The next day was Sunday and Well did not do anything except to prepare himself for the opening of school tomorrow. He had already ready his bag on the swivel chair beside his side table. Although nothing had been tossed inside it yet, Well was convinced he was going to have a productive day. He went to a grocery store earlier today, and there he made sure that he was going to have a good and fair amount of writing pads, pens, notebooks, highlighters, and a lot more of the usual school supplies. It had only been a few hours since the sun officially decided to light up the place, and Well had not taken any meals yet. As a matter of fact, he had not eaten anything since yesterday when he got home after a long walk with Jacel May, who got weirder and weirder the longer Well walked with her back to the City Central Plaza. Well moved to the closet and managed his clothes from his suitcases. Ever since he arrived here in his hotel room three days ago, he had only been able to unpack one out
The day had finally come to life. The day he had been waiting for, but at the same time the day he had been fearing for. Ever since his phone had been stolen (or so he thought), and ever since his friend Joross disappeared, Well started to conclude that he will never be safe to enter the school alone. All of these chills and anxiety that he felt would have left when he had a friend by his side. But it turned out Well needed to face his social insecurities alone. Without the help of other people. After all, it would only take him some time to earn at least one friend again. He will be staying here for four years. He had all the time in this world to make friends and overcome the things he needed to overcome. Suited in his black and red tuxedo-type uniform, with a pin of the school on his chest, and a folded copy of the opening of school program on his right hand, Well fished for his backpack from the swivel chair next to his bedside table and walked past the mirror where he managed to
After roughly five minutes of driving, the taxi driver finally landed Well in front of the school gate successfully. There, outside of the whopping and Gargantuan red gate of the school, hundreds of students nicely suited and dressed in their school outfits looking so damn expensive flooded the place. As soon as he got off of the taxi car, he immediately blended with the crowd without even realizing it. He paid the kind taxi man his fare free, and even managed to double it to make amends with him as a sign of appreciation because the driver bothered to cater Well’s emergency service request. “Thank you so much, I really appreciate the service,” Well said as he smiled, facing the driver the driver’s seat. “As much as I want to have more chitchats with you, I am afraid I cannot do so because I am getting late. I hope to catch up with you anytime soon,” Well said. Even though he really meant what he had said, he could not deny the fact that he was saying it in the fastest way he can
“Oh.” Well cleared his throat. Twice. He shot an empty gaze to Daniel, who had been slowly distancing himself away from him, and said, “Maybe I just mistaken you to be another person. My bad. I hope you understand. And I am so sorry for the confusion I have caused.” Well looked away,embarrassed of himself while at the same time confused of what the hell was going on right now. He knew to himself and he was so sure that it was Daniel he had been talking to. He could not be wrong. He was confident it was really him. But because the confusion and embarrassment had taken its toll to him, he just surrendered and backed off. Feeling defeated, he stayed away from Daniel, the guy in front of him, and bid his good bye. Daniel, on the other hand, only turned around and walked away. He did not utter any words. Not even one. Now, Well was left standing on the same position where Daniel left him– beside of the shrubs queuing all the way to the hallway going to the Don Benito Building. He was str
He stepped into the classroom. He did not know the reason why, but the moment he had his full body entering the room, it felt like he got into a whole new different world. People inside, who were technically going to be his new classmates, started staring at him as if he was an enemy. As if he was never welcome there to begin with. Their eyes were blazing in fires of hell. And their gazes, only if they were as sharp as knives, Well would have ended up chopped into pieces already. The tension and the grit were so overwhelming that Well could not help but step back. Suddenly, the excitement had been replaced with fear. The joy had been replaced with tremor. All of sudden, he did not want to be there anymore. All of a sudden, he did not want to enter and continue at all. But then, his legs were frozen. His toes were numb, and he could not feel a single vein functioning. If it was not because of the teacher, his adviser, who bothered himself from crossing the entire aisle of the classro
Well went to the only vacant seat inside of the room. It was located in the center; at the first room of the second column from the left. Well did not get why did he have to sit in front of the whole class, facing the teacher. He thought, was he being set up again? Was this part of the plan? In a room full of students beginning to hate him even though he did not do anything wrong to them to begin with because he had not met any of them before, will the teacher be his ally or just another enemy like the rest of them?Well sat on his chair. The eyes of his classmates had not shifted yet. He felt like they were stuck on him forever. But for quite some reasons, he thought that maybe it was just their own way of saying they did not like him. They will not do anything wrong to him, at least, and hating him was just enough. He took off his bag from his shoulders and then placed it on the floor, under his table. He looked in front where the teacher was standing, and took a quick glance on t
Well Smith had only one thing to do in mind the moment he realized that the class had been dismissed. Her new mission for the day was to befriend Allen Mar Corton, and ask him all the stuff Well felt like he needed to know. Obviously, like him, Well was a newly migrated student, too. The way he spoke, the way he looked, and even the way he form his ideas out of nothing would tell so much that he was not a native citizen of New Bill. Well needed to figure out where hee came from, why he chose to study here, and why he believed that the New Bill and the citizens living in it were hypocrites and crooked. When the class was over, Well waited for almost all of his classmates to depart and empty the room so he could have his time to talk to Allen Mar. It was a matter of right timing and perfect execution. He need to think through his words, choose the right questions, and of course, be friendly. He still had no idea what kind of person Allen Mar was. He could be an introvert or an extro
“I got here in New Bill two months ago. I came here all alone, and just like everybody else, I also thought of New Bill as the perfect city which will bring out the best in me– just like what the teacher has promised. Of course, I used to believe that other than the quality education that I will be getting here, I would also get satisfaction of living in a city that has complete opposite set of culture and norms different from what I used to back in my country,” Allen Mar started. He was looking at Well’s eyes all through out the course of his first statement, but then later on he looked away when he was about to reveal something. His eyes narrowed as he shot it across the series of mahogany trees in front of them. “However, everything has changed during the day that I got here.”Well’s eyes grew big. He knew it. It was another similarity again between him and Allen Mar. Something had happened to him on his first day here in New Bill, too, and that was how Allen Mar exactly said it. “
“Nowadays, it is not only tangible things that are stolen. Culprits and stalkers like them are often sent out in the world to steal impossible things like information and codes. I believe that is the thing that keeps them from running after us. Because if it is only a material thing, they could have stolen it long before already. But it’s different. They are needing a piece of information, and only the best of the best spies and culprits can do it. Only those who are willing to risk their lives and last breath only to get their ears closer to the information that their bosses need,” Binsent Anchorman explained. “Okay, okay. Hold on, why are we here again? Because, technically, since I am now an official member of the alliance, am I not right to know the basics of this group? Like, what are we working for? And who? And why? And basically all the questions you think I need the answer from?” Arjay chimed in, standing by the end of the bleacher together with Allen Mar. Even up until this
Binsent Anchorman, together with Well, Arjay, and Allen Mar gathered all together onto the bleachers that were lining up outside of the church. “It has come to my attention that you are being followed. Now that we are here, somewhere that is least expected by the people to see us being gathered, I doubt if stalkers will still come after us,” Binsent Anchorman said as he laid down his suitcase on the ground. He was the first among them four to sit on the bleachers. This time, he was wearing a funny, little hat that did not match his tuxedo outfit at all. However, one thing that Allen Mar and Well could assure was that, in that outfit, he looked like their late friend, his twin brother, Detective Deib Anchorman. Well slouched down next to Binsent Anchorman; his eyes had been wondering around as if they were two little footage cameras scanning for possible threats around them. “I am now starting to question our presence in this city. Us being stalked remains a mystery to me. But one th
Binsent Anchorman, together with Well, Arjay, and Allen Mar gathered all together onto the bleachers that were lining up outside of the church. “It has come to my attention that you are being followed. Now that we are here, somewhere that is least expected by the people to see us being gathered, I doubt if stalkers will still come after us,” Binsent Anchorman said as he laid down his suitcase on the ground. He was the first among them four to sit on the bleachers. This time, he was wearing a funny, little hat that did not match his tuxedo outfit at all. However, one thing that Allen Mar and Well could assure was that, in that outfit, he looked like their late friend, his twin brother, Detective Deib Anchorman. Well slouched down next to Binsent Anchorman; his eyes had been wondering around as if they were two little footage cameras scanning for possible threats around them. “I am now starting to question our presence in this city. Us being stalked remains a mystery to me. But one t
In the taxi, nothing much had happened other than a small conversation involving Well, Binset Anchorman, and some interesting and trivial things about the late Detective Deib Anchorman, his twin brother. It was surely a wholesome moment. It was surely a wholesome conversation. But if not for the fact that Well was the one that initiated the conversation, none of those would have ever existed. “I only met Detective Deib Anchorman for like a couple of days,” Well started two minutes just when the engine started. “And just like you, he started as a taxicab driver, too. I met him when I asked for a taxi who can send me to the nearest ATM station because I just lost my phone and I needed to buy something. He was the one who accompanied me to the Octagon Shop where I was able to find myself a new phone. He was a good man, indeed. I don’t think if I have said this earlier, but this is something that I was not able to tell him. I was too selfish to even inform him how good of a man he was,” We
Just when Well arrived at the ground floor, he noticed some coalition of people not far from where he was standing. Intrigued by the on going noises, he went to see what was happening over there. After a few more meters of walking, he finally figured out what that mess was all about. Simple. It was primarily because over there was a food hall and the reason why he could hear metals banging against each other was because they were spoons and forks, and noisy people who were trying to satisfy themselves with the food that they eat. Apparently, it triggered the growling of Well’s stomach. All of a sudden, he wanted to dive into the line too to get himself something to feed for his angry tummy. Convinced that there was no time for his social anxieties anymore, he absentmindedly fell in line. He tucked his wallet out of his pants’ left pocket and draw out his credit card. Finally, he could eat now. It took him roughly ten to fifteen minutes to finally make it to the counter. There, he ord
With both of his hands clasping against each other, Well shot a gaze through the busy hallway. He saw nurses in the rush, assistants going back and forth and to and from different rooms, doctors running with their shoelaces untangled, and other more disturbing and unusual things for Well but were considered normal and part of the routine in any hospitals. Well decided to go for a stroll outside the hospital and find something to eat. He had not eaten anything since lunch time, and he barely even finished his food back in the tavern because of Allen Mar’s intuitive conversation with the bloke man about the three suspicious men in suit initiating a negotiation talk with the secret society’s leader. Time check, it was already ten minutes past seven in the evening. Around this time, Well should have had in his bed already– ready to sleep because tomorrow was going to be another day full of unwanted surprises– but here he was now, in the hospital, with someone he only knew less than ten hou
His nerves had never been feeling this tight. The flowing of blood all over his body had been insufficient, but the only thing he ever had in his mind was Allen Mar. He kept thinking of him. He kept thinking and thinking and thinking of him. Questions spun around his brain; ‘How was the operation?’ ‘Will he be okay?’ ‘Will he survive?’ ‘What are the odds of him dying?’ ‘Was the doctor not joking when he said that Allen Mar’s injury was serious and could even bring up his death if certain actions had not been taken immediately?’ With both of his hands clasping against each other, Well shot a gaze through the busy hallway. He saw nurses in the rush, assistants going back and forth and to and from different rooms, doctors running with their shoelaces untangled, and other more disturbing and unusual things for Well but were considered normal and part of the routine in any hospitals. Fully convinced that the operation will take longer than expected, Well decided to go for a stroll outside
Detective Deib Anchorman was the first to make it close to the manhole. When he got there, he drew his ear closer to the ground floor. “I don’t hear anything,” he said after five seconds of focusing all his hearing senses on the ground. “I am supposed to be hearing footsteps and cranking guns and indistinct chatters coming from the soldiers, but I don’t hear anything right now. “Is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?” Well asked, his heart had been pounding so fast and so strong it was no different compared to a jack hammer used in smacking a hardened soil. Allen Mar chimed into the conversation and then corrected Well, “It is supposed to be a good thing, I believe. The detective not hearing anything from above only means that the soldiers have not returned from the search yet. That means we will have enough time to make it out here and perhaps even out of the vicinity as well. Although the latter would be so dangerous, and I don’t think our chances of success are that
Different scenarios had been playing in his head to the extent that he was lost already and could not distinguish the reality from the hallucinations. Hope had been the only chance he had. And although his abdomen churned in fear, and the back of his neck had been filled with goosebumps, Well only braved the situation and sat on one of the chairs at the waiting area, believing in his friend, Allen Mar that he would survive the operation no matter what. Prayers came out of his lips unconsciously without him knowing it. Fully convinced that the operation will take longer than expected, Well decided to go for a stroll outside the hospital and find something to eat. He had not eaten anything since lunch time, and he barely even finished his food back in the tavern because of Allen Mar’s intuitive conversation with the bloke man about the three suspicious men in suit initiating a negotiation talk with the secret society’s leader. Time check, it was already ten minutes past seven in the ev