The existence of the world serves one purpose. The purpose was made for prosperity. The imbalanced situation between one another’s life causes a main conflict to erupt. A solution was thought to create a single leader of each idea whether it is an element, or a physical contact. However, that idea had become haywire from the very beginning and it had not appeared until a certain year… The galaxy… the planet… the seven continents… one continent… one nation… one country… one state… one city… one district… one school… It all finally leads to this perfect year. The sun and the moon are shining. Why do they not hide in their homes?
Episode 10 – The Girl of the Winds in Alert – Part 2
It was dark by the time Matt and his mom arrived at school. Matt’s brother, was wandering off around school, reminiscing at all the areas where he used to be in when he was once in high school over three years ago. Matt told his mother, “Hey, mom, I’m getting extra credit for my P.E, Science and Piano class. Can you come with me to those classes?” His mother easily agreed with him.
In Matt’s Science class, he saw Shirley Cao. He ran up to her to whisper, “Guess what’s so stupid!”
Shirley turned around in surprise, “Geez, Matt! Don’t just randomly run up to me and start screaming. Anyway, what happened? I thought you weren’t coming to this Back to School Night thing.”
Matt laughed, “That’s the thing. Some random person on AIM randomly AIM’ed me and said to go to this. I bet it was Jen.”
Shirley crossed her arms, “Hm? So her persuasion over the internet happened to persuade you to go? That’s amazing.”
Matt scratched his head, “Well, uh… the person on AIM could see my every move. I was very scared last night, thinking who it might be. But as I thought again… Jen might know where my house is. I only lived in my current house for three years so I’m not sure if she decided to stalk me home one day since then. But anyway, she probably watched me from outside, making sure that I ask my mom to go to this school night thing.”
Shirley had a cup of water as she made ice come out of her palms, “Cold water?” She raised her hand towards Matt.
Matt took the cup, “Thanks. Anyways, as I was saying- YUCK, wait a minute! I don’t want an ice of water coming out of your hands. Here, you have it!” He violently gave it back to Shirley.
Shirley giggled, “Oh geez, Matt. I was thinking… why would Jen do all of this just so that you could go to Back to School Night? I don’t think anyone else would want to care about someone else’s school grades than themselves. It just wouldn’t make sense for her to care a bit too much.”
Matt was confused now. “Hm… you’re right. But then again, Jen is sort of caring. I’m not really sure myself.”
Shirley slapped him on the face, “What?! She told me that you’ve known her for eight years. How could you not know her personality yet?”
Matt fell to the ground as he looked away, “Tch, what other things did she tell you about me?”
Matt stood back up and he pointed at her, “Seriously Shirley, I think Jen is just caring for me. Don’t worry about it. I only wanted to tell you because it seemed funny but you took it seriously. I’ll talk to you later. I got to go soon anyway.”
Shirley laughed, “OHHH HOH HOH! You came for extra credit only, too?” She giggled and walked away.
Matt shivered, “Eugh, is this how girls cool off their annoyed minds?”
~~~
Matt flushed the toilet in the restroom. He took a huge sigh since he had not gone since the beginning of the afternoon, “I should have not drunken so much water.” All the sudden, he heard a loud moaning noise coming from the stalls, “What the hell…?” He did not bother to look as he went ahead and quickly left. “Now to go back to my P.E. class.” Once he entered the large gym, he tried to search for his mother for over five minutes. He scratched his head, “Where the heck did she go?”
From outside, Matt’s mother was on her phone. She walked towards the front, “Are you sure, honey?”
On the other line, the voice that sounded like Matt, spoke, “Yeah, don’t worry, Mom. My friend said he wanted to invite me to some party so I’ll come home later tonight. You can go home with my brother.”
Matt’s mother shook her head, “Alright, Matthew. I’ll save you some springrolls in case you get hungry later. Have a fun and safe night, okay?”
“Okay.” The phone hung up.
“Hrm, that’s strange. Usually he’d say Jeremy’s name instead of ‘brother’. I should really get him a cell phone. He constantly uses his friends’ phones all the time when needed…”
~~~
Jen entered her P.E. class and she saw Matt, “Huh? What are you still doing here?”
Matt laughed, “I was looking for my mom, ehehe…”
“YOU LOST HER?” Jen screamed at him. Everyone was watching them.
Matt was turning red, “Jen, please, not so loud!”
“No, actually, come to think of it… I thought I saw her leaving the school. Maybe it wasn’t her. I wouldn’t really know because…” Her voice suddenly changed in tone, “you probably showed your new~ friends to your parents before ever showing me to them ever so often.~”
Matt rolled his eyes, “Will you stop that? You’ll always be my best friend. Now, I have to go look for her. There’s no way she would have left already. I told her to wait here so maybe she’s around here somewhere.”
Jen did a hair flip as she turned around, “Fine, whatever you say.” She noticed that some people were still watching, especially at her short-shorts, “What the hell do you guys want?! You think this is for some playboy magazine or what?” She stomped away with the ground shaking from every step she took.
Matt scratched his head, “Is she that angry…? Eheheh…”
~~~
Everyone was starting to leave. Matt looked around in every class but there was no sight of her. “Don’t panic, Matt. Maybe she’s looking for you too. After all, we might be constantly going into a circle, from one class to another. There’s a low chance that we will find each other in the same room.” Matt sighed as he sat down under the canopy, “I can’t find her at all… I should remind myself to never go to a Back to School Night crap again.”
Eventually, Matt sat down behind the basketball courts where there were stone seats next to the girl’s locker, “Geez, I’m tired.” The school was almost empty and it was about 8:35PM. Matt sighed, “Was it really smart to wait…? I should have gone to the office to call my mom earlier…” He stood up and he stopped again, “Then again… I don’t know my mom’s cellphone number. Should I call home?”
Matt arrived at the attendance office, but the knob was locked. He walked across the hall to get to the guidance office, “It’s closed too…” He sat down on the stone bench next to it, “Aw man. I really can’t handle high school, can I? I’m almost lost. I don’t even know how to get home if I were to walk. I’d get lost. Gosh, I don’t know anything! Why are you so useless, Matt?” The wind was blowing, pushing Matt’s hair to the right. He fixed his bangs, “I really should get rid of these darn bangs too.”
“Heh, you’re pretty pathetic, especially for a guy who sounds hopeless. Why do you tell yourself these things?” A familiar voice was heard.
Matt quickly turned his head to the right, where a familiar person was hiding in the plants. Matt stood up, “I-It’s you! Why are you here? Everyone should have been gone by now.”
“I told your mother through the phone that you are home already. She’s at home, of course. My, my… It’s very convenient for the static to have my voice sound just like yours if I tried.”
Matt clenched his fists, “Jon, right? Why did you do such a thing?! You know, my mom probably found out I was nowhere to be found in the house right now. I can’t believe you got her to go home like that!”
“Oh really? I told her ‘please don’t bother me when you get home. I am very sleepy and I am sorry I went through all that with you tonight just for extra credit’. She’s not going to even bother walk in your room.” Jon gave an evil glare.
Matt crossed his arms with courage, “Hah, you’re pretty bad at it too. You DO realize that my brother, Chris, will come in the room, right? He has to. We share the same room. Although his computer is outside.”
“No. I went through the trouble to figure out where his agenda was. It seems that tonight, he is at a sleepover.”
Matt shook his head, thinking Jon is not as evil as can be, “Ugh… Then just take me home. That was a good prank. Now I want to leave.”
Jon stopped him, “Oh I don’t think that’s necessary.” His hands are behind his back.
Matt rose out his arms, “That’s it. I’m done with you!”
Jon laughed, “Ahahaha! Do you really want to resort to violence?”
Matt’s hands were not changing. He watched them, “Huh, why is nothing happening?”
Jon showed Matt his hands, “This hand expression makes it so that you can’t use your powers.” Jon had all his fingers touch each other’s tip except the middle fingers.
“B-But how?! How-…” Matt paused. His eyes opened wide, “Don’t tell me…”
Jon laughed again, “Haha! Of course. This is what I possess. I can stop your powers at any time.” He took a step back as he let go of his fingers, “Go ahead and try again. You’re at a far distance from me though. It can’t be helped.”
Matt summoned a small flame out of both his hands, “Damn it… I can’t do anything even if did have fire on my hands. Ergh.”
The wind grew very strong and Jon fell to the ground. Matt ran towards Jon but Jon quickly put his fingers together. A girl jumped from the top of the building, “Damn you, Jon! You better stop this now!”
Matt was surprised at her, “Whoa, it’s you, Yessenia!”
Yessenia pushed her hair to the left, “Hmph. Matt, remember what I told you? This guy is… not a good guy! I read the origins in a book a few years back. It told me everything about these powers. Everyone thought it was a myth but look what we have now. People like Jon… they can take your powers once you’ve lost.”
“Lost? How do we lose?” Matt was confused.
Yessenia sighed, “Either you take a certain drug, or… you die. That soulful power becomes extracted into the winner’s body. But good people with power do not do that. It is fate that chooses who is good and who is bad.”
Matt looked at his hands, “Fate chose me… to be a good person?”
Jon stood up with his fingers still together, “I’ve read that book too, heh heh!”
Matt turned to Yessenia, “Then, let’s get that book! We need to learn more about this. I want to get rid of it without having to worry about some drug, or death at all!”
Yessenia looked away, “I’m sorry…” Matt was startled as Yessenia went on, “The pages… all of them, they’re all burnt. I woke up one morning only to find it burning with a tree. That tree seemed to cry. It was my favorite tree too. I used to sit under it, reading little kid books when I was young. And now it is gone. Fate must have chosen me to have the power of wind because it is connected to the tree. Wind and tree…”
Matt frowned, “What connection do I have with fire? What exactly is it?”
Jon stopped them, “Enough!”
Yessenia yelled at Jon, “As for you, how can YOU kill people with just the power to stop others in using their own powers?”
Jon chuckled, “Eheh, Yessenia, you’re too bold. There are many, MANY ways to kill a person without these powers. Also, that drug. Don’t you ever wonder if I know the formula of the drug or not?”
Matt and Yessenia were surprised as Jon went on, “Heh, only I am kidding. I will find that formula. Or better yet, I can kill you two off this way.”
Matt took a step forward, “We can always tell on you though!”
Jon shook his head, “Oh, poor, poor Matt. What evidence do you have of me saying all of this? Besides, if I was found out, then I can always blab to them about your powers. They probably won’t believe it, but I can always hire people to cause various problems that require only people like you two to fix it. And when you two are forced to help others with your powers, it will be revealed!” Jon laughed and ran away.
Matt tried to run for him, “Hey, wait!”
Yessenia grabbed his collar, “Don’t…”
Matt tried to shake off from her, “But he… he’s going to…!”
“There’s no way to catch up with him. Even if you could, what will you do? Beat him to death? We’re not supposed to kill them. That is the rule.” Yessenia said in anger.
“Then let’s break the rules!” Matt yelled.
Yessenia slapped him on his left cheek. “Snap out of it!” Matt stopped in astonishment. Yessenia continued, “Do you ever listen to what you’re saying? You’re practically telling me that it’s okay to commit murder just because they can always blackmail you at any time. If there is a way to make a drug that stops people from using powers, then let’s do that. Let’s look for the drug formula and make one. We can make Jon take it and he won’t be able to use his powers. Then, no one would be hurt.”
Matt knelt down, “Damn it…! Why us? I hate these restrictions…”
Yessenia had nothing else to say. She did feel sympathetic with Matt but all she could say was, “Together, from now on, we can help each other…”
And from there, Matt’s journey began to further become serious, although with the help of Yessenia by his side for the rest of his high school years…
~~~
---- Next chapter preview:
Matt: On the next chapter, wait... Shirley, what are you doing?
ShirleyC: What does it look like to you?! I'm trapped in a stupid janitor's room! Ew, this is so disgusting. Why am I in here? And how did he get back into this school?! He could get into more trouble like that!
Matt: Who?
ShirleyC: You'll see!
Matt: Next chapter... Locked In the Janitor's Room!
