The room fell into a stunned, almost reverent silence, and eyes widened when realization settled in among the students and teachers watching. And the infamous Red Wraith—that name whispered like a ghost story, rumored and never confirmed—here he stood right in front of them.
The crowd erupted in gasps, some faltering backward as if he were dangerous, something beyond their control. A murmur of whispers filled the air, the disbelieving and awed, even fearful.
"Is that him?" one voice whispered, barely louder than a breath.
"No way… I thought he was just a story," someone else whispered, refusing to tear his eyes away from the boy like he expected him to disappear into thin air at any moment.
The teachers exchanged alarmed, tense glances, some instinctively inched closer to the students, as if the children needed protection. Their faces were pale and caught between their duties to the school and the sudden, unexpected danger they now felt he posed. The boy could feel the weight of their stares pressing down on him, heavy with fear and suspicion-most painfully, betrayal.
Some students stood there, dumbfounded, in dismay-those who had bullied him for years-when they realized this quiet, inconspicuous boy whom they had taunted was able to do so much more than they could ever have imagined. Their faces were ashen, regret and fear took over their expressions, kind of a war in processing what this revelation meant.
The woman who had exposed him held his gaze coldly, almost as if she'd just unraveled some ancient puzzle. He was no longer a boy to her; he was an asset, a rare find- something finally fathomable, something she could perhaps control.
He stood, frozen in the middle of it all as if the world had exploded around him. His secret was gone, his anonymity blown, his identity shaped by all those whispers, the rumors, the warnings about the Red Wraith when his intention had been just to be William.
When it began to sink in, two security officers appeared suddenly at the door, beckoned by the teacher, whose face wore fear and resolution in equal measure. They moved towards him in measured, calculated steps, as would people around something volatile, hands near their restraints.
His eyes whisked around the room, onto his classmates, whose faces were filled with disgust, and fear, and some who wore their faces between pity and disdain. The whispers grew louder, echoing within his mind, each murmur a reminder that his secret was gone.
"William," one of them said, firm but with a strange softness to his tone, as though he were addressing something delicate, "you'll have to come along with us."
His heart was pounding in his chest, and he could feel the thoughts of escape, defiance, or just running coming fast into his head. One thing he knew- heaven and earth would move before they allowed him to disappear so easily now. Slowly, he rose from his seat, with the weight of every gaze in the room pressing upon him.
The officers closed in, hands outstretched to take his arms, cautious hands, well knowing the rumors of his power, yet not able to comprehend. They fastened the handcuffs around his wrists and escorted him from the classroom. Head down, he resisted the urge to turn back, to behold the faces of classmates who a moment before had become strangers.
The halls were empty except for his footsteps, echoing off the walls as they led him further and further away, each a reminder of his new status: he was not just another student anymore but a mystery, a threat, an object to be confined. They took him through various corridors until they reached a little, small holding room that was badly lit place cold and clinical, devoid of any warmth or familiarity.
Alone inside, the heavy, metallic click of the door. He stood, his wrists bound, the contents of his mind a jumble of anger and fear and exhaustion. The quiet of the room leaned against him, a silence oppressive that seemed the muted echo of an empty self. The weight of what had just transpired, the reality he could no longer hide, settled upon him like an ebony cloud, and he knew whatever was to come would change his life forever.
Sitting alone in the cold, stark room, William's mind spiraled in a daze between horror that refused to believe and the quiet, seething anger cooking in his brain. He had spent years in hiding, guarding every word, every glance, every movement to keep anyone from getting even an inkling about his secret. Now, with the cat out of the bag, he was feeling trapped like some caged animal-not by metal bars but by his own body and existence.
They saw him as a threat, a thing to be studied, and the realization pressed upon his chest. 'The Red Wraith,' he thought with a trace of bitterness. The name felt foreign, distant, as though it belonged to another, yet was now his burden, the label they would forever attach to him. No one would see William anymore, only the monster they whispered about in the shadows.
He remembered the twisted faces of his classmates in their fear and fascination, recoiling as though he was some dark, twisted creature. The betrayal cut deep, especially those few who once were friendly and stared at him now as if he'd worn some mask this whole time, concealing some terrible and dangerous truth. But he had always been himself quiet, guarded, but just a boy. This was a power, a so-called curse, he never asked for. This had simply been a part of him, a silent force he had tried to control, to keep hidden if only to protect himself and those surrounding him.
A swirl of resentment filled him, thinking of this woman and her unrelenting eyes, her calculated cruelty in cutting him anew with each question, digging deep to reveal what he had so ingeniously concealed. She'd pried into his life, shattered the defenses he'd worked so hard to build, leaving him so naked to the world. And for what? So she could indulge her curiosity and unravel him like some specimen under glass.
But behind the anger, a thin blade of doubt slipped through.'What if they're right to be afraid of me?' he mused, the thought chilling him. He had always known there was something off about him, something he couldn't control or even quite comprehend. Maybe the terror in their eyes was justified. Maybe he was dangerous. Maybe just maybe the silent fleet wasn't an accident.
In an instant, doubt fled and his fist shook. He was not a monster. However that power was vested in him, however, they'd thought he had been, he was still William. They did not know him, and he wasn't going to let them define him with their fear, with assumptions, with labels.
'I am not the Red Wraith,' he told himself firmly. He was just a boy, and though his life had irrevocably changed, he resolved to hold onto that truth, no matter what they tried to turn him into.
'Well those are ten years thrown down the drain.' he thought painfully