awesome.”
The
boys were too pleased with what they heard.
“I wish
that you will not hate the class officers. Thank you for your time, and have a
nice day,” she explained with a smile, and left them.
“You
don’t argue with girls,” Kim quietly lectured Chalano.
“A-alright!
I take that back! What do you want me to do? Run after her, and say ‘sorry’?”
“You
don’t need to be sarcastic. Just don’t do that again,” Kim said as they walked
to the gate. “She’s a nice person. It’s just that she’s always with an evil guy
like John, so you’d think that she’s like him. On her own, she’s a nice
person.”
“Yeah,
right.”
June 12, 2010 (5pm)
“The
glowing embers could be seen in the darkness like shiny, evil eyes. The fire
was almost gone, but it was not gone. The air was filled with smoke, and the
heat ---“
Chalano’s writing was interrupted by the “heat.” Was it
still in what he was writing? The air became increasingly warm. He
stood up, and left his desk. He left his bedroom, walked through the corridor,
and went to the room at the back of their second floor.
There
was a huge, ball of fire. At the farthest corner of the wide room. As he looked
in fear, it spun in a circle. “Chalano Marchus,” a deep, powerful voice from it
said.
“Fire!
Fire! Mother! Help,” Chalano screamed as he ran back to the corridor.
He met
his mother at the indoor stairs. She looked frightened. She asked him, “Where
is it?”
“At the
back! The doors to the balcony are burning!”
His
mother ran to the back of the second floor. She stood still in the room, and
asked, “Where?”
He
walked to her, and spoke as he pointed at the farthest corner of the room,
“It’s ---“
There
was no fire there. Wide-eyed, Chalano couldn't believe it. He saw it
burning right there only a few seconds ago. “It’s gone,” he said in a hushed
voice.
His
mother walked to the double doors of the room, which were open. She angrily
said as she closed them, “What a nasty joke! That is not funny!”
No, I
wasn’t joking. But he couldn’t interrupt her because she was angrily talking
endlessly.
“You
opened the doors, and screamed for help. You, and your idea of fun! You don’t
even have an idea how someone walks the streets of this town, and burns the
houses and their residents. And you’re joking about fire?! All of our neighbors
will condemn you! You’re grounded until Monday.”
She
went downstairs. He didn’t know what to say. He looked back at the corner.
There were no traces of burning on the walls and the doors. He sadly walked
back to his bedroom, and closed the door behind him. In his frustration, he
grabbed his drafts, and dumped them into the trash can.
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