House of Cards

Reunion After Twenty Years

‘I have finally taken them off my tail. I did not expect them to heed my advice that seriously, they must be really determined to strengthen themselves after seeing the trick that I pulled.’ I smiled faintly as I walk towards my school building when suddenly I heard some students talking. “Hey did your hear? The student called Lance became obsessed with building his muscles that he followed a regime a few days ago and now he attained what he wanted to get.” The student said as they gossip in the hallway then another student added. “I heard about it and I also heard that some of the guys from this building was envious of his sudden build so they decided to follow him with whatever he does.” The news sent shivers to my spine as I listened no- eavesdrop to their conversation. It was then I realized that I have done something that I shouldn’t have done in the first place and now I am regretting the decision that I made a few days back. ‘Don’t tell me- the students following him would follow me as well since they are going to follow him. GULP!” I thought with my eyes widened as I swallow my spit in dread. “That’s quite impressive, he made a few followers without doing something like create a group and stand above others. The principal will not see this as the same problem like a few days ago with the groups that he himself eradicated right?” one student asked.

The thoughts of having some students following me with whatever I do and go shook my entire being. ‘If that is just Lance then what about the two young ladies that is with him as well? Don’t tell me-‘ my eyes widen yet again after realizing that I might just be scratching the surface so I immediately sprinted towards our classroom to see if there is anything unusual about the three of them. ‘I hope this doesn’t turn out to be troublesome as what I imagine.’ I thought to myself praying for the least.

*DASH!* *DASH!* *DASH!* *DASH!*

With a few dashes I arrived at the doorstop of our room, I was a little hesitant to open the door because I was afraid that the worst might be waiting for me inside the room. ‘It’s now or never.’ I took a deep breath and opened the door and what immediately strike my eyes was that Lance is laying in his desk like a dead fish washed up ashore deprived of water while the other two are not on the same condition as him but almost alike.

I let out a sigh of relief after seeing that there is nothing unusual like students who decided to follow them were waiting inside or outside the room. Their eyes rolled towards me after realizing that I have entered the room, their faces immediately brighten a little after seeing me thought I don’t really understand why but they just reacted that way. “Good morning Rain-“ Freya’s voice dies out like a flame as her hands fell and swung like she has zero energy left. I just nodded my head and continued to walk towards my seat. I settled down and arrange everything as they both stare at me waiting for me to ask how they are doing. “What happened? Why do look like you guys are wasted?” I asked trying not to crash their hopes up.

It took a while before one of them could mutter a word but Hannah was the first one to answer me. “We took your advice seriously so we trained rigorously and followed a regime that will immediately build out muscles up, the three of us met up and planned our work out a few days ago and now here we are.” She said with a pained tone as she caressed her shoulders and elbow. “Little did we know that the backfire of training and building your body in such a short amount of time would take a huge toll on our body and now we feel really sore and numb.” She added as Freya nods her head in agreement to what Hannah said. To be honest, I knew what the reason they are looking like a dried fish but I just wanted to ask so that they think that I am concerned about them. Well, I was the one who advised them to work their body out so I need to take responsibility even for a little bit. Then I turned my head towards Lance who is still unconscious even after we my exchange of words with Hannah and Freya.

“Then what about him? Why does he look like he that the worst from you both?” I don’t really know what happened to him, all I know is that he attained the body that he wanted according to the rumors and gossip that I heard from other students on the hallway but to get the real story I need to ask Hannah and Freya since they might know what really happened to him, you can’t just trust rumors and gossip since there will be something that other people will add to the story and make their own version. “Oh- what about him? I guess that is what you call ‘karma’. He thought he can take on so many workout regimes at once since he is a boy which is far more durable than us girls, we tried to tell him to take it easy since I have made some research and it said that we must take it slow so we did just that but he is determined and wanted to know the next step sooner so he decided to take the painful route.” Freya explained as she try not to move her body much. ‘Oh- so that’s what happened. What Freya surfed is true, you need to take it easy if this is the first time that you are working out since the sore on your muscles might be unbearable for someone who just started working out.” I agreed at what Freya said as I nodded my head. “I bet he feel like his body is in fire fight now- to think that you would push yourself to the limit because you want to know the next step to strengthen yourself. How crazy can you be?’ I buried my face under my palm and shook my head in disappointment.

After a few moments later Lance regained his consciousness but after seeing me immediately after opening his eyes, he tried to stand up but his sore body dragged him down instantly like a sand castle. “Ugh! My body hurts like hell, I can feel my pulses beating- wait I can hear them. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ah!” he cried as he grabs his shoulder but then his other arm ached and at this point, even his slight movement brings in a huge amount of pain on his entire body. ‘Maybe I should have advised them to take it easy at first as well.’ I thought to myself after seeing their pained expressions. The teacher arrived and saw how their conditions are and let them rest in the medical facility for today so I bid them goodbye for today.

‘I guess after a whole day of rest their bodies would recover. I pulled out some help and asked the principal to heal them so that they can recover even faster, I hope the principal considered my request since they are still going to join the sessions through real time calls.’ I told myself as I pray for their recovery when all of the sudden my phone ring and saw the caller, I immediately sprinted to my place after scanning my surroundings that there is no one around me.

*FWOOM!*

After a few seconds I am already standing in front of our doorstep and answered the call. “Good evening Mr. ***, how can I help you-“ I was suddenly interrupted when I heard his response. [The thing that you wanted is finished, the investigation is complete.] His voice rung in my head as my world seemed to have stopped in an instant. “Is that so- then the plan shall proceed after this year as scheduled?” I asked with darkened expression. [Yes, I have all the names written in the list. We just have to be finished this year’s school year since it will take some time for it to open again.] “I understand.”

*BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!*

The call lasted for a brief moment and then ended. My hands fell and my shoulders shrugged like I was relieved when I heard the news as if something heavy just got snatched away from my heart. ‘At last, I will be able to avenge you brother. I will not let your deaths be in vain. This must be the reason why you gave me your ability in the first place.’ I thought to myself as I clenched my fist in anticipation of what is to come. Devoured by my anger, my senses dulled and I did not even realized that there were persons frozen few a few paces away from my house and it was already late when I noticed them staring at me in bewilderment. “Eh?” ‘Sh*t! I was careless!’ I exclaim in my head as I curse my carelessness. ‘Did they head our conversation?’ I asked myself as I try to approach them. “Hey man, do –you have teleportation as well?” one of them asked with a broken tone as they try to walk away from me. A silhouette appeared behind them and knocked them unconscious after restraining their movements, it was Van and another figure appeared behind him, it was his colleague that participated in the example that the principal had made a few days ago.

“I guess that person had called you, did he tell you about the news as well uncle?” Van asked as his colleague leaned down and touched the heads of the unconscious students. “Don’t worry uncle, my friend here will erase any memory that they had in this instant.” He reassured. Now I remember, that person, his colleague is one of my classmates twenty years ago. ‘Aron Clayman.’ I told myself after taking a closer look at his face. “This is the person that I told you about a few days ago. Apparently he is a person that ‘that person’ assigned here to help his son and you as well, his ability might be a little handy in some cases and he is proven to be right after all.” Van let out a smile.

Aron turned towards me and flashed a friendly smile. “It’s been a while Rain Ambro- a really long while. I hope you remember me, thought I have not been a person to be remembered really well since I am quite the same person as you back then but I do get in touch with our other classmates from time to time.” He said as he offers his hand. “It really has been a while, I did not see your face clearly when the principal called you out so I did not realize it was you and just had a glimpse of your face briefly when you smiled at me, so that was the reason huh? How come you still recognize me?” I asked as I shook his hand. “There is no way I can forget the face that you have, I was shocked when the first time I saw you. ‘That person’ said that I will be surprised when I see you but I did not expect something like this at all. You look like you did not age a bit since then.” He said with a surprised and confused expression like he doesn’t know how to react to what he is seeing. “I see that you have improved your ability.” I pointed out as Van lifted the students and placed them to a safe location as I invited Aron inside the house. “We will be going inside Van.” I informed him and he nodded his head with a smile.

“That person sponsored me and promised to take care of my family for their entire lifetime in exchange for my help to his mission in mind.” He replied as he takes a seat. “I heard that he had been making a private investigation about what happened even before I asked to investigate something. I can’t believe that you joined his ranks twenty years ago.” I offered him a coffee. “Careful, it’s really hot. I used my ability to heat the water instantly so it’s piping hot.” I warned as he was about to take a sip. “Thanks, still I can’t believe that you are as youthful as you look twenty years ago.” he still could not believe what he is seeing and went as far as stretching my face to see if I was wearing a mask. “That’s cheating, you still look like a kid while me and the others are growing old.” He puffed his cheeks in disappointment. Van then enter the house and asked for a coffee as well so I instantly heated a water and add in an instant coffee and handed it to him, I did not bother warning him since he knows how hot it can be so he resorted to using his ability and made the cup float in the air where it will cool off faster. I saw the expression on Aron’s face. ‘These cheating duo.’ Is the expression that I got as he shake his head in disbelief.

“Arg! My head hurts- huh? What am I doing here?” one of the students was surprised when he regained his consciousness and realize that he and his friends are sleeping on the floor of their dorms. The student scratched his head in confusion and decided to wake the others since they are getting a lot of attention as the other students staring and laughing at them. “Hey, wake up were being laughed at- hey- hey!” he yelled and then his friend came to their senses and regained their consciousness and were also equally surprised about their situation and immediately run off to their rooms in embarrassment.