Alfred's eyes popped open, staring directly at the ceiling.
"My phone should be somewhere around.." he moved his hands across the bed until he finally found it. Switching it on, he saw the time.
"What! I have exams…shit!"
He immediately rose up and fell back down.
"Arghh!! My whole body hurts! I can't move a muscle.."
After many attempts of trying to stand up, he finally succeeded in standing, although it wasn't without groans.
"System, am I sick?" He questioned because he couldn't understand how he could be in so much pain after only a few minutes of working out.
[Kekekekekeke]
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean!" He yelled, a vein popping out of the side of his head.
He dragged himself into the bathroom, steering his resolve to shower despite the excruciating pain he felt.
Unlike his thought, the cold shower did nothing to calm him down, it only further assisted in irritating him.
He came out of the bathroom, feeling no relief whatsoever. He proceeded to wear a simple combination of clothes, nothing too special.
"I'll be back…" he informed, locking the door behind him.
'How long ago has it been, it's been so long I cannot even remember anymore. What it's like to have a family." He smiled to himself and winced in pain, 'if only this moment didn't have to be disturbed by this ridiculous pain, it would have been wholesome.' His face settled in a frown.
His walk to the bus stop was slower than it had ever been. Occasionally, his knees would buckle and he would almost fall. The pain was more obvious in his thigh area.
He took careful looks at the seat on the bus, and the space he would stand in if he decided to stand.
'On a normal circumstance, I would stand but today of all days when I have this pain, I just know that I will fall if I try anything. But, if I pay for the seat, I'll lose more money." His internal debate and strike continued until a gentle nudge snapped him out of his reverie.
"Won't you pay? There are people waiting behind you.."
"Eh?"
"Forget it, I'll pay for you.."
"Eh?"
The lady swiped her card, she held his hands and led him to a seat. She sat close to the window while Alfred sat outside.
He still couldn't understand how or what had happened.
"I've seen you take this bus a couple of times and I know you're headed to school. We attend the same school, although judging from how young you look, I'm probably your senior or you're just one of those guys who look younger than they actually are." She paused with a smile. "The name's Scarlet."
He stared at the fair skinned lady with completely white hair, it was so white it looked unnatural. Her eyes were a combination of bright gray and green. She wore a small earring on her ears that made her look even more sophisticated in her clothes. She wore a pair of baggy trousers and a turtleneck suit which did well enough to hide the imprint she had.
'Her lips are so beautiful, they look plump and soft.' His gaze traveled down and stopped in her chest region. "She has really good looking…..what the hell am I thinking!!" His face turned beet red.
"Aww, I thought you'd at least tell me your name.." She smiled again.
"Oh..uh…" he stammered, unable to form coherent words.
She placed a hand on his right shoulder, "calm down, I promise I'm not gonna gobble you up."
"Alfred! My name is Alfred Savage.."
"Now that wasn't so hard, was it, Alfred?"
He shook his head. 'She called my name. Did my name ever sound so cool?'
"I'm a law student.." Scarlet suddenly said.
"Oh, you're on the bright side then…" Alfred unconsciously mumbled before slapping his mouth shut.
She chuckled softly. "And what gave you that impression?"
He raised his brows. 'Are you serious? You pay for my bus fee, have this angelic vibe and then a law student, even a toddler can tell that you're from the bright side. But of course, I wont say any of these, since it might sound offensive.'
Scarlet slowly pulled down the piece of cloth covering her neck, revealing a little red butterfly imprint on the left side of her neck.
"I'm going to be a lawyer who fights for the people on the dark side. A lot of us are discriminated against just because we decided not to lie to ourselves like the hypocrites on the bright side. My goal is to be able to let a murderer on the dark side walk out of the courtroom a freeman, especially if I find their reason for murdering legit or plausible…."
Alfred stared in utter silence, slowly becoming creeped out as she spoke.
"Goodness…I must have mumbled and scared you." She chuckled to herself. "I tend to do that sometimes but if the murder occurred for absolutely no reason, I'd still let them walk out a freeman but they wouldn't be able to escape karma…" her voice went low at her final words.
"Ah.."
"What about you, Alfred? What do you study?"
"Well, I study…"
He was interrupted by the buzzer in the bus.
"We've gotten to our stop."
"Oh, yeah right.." he whispered as he stared at the gates of his school through the window.
They both alighted the bus in silence and walked to the gate in silence until it was time for them to go their separate ways.
"Let me have your contact.." Scarlet suddenly asked.
"Uh..sure"
She handed him her phone and he typed in his number.
"I'll be sure to call you, Alfie.." She waved goodbye and left without turning back.
Alfred was rooted to the spot, unable to move a muscle. She called him Alfie, a nickname his mother gave him.
"Her death anniversary is in a few months…" he whispered, tears slowly falling down his cheeks.
"I miss her so much, I miss them so much.."