August Intruder- Chapter 207- It's Time To Wake Up Now (Patreon)

Delet stood there. Mr. Okoro wasn’t sure what was happening. Jonathan and Tenerif stood with folded arms.

Together, they watched the man with brown hair and a long black jacket look through Melmarc Lockwood’s medical chat.

It was understood that none of them had any idea who the man was.

“Hmmm.” The man flipped the pages on the chart. “I see. A lot of desolation there. I’m surprised they couldn’t figure that small piece out.” He stroked his jaw in thought. “Well, this is useless. What does desolate bandages have to do with infections? What kind of infections, even?”

The man rolled his eyes and clipped the chart back to the foot of Melmarc Lockwood’s bed. Then he walked over to the boy’s head and placed a hand on it.

“No mad god,” he said with a smile. “That you didn’t have to resort to it makes me proud of you, kiddo. But maybe resort to it next time. It’s a nice cheat skill in a portal. No one bats an eye at what happens in portals.”

He turned his head, looked at the brother. Lips pursed in thought, he shook his head and returned his attention to Melmarc.

“That one will be fine,” he said as his attention returned to Melmarc. “He’s got all the things he needs. You should probably get yourself an existential being.” He paused, as if for dramatic effect. “Maybe that one you named won’t be a bad idea.”

With the gentleness of moving a fragile object, he turned Melmarc’s head. He looked at his neck, not at the massive gash in his shoulder.

“You’re healing quite well yourself, though.” He chuckled. “And he thought you were going to die. That child is really losing his edge.”

Gently, he turned the head in the other direction.

He sucked in air through his teeth sharply and grimaced. “Well, that’s going to leave a mark.”

He looked at the shoulder finally and Delet realized he’d been anticipating what the man would say on that matter, like a child waiting for a trick to happen.

“You know,” the man said, talking to the unconscious boy, “out there, scars are a sign that you’ve lived. A lot of things can be healed but only the things that you almost die to heal leave scars.” He paused. “Then again, knowing you, you might want to get rid of it.”

He sighed. Then he released Melmarc’s head gently.

“For now,” he continued, “it seems Jabari has no interest in you. It is a good and bad thing. On the bad side, his interests tend to come with a lot of death defying situations and futures only he knows. There’s also the collateral damage and possibility of losing your life.” He pursed his lips in thought again. “On the good side, if you live, you’ll end up becoming one of the strongest versions of yourself you can ever be. Always told him that his methods are a bit too harsh, but what would I know? I’m not much of a teacher myself.”

Without missing a beat, he placed his hand on the boy’s chest. “That’s good. He didn’t mark you. He does that sometimes.” He shook his head, an action that seemed very solemn. “You had no right fighting a corrupted Oath, Mel. And Desolation at that. Why do Oaths always try to be more than they are?” The last part seemed as if he was addressing himself. “And why don’t they ever do it the right way?” He shook his head, sighed. “I want to halt all summonings but that would not be fair to Existence. These things get tricky.”

He got up from beside the bed, turned, then paused. “Oh, before I forget.” He returned his attention to Melmarc and squinted. A smile stretched his lips. “Oh that’s one interesting thing you can’t use on humans. Alright, then. I’m done with you.”

He rubbed his hands together and turned. “Now, your turn,” he said to Ark’s unconscious body.

Walking up to it, he did not sit on the bed. Instead, he took hold of its edge and pulled it closer to Melmarc.

“I swear people have no idea the power of familial love,” he muttered to himself. “You should always keep brothers that love each other close when these kinds of things happen. At least they got it right with twins.” He dusted his hands as if he’d done some tasking job. “Now, your turn, Ark.” He paused, waited. “You did good. Don’t forget to take care of your brother when you both wake up.”

That was all.

He turned, patted Delet on the shoulder, and walked out of the room.

Once the door was closed behind him, Delet, Mr. Okoro, Jonathan, and Tenerif looked at each other.

“Who was that?” Mr. Okoro asked.

Unsurprisingly, nobody knew.

Tenerif sighed. “I just hope the kids get better,” he said. “I can’t tell how poorly this would affect the school.”

“How do you mean?” Jonathan asked.

“Well… you know all the bullying that’s been happening among the second year?”

“I heard of that at some point,” Delet said. “Children being children, and horribly so. Nobody ever reported anything, and there was rarely every a charge too heavy. They always found a blind spot so there was never any evidence.” He paused, something coming to mind. “Although I haven’t been hearing about it for a while now. Why?”

“Well, one of the students that I have counseling sessions with over this very matter has told me that she won’t be seeing me anymore.”

That drew curious looks from all of them. When a student in a dire situation stopped talking to the counsellor, it was usually one of two things. Their problem was either resolved, or they were quitting. It hurt Delet to say that the latter was usually the case.

“Is she okay?” Mr. Okoro asked.

Tenerif nodded. “Apparently, the second year have a new bully among them.” He looked at Ark. “And he has a love for bullying the bullies. She canceled her sessions with me because the second years no longer have to deal with bullies.” He sighed. “With the bully of bullies out for the count, I can only imagine what the others are going to be doing.”

This was going to be a problem.

…

Patience was frowning.

How the hell had her life moved from her private paradise to this?

Sitting in the living room of her two-bedroom apartment were Pelumi and Martha. It had been a week since they’d found Melmarc’s body. And according to the hospital, he was showing no signs of getting better. Unless they were lying to them.

But her issue was more pressing. What gave these girls the idea that they were all suddenly friends? She could understand Pelumi. She could put up with the girl since they both shared a mutual relationship with Melmarc. And by mutual relationship she meant they were both friends, not that they both liked him.

She wondered if Pelumi liked Melmarc like that.

“Patience?”

Patience raised her head from her fridge to look at Pelumi. “What?”

Martha wrinkled her nose in disgust at her tone but said nothing. In the last two weeks of them hanging out together, she’d been forced to hit Martha. It was just the one punch, and Pelumi had been there. Interestingly enough, for reasons unknown to her, when she’d wanted to punch Martha, they had all known.

Martha had taken a step back and looked at Pelumi. Then for the same unknown reasons, Patience had looked at Pelumi as if taking permission.

Perhaps the most shocking of it all was Pelumi’s reaction. She’d shrugged then told her to go ahead, but just once.

Patience had enjoyed punching Martha in the face.

Ever since, Martha had learnt to tone down her sarcasm and all around passive aggressive remarks.

Patience had learnt long ago that her brother was right about one thing. Civilization was the corruptor of the weak. It made them forget that they were weak. They stood up and tried to oppress the strong with words because they believed civilization was their shield. The strong only knew how to use their fists, so they were at the mercy of the words of the weak.

They would not strike. Why? Because civilization would punish them for it. It gave the weak effrontery, audacity. It was the place of a few of the strong to be the sacrifices, the ones to remind the weak that civilization will not protect them, it will avenge them. And there was a difference.

“The class is organizing a day when all of us will go and visit Melmarc,” Pelumi said, one of their class textbooks on her laps as she sat on a chair. “When do you think works best?”

Patience’s forehead wrinkled. “The class is organizing or you’ve convinced the class to organize?”

“Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.” Pelumi shrugged. “So what day works best for us?”

Patience shrugged and opened a can of energy drink. Combat classes had been a bitch today. She could still feel the bruise where Diret had punched her in the side. How the hell did an [Illusionist] hit so hard.

She should probably put some ice on the bruise. She took a moment to think about it.

Nah.

She closed the fridge with her foot and joined the two girls on the furniture. “You do know that the class doesn’t really like me, right?” she asked Pelumi.

“You’re still part of the class,” Pelumi pointed out.

“Patience.”

She and Pelumi looked at Martha.

“What?” she answered.

“It’s really not nice to get a drink for yourself and not us,” Martha pointed out with as much respectability as she could muster.

It still made Patience want to punch her.

“I don’t remember inviting you into my apartment, though,” she pointed out.

Pelumi gave her a look.

“Or you,” she said, gesturing at her with the drink. “If anything, you two just barged into my house. You’re not guests, you’re intruders. And I’m not a host, I’m a victim being held against her own will.”

Pelumi smiled. She gestured to the door. “You’re free to leave whenever.”

Patience gasped, stuttered a little, almost sputtered. “It’s my apartment.”

“Then you can be kind enough to get us a drink.”

“Go fail a test or something.” Patience looked away, refusing to look at the cocky smile on Pelumi’s face. “You can go get a drink from the fridge if you want one.”

The words were barely out of her mouth before Martha leapt for the fridge.

“One!” Patience called out. “Take more than one and I’ll hit you.”

Martha scoffed as she opened the fridge. “Oh please, you hit like a girl.”

Patience clearly remembered giving the girl a bloody nose that had sent her to the infirmary and had made her feel bad about it for the entire day. She didn’t like making enemies and actually wanted friends who wanted to be her friend for her and not because she was the daughter of [Dragon Knight]. For now, Pelumi was her friend because she was Melmarc’s friend and Martha was her friend because she was Pelumi’s friend.

It wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but it was the next best thing.

Martha returned with a frown. “Why is your fridge filled with energy drinks?”

“Because I need all the energy I can get.”

The girl was holding up an energy drink and a bottle of water. She shook them in front of Pelumi. “Pick.”

Pelumi didn’t look up from her book. She wasn’t even seeing what she was being offered. “I’ll have the one you’re not having.”

Martha handed her the bottle of water and sat down. “I also couldn’t help but notice that there’s no food in the fridge.”

“That’s because I can’t cook,” Patience replied with a little too much vehemence.

All her life, people talked about how a girl should know how to cook. She always got a look when people found out that she could not.

Pelumi looked up from her book. “You can’t cook?”

“No,” Patience answered, defiant.

“Do you want to learn?”

She actually wanted to learn. “No.”

Pelumi shrugged and returned her attention to her book. “So what day do you think works best?”

There was no judgement in her tone, no mockery. Patience didn’t know how to cook and didn’t want to learn, and that was that to her it seemed.

“I think Friday works best,” she answered, uncertain.

Pelumi paused. “That doesn’t sound too bad. I’ll have to talk to a few people to halt club activities, but…” she shrugged again. “I’m sure they’ll be willing to give us a day to visit our classmate who’s been in the infirmary for two weeks.”

Patience looked at the wrinkle on the girl’s forehead and wondered if the girl always wrinkled her forehead. It looked like she’d been doing it more these last few days. The longer Melmarc and his brother remained unconscious, the more she worried.

Those two really had to get their asses up soon.

“I hate this feeling,” Pelumi blurted out, then slammed her book shut a little too violently.

Martha winced but looked as if she understood. “Yeah,” she muttered. “It’s just very annoying. Ms. Sheedah said it might pass.”

Patience looked between both of them. “Am I missing something?”

“It’s an [Invoker] thing,” Martha said. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Pelumi gave her a chiding look. “That was the wrong thing to say.”

“What?” Martha protested. “But she wouldn’t.”

“Just because you think a person won’t understand, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to make them understand.” She sighed. “You make it sound like we’re somehow better than her.”

Martha had the decency to look chastised. “Sorry.”

“I’m not the one you were rude to.”

Martha looked at Patience. “I’m sorry for being rude to you when you’ve been a not so bad host.”

As far as apologies went, it wasn’t the worst. Patience dismissed it with a wave. “It’s fine. I was going to hit you again, anyway. But we’re good.”

Martha’s hand shot up to her nose.

Patience was proud of that. “So,” she said, “what’s this thing that I wouldn’t understand?”

Martha looked at Pelumi as if she wanted her to explain, but Pelumi said nothing. She was like that sometimes… most times. She was going to do what she was going to do, and you were going to do what you could do about it. It was as if it was somehow the terms and conditions of being her friend.

If you did something wrong, she made you apologize. If you didn’t apologize, then that was on you, which led to moments of worrying if you two were still friends. The thing was that Patience had been paying attention. If you didn’t live up to Pelumi’s expectations, she placed you in a category. If you did wrong and didn’t apologize when you were supposed to, she placed you in the category of friends that didn’t apologize when you did something wrong, and she proceeded to treat you that way.

Patience wasn’t even sure the girl knew what she was doing. It could be pressuring sometimes. If you wanted to be her friend and, Patience had realized Pelumi was a good friend, you had to be a friend to the height of it. You had to obey when decency and etiquette was expected of you, because Pelumi was that way with all her friends.

Personally, Patience thought Pelumi was too normal for a Gifted. The Gifted were certainly not like that.

“The school has a special program for the [Invoker] class,” Martha began to explain as if it was some kind of punishment for doing something wrong. “These classes are designed to try and figure out why there was a spike in faith points when the portals stopped appearing.”

“Ah, that stat only the [Invoker] class has,” Patience said, so that they knew she wasn’t all brute force but was smart too. “I heard about that.”

“Well, so far, we’ve found out that Pelumi had the highest stat increase of all [Invoker]s whose stat increase have been recorded.”

Patience’s gaze went to Pelumi. She couldn’t help it. Pelumi still looked lost in thought, staring at the turned off television as if something was showing on it.

Pelumi was definitely special in some way, then.

“Anyway, since the incident happened,” Martha continued, referring to the portal chaos. Most students were calling it ‘the incident’. “All the [Invoker]s have been feeling some type of way.”

“Some type of way how?”

Martha looked at Pelumi.

With a worried look in her eyes, Pelumi answered. “As if someone just took our clothes off in public.”

Martha shook her head. “That’s not what you said in class.”

Patience was very curious now. Pelumi wasn’t one to hide things. What could she possibly have said in class that she didn’t want to repeat.

She leaned forward on her chair and dropped her energy drink on the ground so that Pelumi knew she had her undivided attention.

“What did you say it felt like?” she asked.

Pelumi looked at her, met her gaze. “Like God is dead.”

That was definitely one way to put it.

“That must be a horrible feeling. Sorry about that.” Patience looked at Martha. “It must be difficult.”

“Not really.” Martha shrugged. “It doesn’t feel that bad for me. I just feel like I’m naked in public, that’s all. Pelumi is the only one that feels that way. Our teacher says it’s because her stat increase is the highest out of everyone. We’re still trying to figure out why, though.”

“He’ll wake up, right?” Pelumi blurted out suddenly. She looked at Patience, eyes suddenly rheumy. “Right?”

“Uhm… yes?” Patience wasn’t sure what to say.

This was not going to be the first time Pelumi was crying over Melmarc’s state in the last two weeks. Patience still found it uncomfortable, though.

Martha got up from her chair and moved to Pelumi’s. She wrapped the girl in her arms and started rocking her gently. Pelumi cried. It was quiet, just tears rolling down her eyes.

“I know he’s always quiet and timid, but Marc’s a fighter,” she sobbed. “He’ll wake up. He has to.”

Martha held her tighter, rocked her more.

“He will,” she lied, because there was no way she could know. He will, then Patience can start leering at him again in class.”

“I don’t leer,” Patience snapped, saying nothing about Pelumi crying, how she didn't think Pelumi and Melmarc were close enough to warrant the occasional tears.

Maybe Pelumi was just very emotional.

Pelumi laughed a little. It was a small thing, but it was something.

“You leer a little,” she chuckled between sobs. “And he doesn’t even notice it.”

Martha stroked Pelumi’s hair gently.

“Maybe I’ll start leering, too,” she said. “We can all leer at him and make him feel uncomfortable about it together.”

A slow smile touched Patience's lips. She couldn’t help it.

…

“NO!” Ark leapt and grabbed the air.

He found himself sitting upright in a hospital bed. His memories came rushing to meet him. He’d had to choose between cutting through four powerful giant grasshoppers to kill the final boss or returning to his brother’s side.

There had been no choice to be made on that subject.

He turned to his side. The entire room was dark, but he knew who lay in the bed next to him, battered and bruised.

He could feel it.

“Hey, Mel,” he said, his voice weak, sad. “I think it’s time to wake up now.”