Atdonus High

Episode 4: The Man That Dreams

Middle of Who-Knows-Where

Who-Knows-When

In Atdonus Highschool

8;10am, Pandora woke up.

She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, blinking a few times before thinking that the ceiling was brighter than usual. She jumped, sitting up on her bed and looking at the clock, panicking. She got ready as quickly as possible before running out of her dorm with her bag.

8:20am, Angela was walking around around the courtyard.

She looked around, taking in deep breaths of fresh air, enjoying the silence. Not many people would leave their dorms, choosing to to go to sleep instead. Only a few students with nothing better to do would loiter around the school’s courtyard. She was waiting for someone, a smile on her face as she crossed her arms.

8:25am, Angela heard frantic footsteps.

She turned around to see Pandora racing in her direction, skidding to a stop in front of her. She was panicked, her long hair messy and obviously ill-kept. Angela faced, her, curious as to what she was doing. Pandora took a deep breath and asked, “Angela, aren’t you also late?”

“Hm?” Angela replied.

It took her some time to register the question before she laughed. Patting Pandora’s shoulder. She slung an arm around her and whispered, “It’s the weekends, there’s no school today.”

Pandora deflated slightly, slumping her shoulders. It was her fourth day at the school, and she did not know of any tradition or events, even the fact that weekends were free eluded her. She simply sighed and bowed to Angela, apologising for the inconvenience. Angela simply waved it off, laughing at the mistake. Pandora looked around, noticing the obvious lack of people. She asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Me? Waiting for someone.” Angela told her, a hint of joy in her eyes. “He doesn’t like to show himself, so I’m meeting him here.”

Pandora excused herself and walked off while Angela waved her off.

Pandora walked towards the cafeteria to get some breakfast, thinking through what she was going to do with two days of free time. She could sleep more, study in advance, could she visit friends? She did not know the addresses of Lesley or Sylva, and Angela already had plans. Pandora went to the cafeteria, bought a sandwich and walked around with it, occasionally passing other schoolmates.

She sat down alone, but it felt odd to eat alone. She had thought that she was used to it, but ever since she transferred to the school, she always had lunch with someone. It felt unnatural to eat outside her dorm alone, so she just got up and went back to her dorm.

On the way, she saw a scene that a few other students had gathered to watch.

In front of a store, bags of products in hand, was someone Pandora definitely recognised, he had a sleepy expression as he tried to faced the person in front of him, accidentally glaring at him. The person in front of him was shorter and buffer with spiky blonde hair, his face was twisted into a snarl as he tried to bring his face as close to Azel as he could.

Pandora watched and thought whether a fight was going to occur, and should she stop it. The other party looked strong and everyone already knew how strong Azel was.

“What ya’ lookin’ at? Huh?” The spiky haired guy scowled, both hands in his pockets.

Azel just looked at him, wondering what he was doing.

8:12am, Azel entered the store.

He had read up on something called an omelette rice and wanted to try it out, so he needed to purchase a few eggs. He had woken up not too long ago, so his vision was still slightly blurry when he paid and exited the shop, bumping into someone running at high speeds. Before he knew it, the events rolled that way.

He disliked troublesome things, so he decided to just walk past him, brushing past his shoulder. The spiky haired guy clenched his fists, gritted his teeth as a vein popped up on his forehead. He pulled his arm back, turned around, and threw a punch at Azel. The fist connected straight to Azel’s back, making his stumble forward slightly.

Azel turned around, not really hurt, he had felt worse from bigger people in the past. He simply wanted to make sure he knew what his aggressor looked like, just for future reference before turning back and walking towards his dorm. Since he was sleepy, his face showed a glare as he tried to focus on his face. Everyone in the audience except Pandora took a step back after seeing him glare, expecting him to punch back, though the result was otherwise.

The spiky haired guys screamed in rage and stomped off, aggressively pushing his way out.

While the crowd slowly scattered, whispers being exchanged and more rumours were added to Azel’s crazy stories, Pandora went in the direction Azel had gone in. She eventually caught up to his long strides, saying, “Could you hold on a second?”

Azel stopped near the dorms and turned around to face Pandora, his expression relaxing when he recognised her. Tilted his head, giving her a questioned look.

“I apologise for that day when I visited your place.” Pandora bowed. “I was acting improper and rude despite being an outsider in your residence.”

Azel shook his head, making an action of throwing something over his shoulder. He checked his bag of products and pulled out a book, showing it to Pandora. It had a picture of an omelette rice displayed, followed by the steps to make it. Azel pointed at it, then at the dorm.

“You want to eat that?” Pandora guessed.

Azel nodded, then pointed at himself and Pandora.

“With me?” She asked.

He nodded and turned to walk into the dorm. Pandora followed after him, walking up the flight of stairs. On the way up, walking side by side, Pandora asked, “Do you dislike speaking?”

Azel looked at her, then nodded his head.

“You can speak around me, I don’t mind.” She continued, trying to keep the conversation alive.

Azel shook his head.

“Why?” She asked further.

He pointed to his throat, traced to his mouth before leaving the mouth with five fingers extended. He followed up with shaking his hand, as if refusing, or... not having. Pandora stopped temporarily before walking again, shocked. Why had she not thought about it, now that she knew, it seemed so obvious, the reason he uses signals, the reason he tried using those books.

Azel increased his pace, taking three strides forward, leaving Pandora in the dust.

“Wait for me!” Pandora called.

8:00am, Mr. Connor was in his work area.

Being that he was a new hire for the school, his work space was significantly smaller compared to the veteran teachers of the school. It was neatly arranged, a box of stationery to his left, a stack of worksheets he planned to use the next lesson. The rest of the space was used as he flipped through the information of his students, detailing their full name, birthdays, and only some information. He arranged them and put two aside, the two students he had not seen in class that day. He understood that they had gotten into a fight, one was in the hospital, the other suspended from classes.

He pulled out a notebook, it contained his first impression of every student in the class, including Pandora and Angela. He tapped his desk and checked up the dorm number of the student on suspension, wanting to see his own first impressions of the student, not the school’s.

8:27am, he left his work area.

8:51am, Mr. Connor stood outside of the student’s door, double checking his documents to make sure he brought everything he needed. Taking a deep breath, he tried to focus, it was his first time visiting a student’s place, he needed to look good. Even outside, he could smell a hint of something nice, something being cooked. He knocked on the door and patiently awaited an answer.

The door opened, revealing someone taller than himself. He already knew that the student was 190cm tall, but the difference in height was still jarring to him, especially when there was a girl beside him that was much shorter. Mr. Connor recognised the girl as Pandora from his class, his impression of her was that she was shy and did not like to stand out, so why was she visiting the student renowned for being a ‘bad guy’? He cleared his throat and introduced himself, “Good morning Student Dominico, apologies for the early interruption, but I am your current substitute language teacher, Mr. Connor.”

He half expected him to shut the door in his face, instead, Azel nodded and moved aside from the door, gesturing for him to enter the room.

“Ah, sorry for the intrusion then.” Mr. Connor said, stepping into the dorm room.

It was kept clean and neat, a bed not too far away from the door, separated by a dining table with only one chair. To the right was a small kitchen, mostly divided with a wall except for an entrance to enter. He assumed the bathroom would be behind the wall that divided the room. Most notably, against the wall, by the bed, were shelves that reached the ceiling, filled with books upon books, something he never would have expected.

“You are Pandora Gappy, correct?” Mr. Connor asked.

“Yes.” Pandora replied.

He looked at the dining table, seeing two plates left half-eaten. He watched as Azel brought the plates to the kitchen, out of sight. He then whispered to Pandora. “May I know why you are here?”

“He invited me to a meal, why?” She replied.

“Nothing much, just thought that it was unexpected.” Mr. Connor commented.

He was not expecting someone like Pandora to go close to someone as reputable as Azel, much less share a meal with him. He stood awkwardly beside a much shorter female student he had not conversed with before. He cleared his throat and started, “Sorry if I am wrong, but could the both of you perhaps be in a relationship together?”

“No.” Pandora replied flatly. “What makes you think that?”

“Oh, you two on first impression seem close, especially from what I heard of Azel before taking your class. I heard that he was a vulgar bully that showed no respect to anyone, but that does not seem to be the case with him.” He told her.

“Where did those rumours even come from?”

“It has something to do with his past and his current actions, but I can assure you that the rumours are mostly false.”

Pandora let out an audible sigh of relief, as if finally getting something off her chest. Mr. Connor noted it mentally that Pandora indeed, had a soft spot for Azel. He may not know the reason, or the cause, he simply could tell that Pandora was not afraid of him like the other kids, instead, seem to be quite a friend despite the rumours.

Azel walked out of the kitchen, bowing slightly as a form of apology. He showed the teacher to the seat, letting the elder sit while he remained standing. He then rubbed his chin when looking at Pandora before heading over to his bed, patting the edge of it, letting her sit on his bed. He tapped a few books on his shelf, followed up with him mimicking reading a book. Pandora did that, pulling out one of the books and reading it. Azel went over to the table, standing across from Mr. Connor, his full attention given towards the teacher.

“Regarding your suspension from classes, the school has decided to reduce that punishment to a week, so I expect you back in school soon. The reason for the reduced penalty is because the school has decided that letting you lack out on your studies would be a shame, so you are allowed to return early. However, if something similar were to happen again, expulsion from the school is possible.” Mr. Connor started.

Azel nodded along, tapping the table top slightly, not making a noise.

“Well, main issue would be how long you plan to keep your condition a secret, not only the students, but even some of the teachers find your silence unbearable.” He continued.

Azel stopped tapping the table.

He looked to the side where Pandora was pretending to still be reading. She tried not to look that way in case she was hearing something she should not be hearing. Azel faced Mr. Connor again and put his index and thumb fingers together, putting it against the left corner of his mouth, pulling it across his lips. Even Mr. Connor understood his meaning, Azel was telling him to remain silent about that topic, at least, around Pandora.

Mr. Connor cleared his throat before continuing, “That will be a discussion for another day then. The reason I came here is to clarify something with you. The student you assaulted, Evan Aquarius, is currently in a hospital, undergoing treatment for a fractured jaw, along with a potentially fatal spine injury. The school is at their limits with your actions, especially those out of control rumours of yours. If possible, could you do something about those? Maybe try and clarify a few of them?”

Azel shrugged. He had no idea what he was supposed to do about the rumours.

“Well, that’s all for now.” He said, grabbing his bag. “Again, apologies for the intrusion.”

With a slight, hidden limp in his left leg, he walked out of the dorm. Azel noticed it, making eye contact with Mr. Connor, the teacher had a flash of warning cross his face, whether it be warning him not to tell or he found out that something was up. When Mr. Connor left the dorm, Azel went up to his shelf and picked out a few books, showing them to Pandora. Confused, she thought they were his personal recommendation.

‘Assaulted in the Night’

‘Guilty! A judge’s recollection’

‘The sudden disappearance of Professor Calde’

Pandora looked at all the titles, registering what she was shown, taking a few moments. She whispered, “Assaulted... guilty... disappearance...”

Something clicked and she faced him, “You think that Mr. Connor is responsible for the absence of Mr. Hart?”

Azel shrugged. He did not know fully, but since Mr. Connor mentioned he was the substitute teacher for language, he could guess.

“I’m going to try and talk to him.” She insisted.

Azel nodded. It would be useless if he followed, so he went back to the kitchen, grabbed a lunchbox with Pandora’s leftovers, handing it to her and sending her off.

9:28am, Pandora caught up with Mr. Connor at the courtyard, Angela nowhere to be seen.

“Is there a problem?” Mr. Connor asked, concerned.

“I-” Pandora wheezed, catching her breath before continuing, “I want to know whether you attacked Mr. Hart.”

“Why would I do such a thing?” He asked, his voice straining as he felt that he was ever so close to getting exposed.

“That’s what I would like to know.” Pandora replied.

She was breathing hard from running, a handbag with a lunchbox and sandwich inside. Her beret was tilted at a slightly off angle, her uniform messy. She continued, “You don’t seem to be the kind of person that would do something like this without a proper reason.”

Just like how Mr. Connor had decided to form first impressions of all his students, Pandora had also done the same, just like the first day of school, she had registered his expressions, actions and manner of speech. Her conclusion was that even if he tried acting as a bad person, he had a good intention deep down.

Mr. Connor, on the other hand, was reevaluating Pandora as they spoke. He found out that she was not just a polite person who did not want to stand out. To achieve that, she had taken into account other people’s potential reactions to her actions based off their personality, avoiding those actions so as not to rile up the person mentioned.

“Like I said, Mr. Hart was found at the courtyard early yesterday morning, he is currently unconscious due to a head injury of an unknown cause.” Mr. Connor pushed. “I entered class yesterday saying he was sick so that none of you would be alarmed of an assaulter, the school is looking into it, so there is no need to raise unnecessary alarm. Panic is the last thing we need in this school.”

Pandora, about to retort, found herself unable to. No matter what she thought, there was little to no evidence of Mr. Connor committing any form of assault.

“So sorry about that.” Pandora apologised, bowing. “I had come to a conclusion foolishly, hope you have a nice day ahead.”

Pandora walked off.

9:54am, Mr. Connor sat at his seat.

He looked at a note he kept on him at all times. It was old, crumpled and looked like trash. On it, was written, ‘Future Aspirations’. It was a scribbled handwriting of a child, too messy for it to ever be written by a proper adult.

Under ‘Future Aspirations’ was a sentence. Mr. Connor remembered back when he was in grade school and the Teachers had wanted them to think of three potential jobs they would like to do, or people they would like to be. The class had children wanting to be soccer players, president or actors and actresses, none of them wanted to do anything dull. While others wrote down three interesting careers, he himself could only think of one.

‘I want to be a great teacher!’

A sentence filled with such childish innocence, had driven him towards where he was, in Atdonus Highschool. He wanted to be a teacher that inspired his students, bring them into the right path, and he would do anything to try and achieve it. However, being an assistant teacher that did not even get a chance to teach the class was not his dream.

His dream was to teach, and he could do it his way.

Working under Mr. Hart had been torture for him as he tried his hardest, thinking he would finally be able to get that dream position. Reality was not so sweet, therefore he needed to take matters into his own hands, dirty his hands a little.

He kept the note back into his wallet and looked at the stack of worksheets. He pulled out his laptop and started preparing for the next eventful lesson that was upcoming, a smile on his face.