My name is Zion Verlice. I am a pretty average guy. Same like any student, deep in debt from the ... mistakes of some people. I also have multiple jobs just to be able to make ends meet.
My mother and father are people I do not like talking about. So I will not bother mentioning them any more than this and the fact that they are still alive.
Unfortunately.
My days consisted of work, classes, assignments over and over again. So that was how I lived my life. I never expected anything more from it nor did I hope for anything else.
Until, one day,
"Let's date."
"Huh?"
There appeared in front of me, the 'Princess of the School'. Her long, dyed pink hair matching the cherry blossoms falling from the tree I am taking care of.
The sun beamed behind her, seeming to give her this ethereal glow as all the people that looked at her gawked without even attempting to hide it.
Her slender hands, and long legs already made her a natural model. Not to mention her soft, melodic voice that did plenty to just make anyone melt in her hands.
"Why?" I asked, genuinely confused as I looked up at her, the red dress she wore fluttering in the wind as she placed a hand on her head to keep the sunhat from flying away.
I genuinely didn't understand because, there I was, covered in dirt from tending to the tree in the middle of the garden. As she looked down on me, her emerald green eyes staring into my soul.
"You know why." She said, bending down until we were only inches from each other. "I need to keep an eye on you."
"Just for that?" I adjusted the glasses slipping down my nose. "You know I won't do anything anyone won't approve of."
"I am still to look after you." She said, twirling her hair in her finger. "And I will not take no for an answer."
And that was how the School's Princess and I started dating. Honestly, she is just here to keep me in line and make sure I don't do anything stupid.
Yes, yes. I know you read the title and are wondering where that has to come into play with this. I will get to it.
You see, amongst the numerous jobs I have, one of them is, what is known as a … 'cleaner'. This fact will play a very important role in a bit, keep it in mind.
I got that job because of some things that happened over the past couple of years.
Maybe I'll tell you the details later on. For now, let's get on with the story.
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"Honey! I brought your lunchbox!" My partner, Yael Cassese called from the doorway, holding up a lunch box with little patterns of kittens all over.
"Oh. Thanks." I answered. I don't even know how to act, especially every time she comes to me, I get glares from everyone in the room. Even the teachers.
It's annoying but there is really nothing I can do much about it. They are not too important either.
"Here you go." She said, placing the box in front of me. More like slamming it, but whatever. "I hope you like it, honey!"
"Yeah. Thanks." Was as I could muster out, pulling the lunch box to me.
She just stood beside me with a soft smile on her face, as though she was waiting for something.
Sighing, I got to my feet, "Shall we go to the rooftop and eat together?"
"You are so kind, Zion." She wrapped her arms around mine as the two of us made our way to the rooftop.
It is our common spot. A spot only for us. I don't know how she was able to clear it out since no one is even allowed in the rooftops. But then again, she has a lot of power in this school. Even I know that.
I am just glad she is not in my class. It would be torture having to sit next to her for all those periods.
The moment we entered the rooftop, she let go of my arm and walked to the railings, a frown coming on her face as the wind played with her hair.
At times like this, I think she is actually pretty.
"Zion." She said, voice disappearing into the wind. "Do you have a lighter on you?"
"Of course." I took out the lighter from my pocket. "The only reason I carried this with me is because of you."
She walked to me with a cigarette hanging from her lips as I light the cigarette for her.
"You should really quit smoking," I said, not that it would get through to her. It never does. "It will damage your lungs."
"Yeah. Yeah. This is the last one." She said, like the hundred other times she said before. She never stops.
"Sure," I responded, halfheartedly, sitting down on a corner of the rooftop. "I am eating."
"Go ahead."
I can never hold her attention at times like this anymore. She never cared too much about me, well except that I should be healthy and full of energy.
Before opening the lunchbox, I already knew what was in there. Grass.
And it wasn't even cooked grass. She must have just cut them from the garden and placed them into this cute box.
At least it wasn't the freshly cut tongue of a dead cow, the wings of a crow, leaves from poison ivy, like she placed last time. Or the ears of a rabbit for 'good luck, as she put it.
Though I wasn't one to complain. Anything she gives me, I eat. Even if I don't want to. Even if I don't like her.
Because I know that she looks out for me, no matter how indifferent she is to me. Of everyone in the world, she is the only one that I will trust unconditionally.
One by one, I placed the unwashed, uncooked grass in my mouth, chewing at it and forcing it down my throat.
Even if I felt like throwing up. I still forced myself to swallow it. This was hardly enough to fill my stomach but I did not utter a word of complaint.
Not to her, anyway.
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"Done eating?" She asked, turning to me.
I don't know how, but she always knows when I am done, even if I do not speak a word.
I know what is going to come next. And I brace myself for it, I would not do it if I thought it was going to cause me problems in the future.
Walking to me, she takes off her clothes, dropping them on the ground until she is right in front of me.
It is here that I actually find this person, this 'Yael Cassese' in front of me pretty. She turns from someone I think is ok looking to the second most beautiful person.
Her true self, the fact that she kept a secret from everyone.
Not the haughty, spoilt princess. Instead, she takes off her mask and appears in front of me as the real Yael Cassese. A boy filled with tattoos of different major events that happened in this world all over his back.
Then it becomes his time to be fed, something I took great care of. Hidden behind the walls of the school building are little openings that I use to store the gifts I have for him.
Well, 'gifts'. That is where I store his lunch. Only I know how to open those spaces in the walls and only I know where they are.
I also always take great care to get the best of my catch to give to him. Not to her, who everyone sees me with and begin to seethe with envy. But with him, the pale, slender boy with long, pink hair. The boy that no one knows exists.
A boy known as Rumant. My lover.
And yet, I owe my entire soul, my entire life and my entire being to him. He holds everything I give him with loose hands but I don't mind.
It only means that I have to give him more.
While he feasts, I trace along the tattoos all over his body. Envying the carvings made on his precious skin. Wishing I was the first one that tainted that pale white flesh.
But wishing will not do anything. It is not like I will be able to go back in time and meet him for the first time. No, silly ideas like time travel do not exist in my head.
Holding my hands in front of me, I stared at the faint markings along my arms all the way to my fingertips before I clasped my hands together and rubbed them before blowing into my palms.
Instantly snow started falling down from the sky on this bright, sunny day.
Yeah, silly ideas like time travel, or even magic, do not exist. At all.