Chapter 3: The Unexpected

I was walking to school again. But, this time, I was walking to school with barely controlled desperation to see Axel, to ease my mind.

At this point, I would have walked to his home just to see him, no matter how far it was. But, I didn’t know where his house was. In fact, I barely knew anything about his home or even his parents.

It was so strange to think that we were so close when I never even met his parents. But whenever I asked him about it, he deflected my curiosity. After a while, I stopped asking him about it, thinking that maybe he had a very bad relationship with his parents, maybe even worse than the one I had with mine.

Walking straight to my locker, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. There was no sight of him. So, I went and checked near his locker but he wasn’t there either. So, with a crushing sense of defeat, I walked back to my locker.

My mind was becoming a jumbled mess. I couldn’t fathom why he wasn’t there. He always waited for me near the lockers. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was avoiding me.

I take out all the books that I would need for the day and put them in my bag. I closed the locker and walked to my first class. The class was mostly empty.

I take a seat and wait for the teacher to arrive.

I was never this early to class. usually, I stand near my locker with Axel and joke around.

The gripping sense of forboding clawed at my mind and it was getting harder to ignore it every passing moment.

As the warning bell finally rang, the almost empty class started filling with students. The teacher walked in a few minutes later and took out her class register.

But, I barely paid attention to her. In my mind, only one question drifted around.

Axel, where are you?

…………………………………………….

It was lunch and there was still no sign of Axel. So, I grabbed an apple from the cafeteria and went to the library to finish my lunch. Maybe, even do my homework to pass time.

After finishing the apple I was munching on and losing interest in the biology textbook lying in front of me, I decided that I needed to go to the toilet.

So, I put my books in the bag and slowly made my way to the toilet. But when push the door and I enter, an entirely unexpected scene greeted my vision.

In front of me, a crying Janet was sitting on the extremely dirty floor of the toiled. Her hands were cupping her face, as violent sobs wracked her whole body.

The mere sight of her was absolutely unsettling to me. I couldn’t help but think that she had something to do with Axel’s sudden disappearance. Even when I had no proof, no solid reason to think so.

But, every piece of my soul felt wary of her.

Despite that, my heart ached to see her so broken. Without wanting to, I saw myself in those tears and I couldn’t even comprehend the thought of leaving her like this, alone, and not try to comfort her.

So, with reluctant steps, I went toward her and crouched down to her level. I placed a hand on her shoulder and asked “What’s wrong Janet?”

Hearing my voice, she moved her hands away from her face. Her face was swollen with tears streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes were red and filled with unshed tears. Yet, the heart-wrenching pain in them was so clear, so loud, I felt my breath hitch.

She stared at me for a few seconds and then her expression changed to one filled with so much resentment, I stumbled back at its intensity. She pushed my hands away and stood up. She glared at me with molten fury dripping from her eyes.

“What’s wrong, you ask? You exist. That’s what’s wrong. You destroyed everything. You took away my happiness. One thing that I always dreamt about since I was a child. One person that was supposed to give me only happiness. You took it all away. I fucking hate you” her voice ringed loud and clear in the small toilet. Her voice held uncontrollable loathing, despair, and fury. She looked like she would kill me if she could.

I cowered away from her.

Then she walked out, leaving me in the toilet, stunned and hurt.

After gathering my wits and wiping away the unexpected tears, I walked out of the toilet. I would have stayed longer but the bell made me hurry and rush to my class.

What happened was completely unexpected but it was very hurtful.

I’ve never been friends with her. I’ve barely ever talked to her and even when I did, she was always kind. That wasn’t something I could say about everyone.

Kindness was scarce when it came to me.

That’s why it hurt so much. But, I still didn’t understand what she meant.

She said that I took the person who was supposed to give her happiness away from her. But, how could I when I barely talked to anyone? I didn’t have friends. So, who was she talking about?

Axel.

The name popped into my head without even trying.

But, that wasn’t possible.

Axel wasn’t hers. Axel was mine. He belonged with me, not her. If anything, she would be the one taking him away from me.

‘Axel. Where are you? What is going on?’

………………………………………………….

Trying to figure out what’s going on kept my mind occupied the whole day. Trying to fight away the constant prickle in my eyes and tightening grip on my heart also did a good job in distracting me.

I couldn’t process a single word taught in class today. There was no sign of Axel the whole day too. I searched everywhere I could think about. But, it was like he vanished out of thin air.

As the last bell rang, I dashed out of my class. Not glancing at anyone at school, I made my way out of there. The whole way, finding it hard to breathe.

When I finally reached my house, I opened the door and ran up to my room. I threw myself to my bed, and only then, in the sanctuary of my room, did I let the tears break free.