Esmund Llevric, he is just a new lecturer who turns out to be my neighbour coincidentally, not a stalker. I must be paranoid because of the discomfort I am feeling in my lower abdomen…
Perhaps it is better for me to be in the washroom right now, I need to cool myself. Hence, as I decide, I quietly raise my hand.
"Yes." Mr Llevric notices me immediately. He holds the book within his fingers and folds his arms, "What is it, boy?"
With my true concern concealed, I state, "I demand to visit the washroom, Mr Llevric."
However, instead of providing me his permission immediately, he decides to raise another question at me, "I would be glad to know your name first."
Oh, seriously… This is a joke, right? Haven't we just met this morning? He even admitted that the landlord of Ignis Chambers told him my name! What is he trying to do here? Play-pretend?
Trying to resist myself from rolling my eyes at a lecturer, I slowly take a deep gasp, "Averell." forcibly I play along——My name is, "Aletris Averell, sir."
With his pointy finger, Mr Llevric pushes his spectacles up by the bridge, and he starts to read in a dramatic tone, "Dear breezes of forenoon, shall you bring him through, to the idyllic loo, on my first day at school."
With his blithe poem, Mr Llevric managed to claim himself a mirthful laughter from the class. Neglecting my feelings, he elaborates, "That's a simple example of the form of an end rhymed-poem." then, eventually, he nods at me and says, "Thank you for your help and cooperation by being a part of the education. You may now proceed to the washroom, Mr Averell."
So in his way, there is a penny to be paid before the permission is granted, huh? I could have shown some contempt or censured him for mocking me in front of all my classmates, but the burning sensation in my skin is dismissing my endurance.
I would have made a scene if I let the nerves take over me, yet considering that it only makes the fact of me being the black sheep of the family stand more, I decide to accept Mr Llevric's ridicule.
If facing displeasure comments and loathsome derisions are part of the test I need to go through in order to prove myself capable of returning to the same height on my own, bring it on then. In fact, I will not let a childish one get in my way.
Therefore, with my teeth gritted, I force a decent smile on my face. Staring at Mr Llevric's fathomless face, I say, "Thank you." without giving any of the other students a glance, I walk past them and step out of the lecture hall.
Along with a few breaths I take, deep, I walk down the hallway at a fast pace, on one hand driven by the discomfort I feel on my lower abdomen, on the other hand by the nuisance that the new lecturer in my class created.
Now great. It has just been a few hours since he showed up, and my life has started to turn miserable. The following days are not going to go easy on me with him around, aren't they? Neither in the university, nor in that building we mutually live in.
'How can a living person be a demon out of the blue'? Brilliant. I retrieve my statement——Indeed a demon he is.
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The splashing echoes across the empty washroom as the water ruthlessly flows out of the faucet.
With one hand I lean on the ceramic hand basin, before the huge mirror I stand. Together with my plaid blazer, I pull my blouse up. To allow myself to check the condition of my lower abdomen, I have no choice but to unbutton my trousers.
I fetch some water in my palm and lay it over my burning skin, in spite of the fact that it slightly stains my trousers, leaving dark spots on the fabric.
The skin of my lower abdomen has turned comparatively red, worse than how it seemed when I last saw it this morning. I thought I felt my skin splitting, yet I never thought it would physically happen.
Unfortunately, when I look down at my body, I see a queer phenomenon——Although faint, a thin ring around the size of a coaster has appeared between my navel and membrum, like a discoidal island isolated from the other part of my skin.
However for me, instead of a tattoo, the ring looks more like an engraving carved on my skin. It feels like someone has stamped a ring on my lower abdomen with a heated branding iron. If it is not bright in the washroom, perhaps I can even see the ring glowing in red like how it did earlier this morning.
Anyhow, the water from the faucet has brought down the temperature on my skin by an observant radian. I close my eyes as I let out a deep exhale in relief. With my wet hand, I touch my lower abdomen. Cautiously with my fingertips, I try to feel the depth of the ring carved in my skin…
What is happening to me? I fall into contemplation when I am finally alone——Everything started to seem off since I woke up at three in the morning.
Did I do something to myself? Did I hit my head? Did I consume anything potentially poisonous? Or was I on drugs that caused me to hallucinate? What had I done to myself last night? I try hard to recollect my memories.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard I try to recall, all I can recollect is a scene from last Sunday, the 12th of November——
Up eight sets of stairs I climbed. At a time everyone had left the campus, I arrived at the top of the clock tower. I was all alone up there, I thought I was waiting for someone, yet I was stood up.
It was plainly bizarre that this particular part of my memories feels so vague, while instead, the déjà vu I saw that evening feels comparatively strong… As if I have been there before I practically did.
That night, after I took a bath in my chamber, my consciousness faded wholly, sending me into an uncanny dream. For the first time in my life, I encountered a language I am unfamiliar with in my dream.
Perhaps that the strong déjà vu happening on the clock tower has been bothering me subconsciously, to an extent that it led me into a rather queer dream, messed with my head, and woke me up at a strange hour this morning, unusually sober. It felt like someone had extracted my spirit from my body, putting me onto an astral projection.
In spite of the déjà vu and dream, the burning sensation on my skin and the glowing ring carved in my lower abdomen have brought my tension to the next level——They make no sense, not a little, for nothing in this world that I recognise possesses the strength to make these happen…
Should I go to the doctor? Perhaps there is a way to explain these mysterious phenomenons in the aspect of biology science…
"Are you alright?"
Before I could make up my mind, a voice coming from the door caught my heed.
At once, I open my eyes and raise my head. Yet instead of looking into the mirror, I turn my head back in reflex. There, I see a young man around my age walk in——
His soft hair is born naturally blonde, that its silky threads gleam on their own under the bright lights;
His lustrous green eyes dazzle like emeralds, they look so exuberant, that they are able to enliven a dismal spirit, like mine.
He is dressed in the same uniform as mine, only except that the garments look more exorbitant than they would on me——
The plaid blazer in brown shapes his broad shoulders perfectly. Underneath he wears a clean white blouse. A tie wraps around his collar, and it is done with a symmetrical knot below his laryngeal;
Down his waist, he wears a pair of fitting trousers in black, and on his foot, a pair of leather shoes exquisitely tailored.
Oliver Keyes, a senior from the medical school, the most outstanding scholar in the university, the most favoured figure among all lecturers and students…
I too, like other students, admire Oliver very much. Although I feel glad to share a moment with him, I certainly do not want to leave him with a bad impression of me performing absurd behaviour to myself in the mirror.
Therefore, as soon as I notice his presence, I swiftly pull down my blouse to cover my skin and my undone trousers, in order to prevent him from misreading the situation, "You are Oliver Keyes…" without an extra pleasantry, I greeted.
With a soft smile Oliver states, "In the flesh."
Then, towards me Oliver takes his steps. When he arrives at my side, he turns the faucet off and stops the water from running. All of a sudden, the washroom falls silent…