When I wake up the next day, I just want to dive back under the covers and sulk like a petulant teenager. The memories of last night ring in my head, causing something like a headache. But today is a day full of lectures, and if I want to make it to the King’s College university on time all the way from Clandestine city, I have to be quick.After taking care of all my needs, I sneak out of the house through one of the back doors. Technically, I could call my own personal driver and have him drop me off at the campus.But where’s the fun in that?So, I take the train straight to Empire city and then use the tram to drop right at the entrance to the university.For some time, the day went on peacefully. I attended the lectures, took notes, talked with the professors about any doubts I had, got them cleared out, and moved around the campus.But then the lunch break came.The cafeteria is crowded, as is the norm, and I make my way to the food court as discreetly as possible so as not to d
Numbed down pain.That’s all I feel when I find myself waking up, a low, drawled groan leaving my mouth as I slowly regain consciousness. My throat is scratchy, and it feels like something died in my mouth. Faintly, I hear a beeping sound coming next to me, and I slowly turn my head to see what it is.A machine. A machine to measure my heartbeat, the kind you see in hospital rooms with serious patients.Why was I a serious patient, then?That’s when all the memories came back to me through the haze of my mind.Stone and his goons. The beating in the cafeteria. Falling unconscious as soon as the security guards managed to get the attackers off me. Someone screaming the word ‘hospital’ while I faded to black.Crap.I use my tired eyes to look around the room. The walls are painted white with accents of light yellow, and there’s a window. It’s a private room, and there is even a TV mounted in the corner. All around me, there are various machines taking my reading there's, and an IV poked
I was told to stay in the hospital for a week,I really could not answer the questions the doctors asked me about my health. It is true that I have not been to the hospital much, at least not as much as a person my age should’ve. It was only because I never got sick enough for the hospital. The handful of times I visited the hospital was for some kind of broken arm or leg or a vaccination shot. Whenever I got sick, I would be healed before it got serious. A cold would only last a day in my body, and a stomach ache from eating something off-putting would last only a few hours. It was a blessing, in a way, because my mother and I were not that well off as my mother refused any kind of financial help from my father. I considered myself extremely lucky to have such a good immunity system.Which was why it was such a surprise when I was told I had an allergy to silver of all things. Because this isn’t the first time I have ingested silver, and never before have I gone to anaphylactic shock
I got released from the hospital earlier than anyone anticipated, leaving a bunch of baffled doctors as I left. Had it not been for the ethical laws of the country that prevented human experimentation, I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t have been able to make it out of the hospital anytime soon. They looked like they were dying to put me into a glass box so they could find out what secrets that lay within my body.My finger is still broken, and it will take about a month for it to heal, hence it is in a cast. The bruises on my body are faded, and the ribs are still smarting. I get massive headaches from time to time, and half the medicine allocated to me is painkillers. But I’m upright, and I can walk. That’s healed enough for me.Gerald and Coraline come to take me home from the hospital, and I realize that I still have a long way to go in order to become fully functional as I fall asleep halfway through the trip. I have been given an indefinite leave of absence by the university, non
“I think your father’s idea has many merits. A person must know how to defend themselves. Given how you have a penchant to end up in fights, it would be prudent to learn how to fight back.” Gerald says after we exit the restaurant, he took me out to for celebrating winning the hearing.It still feels so bizarre to me, because I honestly didn’t expect for the Dean and the school board to take my side in the hearing. I’ve never had that happen to me before. Usually, I would be the one getting the short end of the stick, but this time, I won. I won over Stone and his goons, and I won’t have to be paranoid and watch over my shoulder every time I enter campus grounds again.However, my victory came with consequences. I did not miss the pure venomous glare I was shot by Stone’s father the last time I caught sight of him. His gaze promised retribution for what I’d done to his son, and I have a feeling that I’d made a powerful enemy.Which is yet another reason to consider my father’s advice.
I stand frozen at the door, staring at him. He’s attacking his opponent with all his might, not even noticing me. His opponent tries to match his strikes, but Aiden is faster and more powerful. He dodges the other man’s punches masterfully and strikes like a cobra, targeting his most critical places. His expression is single-focused and dangerous, and his unyielding. He looks like he means business, and failure is not a word in his vocabulary.Suddenly, how this man managed to overpower Coraline makes much more sense.What rotten luck do I have to wind up in the same boxing club as freaking Aiden was? Seriously, what the hell?I want to turn and run. Choose another club, reviews, and five stars be damned. But what reason can I give Brennan for turning tail? That I’m intimidated by one of the members of the club? How absurd and humiliating will that be?No that won’t do. I am going to have to see this through until the end. And I’m going to face whatever happens like a man, dammit. I’m
That night as I do my homework, I cannot help but mull over the words of both Brannan as well as the hospital staff.I’ve never thought of my health much. I got as sick as regular children did and got into the same scrapes as they did. I never gave much thought about how my bruises would fade away so quickly, or about how I never spent a day in the hospital except for a broken limb. Even then, I’ve only had my limbs broken twice, both by accidents. I remember now how the doctors remarked about how quickly I healed and called me a good boy for taking care of myself enough to accelerate the healing process. Back then I absorbed the praise as if it was precious but did not think about it further. My mother, when she was alive, never seemed fazed about this. Like me, she was quick to heal.I ponder more about what Brennan said than the doctors did. I thought I was a lousy fighter and a terrible klutz because according to all my past experiences I was. I always came home with bruised knees
For a while, things settled down.After Stone and his goons were expelled, his father made some noise around, even going as far as to publish his rants in the local newspapers, but no one took to them. He certainly did not garner the attention he thought he would, and I have reasons to believe that the university was behind it. Stone did not come after me personally as I thought he would, none of his goons did either. After the expulsion, the rest of his gang avoided me at all costs. It was surreal walking into the campus without the threat of harassment hanging in the air. Through the gossip chain of the university, I heard that Kayla broke up with her boyfriend as well. But that was not my issue.On the downside, the university board figured out who my father was. They tried to approach me about him, to get him more roped into the activities of the university, but I refused. And so did my father, as he knew that I wanted my college life to be separate from him. I did not want to ent