Episode 3

“TEACHER is coming!” a classmate of Maxine’s shouted the next day, running into the classroom. The students immediately straightened up in their seats. The room, previously buzzing with noise, fell silent.

 

 

“Excuse me.” Maxine whispered to the girl next to her. “Do you know who our Law-1 instructor is?”

 

 

“Miss Calupe.”

 

 

“Ah, is she nice?” she asked again. But she didn’t expect the answer her classmate gave.

 

 

“My God, you don’t know Miss Calupe?! She’s one of the terror instructors in this University. You’re so clueless, Maxine, we’re about to graduate!”

 

 

She turned to the front, grimacing. She never understood her classmates’ behavior. “These students here are really crazy. I asked a simple question.”

 

 

“What did you just say?”

 

 

“Nothing. I said you’re beautiful.”

 

 

“Indeed.”

 

 

She smirked. “Just kidding. You actually believed me.”

 

 

“Oh, you---”

 

 

“Good morning, Ma’am!”

 

 

Her classmate stopped talking as Miss Calupe arrived, though she still gave Maxine a finger sign.

 

 

“Good morning!” Miss Calupe greeted warmly.

 

 

A deafening silence fell for a moment before the instructor spoke again.

 

 

“Okay. Before anything else, I want to give you guys a very warm welcome,” she said calmly, looking at the students. “And as of that, get one whole sheet of paper---now!”

 

 

Everyone scrambled to follow, startled by the instructor’s booming voice, before she wrote something on the whiteboard.

 

 

“Start answering.”

 

 

A few moments passed.

 

 

“Ah..!” Maxine let out a muffled cry. A crumpled piece of paper, seemingly with something inside, was thrown at her. She unfolded it to see, a white-out. She glared at her classmate, but she just shrugged and grinned mischievously.

 

 

“What is that?!”

 

 

She quickly hid the crumpled paper behind her back. She looked at Miss Calupe, feeling like she’d been stung by a snake.

 

 

“What’s your full name?” the instructor asked calmly. She stood up and walked towards Maxine.

 

 

“Maxine Filmore.” she replied in a low voice. She was sweating profusely despite the air-conditioned classroom.

 

 

“What is that behind your back?”

 

 

Maxine swallowed nervously, one after another. Her heart thumped as if she had done something wrong, even though she hadn’t.

 

 

“It’s nothing, Ma’am.”

 

 

“Let me see.”

 

 

Maxine didn’t budge, just stared at the instructor.

 

 

“Are you cheating?”

 

 

“No, Ma’am.”

 

 

“Then let me see it, or else you wouldn’t like it, Miss Filmore.”

 

 

Maxine nervously handed the paper to the instructor, silently praying there was nothing written on it.

 

“Finish or not finish, pass your paper,” Miss Calupe said after a while. She walked back to her desk.

 

 

Maxine felt a weight lift off her chest. It meant the paper was blank.

 

 

MAXINE was currently in the school park, taking a break. She had almost been in trouble earlier. Why were her classmates so hostile towards her?

 

 

“I hate you Wilford!” she shouted involuntarily before burying her face in the stone table. Suddenly, there was a loud thud. She lifted her head in surprise.

 

 

“Darn!” the man who came from somewhere muttered, his face contorted in pain. He held his hip as he struggled to stand. He looked in her direction and walked towards her.

 

 

“H-hi!” he greeted me with a forced smile and sat down in front of her. “Mind if I join you?”

 

 

“Okay,” she casually replied. She stared at him, trying to get a feel for him. He wasn’t that handsome but he was cute, yes. “Where did you come from? I didn’t notice you.”

 

 

The man smiled, revealing his dimples.

 

 

“From the top of the tree.” He looked in the direction of the mango tree not far from them.

 

 

“From the top of the t-tree?”

 

 

“Yeah, I was reading my favorite book,” he said, raising the Harry Potter book. “Are you being bullied by the students here?”

 

 

She looked at the man in a questioning manner.

 

 

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that I heard you screaming you hate Wilford,” he explained, probably reading her mind.

 

 

“It’s because I’m not as rich as the students here. So they discriminate against me for being poor.” Suddenly, she thought about it. She couldn’t help but look at him with suspicion. He was inside the campus, meaning he was also a student here.

 

 

“Oh come on, don’t count me in. I’m not one of them,” he said with a laugh. He was too obvious and he read her mind. “Honestly, I don’t like the students here either, they’re all stupid hypocrites.”

 

 

She didn’t comment. She didn’t know if he was just messing with her.

 

 

A few moments later, the bell rang, signaling the start of the next class.

 

 

“I’m afraid I can’t stay here for long. I have class.” The man stood up but didn’t move. “By the way, I’m Hevo. And you are?”

 

 

“Maxine..”

 

 

“See you around, Maxine.”

 

 

Hevo turned his back on her and started to walk away, but he had only taken a few steps when he suddenly stopped and turned back.

 

 

“Uhm, friends?” he asked with a smile, extending his hand.

 

 

“F-friends,” she replied hesitantly and accepted it.

 

 

“Okay,” he said, his smile widening. She could feel him slightly squeeze her hand.

 

 

She couldn’t believe she was following a gaze with her “supposed friend” away. For the last three years she’d been at Wilford, no one had ever befriended her. Not all the students here were arrogant, there were still some decent people.

 

 

___

 

 

LUCAS stood on the veranda of his room, eyes closed, inhaling the scent of nature. In the three years he had lived in Sta. Monica, his body had become accustomed to the weather and climate.

 

 

The young man took a deep breath. He couldn’t help but recall a memory from his childhood.

 

 

“Do it, Fernan!” his Grandfather commanded his Uncle, his voice booming. The Grandfather sat on a silver throne at the front, surrounded by four other elders. Below, in the hall, people lined up on either side, dressed in long black robes that reached their ankles. Their faces were covered, only their mouths visible, like grim reapers.

 

 

In the middle stood his Uncle Fernan, fear and anxiety etched on his face. Behind him, a woman, about the same age as his mother, was bound hand and foot, trembling and crying hopelessly. He had no idea what was happening.

 

 

“I can’t, Dad! Just let her go. She has nothing to do with this! It was all my fault! I was the one who betrayed Ella…!”

 

 

He gripped the door tighter. So that woman was his mistress?

 

 

“You are a godd*mn jerk, Fernan!” his Grandfather roared, his eyes blazing with anger. It was terrifying. “Are you gonna k*ll her, or I, myself will do it for you…?”

 

 

“I won’t allow anybody to hurt her. Not even you, Daddy!”

 

 

“She’s a d*mn human, Fernan!” his Grandfather howled, his voice chilling. His eyes turned blood red, his snout elongated, and his face and body became covered in fur. He doubled in size and height, tearing his clothes to shreds. His fingernails grew long and sharp, capable of k*lling anyone they touched.

 

 

“I love her,” his Uncle Fernan declared firmly, his form shifting as he spoke. He transformed into a monster, just like his Grandfather.

 

 

In a flash, the two grappled. He couldn’t even see them, they moved so fast…

 

 

…until his Uncle Fernan fell, blood staining the ground.

 

 

He gasped in horror, trembling at what he had seen. He didn’t realize his tears were falling. Despite being a child, he had witnessed his grandfather take the life of his own son. Then, he felt hands covering his eyes.

 

 

“Mom?” he croaked, turning to his mother. He was still trembling with fear.

 

 

“What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be seen by your Grandfather.”

 

 

“But what was that, Mom…? How could he k*ll his own Son?”

 

 

“Enough, baby. Someday you’ll understand why your Grandpa has to do it.” His mother hugged him tightly, stroking his back as if to soothe his fear.

 

 

He took a deep breath, returning to reality. He opened his eyes. His body felt hot and his muscles were trembling.

 

 

He felt thirsty.

 

 

He jumped from the third-floor veranda, effortlessly scaling the high walls that protected their home.

 

 

He found himself in the dense forest of St. Monica, standing atop a tree, observing and waiting for his prey.

 

 

Even as a child, he knew something was wrong with his family…

 

 

…they were not ordinary.