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2024-10-29 19:42:56Damon's Standpoint
Chatters of travelers going back and forth, clutching their carry-on bags, fill the airport. Holding our luggage, we pave our way to the nearby seats where we are requested to wait. Since only four seats are available at the front, I opt to take a seat behind Ethan. Ethan, who happens to be sitting next to Beauty, glances at me.
"Do you want to trade seats, bro?" He offers with a meaningful smirk.
"I'm fine," I reply.
"Are you sure?" Ethan teases.
I watch Beauty as she takes out her phone. With a gentle swipe of her delicate finger, she unlocks the device. While she immerses herself in it, I enjoy watching her. Countless times, her expression shifts from delight to curiosity. Humming a soft melody, she runs her fingers through her hair and the aroma of her shampoo reaches my nose, creating a delightful and refreshing scent that instantly perks up my spirit.
After half an hour, I decided to go to the bathroom. I stand up and set my carry-on bag on the seat. Quinn turns his face to me.
"Where are you going?" Quinn asks.
"Bathroom. Could you please watch for my things?" I request.
Quinn nods his head with assurance. I make my way to the men's bathroom and do my toilet routines. As I finish, I instantly set foot out of the bathroom.
A nervous girl with a Polaroid camera in her left hand catches my attention as she leans against the wall, looking around as if waiting for someone. She seems a little surprised when our eyes meet. Even confused as I am, I decide to walk past her, but she swiftly blocks and stops me.
I observe her. Her slender left fingers are expertly holding her Polaroid camera as if it has been her life company. She seems an inch taller than Beauty. Her porcelain complexion is adorned with a soft and gentle blush around her round cheeks. Her beautiful, sweet doe eyes are complemented by her long, dark lashes, thin nose, and naturally rosy lips. Her blonde hair is perfectly styled, giving an impression of her meticulousness. She gave me hesitant gazes making me smile a bit. Her gestures remind me of the first moment I saw Beauty – a little awkward and shy.
"Anything I can help you with, Miss?" I ask with formality.
Instead of answering, she hands me four pieces of Polaroid.
I gaze at her with a perplexed expression but eventually accept it. I browse through it and find myself astounded by how ethereal Beauty looks in those stolen Polaroid snaps. My breathing momentarily stops in the last picture. It shows me staring at Beauty from the side as she glides her fingers through her hair. The shot captivates me with its beauty and terrifies me so bad.
"What are these?" I ask innocently, trying to silence the loud beating of my heart.
She opens her mouth while searching for the right words to say. When she cannot, she opens her purse and explores it.
While rummaging through her things, she says, "I take pictures of people everywhere and give it to them for free."
Finally, she finds her phone and scrolls through it.
"I am not a stalker, I have a YouTube channel," she adds.
When she finds her phone, she shows me her screen. It is a YouTube channel with quite a lot of reels of her taking Polaroid shots of random people. After showing it, she carefully puts her phone back in her purse.
"My name is Xhyee," she introduces herself and offers her hand hesitantly.
"Damon," I respond as I grab to shake her hand.
"You can keep those," she says, referring to the Polaroids.
"I think…you're giving it to the wrong person," I say as I give it back to her.
"I don't think so," she says with an unintentional sound of excitement. Realizing it, a momentary awkward silence reigned between us with my hands still in the air because she refused to accept it back.
"I think you got it wrong, Miss," I hand it closer to her, but her wristwatch unexpectedly beeps, catching her attention.
"I have to go. Thank you for your time, Damon," she gently says and sprints away.
I take a deep breath and gaze at the snapshots. I have no choice but to put it in my pocket and return to the waiting area. I see the boys standing and holding their luggage while Beauty is on the side, looking like she is not in her best mood.
"What took you so long?" Ethan asks as I approach them. I look at him and pick up my carry-on bag and luggage. Hassle as it is, we all think this is better than having assistants who report everything to our parents like spies.
We start navigating our way to the snake-like line of passengers. We go through different security checkpoints and remove our jackets and shoes for inspections. As we wait for Beauty and Quinn who are behind, I try to talk to Ethan.
"She looks like she's going to beat anyone who messes with her today," I say, referring to Beauty. Ethan giggles.
"We saw Kate and her two friends earlier. It turns out we are on the same flight," Ethan explains.
"What an unlucky day," I remark.
After the long process, we finally boarded the plane. Beside me is Beauty, who has been silent since earlier, lost in her thoughts. Meanwhile, Ethan and Quinn settled in the seats behind us, occupied in their conversations while Lorde sat behind them. The aircraft slowly taxis along the runway, gaining speed with each passing moment. The acceleration presses us back into our seats, and with a gentle lift, the plane soars into the sky. Later on, Beauty closes her eyes in relaxation.
For the past few days, she has appeared somewhat agitated. Everything does not make sense to me. Lorde did not attack us that night. He was running away by then, which means putting a box as a trap is complete nonsense. It could be a prank, but Lorde does not do pranks. We never discussed the incident, but everyone, especially Beauty, has been silently bothered. I heard her confront Lorde the following day.
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His powerful punches and flawless kicks overpower his opponent at every turn. We are simply amazed by the display of his abilities. This makes me wonder how he got injured while they were escaping. Then I remember Beauty once said it was because he was protecting them. With a single decisive blow, he seals his triumph, emerging as the undeniable champion of the match.The final fight is between Lorde and Xhyee. Xhyee's face reveals concern about their fight. It is clear to me who will win between the two of them. However, I think Thania intentionally does this to test Lorde if she is capable of hurting a weak woman in the name of success. This is a serious test, in my opinion.It is an unexpected matchup, a fight between a weak lady and a strong gentleman. The crowd gathers in anticipation, curious to witness how this peculiar challenge will unfold. Xhyee stands shyly in the center of the ring. Facing her is Lorde while standing in between them is Alhyssa who is confused as to why the
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I do not know the reason, but I feel fear in Lorde's presence. He is too cold compared to Jax who, though serious, has a playful aura."You're now dismissed," Alhyssa says. Without a word, Thania stands up and leaves the room. We wait for Quinn to leave before following. I am the last one to leave, so I close the door. When we get out of the elevator, we stop, and we see Grams and Pops. Grams has a pout on her face while sadness is evident on Pops' face."You go ahead," Venice tells Quinn, who immediately refuses. "We'll come with you. They're our companions," Quinn says. We do not say anything, just nod. Grams and Pops approach us while Quinn stands by our side."Grams! Pops! Why do you look sad?" Alhyssa asks as they approach."Is it true? Did another student die?" Pops asks as a follow-up question."Yes, Pops. That's why we're going to see them," Alhyssa answers."That's probably why Thania didn't even look back when we called her. She's probably angry again about what's happening.
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Blair's Standpoint"Yes," I confirm. They are all silent, and shock is plastered on their faces, except for Thania who always discovers things first."Did you become friends? As I remember, we were ten years old when you had surgery, Quinn, and we visited you. We do not see a child," Ethan asks with a tone of doubt."Although, she looks familiar. She's the girl you look at on the cellphone before Matt drowns, right? We even mistake you for a pedophile," explains Ethan who also cannot believe everything that happens. Quinn looks at me slightly as if his eyes are signaling something."We only meet twice. First, when her grandmother donates blood to me. Second…" Quinn stops abruptly. At the same time, I look back on the past.#I played quietly in the playground of the human world. After the war in Guhya, my parents sent me away to the human world to save myself from the war. There I was with my grandmother who lived in the real world despite being a Dji. Because she believed that we wer
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We are even more shocked when Alhyssa flies backward because of Lorde's kick. Although Alhyssa is thrown, she recovers easily. She points her weapon at us again."Who is he?" Alhyssa asks out loud, perhaps shocked by what is happening. Thania comes closer and gets between us, so Alhyssa quickly withdraws the weapon."Thania, what are you doing?" She asks a confused question.Thania is silent at Alhyssa's question, and she turns to us."Load him and follow us. Venice, Blair, stay here," commands Thania.Before she can turn around completely, Blair stops her."I'll go with you," Blair almost shouts out of panic. Thania does not answer so we follow her and so does Blair. Ethan immediately loads him with our help. We board the subway train in silence. We feel each other silently. We easily reach the forest and as usual, Thania kneels and touches the ground, causing the dimension to open and the gate to appear. We quickly enter and follow them to the Administration Building. After a while,
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"Beau?" They ask in chorus."Trust me this time," I say without looking at them and continue with my pace."Are you sure about this?" Damon asks as he grabs my hand. I look at him intently and nod, our hands still holding each other."I think I know the way," I say as I look at them one by one. "How?" This time, surprisingly, Lorde asks."I see it in my vision. I think I've been here before," I say, and they all furrow their brows."What are you saying, Beau?" Ethan asks, not able to believe what I just said."I don't know, Ethan, but you have to trust me in this," I demand. Despite their doubt, they follow me, and we rush in the direction I point out. With all the twists and turns, I find the path to the exit without hitting dead ends solely based on my memory. But with each passing moment, it feels like we are just going back and forth the same way."Beau, I think your vision is wrong," Quinn finally butts in again."No, we're almost there," I say, trying to defend myself."Beau, yo
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We placed next to Max who has been constantly in the first place. The last round became difficult. I feel my vision blacking out and I am about to pass out. Even so, we remain at our place."Are you well, Beau?" Ethan asks, shouting from the side.I bob. My vision is turning around at a breakneck speed. One more step, and everything goes black. I wake up to the bumpy feeling and realize Damon is loading me on his back, while Ethan, Quinn, and Lorde are holding my back and cheering Damon on as they run at the same pace. I watch the finish line, and eight students are already there, while we are about twelve meters away. We continue and in a few minutes, we finish the race."Mr. Han, is that allowed?" One of our classmates asked about Damon's choice of loading me on his back."Race is about reaching the finish line, so that's technically acceptable," Mr. Han replies smiling. The race finished with the five of us being accepted. I also noticed Sachz finishing the race, her being in fifte
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Things move quickly and two weeks pass with the whole school being quiet. The students are full of excitement for the upcoming ten selections that will be held two days from now. According to them, the chosen ten rarely happens in a century. Also, we hear that it is fun to be part of the chosen ten because they are given special privileges at school. Because of this, we have also become interested in the said selection, hoping that this will be the way to get out of here. However, no one has mentioned the specific way in which the students will fight, leaving everyone unprepared for the impending battle.I am walking down the hallway when I hear someone yelling from one side. I recognize it as Kate and her two friends."Kate, are you going crazy? Why are you fighting us?" asks one of his friends who is annoyed. She is shocked when Kate pushes her, just enough to make her step backward."Because you betrayed me," Kate shouts."What are you talking about, Kate?" Kate's friends are confu
