Beneath The Surface

Act 6 - Kali

Normal text
Thinking
Onomatopoeia

Akali's POV
"Whatchu looking at?"

"The new girl," Sister replied as her gaze remained fixed on a certain new kid.

I followed her line of sight and stared at the girl in question. She's sitting in a secluded corner, staring at the ground in a daze. But she wasn't alone. The same few bastards that always had beef with me were now surrounding her, showcasing an exemplary behaviour of what courageous people do—name-calling in big groups. They're always doing this, picking on newcomers. This time, they're full-on gloating, calling her a dog for wearing a muzzle. Which, to be fair, was weird, even for me. That kid came here with a bunch of clowns in blue uniforms and top hats, a muzzle strapped across her mouth and her hands cuffed in front of her. I couldn't really hear what they're talking about. Only something about that girl being a poor orphan who had lost her parents and her mind along the way, and their city's orphanage not having the space to accommodate more children.

But what's most mind-boggling, and somewhat irritating, about this kiddo was the fact that she didn't struggle. Even when those adults glared at her in contempt, with disgust practically oozing out of their eyes as they roughly hustled her about. She just stood there stupidly, as if she didn't dare to let out a whimper in front of them. It irked me like crazy. And now, she's still being a coward, sitting there meekly while taking insults from a bunch of rats. Not willing to fight back.

Pathetic!

I rolled my eyes, "There's nothing to look at. It's just some scaredy-cat. Best to not get close to her. She's trouble."

And it's not without reason. Those blue clowns could lie all they want but I ain't buying their shit. Something about this new girl was rubbing me the wrong way. I don't know what it was, just that it's a bad vibe. There's something sinister about her. Something that's beneath her cowardly facade. She's not a completely worthless rabbit. She's bad news. A ticking time bomb, if you will.

"Really? But I think she looks lonely and depressed."

Sister looked at me with puppy eyes, one that always made me feel bad for saying no to her. My chest suddenly felt stuffy. I instinctively looked away from those deadly eyes. But I could still feel the sting of her probing gaze. My resolve started wavering.

"Akaliii," she whined while swinging my arm adorably.

Usually, Sister's too mature to pull shit like this. But she also wasn't dumb enough to ignore the chink in my armour. She had long sniffed out my weakness. That I couldn't handle her watery eyes. So Sister Luna had always deployed such tactics whenever she wanted me to shut up and go according to her plans. And it's proving to be highly effective once again.

A few more minutes of cute stares and I caved in like a fool, "Fine. Fine."

With an infuriating smirk plastered across her beautiful face, she hugged me in her arms, "Awww~ I always knew Akali is so soft towards me~"

My face instantly heated up, "N-No, I'm not! Stop being delusional!"

After finally wriggling out of her warm embrace, I stormed over to the pack of rats.

"Hey, bastards! Pick on someone your own size!"

They stopped vomiting rubbish and looked up, an annoyed expression on their faces. But those frowns quickly morphed into frightened ones when they saw the rabid dog that was me. Or more precisely, the actual rabid dog behind me. The one who could hurl boulders at their faces. Sister's face was dark, her blood-red eyes glaring at them. Clearly knowing they're outmatched by my backer, they instantly scattered with tails tuck between their legs. If only I could be as strong as Sister... But I can't... Because I'm just a scrawny kid. Like the new girl in front of me. I stood in front of the weirdo, staring at the dishevelled long hair covering her face. Maybe it's the unhappiness that I'm lumped together in the same category as a spineless creature like her, but I suddenly felt like smacking her head.