Trouble

It was as though they were waiting for the right opportunity to strike and the moment the teacher left the class, one of the students who could no longer exercise his patience slammed his fist on the desk in front of him and stood up. 

"Hey!" He said, glaring at Alex and drawing the attention of all the other members of the class. "Who do you think you are? Acting all high and mighty, even making Master Kelvin likes you especially, just who the fuck do you think you are!" The boy yelled in anger. 

Because his hate was pretty much obvious, Alex had to turn to look at him, wondering why the boy didn't like him. He was not much of a talker so after staring at the boy for some seconds, he returned his gaze to the board in front of the class. 

No one liked being ignored so the boy got so upset that he left his seat and stormed to Alex's own. Standing in front of Alex, he rolled his sleeves, ready to engage in a fight.

"Stand up and fight me! If you don't, I'll beat you to a pulp!" He said to Alex who still ignored him and tried to look elsewhere since his view was already blocked. "Trying to avoid fighting with me? Doesn't that mean you are weak, idiot!" The boy taunted Alex with a smug look on his face. 

Hearing the word weak, Alex turned for the second time to look at the boy but this time around, it was different. Something about him didn't sit right. "I dare you to say that again," he said to the boy. This was the first time he was answering the boy — the look in his eyes, the heaviness of his voice, no one could understand what was happening. He was a whole new person from that moment. 

"What are you going to do about it, weak ass!" The boy repeated and in the next second, Alex stood up and raised his hand to hit him.

"Stop!" One of the students yelled and Alex abruptly halted. 

He tried hitting the boy again but he couldn't so he brought down his hand, he glanced at the boy who shouted stop and then quietly walked out of the class. 

"What was that, Raphael?" The boy who insulted Alex asked, glaring at the boy who shouted stop. "You should have allowed us to fight it out!" He grunted, displeased by the sudden interference.

The boy whose name was Raphael took out a piece of paper and pen and wrote down something which he showed the angry boy.

"Win me with just one blow? How is that fucking possible!" He yelled, not able to believe what Raphael wrote down. 

Seeing that he wasn't ready to accept the truth, Raphael shrugged his shoulders and walked back to his seat.

"Damn it!" The boy grunted and went back to his seat in anger. 

Outside the class, Alex saw an empty bench under a tree and decided to go there. He was having a complicated feeling because of what happened in the class and as such he wanted a quiet place to sit and think. Sitting under the tree, he felt more relaxed and the cool breeze soothed him, he wished the people around him would be like the cool breeze. 

"Hey," Kelvin called as he approached him. He walked straight to where he was and sat down next to him. "You look troubled, what is it?" He asked him.

"They don't like me," Alex replied. 

"Aww, is that why you are sad?" Kelvin asked him.

"I'm not sad about it. I'm just scared of hurting them in the process of trying to save myself or trying to ignore them," Alex replied. Just like in the class when he tried to attack the boy, he knew that wasn't his doing but the doing of the demon inside of him. The demon is capable of taking control of his body and doing things on his own, this was a big problem on his side because it could cause him unwanted troubles in the future. 

"Just like you did in the class? Well... I can't say for sure, kids can be hostile towards each other, things like these are inevitable so just try as much as possible to ignore as much as you can," Kelvin said to him. "Don't worry, I'll be around to help you," he added, seeing the unsettled look on his face. 

Alex sighed and gazed at the entrance of his class, he saw one of the students coming out and pointed at him. "Who is he and why does he have both sides of his mouth stitched?" He asked Kelvin who looked towards the entrance and saw Raphael.

"Oh, him? Well... the thing is that he can't talk all the time," he replied. 

"But he was the reason —"

"The reason you suddenly halted and didn't attack the other kid, right?" 

"Yes."

"That's because he used his ability on you. Let me explain his ability to you... Once he opens his mouth to say something, anyone within the range of his attack is forced to do as he says. For example, if he tells you to die, run, or blow away, you will be forced to either die, run, or be blown away. This is how his power works," Kelvin explained.

"It's unique," Alex mumbled.

"Sure it is but it comes with a heavy price," Kelvin said.

"Which is?" Alex asked him.

"Because of the graveness of this ability, he can not communicate with other people or he may end up hurting or killing someone unknowingly. As a result of this, he isolates himself and spends more time in the library or some quiet places."

"Okay... So, is he heading to the library now?" Alex him.

"Yes, I think he is," Kelvin replied.

"I also need to go to the library," Alex said and suddenly stood up. 

"Huh? What for?" Kelvin asked him, standing up as well.

"I like quiet places as well," he replied and turned and walked away. 

"Be careful—" Kelvin said but stopped along the line.

-------

Raphael went into the library and walked to a particular bookshelf. After finding the book he was looking for, he decided to go to a more secluded place and go through it but just as he raised his leg to make his first step, he suddenly halted. 

He sensed someone's presence behind him and was gripped with fear, he dared not to turn around to know who it was. Standing for a while, he soon mustered courage and turned around. He saw Alex standing behind him with his eyes, red and gazing at him menacingly.

Raphael could not talk because of the graveness of his ability but he didn't just want to stand there and do nothing, especially when the person standing before him was brimming with hostility. Therefore, he took a fighting stance immediately.

"What you all know best is fighting," Alex grunted in displease as he stared at Raphael. "Let's fight it out then but don't blame me if you die on me," he finally agreed and also took a fighting stance.

"Sto—" Raphael was about to say something when Alex moved and grabbed him by the neck. 

His movement was swift and unnoticeable, making it difficult for Raphael to react and when he finally did, it was late as he was flung away into the shelves. Just before he could get up to his feet, Alex was right next to him with his nails stretched out into claws.

"You are going to be a concern in the future and for that, I'll end you right now!" He said to Raphael and raised his claws to attack him but just then Kelvin came behind him.

"Alex!" The young man called out and Alex snapped out immediately. His claws went back, his eyes returned to normal and he turned and looked at him. "Come here!" Kelvin ordered him and he lowered his head and went to stand behind him. "Stay here," he told him and went to where Raphael had fallen. 

He helped the boy up and dusted his clothes. "Are you okay?" He asked him and he nodded. "Sorry about that," he quickly apologized for what Alex did to him. The boy didn't talk and only nodded his head before leaving but before he walked past Alex, he stopped and patted him on the shoulder and then left.

After he left, Kelvin faced Alex. "What was the meaning of that?" He asked him. "Did you follow him to the library to cause him some trouble? You almost killed him!" 

Alex looked at Kelvin's face, he was truly disappointed with him. "I—I didn't mean to hurt him," he replied with his head now lowered, and his shoulders dropped. "At first, I just wanted to talk to him but —"

"Don't lie to me, Alex," Kelvin said abruptly to Alex, interrupting him. "You never had the intention of talking with him from the start," he said and remembered what he saw earlier. Just while Alex was heading to the library, he saw his nails stretched out into claws and it made him halt his speech. "I don't care what that was all about but I want you to learn to control yourself. Raphael isn't someone who easily pays back evil for evil and he had no intention of hurting you that is why he didn't use his ability during the fight. You must learn to control your feelings or you'll keep getting into trouble."

"I—" Alex wanted to say something but Kelvin stopped him.

"Don't bother saying anything to me, go back to your hostel until I send for you again," Kelvin said to him.

"I will," Alex replied and left. 

After he was gone, Kelvin sighed and gazed at the destroyed bookshelves. "This is trouble," he mumbled and stretched out his open palm. A light beamed out and everything that was destroyed began to go back to normal, soon he was done and so he left the library as well.

Alex, after he left the library went back to the hostel and when he got there, he went to his dorm room as shown to him by Kelvin. Inside the room were two beds on different sides and one has already been occupied which leaves him to go over to the empty one. 

He climbed into the bed and sat down, he thought of what he did to Raphael and then sighed. 

"Arthur, why did you attack him?" He asked the demon inside of him.

The demon sneered before replying. "That kid is trouble, I don't like his ability," he said with no remorse in his voice. 

"Don't ever do that!" Alex said as an order and the demon simply chuckled and didn't talk again. "And why did you try to attack the boy in the class?" Alex asked him again.

"Huh? That was your doing and not mine," the demon denied Immediately. 

"I did it?" Alex asked him. He was surprised that he was the one who wanted to attack the boy from the class and not the demon. "But why?" He asked, seeming already confused.

"I think because you were called weak," the demon replied. 

Hearing what the demon said, Alex frowned a bit and covered himself with the blanket. He could not still believe that he tried to attack the boy because he had called him weak. It was not something he would do but from the look of things, it may actually be his doing.

"You see, I don't have any hand in your feelings. You are the only one in control of that, don't get me wrong," the demon stated. 

While Alex was occupied with his thoughts, the door to the room opened, revealing a familiar person who stopped the moment he came into the room. The two gazed at each other for a while and Raphael who was the first person to break the eye contact closed the door and went over to his bed. 

Seeing him, Alex felt bad for what he allowed the demon to do to him and therefore, he felt the need to apologize.

"Hey, I'm sorry—" He tried to apologize but the boy turned and waved for him. Because he did not understand what the boy was saying or doing, the latter took out a piece of paper and pen and wrote it down. "You have forgiven me?" He asked the boy as he read what was on the paper, the boy nodded and gave him a thumbs. "Thank you," he said to him and after that, he felt relieved.