CHAPTER 5

The Shocking Moment

Those questions lingered in the air as Liam sobbed continuously, tears running down his cheeks, but just as he pondered on it, he saw his greatest fear walk towards him, it was Lyndy, the girl who never liked and never hated Liam.

"Hello" , she waves, her beautiful English accent flowing as she stares at Liam as though she had a pending issue.

"What's it Lindy?

Liam broke the silence, after he had wiped his eyes severally with the back of his hands, trying to keep a calm gesture.

His face looked blank, he tried to spice it up with a short smile.

"I still can't believe what happened at the cafeteria the other day, Liam, have you always been rich or were you just trying to make me feel like you're wealthy?"

The curiosity in Lindy's face showed. Her eyes widened as she stared at him, expecting a reply.

Liam smiled again, turning his head to and forth, then turned his face to write on the wall, showing a feeling that made him look like he was shy, "of course I won't say he was".

"Liam!" Lindy yelled again, "Is there something you're not telling me?" Her brow narrowed.

" It was some sort of joke Lindy, I just got paid from my part time job, and I needed to eat to my fullest,"

he added, trying to cover up for the act.

"Oh!! No wonder, but you needed to know that the whole people still thought I bought you the food. Please, if you're asked, can you say I didn't to avoid Robson from killing me?" She begged.

"It's fine, Lindy. I'll never tell them you did that. I worry less about the people; I just wish they keep their eyes and troubles away from me!" He yanked off, jumping down from the half wall.

He then turned, waiting for Lindy to reply, but no, she wasn't. It seemed like she was taking the whole day to stare at Liam, her lips opened as she stared at him even more. It predicted that she was confused or was she crushing on him?

"Why the tensed look?" Liam asked curiously.

"I think I'm having a feeling for you, Liam, but I can't tell how it would feel to date a poor and feeble thing as you are right now." She scowled and hissed as she turned to walk away.

Her words pierced Liam in his eardrums. He couldn't believe Lindy was also like the other girls in Opulent University.

She never turned till she faded from Liam's view.

****************

Liam turned towards the school garden, a hidden gem in the campus that resembled a slice of paradise lost. Wildflowers painted the landscape with hues of red and yellow, their petals swaying gently in the breeze as if dancing to an unheard melody.

The air was thick with the sweet scent of blossoms, and the sunlight filtered through the canopy, creating a dappled effect on the ground. Butterflies flitted about, adding to the enchanting scene, their delicate wings leaving a trail of magic in their wake.

It was a place where time seemed to stand still, a sanctuary of beauty amidst the chaos of the world.

The flowers danced to and forth, brushing on Liam's cheeks, he admired them while picking some petals and sniffing each of them, smiling at his foolishness.

He embraced a tree, looked at it and spoke to it, it was certainly his own lonely days, but not at Forcados, instead at the Opulent university.

He could sense a smoke burning smell that pierced through his nostrils, hitting away the pleasant fragrance from the flowers, his eyes widened but yet there was danger looming beneath.

**********

It was his biggest nightmare, Phil.

"What the fuck are you doing here, boy?"

"Who on earth found you and treated you so fast? You should be dead or in some hospital bed right now,"

Phil roared, matching a stick of marijuana he was smoking, pressing to turn off the red flame that burnt on its tip.

He clears his throat as he walks towards Liam. His brow raised, you should be behind the horizon by now, he squinted with a condescending smirk which showed disbelief and a bit of fear. His fists tightened as he walked towards Liam in a show of anger.

"Phil, don't step another closer to me!!" Liam commanded, trying to keep a posture that showed defiance.

"Get off me, Phil!" He yelled again.

"Who picked you up from the cliff you laid?" Phil barked, pushing his forehead out and making it glue to Liam's face, Liam turned face, covering his nostrils, trying not to perceive the smell from Phil's mouth which greeted him warmly.

*****************

Phil felt it was another moment to overpower and make Liam bleed again, his fist tightened even more.

Liam drifts back but hits his legs on a tree stalk, which makes him slip and fall, Phil saw that as an opportunity to strike but then, Liam pounced on him like a predator who waited in ambush for his prey, his clays fixed on Phil's face trying to tear him in pieces. He breathed hard as he unleashed several blows on his face.

"This time I bet that a saviour would only have to go to hell to find your dead body, he breathed harder", tightening his fist and punching Phil harder on the face, several blows landed on Phil's nose, making his nostrils bleed.

"Die, bastard, die!!", Liam screamed as he pressed Phil's throat, trying to press life off him, Phil screamed, his voice tore through his earlier paradise, like he was trying to escape from the serpent that earlier tempted his first parents.

Liam placed his wide hands on Phil's mouth, trying to stop him from screaming.

No one's gonna save you this time rat face, he roared at Phil.

Phil couldn't take it any longer, with each blow he could feel himself falling from consciousness even more.

Liam's eyes reddened like a burning steel, his veins contracted, his hands raised Swifty ready to give Phil his last blow, one that would send him to a world behind normal, one that would make hell a closer place to him, but then the school gardener rushed with a stick, landing same on Liam's head.

"Hey, you get off him, get off him, boy!!", he yelled, his eyes fixed on Liam who jumped up turning to him.

"stop that nonsense, how dare you do this to a guy as young as that?"

" I'll get the police arrest you instantly",

He reaches into his pocket to pick his phone, but Liam turns with a swift, running through the leaves that provided shade to his escape.

************

"F*ck you, son of a bitch!!"

The last words Phil said as Liam bolted away, lingered in the air.

His veins calmed, he breathed deeper as though capturing all the air in one breath. The breath was only hard as blood gushed out from his nostrils the more, he was shocked at the change of powers, but unknown to him, the battle line has just been drawn.

"Sorry guy, the gardener said as he rushed to lift Phil from the floor.

Thank your stars that I came to rescue you man, how would you have handled that?

F*ck off man!! Do you know who I am? Phil yelled, cleaning the blood with his left hands, the gardener drift backwards, his eyes widened. He knew that he saved the wrong guy.