Episode 11-Sloth (5)

I saw Ethan stomping over and braced myself.

"Hey!!"

He marched towards the table and got between Jace and the girl named Maxine.

"Ever heard of personal space?" He growled.

"I just wanted to know who they were."

"Not a damn excuse to invade and grab-!"

"Hey, calm down, man."

Jace placed his hands on Ethan's shoulders and talked with a honeyed tone.

"I didn't mean anything by it, okay? I just thought it's hot in here; maybe they should take off the hood. How about you, you're in a rain jacket and-"

"Don't touch me."

Ethan backed away.

"Max, I think we should go."

"Hey, why are you leav-"

"We're not staying," Ethan affirmed. "Max, let's go."

"O-okay."

Since their hood was down, I could easily see who they were. The girl named Max had petite features and flowing brown hair. I couldn't guess her age, but she seemed young.

"Uh, Ethan?"

"Marcus, uh. Fuck."

Ethan seemed caught between two people. It seemed Marcus had to stay.

"Marcus, Maxine, and I have to go."

"Hey, slow down. Why?"

"None of your business, Miss Demin. Alicia, Aliana, we can meet later."

"Hey, where are you taking Marcus? And Maxine?" Jace interceded.

Ethan closed his eyes and breathed out, carefully picking his words.

"These two need to meet with their respective fathers. Adler needs his son, and Maxine needs to stay in a secure position."

(Maxine's father is here? Who is he?)

"Mr. McFarland is here? I didn't hear about this. How do you know?"

Alexa and Jace seemed to perk up at this information.

"McFarland isn't here yet, but he'll come at an unspecified time. For now, he needs everyone close to him to be safe. You should understand how important that is."

Ethan said that and gestured for the two to walk with him.

"You can stop with your bullshit," Jace spat. "I know when I'm not wanted. Come on, Alexa."

The Demin siblings went somewhere else while Ethan faded into the crowd.

(What just happened?)

"Uh, Jacob, I think we should leave too."

"Oh, yeah, course. See ya."

"Come on, Aliana."

"Where are we going?"

"I wanna find out where they went. I have a rough guess."

We exited the cafeteria, but I made sure to look back to see my mom and dad.

(They seem fine. I hope they won't notice we're gone.)

We quickly jogged through the hallways, making sure to circumvent the usual path we took. I didn't want to lead that guy to the rest. We entered the classroom we returned from earlier, and I opened the window.

"You think they went on the roof?"

"It's just a hunch. Ethan was definitely lying and I can't think of any other possibilities."

I found the remote Marcus used and triggered the mechanism. The rope fell, and I saw it was attached to a toy monster truck.

(Is that how he sent it down? How does he hoist the rope back up?)

We climbed the rope and saw three figures in the distance.

"So, this is where you guys were hiding!"

Aliana seemed excited that everyone else was hiding on the roof.

"It's so much cooler at night!"

The sky was clear, and the pearlescent moon shone. Ethan was swinging some stick in one corner of the rooftop while Marcus was fiddling with a metal toy. In a secluded section, Maxine sat reading a book. The situation wasn't tense, but it wasn't amicable either. Aliana wasn't as conscious as me.

"Hey, Aliana!"

I could see the object in his hands when Ethan paused his swinging. It was two metal bars welded together.

(How did he get that? All the weapons were taken away.)

"What is that?" Aliana asked.

"A metal pipe. I found it lying around a classroom. Decided to use it for sword practice."

[Your Constellation Sponsor is suspicious of that statement.]

"Is that what you're into?"

"Yeah, sword practice."

Uncharacteristically, Aliana began talking to Ethan. Looking at her face, though, she seemed to be forcing herself.

[Your Constellation Sponsor implores you to take proactive steps.]

[Your Constellation Sponsor wants you to assess the situation.]

(He probably wants me to talk to the new person.)

I didn't know who Maxine was or why Ethan knew them. Another weird thing I noticed is that he could easily tell her what to do. I decided to approach slowly.

(What is she, an animal? God, I'm acting stupid.)

I sat next to her; it seemed she wanted to look up but was too afraid to do so.

"You're name is Maxine, right?"

"Y-yeah," she said hesitantly.

"What are you reading?"

"Oh, it's, uh, it's n-nothing..."

(She seems shy. Actually, even though the moon is out, how can she see the book clearly?)

She seemed different. From what I saw at the cafeteria, she looked pale, but now her skin looked clearer like her vitality was restored. Her movements weren't jittery, and her breathing was even, but maybe her nervousness came from being in a social situation.

(And probably that creepy Jace guy.)

"She's reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians," Ethan said. "A real book."

Maxine looked up from her reading and rebuked him. "Hey, Twilight is a good book!"

"Twilight? The series that got turned into movies?"

(Dang it, what was the author's name?)

"Twilight had Robert Pattinson, right?" Aliana asked.

"Yeah, and Kristen Stewart."

"Everyone only knows about the books because of the movies."

"Yeah, because the movies made that godforsaken book series bearable. You're young, Max; you're probably going through puberty, and as a result, reading weird stuff you shouldn't."

"Twilight is not that bad," she said sheepishly.

"It is. The Apocalypse is bad enough, but it's made worse when you know her books still exist. Those novels should serve as kindling or toilet paper."

Ethan returned to swinging his practice weapon.

"Even then, I wouldn't want those pages touching my ass."

Aliana and Marcus laughed. Maybe it's the things he said or his monotone voice and deadpan delivery, but it seemed Ethan had a natural talent for humor.

"I will literally stop reading this book, Ethan," Maxine threatened.

"You see, I know you won't. It's too good."

Ethan stopped his repetitions and looked back at her.

"If I'm guessing correctly, you're probably past the point where Percy's mom got kidnapped and when he began his quest. You probably read the chapter where he and Annabeth are arguing, and Argus is giving Percy a sly look."

"H-how did you know?"

"You're weak to romance tropes, Max. You've already latched onto their relationship and want to see where it goes. Don't be peeved that I know which book is better."

I couldn't help but smile.

(I don't think there's anything to found out. It's just a silly conversation.)

I looked at everyone and saw they had something to do. Marcus was messing with some contraption, Maxine was reading, and Ethan was exercising while Aliana talked to him. Here I was, doing nothing.

(Maybe I should try.)

I opened the backpack I had brought and took out my sketchbook.

(It's okay. It's okay. Don't look at it.)

I opened the first few pages but-

"Hrrgh-!"

"Are you okay?"

Maxine noticed how I felt sick.

"It's fine."

I tucked my sketchbook back into my bag.

(Please tell me she didn't notice.)

I didn't want anyone to see what was on my notebook. I didn't want them to ask questions, like why it was covered in blood.

(I'll just paint on flashcards.)

I took out a brush and began drawing with thick, viscous ink. Still, when it dripped down onto the clear white cards, I couldn't help but imagine dark blood dripping down flesh.

(It's not blood, calm down!)

[Your personal attribute is activating.]

Even painting was a struggle, but I kept drawing until the picture was complete. Once I was finished, I held it out to the moonlight and let it dry in the night air.

[Your Constellation Sponsor is pleased with your spell.]

"That's a cool hieroglyph."

I squealed from fright.

"God, how did you get behind me?!"

Ethan was staring again.

"Just wanted to check in on what you guys were doing. I'll fade away now."

In a melodramatic fashion, Ethan backed away into the darkness until he was hard to see. He probably meant it as a joke, but it was genuinely scary.

"So, why did you guys come here?"

"I wanted to avoid that creepy guy," Aliana answered. "Did you see how passive-aggressive he was?"

"Yeah, especially his sister."

Their idle conversation continued until Ethan asked this question.

"Hey, Aliana, do you wanna learn some sword fighting?"

"Uh, sure. Are you any good?"

"I dunno, maybe. It's better than nothing, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. Sure, what the hell."

I squinted my eyes and saw those two squaring up. Ethan switched his gears again and entered some type of teaching mode.

(I just can't nail that guy.)

He's aggressive one second, and he's a nerd the next.

"Okay, when you extend your sword into a thrust-"

"Pfft."

"That's the official terminology; get your head out of the gutter."

"Anyways, don't twist your wrist to accompany the motion when you extend your sword into a thrust. You'll have to reposition the sword in your hand; imagine holding a knitting needle or holding chopsticks."

As the night proceeded, I felt... peaceful. Ethan's lecturing in the background, Marcus's tinkering, and Maxine's serene reading felt comfortable. For another short moment, I forgot about reality again.

After that, our hangout session concluded. We couldn't stay forever, but I wished we could. Aliana and I separated from the rest and we walked to our classroom. As we did, I noticed she was more nervous than usual.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah."

(It seems like she's hiding more from me now.)

Was it related to Ethan?

***

It was the next day around the midafternoon. I wish I could say it was uneventful, but it wasn't. Ethan had a full-blown meltdown.

"Ethan, stop!" I shouted.

***

I do not hate small children. Their ignorance isn't willful; it's due to the fact they have limited intellect. Teenagers, though? Fuck 'em. I can understand why adults hate our generation. Although, the older generation isn't blameless as well.

(We all got problems.)

Especially me. I have a lot of issues.

It all started with one kid. Of course, Jace and Alexa came back, and they brought their little clique. Maybe it was my phobia of teenagers or my deep-seated hatred, but being in their presence made me seethe. It was like something was grating against my soul, chipping away until nothing was left.

I didn't bring Max this time. I wanted to protect her. Protect her from this filth.

(God, I wish I didn't have to pay attention.)

I thought of Fraggy and how he wrote things down. I prayed he wasn't listening to anything they said.

"So, where's your girlfriend at?"

I wasn't paying attention to anything else, so I didn't notice at first.

"Hey, you. Yeah!"

I looked up and saw it was some punk kid. My patience was running thin already because I was tired, and he was exhausting my reserve.

"What do you want?"

"Damn, you're grouchy. Does she have to deal with that as well?"

(Ignore it.)

I needed to ignore it. I tried to remember what my mother said about avoiding conflict.

"You know, I can already see who you are."

(It's a trap.)

I glanced over at Jace and saw his indifference.

(Prick.)

"Like, it seems kinda possessive, don't you think? Keeping her to yourself? Come on, let her have some friends."

(We need to leave.)

I needed to get Marcus, Aliana, and Alicia out of here, but-

"So, Marcus, what are you doing today?"

-Alexa latched herself to him. The pressure as well... it was overbearing.

[Constellations wonder how you will proceed.]

[Constellations of confrontation want a conflict.]

[Constellations of pacifism want peace.]

"Plus, how old are you? She looks like a little kid."

I flicked to the next holographic screen.

"Ah, I see how it is. You're into that shit, aren't you?"

I continued to ignore the punk.

"You know, I bet she's into it too. She seems like a closet pervert, and girls like her are easy to figure out."

I gritted my teeth.

"But I don't know what you're getting from it. Like, she's so fucking tiny, so her pu-"

-!SLAM!-

I slammed his head against the cafeteria table and dragged him across.

"Aoh, shit!"

"Kids like you with your vulgar mouths!"

I held the kid by the jaw, digging my fingers into his mouth. I pushed him down onto his knees and stared into his eyes. He tried to look away, but I made him.

"Hey, hey, look at me."

"F-fuck o-f"

"LOOK! AT! ME!!"

He froze.

"Always surrounding yourself with talking mirrors, echoing back at you. Hiding away with your social media, little apps and programs, and your little teenage dramas."

As I said this, I dug my fingers into his mouth, using my nails to poke at the gums and inner cheeks.

"Ethan, stop!"

"Looking away from the world's ugliness, but guess what!? I stared at it, it stared at me, I touched that ugliness, and it's a part of me now, but you keep hiding!!"

"F-fuck off!!"

"People like you are trash. Talking about others behind their backs. You don't change."

I pried his jaw open.

"I should pour soap into your mouth and scrub it with a sponge until it bleeds."

"Let him go, kid!"

"Everyone, settle down! Young man, please! Let him go!"

I heard voices behind me. Scouts, probably. I want to let go...

(But I want to crush his skull so badly.)

This kid... he reminded me of every jeering bastard I ever met. Always looking for a reaction. Taunting you, insulting you, and if that doesn't work, they go for the people you love.

(Love...)

For a moment, I snapped out of it.

"Grab him!"

I felt firm hands grab my arms and shoulders.

"Gwah!"

"Shit!"

No way in hell was I going to let someone touch me. I jabbed my elbow into a man's chest and grabbed and twisted another's wrist.

I turned around to see two middle-aged men who looked like teachers. One was struggling to breathe while the other clutched his hand in pain.

"Ah, shit!"

I turned to look at the others and saw Jace Demin smiling. I smiled back.

(Some people don't change.)

I hate certain types of people: cowards who make others fight for them.

"Over there!"

Official scouts from the Santiago Gang approached me.

"Try anything and you'll get it."

"Come with us."

(I have no other choice.)

I followed the scouts while looking back. The two teachers and the kid I assaulted were being helped. It was wrong, but seeing him choke on his spittle is satisfying. I ignored everyone else and focused on Alicia and Aliana. Their expressions were a mixture of shock and confusion, but I wondered if there was any concern.

(I doubt it.)

It seems my wrath got the better of me. It made me wonder if I chose the wrong Witch Factor.