Hidden

The magic box

2015, Pennsylvania

Lucas kept running, he was losing his energy but the drive to survive pushed him on. He was tall and very slim, with bushy red curly hair and long thin neck. He was considered one of the best mathematicians in their class and a nerd. He was a student of Pennsylvania.

This had subjected him to being bullied especially since Jenifer, one of the famous girls in school began to hang with him. She had gone to him to get him help her do her assignment and they started hanging out. He was not her type man but she was sapiosexual and his brilliance mesmerized her.

This got Terry angry. He was her boyfriend and all of a sudden she decided to be hanging out with a nerd. He had joined the league of those that bully him.

Just a few ago, Terry had gone to pick her up for a party organized by some students only to be told that she had gone out with Lucas.

He was with three of his friends and they all had their girlfriends except him. He felt so angry and to worsen things, they went to the party and saw Jenifer dancing with Luca passionately.

His nerdish moves angered Terry the more and he swore to deal with him. Terry had gone out with his friends and they smoked c******s, drank whisky and he felt his head ringing which set him into the mood he wanted. He was going to put an end to this and it did not matter if he went extreme.

They watched them and after the party, they followed the couple. After Lucas dropped her in front of house, she kissed him and it seemed Lucas had never kissed a girl before. They were right. That was his first time once he tasted her mouth, he held her and Terry felt like bursting. He felt like going over there to hit him but calmed down. It was better he dealt with him and threaten him never to go close to her again and if it means.

They waited impatiently until she had gone inside, and he started his bike, ride pass them before they followed him. They got a lonely road before Gary, Terry’s friend who was driving the car pressed his leg on the gas pedal. The car had accelerated and the sound had startled Lucas. He looked into the mirror but it was too late. The car hit his bike and he lost control. The bike made an uncontrollable move out of the road and he fell down with bike engine still on.

He got up and saw them.

“s**t!” He exclaimed and started running.

The bullies laughed at the way he ran and started chasing him. He was now running and it seemed he could not go far again.

The four bullies were determined to catch him so they never relented.

He was shouting for help but it was late and only a few houses were there. No one came for help.

Boop! He slipped and fell down.

“See who we have got here.” Terry said as they got to him. He was still on the ground, breathing hard. “Hello Albert Einstein. I was hoping you had some formulas that would speed your ass up…” He kicked him on the ribs.

Pas! One of his friends slapped Lucas’s backhead.

“Ouch!” Lucas felt the pain and his brain vibrated . He received another kick and this seemed to be one of the deadliest bullying he was going to get.

“Please don’t kill me!” He begged.

“You need a girl, huh?” Terry said. “You need a girl then you should go for Janet because she is a f**k*ing nerd like you and have nerd chats and leave my girl out of this!”

He said as they beat him up.

“Okay, okay, I will do whatever you want, please don’t kill me.”

They laughed.

“And you will show your nerdish chat to me. Go like hello classmate, hope you feel my electrovalence reaction and she is like sure my anion…but not my fuckin* girl, weirdo.” He punched him, and they kept hitting him until Lucas began to feel dizzy, pains all over and he felt he was going to die. Why? Why did they hate him so much? Now he was getting killed for offending no one.

He lay motionless, feeling excruciating pains.

“Okay guys, I think he had enough.” One of them said but Terry was not ready for that. He could still see the images of them kissing in his head and it hurt him.

He had to kill him.

“She will get back to him and show sympathy.” He said. “Who else hates this nerd?”

“I do.” They said.

“Then let’s do it.”

They saw piles of stones and Terry said, “lets stone him to death.”

“Plea-s-e.” Lucas said but he was too weak and low to be heard. They were now exited. It was going to be fun to kill and bury him while they see the police search for him. That was thuggish and cool.

“What are we waiting for. Let’s have fun, guys.”

They went and started picking stones. As they came back, they saw him standing upright. They stopped for a while. How did he get up so soon?

“Damn! This fuc*ing nerd was feigning to be hurt and that means he wants more.”

Lucas began to breath harder, his chest heaving and his eyes closed. By the time he opened the eyes, they were bright red fluoresced so bright it radiated rays of light.

“Holy s**t!” One of them exclaimed. “What the hell is this?”

Lucas stood with his legs wide apart, the hands clenched and his chest heaved. 

“Maybe he is just using one of his science freaking techniques. An eye glass or something. Kill him!” Terry said and threw the big stone with a powerful force.

The other three did the same but they were shocked as Lucas caught all the stones and squeezed them with his bare hands.

“Oh no! This is not science! I am out of here!” One of them said but Terry who was the ring leader was running away already.

They ran as fast as they could. They turned back to see Lucas still standing there. They got to their car, got in and Gary got under the wheel of the car. He was shivering just like the rest of his friends.

“What the fuc* are you doing? Start this s**t and let us get out of here.”

“I am trying!” Gary said and the car engine started. He slid through gears and sent the car racing with an incredible speed.

‘Jeez! What the hell was that? He is a f**k*ing monster! We need to let the world know this…” Terry began but swallowed the rest of his words as the heard a crashing sound.

“Oh my God!” Terry screamed, quivering and crying.

The crashing sound was as a result of Lucas dropping ion the hood of the car from the sky. He flew! Gary lost control of the car. He struggled with the steering whelm trying to keep the car on lane but the image of Lucas scared him.

Lucas sent a punch that shattered the windshield and the car tyres screeched as the steering wheel turned sideways. It moved in that motion for a while before it somersaulted three times.

The boys were shouting and the stopped, lying upside down.

They moaned in pains after different degrees of injuries.

Lucas walked to the car and grabbed it, turned it to its normal position and pulled off the doors with his bare hands. He dragged them out and made them lay on the ground.

“You stepped on the wrong toes.” Lucas said in a deep voice that sounded like merged voices of a choir.

“Please don’t kill us…”

It was too late. Lucas opened his mouth and breathed fire which erupted with a very powerful force. After five two minutes, all that was left was a pile of ashes.

Lucas took in a deep breath and fell down. He closed his eyes and opened them.

“Please don’t kill me.” He pleaded but soon realized that he was alone.

What happened? He got on his feet and froze as he saw the ashes. They were dead. He began to run away.

****** 

A fat balding man wearing an ash colored suit entered an office in the early hours of the day.

“Good morning Professor Harry.”

“Good morning Doctor Ken.”

“Thank you for your time.”

“Please sit down.”

“I know you are a very busy man so I will go straight to the point. Have you heard about the college kids that were found dead?”

“Who hasn’t? It is all on the news.”

“I have been following the news keenly. I also have a police friend who has being keeping me in the loop. I find it very interesting.”

“Interesting?”

“I mean I have a lot of interest in the case. The forensic experts could not explain the incident. They could not identify the source of the fire. The kids had their cars crashed and were found dead near where the car crashed. It was not an accident. They were killed.”

“Hmmm...”

“An eye witness said he heard someone shout for help. He peeped and saw four boys chasing a young man. They passed in front his house. He called 911 but when the police came, he could not give specification and surprisingly, they did not see the car. I hired a private investigator because I saw the debris. The ash was not just ash colored but had shiny red particles which was not part of the bodies or clothes of the victims.”

“Hmmm..”

“That is how the remains of any fire put by D Dragon looks like.”

“D dragon?”

“The Durenga dragons and the Dark dragon was one of such dragon.”

Professor Harry moved forward, now intensely interested.

“You mean the Dark dragon of Syrusis?”

“Yes but this was not done by a dragon but and not a weredragon but one with the blood.”

“What do you mean by one with the blood?”

“I will explain this and if it is true, I think the last one with the blood is around and we must find him. This will be a big discovery and you may find been looking for: The diary and I will also get what I have been looking for. We must identify the boy they chased and trace his lineage. I know an agency that are the best when it comes to tracing ancestry chats. I am very excited. We need to find this boy and we got no business with the police.”

******  

Gumba made a quick turn, his bright eyes filled with alarm. He was befuddled. How did they find them? Was this the end? They are started a life and it was ending so soon.

Gwen had risen up as she heard him call her. She felt her heart racing. She pulled the door and saw them.

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” She cried. Gumba looked into her eyes and saw the fear in them. He saw a lot of things at that very moment and one thing was for certain: they could die for each other.

The soldiers were coming and the expression on Pius’s face was mean and full of anger.

Gumbo moved back and grabbed her hand. They broke into a run but that was just an attempt which was futile. She was still sick but the zeal to run away from these men made her put in an effort. The soldiers charged at them and Gumbo could not run away and leave her. He saw how she was breathing and he stopped.

The soldiers cornered them and two of them caught Gumbo and started beating him at once.

Gwen screamed.

“Leave him alone!” She was struggling to free herself from them. The soldiers who held her adamant but she bit his hand and he was forced to let her go. She made a desperate run and slipped through the soldiers and lay on Gumbo, covering and shielding him.

This surprised Pius. He wondered if he was dreaming. Was she in love with this slave? Was she choosing this slave over him? This was unbelievable. There was no doubt all this slave deserved was death.

He moved angrily and caught her, pulled her up violently and held her tight. She was screaming, crying and still struggling.

“Leave him alone! Leave my love alone!”

“You are hallucinated. He abducted you.” Pius.

“You know very well he did not. I was the one riding the horse and I ran away. I don’t love you, Pius. It does not matter what status she has, or where he comes from. What matters is what we feel for each other…”

Pius slapped her and she fell to the ground after a loud scream.

Gumbo saw this and felt a sudden wave of rage flow into him. That lady was his love and the mother of his unborn child.

He let out a deep shout and swung his leg which swept a soldiers off his feet and he feel down. Gumbo sprang up and threw a punch at another soldier.

Pius could not believe his eyes. A slave fighting soldiers? That was unheard of and this may be the first and last case because Gumbo was going to die.

“Kill him!” Pius ordered.

“Nooo!” Gwen screamed as the soldiers moved to Gumbo with their swords.

“Stop it!” A deep loud voice emerged and they turned to see Tom, Shaft and a few guards running towards them.

“You cannot interfere Mr. Tim of Fishtown.” Pius said.

‘I have the right to interfere when your want to unjustly kill my slave. I don’t care what your law says but I will not accept any law that gives you the right to come and murder an innocent man who happens to be my property in my farm.”

Pius laughed shortly.

“That is ridiculous. Did you just call him an innocent man? He abducted a noble girl and my wife.”

“She is not your wife...”

“She is betrothed.”

“That does not make her your wife and he did not abduct her. Can’t you see how is fighting against you and expressing her love for him? Don’t you have a sense of pride and shame?”

“What I feel is none of your business..”

“It is my business. You are on my land and he is my property.”

Pius smirked.

“Sire, you don’t own anything here just for the records. You are just his nephew and a caretaker.”

“Can we test that by you and  I giving orders here to see who they obey his orders? Who else has the powers to employ, sack anyone here? Who has the access to the most delicate documents. I am the official head and how it becomes mine is none of your business and if you insist, I will take a serious legal action and do not think because Wellington is dead, you can come in here and do whatsoever you wish.”

“Legal action?”

“Yes and I am talking about European Trade Union. I will report you for coming into my farm, killing an innocent man and intimidating me and obstructing my work. This is an economical sabotage and you know what this empire means to the world. You know how much tax we pay to Dransvalle and the number of employment we create. We will not only leave here, but you will pay for your actions and that includes sanctions and your personal case of murder.”

All for a slave?”

“All for my company and I will use all the resources within my reach to fight for justice.”

“Have you thought about something? It is your word against mine.”

“No you are wrong. Mr. Wellington had six event recording machines which no one, apart from me has seen. It can record everything you do and say and can be played to serve as evidence. What you did is on record stored I n six machines and I have one with me. Even if the one with me is destroyed, the agents still have five with them.” Tom lied.

Pius laughed hysterically.

“Mr. Timothy of Fishtown. How do you expect me or anyone to believe that there is such a machine?”

“Let me show it to you, then.”

Tom removed his phone and showed him what he recorded.

Everyone there was shocked. Pius saw himself and his soldiers talking, moving, and everything they did showed.

What was this? Was this a machine from the gods? Was this possible or was he the only one that could see this.

“Did anyone else see this?” Pius asked.

“I saw myself!” A soldier said excitedly. “I saw myself in a  tiny box.”

“Shut up!” Pius said angrily.”We will arrest him and present him to the court.”

“I will come and see him for myself. I hope you know that this device is recording whatever you do to him.”

Pius looked at him and then turned at his soldiers.

“Take him away.” He ordered.

“I want to be wherever he goes.” Gwen cried.

“You are coming with me. You need to see the physician.”

They took them away and Tom sent for a woman. She was middle aged with dark eyes.

“You are the lady Gumbo gave money to help buy shoes, right?”

“Yes, sire.”

“So it was you who told Pius that she was hiding here and got a reward of ten pounds.”

“No sire.”

“You do not know how loyal most of you are to me. You knew she was hiding here. I have proves.”

“I –I thought he abducted her.”

“Did what you saw look like an a*******n? Anyways, enjoy your ten pounds and this is another fifty pounds. You are hereby sacked from this company and never to be seen her again.”

******

The wedding day was around and the whole town was bubbling with excitement. The news had gone round and Tom’s reputation as a kind man had endeared him to many people. Everything was surplus and there was no way it could be kept secret.

Even the king was in getting ready to attend. While these went on, the court was in session. Gumba was sentenced to death by beheading and Pius made sure this was done quickly. He would defend himself that it was the action of the court and the reason was Gumbo hit law men unlawfully in an attempt to resist arrest.

Shaft came into Tom’s room as he finished dressing up. He said something to him and tom nodded.

“We will talk after the wedding rite.” He said but he had barely finished his words when Isabella walked in with a big smile.

“Surprise, surprise. I could not wait for three months without you my love. I am back..”

Tom hoped it was a nightmare.