The staff from the embassy quickly get Mana who is sprawling on the ground.
Even though my vision is still a little bit blurry, I still can see where she is.Seems like she succeeded to move away from the truck when she heard Stam’s shout.
But still, she must get the explosion from it based on how close she was before.
My head and ears are ringing and it hurts a lot.
The world seems spinning faster than ever which means my vertigo is back even worse this time.
Despite how hurt my head right now, my throat is even more hurt than anything.
It hurts because I’m also desperately shouting.
A loud sound of ambulance and fire truck sirens can be heard from afar, followed by two other police cars.
With that, the other emergency agents help me to get away from there.
On my way to the Villa, I can see Mari who is crying so hard in Görder’s arms.
Brugière and Léger are hugging each other while trying not to look at the truck.
“Please no one get close to there, okay!” One of the police officers says.
“Take your breath slowly, Valter.” A female voice says to me and patting my back.
Without noticing it, Stam is right beside me this whole time and she’s the one who tries to calm me down.
Looking at her, I don’t know what to say or how I feel.
My hands clenched tightly then I cover my face with it.
The tears keep coming down from my cheeks and the thought of them spinning in my head.
After about fifteen minutes pass by, one of the police officers comes to us again.
“Good evening, everyone. Does anyone here get hurt?” He says.
All of us answer with shaking our heads.
“Good then I will try to inform you honestly about the condition.” He pitches the bridge of his nose.
“I will start from the girl. The girl has bad injuries at her back and based on what they said to me, they will do everything for her.” He says while looking at Mari.
“Please.. sir.. Do every- anything for her.. Please save her..” Mari says, her voice full of desperation.
Her tears still fall down from her cheeks.
“We will do, Mrs. Einhard.” He replies then looks back at Brugière and Léger. “I’m really sorry to say this. For the boy, unfortunately we can not do anything about him.”
At the moment the police officer says ‘sorry’, Brugière finally lets it all out while Léger is hugging her.
Brugière cries and shouts out of her desperation.
Léger looks like he tries to hold his tears but it still comes out.
How can something like this happen..? After all of those happy things happened today..
The pressure on my chest is getting tighter than before, even worse than my childhood trauma.
My clenched fists are still covering my face.
“For you,” Another voice from the police officer becomes closer to where Stam and I sit. “You’re under arrest.” then grabs Stam’s hand.
“What the heck?!” Stam replies with a frustrating voice. “I just saved this person before getting hurt from the explosion!”
“And why would we trust you with that? Verle Stam, the murderer of Stam’s family?” One of the officers and both of them handcuffs her.
“Wait! Hold-” Stam tries to resist the officers “I’m innocent! Valter! Help me!” She says while struggling from the two officers.
Shut up..
Unfortunately, at this moment, I can’t think straight and still can’t believe what just happened.
No responses, not looking at her, my face still covered with my fists.
With that, the police officers bring Stam to get into the car and the students get picked up as soon as possible from their own family.
Many people are complaining at the embassy’s staff, angry, and even demand punishment for them and obviously Stam.
Even though there is no clear information yet, they already believe that Stam did it because of her backstory.
Gerry picks me up after a few minutes Mari left to get to the hospital.
All the way back home, I’m just spacing out and feel like floating, just blank.
When I arrive at home, only my brother comes to greet me.
“Baby sis!” He says while running at me “Are you alright?! I will accompany you inside, okay?” He puts a blanket to cover me from the cold wind.
He puts his arm around me while walking to get into my room.
“Gerry, please bring two cups of hot chocolate into our house, okay?” He says to Gerry before getting inside my room.
My mind is still blank and my chest feels like there is a hole there.
Even my brother can tell how empty I’m right now just from my eyes.
“I will put your things here, okay?” He says and sits right next to me.
The room fills with silence and the sound of clock ticking is getting louder for me.
“This.. is something that is out of expectation.” He breaks the silence and puts his hand on my head.
Still no response from me.
“Never thought something like this could happen.” He continues slowly.
Clenching my fists.
“No one ever wanted this to happen.” Finally some words manage to come out from my mouth.
My eyes still lock on my feet, I still can’t look at my brother’s face.
“True, no one..” He replies without hesitation. “Those two must have something special to you which makes you like this.” He says while patting my head..
The way he comforts me really breaks all the walls inside me.
Memories from the two of them suddenly running inside my head again.
With that, I can’t hold up anything inside of me again.
The tears start coming up and my heart is getting tighter.
Throwing myself to his chest and I cry as loud as I can that night.
**Tomorrow Morning**
The sunlight that comes through between my curtains feels more brightening than before.
Can barely open my eyes.
Ahh.. I can’t go to school looking like this..
Today feels a lot heavier than ever but I need to prepare myself for school anyway.
Thoughts of the twins keep coming through my mind and my heart always aches from it.
At the same time, I have no idea why whenever I think about Colombain, my heart aches a little bit more than the twin.
What is he going to say that night? If only..
Tightening my fist again and holding my chest because of it.
After preparing myself, as usual I will have my breakfast in the dining room.
Just as expected based on the incident last night, my parents are waiting for me there.
“Good morning, mother, father.” I greet them when I step in the room.
“Good morning, my dear. Please take a seat and eat your delicious breakfast.” My mother says.
“Yes, mother.” With that I start to dig in my breakfast.
Strangely, both of them stay silent after I finish eating.
Not like before, they just harsh me out of nowhere.
“Thanks for the food.” I say and stand up from my chair.
Gerry, who is always behind me, gets my signal to prepare the car.
With that he bows to us and walks towards the door.
“Gerry.” My mother calls him and that makes him turn around to face her.
“You don’t have to drive Vilheimina to school today.” She says.
After what my mother just said, my father finally makes a response by standing up from his seat.
He doesn’t say anything and just goes straight forward to the door.
Gerry and I look confused about their actions.
“You can help the maid to clean the table for now.” my mother continues while standing up from her seat.
“Am I not going to school again?” I ask her.
“Of course not my dear. Why would you think like that?” She replies without looking at me and just walks towards the door following my father.
“Then why can't Gerry drive me to school today?” I ask her again.
“Can’t?” She replies and finally looks at me “Oh my, I never said ‘can’t’ before. How can my dear child become this silly?” She says sarcastically and continues walking to the door.
From her response, I still don’t get any idea what she’s talking about.
Before getting out of the dining room, she looks back one last time to check on me.
“Why are you just standing there, dear? Hurry up, pick your bag and we are off to school. You don’t want to be late, right?” She says.
With that I finally understand what they are going to do.
It's been almost five years since they drove me to school.
Inside my heart, I really hope they won’t hurt me or anything inside the car but that seems impossible.
When I step out of the house, I can see my father is already inside the car, sitting in the driver seat.
My mother is waiting for me near the car and she gets in the car right after her eyes land on me.
They both stay silent again until we get out from my house’s gate.
“My precious Vilherimina dear..” My mother breaks the silence “Please study well in school, okay? You don’t want to fail or anything, right?” She says.
“Yes, mother.” replying to her.
Moments of silence fill in the car again.
Is that all?
Take a glance over where my father sits, his eyes just focus on the road.
“See, my love? Our daughter isn't affected by it. You’re worrying too much~” My mother says out of nowhere to my father.
He scoffs at what my mother just said to him.
“Thankfully. I know our daughter won’t care about them.” he replies.
Them? What are they talking about?
At this moment I look at them confusedly.
“Sorry to eavesdrop on the conversation, mother, father. But may I ask what you guys are talking about?” gripping my hand while asking this question.
“Oh well.. You don’t need to know, sweetheart.” my mother replies without looking at me “Just study well for school, okay~?”
“Is it about the accident from last night? You mean the twins?” I ask them once again.
“To be honest my dear, they are nothing to you. You will find someone else a lot better and valuable than them.” she says easily.
Because of what my mother just said, the anger inside me starts piling up.
“Don’t you dare to say that!” I say to her angrily.
“Oh my, are you mad? You need to learn to become more mature, my dear~” She says, always with that annoying and mocking voice.
“Besides, talking about facts, they are nothing if they don’t have you. Poor my dear got used by them to get their family’s name better.” She continues.
“You don’t even know them!” once again replying to her angrily.
“Do I care about it? Of course not. They get into accidents because they are not paying much attention to their surroundings.” She replies.
“But you know what?” She finally looks at me “If only you notice it earlier, they won’t get it, right?” She says with that mocking and fake sad face.
From what she just said to me, suddenly I can’t say a word to her.
The anger starts to decrease and changes by the feeling of guilt.
“Get it, right? That’s why I told you just do well in your school and learn from your mistakes if you don’t want something like this to happen again.” She continues and looks back to the front road again..
When I think about it, she might be right.
Stam noticed it before but on the other hand I didn’t even slightly notice it.
If only that night I notice it, Mana won’t get hurt and Colombain will still..
The thought of Colombain always breaks me down and almost tears me up again.
With that I tightened my fists again and gritted my teeth.
After a few minutes our conversation ends, we finally arrive at school.
“Study well, sweetheart~” She says before I step out of the car.
My chest becomes heavier and tighter than before but I need to keep up my figure in front of everyone.
Even though I know how teary my eyes are right now, I still need to look up in front of me.
Otherwise, everyone will notice it in no time and I have to bear it.
The school atmosphere becomes a little bit different because of last night's news.
Some students still greet me and the others just murmur whenever they see me.
Usually, something like this always bothers me but today is different.
Nothing, I just feel emptiness.
Feels like my legs move on their own but my mind is completely blank.
Those who attended the event didn’t come to school today, it’s only me.
Time really goes a lot slower than before and I can’t really hear what the teacher says today.
Almost like my soul is somewhere else this whole day and I keep thinking about them.
Lunch time arrives and the principal calls me to meet her in his office.
Before I get into the room, there are two policies and two school securities stand by in front of the door.
One of the school security approaches and asks me if I bring anything other than my phone and wallet.
After checking that, he proceeds to open the door to let me in.
“Good afternoon, Valter.” Principal Halbert greets me right after I step into his room.
Just as expected, he is not alone.
There are two people here, Stam and Sneg.
But I never thought that Sneg would be here.
“Good afternoon, sir.” replying to his greeting.
Looking at Stam, her hands are still in handcuffs.
In front of Stam there is Sneg and he just wears his school uniform.
“Please take a seat, Valter.” Principal Halberd says while pulling the chair beside Colombain. “Thank you for coming here.”
My only response to him is just nodding my head and giving a small smile to him.
Stam’s and Sneg’s eyes are already at me from the beginning.
None of them said a word yet.
“I think you should already know why I called you here, right Valter?” Principal Halbert asks.
No responses from me.
“Let’s just get to the point. Is it true that Stam saved you last night?” He asks.
“Yes, she saved me.” answering him without emotion.
“Do you know where she’s coming from?” He asks with an interrogative voice.
“Bushes.”
“Alright then. It’s the same as what you just said, Mr. Sneg.” He says while writing down something on his note.
From what the principal just said, I finally look up to see Sneg who is right beside me.
What? Did Sneg know about it?
“Why would I lie? Even though she has that kind of background, it doesn't mean she must put all the blame, right?” Sneg replies with a sarcastic voice.
“How could I trust someone like both of you guys? Sorry to say this Mr. Sneg, you are still new here. It’s not easy for me to trust you. I hope you understand that.” Principal Halbert replies with a frustrated voice.
“Then what’s the point of I’m telling you all of these?” Sneg replies angrily.
Stam only stays silent and her eyes are looking at me.
Meanwhile, all of my focus is right at them.
“Tell him what Sneg?” I ask him.
“I told him what I saw last night. Since I’m always watching you, I’m one hundred percent sure that person saved you last night.” He replies while looking at me and pointing to Stam.
“But you didn’t do anything? Just stayed silent last night?” somehow I reply to him with a frustrated voice.
Without noticing it, I have no idea where this frustration is coming from.
“What?” He looks at me with a confused face “I’m here to tell the principal that this person is innocent, Valter.”
Based on how he responds to it, he answers it with a frustrated voice as well.
At this moment, I have no idea what my face looks like right now.
Somehow deep down in my heart, I’m really pissed when the thoughts of Mana and Colombain comes through my mind again.
It makes me can’t think straight and clearly about anything.
Only anger that fills inside of me.
“Why didn't you help her then? At least move an inch to save me? Why did you just watch me from afar?!” Each question makes me raise my voice to him.
He looks at me with an even more confused and angry face.
“What the hell are you talking about?” He asks “And how am I supposed to help you when I’m really far away from you?!” He does the same thing as me before.
“If you helped me last night, Stam could help save Mana! Why don’t you think like that?!” This is my first time raising my voice too high.
This might be the first time I'm getting so angry like this.
“And you,” looking at Stam “Why didn’t you save her? She’s only a bit far away from me. Why didn’t you just get her?” saying this frustratedly to Stam.
With that, both Stam and Sneg look at me with an unbelievable face.
“I thought you said you trust me, Valter.” He replies and changes his face into sadness.
Without thinking, I slam the table and get more angry at him, it seems like my emotions are exploding today.
“It’s not about trust, Sneg! Why don't you get about that?!” replying to him, still angrily like before.
He shakes his head and looks really disappointed right now.
“Yeah, heh..” He scoffs, “I’m too naive to believe in your words that night.” then storms off from the room.
The room fills with silence once Sneg leaves the room.
From that too, I put both of my hands on my head and hold it as tight as I can.
“I really tried to save both of you guys that night.” Suddenly Stam breaks the silence.
Please..
“That night I noticed three men doing something suspicious about your belongings and I started to approach them.” She tries to tell us her story.
Don’t say any words right now..
“When I approached them, it’s true they did something that moment. I succeeded in stopping three of them for a while from running away.” She continues.
Just.. stop..!
“But one of them suddenly said that it’s already late to stop them because they already planted a bomb timer in the truck. That is why I tried to run at you as fa-” when she’s just about to finish her story, my anger can’t take it anymore.
It successfully takes control of my body once again.
“SHUT UP!” Slamming the table and shouting at her.
With that, I storm out of the room as well.
Running away from the room as fast as I could.
To the place where I used to sit down with the twins, it’s the school balcony.
No one usually gets there that is why we always get there together.
Sitting there alone while my mind keeps thinking about the twins and Colombain.
Closing my eyes tightly and slowly I can get a hold of my emotions back.
Without noticing it, I doze off for a moment until someone suddenly calls my name.
“Hello, Valter.” It's a female voice.
A familiar voice.
Open up my eyes to find someone is standing in front of me right now.
It’s Brugière.
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