“Does it still hurt?” She says while giving me a treat to my wound on my neck.
“What do you think if your neck got sliced like this?” asking her sarcastically.
“Shut up, you crybaby.” she replies with an annoyed tone then presses my neck with her hand.
“Aw! Aw! Aw!” That's my auto response to the pain.
Thankfully, she just presses it for a moment then she lets go of my neck.
**A few minutes ago**
When I sit up, she looks at me with shock in her eyes.
“Oy! Did I cut your neck too deep?!” she says, raises her voice.
Feels like a minute after my neck got sliced, finally I can feel slight pain from it.
As a response to the pain, my right hand automatically moves to cover the wound.
Without noticing it as well, my clothes, the left side neck, is already covered with my blood.
“Ah..” that’s the only word that comes out of my mouth.
“Don’t ah me, you idiot! We need to treat your wound now!” She says with a panicked tone.
From my perspective, that’s true, she looks a bit panicked now.
Because of that, I can burst out into laughter just seeing her actions.
“Why are you laughing now?! Stupid moth-” her words get cut off from the sound of the door opening.
Gerry rushes into the door that’s why the door looks slammed.
He even has a gun on his hand.
“Mrs. Vilheimina! What is that sound?!” He shouts when he enters the room.
His eyes look shocked because of my condition right now.
True. If I'm in his place too, I will react the same.
With so much blood on my clothes, that's already enough to make any misunderstanding in a second.
Seems like Gerry knows something happened here because of the sound of the broken chain that we just made.
“You!” He then raises his gun, points the gun to Stam.
Stam with her fast response, she reflects to raise her sword to protect herself.
“Wait, Gerry!” I say to stop him.
Fortunately, he stops himself from pulling his trigger.
No response from both of them.
“It’s not because of her, Gerry. It’s just that.. ” try to make excuses with anything that makes sense from things near me.
Thankfully, I see the knife that Stam dropped and it’s next to me.
“We were just training really hard before then the knife just accidentally got me.”
Okay, that’s a lame excuse.
Stam even facepalms at where she stands.
“Are you sure that’s not because of her intentionally doing that, mrs. vilheimina?” Gerry asks again.
Seems like he wants to confirm what I just said.
“A hundred percent sure, Gerry. That was my fault because I’m the one who used the knife.”
Gerry stays silent for a moment but thankfully he trusts my words.
He puts his gun down and locks the safety.
But his eyes are still looking at Stam.
“How’s your wound, Mrs. Vilheimina?” He asks me.
“A quick treatment should be great.” replying to him.
After that he rushes back to search for my wound treatment as fast as possible.
He leaves us alone again in this room.
“You really sucks, you know that?” Stam is the one who breaks the silence.
Her words never fail to irritate me, huh.
“You're welcome. I just saved you from getting a bullet” replying to her sarcastically.
**Back to the present**
“Alright. Where should we start?” she asks while pouring a tea to fill in her cup.
Did Gerry really trust me that easily? He even brought a tea set for us..
Anyway, let’s put that aside for now.
“Maybe we can start from where you are comfortable telling me?” I know this must be very personal to her, that's why I need to pay more attention to her first.
“Alright then. I was born in..” Her words get cut off from me this time.
“Stop stop stop. That’s not what I meant.” Let out a sigh “It should be about the background of your criminal case.”
Hearing what I’m just saying to her already makes her scoff.
“Hahaha.. You’re so easy to tease, you know?” She makes fun of me again.
My face automatically shows the annoyed one.
“Alright, alright. Hmm.. maybe I can start from where they always put too much pressure on me? Since I was a kid, I never experienced ‘normal’ kid activities.” She emphasizes the word ‘normal’.
Just because of those words of ‘normal kid’, I can feel something bothering me.
“You must know how it feels, right? Heh..” Even though she shows her smirks and a little scoff, it hits differently than before.
“Yeah.. Maybe you and I have the same back-” My words get cut off from her again.
But this time is more extreme than before.
She cut off my words by throwing the wooden knife towards me.
Thankfully because of a lot of training with her, I can dodge that right before it hits me.
When I successfully dodge it, I can hear her clicking her tongue.
“Seems like someone is a bit upset or maybe a little bit proud?” This time, I’m the one who says that sarcastically.
Once again, that smirk shows up again on her face and she takes one knife that’s not a wooden one.
“I won't miss it next time.” She points at me with her knife.
Throwing my hands in the air playfully is like giving a sign ‘I give up’.
“Anyway, I actually don’t really like it if you said that our stories are the same. That’s why I threw that knife before.” She puts down the knife.
“Well.. I mean our family always puts that kind of pressure on both of us, right?” replying to her.
“Do you get any punishment if you fail?” She asks me.
Nods as a response to her question.
“What kind of punishment?” Second question from her.
“This training is one of the punishments they gave me.”
“Did they punish you physically as well?” third question.
Nods again.
Her eyes open a little bit wider than before.
“Then it might be true that our stories are the same huh.” she says.
“I see. One point for me because my prediction is correct. Nice.” take a sip from my tea.
Once again she clicks her tongue again.
“You can be so annoying sometimes.” she says with a smirk on her face “But then you might be able to predict it as well right? What comes next?”
When I think about it, she might be right that I can predict how her life was back then.
But was it all the reason behind her criminality?
“Maybe. But it won’t be one hundred percent true, right? That’s why I would like to hear it from you, Stam.” Replying to her.
“Hmm.. fair enough. Alright then if you’re really a fan of mine, I’ll tell ya.” She says playfully.
Once again, my face changes to annoyed one right when she says I’m her fan.
“It all started when I was four. My father trained me really hard to become the best fencing player. That was the time where I started getting punishments from him.” She starts telling her story.
Now she said that and I just realized that Stam’s family name is not an ordinary name.
It also comes from one of the conglomerate's names but it’s still in the middle level.
Based on what I’ve read about the articles before, it might be true that she’s the last one of the Stam family.
“He’s very obsessed with our family name. He really wants me to raise this family name because he thought that I might have the potential for it.” She continues.
The difference for me, they might see more potential in me than my brother to protect the family name.
Raises my hand to ask permission to talk.
But my action only makes her burst into laughter.
“BAHAHAHA. What are you doing, stupid?!” She says playfully.
Her response only makes my blood rise to my face.
Why is this so embarrassing if she's always mocking me like that?
“Shut up. It’s my habit.” replying to her.
“You don’t have to be so formal with your friend, dumbass. You don’t know how to have fun with a friend aren’t ya?” She's mocking me once again.
Again, she successfully irritates me.
“Whatever.” That's the only response that I can do for her.
“Well, let's talk about it another time. But just don't be too formal with me if you don’t want me to make fun of you the whole day.” she giggles.
“Anyway. What do you want to say?” She asks me.
“I just want to ask, are you an only child?”
“Nope. I have one older sister and younger brother. They let my sister do whatever she wants. For my brother, somehow they really spoiled that child. Sucks, right?” she scoffs again.
Whenever she tells about the sad part of the stories, she always ends it with a scoffed on her face.
From my perspective, she must be really hurt from it.
But on the other hand I know that my brother might have his own rule that they already set him up for.
Her story might be almost the same to me, that’s why I don’t think I need to tell her now about it.
“My jealousy towards them keeps piling up because of how different they treat me with my siblings. They took all of my freedom. I feel like I live in a cage with them.” She continues.
“Umm.. did your siblings comfort or cheer you up before?” I ask her.
“Nope. They were happy with their life and didn’t give a shit about it.” she replies.
This time, I’m really grateful that I have a brother that cares about me.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that our age actually is not that far. I meant you and I. I’m only one year older than you.” she says.
“Huh? But from your appearance-” a knife throws to my face again.
Unfortunately I can’t dodge that this time but thankfully she throws the wooden one.
But it still hurts to get hit by that.
“You’re welcome that I used the wooden one.” She says sarcastically but she’s using her annoyed voice.
“Pft.” I can’t help it but I finally let out a chuckle because of her reactions.
This time, she’s the one who shows the irritated face on hers.
“Oh.. “ She grabs the real knife on her right hand “You really want to meet my parents, huh?” She says, threatening me.
As a response to her threatened, I throw my hands in the air once again
“Anyway,” She puts down her knife again. “I guess that’s all of my story? I mean all kinds of pressure that they gave to me before.” she says.
“How about the reason? Do you really have to kill them all?” asks her.
“Take over my freedom. Aren't you tired of it? You lived in a cage for more than half of your life.” She replies.
She might be right but for me isn’t it excessive?
Referring to killing those people
“Aren’t you going to be free when you achieve the goals?” asks her again.
“We lived in a cruel world, Valter. Think about it. You’re sixteen years old and I bet that you’ve lived under your cage for sixteen years as well.”
From this moment, I can’t let out a word from my mouth.
“You’re just doing what they wanted for sixteen years. None of it is what you want. Humans never ended their wants, Valter. If you don’t get rid of those people who caged you, you’ll start losing everything that you have right now.” She continues.
But they let me be friends with the twins.
The silence fills in the room this time.
A lot of thoughts are spinning around my head now.
When she lets out a sigh while standing up from her seat, she successfully catches all my attention to look at her.
She turns around then takes off her long sleeved t-shirt.
Now I know why it’s not excessive for her to do such a thing to her family.
Her back is literally covered with burned skin and some wounds that look like permanent scars.
Her arms are full with scars and wounds as well.
From my perspective now, I think the only natural skin is just on her face.
“Get it now?” She wears her t-shirt back.
No words come out again, just nods as a response to her.
“It’ll be hard for me to make friends with this, you know. Because I’m sure that if they found out about it, they’ll just freak out seeing these.” She scoffs again.
“I would never do such a thing to you, Stam.” finally I can reply to her words.
She doesn’t look at me right now, her head is looking down
This time I’m the one who turns around.
“I have some of what you got there.” rolls up my t-shirt.
Because of that, her attention now focuses on me.
Stam is the first person to know about this wound of mine.
Burned skin that has a V letter then three horizontal lines in the middle of it.
This burned skin means that I have made fatal mistakes three times back then.
“And.. yeah.. You’re the first one other than my family to know about this.” I say to her.
“Valter.. Your back..” this is my first time hearing her voice like that.
Rolls down my t-shirt then turns around to face her.
Scratches the back of my neck.
“Not as bad as yours but I have some too.” scoffs, feel like I’m copying her.
Now I feel nervous..
“I’m sorry, Valter. I didn’t mean that you have a better life than me.” she lowers her voice tone.
Seems like she feels bad this time.
“It’s okay, Stam. You said we’re friends, right? I showed this not because I want you to feel bad or anything. I just want you to feel that you’re not alone.” explains to her.
From how I see her now, I can see that there’s a crystal of tears on her eyes.
But she still put that tough look on her.
“What are you saying you stupid retard shit.” She says while turning around.
“Hmm.. someone is blushing over there~ How cu-” this is the third time she cuts off my words.
But this time, I’m really grateful that I successfully dodged it.
She threw the knife, that’s the metal one.
That knife might give me a wound or take my life away.
“You really want to kill me aren’t you?” I try my best to use my normal voice even though my heart beats like crazy right now.
The feeling of almost getting stabs on my face still in here.
“Shut up, stupid. Let’s wrap things up for now.” She stands up then reaches her hand to me.
At this moment, I just realized that this might be the last time we see each other.
But deep down in my heart, I want to meet her once again if It’s possible.
Feels like I just don’t want her to feel like she’s alone.
Take her hand then I stand up from my seat as well.
“Thank you for everything, Stam.” I say to her.
“Shut up, that’s gross.” She replies then walks out from the room.
Tomorrow.. I Should get ready for tomorrow..
**Next Morning** When I wake up, I can find my phone right next to my bed. Last night, I remember precisely that I didn’t its not there. They must have done something with my phone. But I’ll check it later, I need to prepare myself for today’s agenda. Maybe twins can help me to figure out what they have done to my phone. After getting ready, I check my belongings that I need to bring for this summer camp. Suddenly I heard someone knocking into my room. Walks to open the door but I couldn’t find anyone there. That’s weird.. When I close the door, I still can hear someone knocking. The sound is getting louder then I just realized that it comes from my window. When I check the side of my window, I can see someone is there. Who is it..? Try to check it more clearly. Ahh.. At this moment, another prediction comes through my mind. This might be a new normal scene in my window from now on. Opens the window only to find Stam that is struggling to hold on beside the wall. “Can you just go in from the door?” I ask her playfully, teasing her. “Just help me will you, idiot?! I can’t hold it any longer!” She says with her frustrated voice. Reach my hand for her so she can grab into my hand. When she grabs my hand, I help her to get into my room. “Aghhh! Finally!” She says, it seems like she’s very tired holding onto that before. “You know it will be like that. You can call me with the alarm in front of the gate.” I say to her while taking a glass of water for her. “Are you dumb? You think your family will let someone famous like me get into your house?” She replies sarcastically. That comes to my realization as well. Coaching and training ended yesterday. “Ah.. now that you mentioned that.. Anyway, what are you doing here?” I ask her. “Hmm.. I’m bored? Woow.. your room smells nice.” She replies while exploring my room. “You can’t use that as your reason to come here.” my response to her coldly. “Are you going somewhere today? That’s a lot of luggage.” She says then proceed to my luggage. “You ignored me, didn't you?” Comes to the realization that I never told her what our training is for. “Today is my first day for summer camp with other conglomerates schools. This is also one of the reasons why we had those trainings before.” I say and that catches her attention. “Oh really? Summer camp? Ahh.. I want to have summer camp too.” She says with a childish voice. That’s right.. Stam has never gone to school before. I should pay more attention to my words to her. Somehow I feel bad after telling her about the summer camp. “Are you going to the summer camp today?” She asks me while rummaging through my drawer. Looking at her, I know her actions are kind a inappropriate. But I don’t have any discomfort or anger towards her. Because I know her story, that’s why she might act like this. Literally, I’m her first friend. “Yes. I’m going to the summer camp today.” replying to her. “Where will you guys gather together before going there?” She asks. “I suppose we’ll gather in the front yard of the school.” “When will it be?” she asks me once again then closes the drawer. “Should be this morning, I guess.” “Oohhh..” She turns around then walks pass me. “Join the summer camp. Is that really what you want to do, Valter?” she asks me. That question sounds different from any other questions before. “No actually they just put the top students from all classes to send it to this event.” answering her last question. From where I stand right now, I can hear her little sigh from my behind. Is she mad at me? “You need to do something for yourself too, Valter.” She says with a voice tone that I’ve never heard before. A very sympathetic and worried voice tone of her and that catches my attention in no time. Turns around to look at her but she blocks my vision with a bag of snacks. “I’ll take this one with me, okay? Byee~” holding one of my favorite snacks in her hand then she jumps off from my room through the window again. Her actions have already answered my question before. Seems like she’s not mad at me. Shaking my head lightly just because of her actions but a little smile does appear on my face. But her last sentence before makes me feel like I shouldn’t take her words lightly. The alarm on my phone starts ringing now, a sign that I need to leave for school. Alright. I think I should go now.
Comments
Post a Comment