Mattheo Riddle [o.s]

plot twist II

Jasmine De Leon

Mattheo Riddle:

The air in this shit hole fucks up my lungs more than the five cigarettes I smoke in a day.

I take a long drag, my back against a stone wall of this patio, hidden a bit so no one would call me out for smoking. I hear voices. Plenty of them. I just wish I could make them shut up with one single spell. People in this place pretend to be so happy, so perfect. They talk like they got everything figured out.

They don't.

Most of them don't even see beyond the walls of this place.

And they most definitely not see me.

They only see what I let them see—sharp tongue, intimidating and cold looks, son of a monster, Slytherin with a fighting habit and a bad temper. It's easier that way. Safer. If they already expect the worst from you, there's nothing left to lose.

It was not my choice to enrole into Hogwarts. I hate this school more than anything. I never had any interest in it, and frankly—I don't intent to gain any.

Hogwarts might look beautiful—its big windows, ancient towers and enchanted night skies. But to me, it's just a prison with pretty walls.

This place just fucking suffocates me. Every single day. Because it's simply just a prettier cage than the one I was born in.

It's very easy to feel like you're drowning here. In expectation, in noise—in everything else that goes inside my head when I can't shut it up anymore. So I smoke. I act unapproachable. I simply disappear. I pretend I'm above all of it.

And most days, I am. Most days, I don't give a damn about anyone here.

Their fake smiles. Their empty eyes. Their obsession with knowing what's going on in another person's life, acting like they care, when in reality—they just want to hear someone have it even worse than them so that they don't feel so shitty about themselves.

They don't know me. They never wanted to.

And that's fine. It's better.

I take another drag, holding the smoke for a second before exhaling slow—watching it coil up into the evening sky.

I have a tutoring session with Jasmine in five minutes. The reminder hits my mind when a glimpse of her laugh plays in my head like a fucking melody.