Trash

'I was burning with desire already but when I heard about what he thought about women, I was fuming in anger to the point that I don't care if I snap and people will look at us.'

'Our orders we're served by the waiter, after that he left. Instead of continuing this endless point of our conversation, I just kept quiet and focus on my drink.'

'Seconds turn into minutes that turn into an hour before he broke the silence and speak.' "Look we are here to plan about our ideas for the project, not about my animosity against women nor what I feel about them. I think it's better if we just focus on our tas-

'Before he could finish what he would say, I cut him off.'

"Your right, we should just focus on our task so we could wrap this up as early as possible," I told him but there was not a hint of warmth in it. Not that I care.

'He was shocked with my abrupt but cold voice cutting him off to speak. It didn't bother me because I already reach the limit of my patience when he told me about his sentiments about women.'

"Looks like the both of us don't have any idea on what we should do, so let's just continue this another day."

"Okay! When will we meet again for the planning? He asked me.

"I don't know when maybe after class or whenever we are free. We could do it at the library in our free period. For now, let's just research and we'll talk about it when we meet again."

'I told him that and I started to gather my things and left a bill on the table preparing to leave but before I walked away I told him something that made his eyebrows frown.'

"I don't know what happened to you that made your perception about love like that, but not all women are liability and most especially a hindrance to a person's successes. Some women can actually help you reach your dreams by them being at your side and supporting you throughout, that's why I don't understand why you're spouting such nonsense to the point that I felt that you have insulted me and you're acting like a jerk."

"Look, I don't care if you think I am a jerk for telling you my opinion about women. You may feel insulted because you're a woman as well but it is what I think. Regardless of the fact if I'm wrong or not, it's still my decision if I will hurt women or not. Just what I've told you, I would rather hurt them than let them hurt me."

"Yes that's what you think, you think of us like we're useless. Let me tell you this, we are in the 21st century where most women don't rely on men, In fact, if the likes of you will be the only ones left in this world, we could live our lives without you on it. Still, we include the likes of you so that you will not be alone in the journey of finding yourselves."

"If something happened in your past, I'm sorry even though I don't know any of it, what you went through was have been heartbreaking that made you think of us as a hindrance and a liability. But I'm not sorry for calling you a jerk because you are. Given by how many hearts you have broken already, I'm not even surprised why you don't feel any remorse about your actions." 'His gaze to me was cold to the point that he's going to kill me if I don't shut up, but I'm not backing off.'

"Even if I tell you my reason you won't be able to understand me. Don't even start lecturing me about how I should treat women because you don't know anything. You don't know what happened to me that made me think of them as a useless piece of trash-"

"You're right I don't know what happened to you and I shouldn't care but you don't have the right to hurt, trample, or call us trash and treat us like garbage that once you've used you will dispose of already. Not all women are like that and not all women will hurt you!"

'He was stupefied because of what I've said. I am really fuming mad but I will not let him see that I am affected by his words. I look at him one last time before I walked away heading straight through the door.'

'I didn't head home after that long argumentation with Craig, I just walked and walked until I don't know where my feet brought me. Looking up it was already dark, no lights surrounding me not even a hint of sound could be heard, only the deafening silence.'

'Noticing a sketchy man following my every move, I walked fast enough to see if he would follow me. When I look back he's not there anymore, maybe I was just overthinking. When I look in front to continue, I was not able to take another step because I saw the man following me earlier in front of me.'

"Oh my God! Help! Somebody!" I pleaded loudly for anyone to just hear me and saved from this misery.

'I run away from him as fast as I could, but no matter how fast I run, he grabbed my shoulders and pointed something sharp at my stomach.'

'He covered my mouth with his hands for me not to be able to create a sound.'

"Move and scream and this sharp knife will pierce through your body."

'I felt numb all over my body. I couldn't even shout for help. I was stupefied to where I'm standing, sweat forming on my face not because it's hot but because I felt scared that my life will suddenly just end with no one in there to save me from this misery.'

'I closed my eyes and wait for it to pierce through me but what I heard was a grumble of noises like some people are fighting. When I opened my eyes I saw Craig punch the man in the face and in the gut, then, he broke his bones, and the man passed out. I saw Craig walking to me and he held my shoulders to asked me if I was alright.'

"Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?' He asked me and his tone was lace with concern."

'He waited for me to say anything but I couldn't talk because what happened earlier lingered on my mind and the shock that I felt and saw numb my whole being. I didn't know what possess me, but I ended up hugging Craig and I buried my face on his chest.'

'No words come out from my mouth, it's just my sobs and endless tears that kept flowing like a river. I didn't even think that by hugging Craig, I would feel calm when I was just so angry with him earlier in the cafeteria.'

'All I know is at that moment I felt safe in his arms. For the first time in my life, I felt relief and warmth was overflowing through my body when he hugged me back and consoled me that everything's going to be alright.'

"It's okay, you're okay. Forget about what happened tonight and treat it like a speck of dust that had quickly vanished and is not coming back again."

'He told me that I should treat this as a speck of dust and forget everything that happened. I could do that, but I don't want to, because if I did I will also forget that on this silent night where my life was almost on a dead end; a guy saved me. The guy who I hated earlier for calling women as a hindrance and liability.'

'He saved me and I am grateful to him but it doesn't mean that I forgot about his words earlier in the cafeteria. Let's just say that we will be civil... for now.'

'Noticing that we have a hug for a very long time, I got conscious when I saw his hoodie got wet because of my tears.'

"Uhm, thanks for saving me and I'm sorry about your hoodie."

"It's fine. Are you alright now?"

'He asked me if I was alright and I want to tell him that I'm not; I'm not fine at all, especially after experiencing that horrendous scene earlier, but I didn't say it to him.'

"I'm fine". I told him that even though I lied.

"Liar." He scoffs at me.

'I just shrugged it off and didn't ask him how he knew that I lied. Maybe he could see through a person if they were lying or not.'

'We both walked at the same pace for us to go to our respective houses, but before I could take a step, he held my hand and brought me towards the park where he urges me to sit on the bench and I didn't know why he brought me here.

"Let's talk."