That day you told her to come with you

Chapter 1: Gerard

 CHAPTER 1

It took me quite a while to adapt to my new life. I made an illusion so that I could still pretend that I still had my right hand. By doing so, I won't scare away the people around me, especially the ladies. I went to school again. I really had to do a lot of work to bring my emotional and mental state back to normal. But once I did, the days turned back to normal once more.

The illusion I casted was almost perfect. No one really asked about it aside from my teacher. I couldn’t believe it at all since he was a young teacher. But I guess that’s how it was in school. Only teachers are powerful enough to notice an illusion of this caliber.

“I got it from an accident.” I answered, noticing how I tried to pull my injured hand away from him.  I was ashamed.

“Well” His eyes were fixed on my hand as I felt his stare burn, “if you want a better illusion quality you should ask this girl from another class… her illusions are even better than some teachers.”

I heard her name but didn’t bother to put it into memory. I said thank you just to be polite. As I turned to go I stared at my fake hand. There was no way I would ask for help about this. I didn’t even think about retelling my story to anyone. This was the most embarrassing thing I ever experienced in my life.

I went to work again. It was fun to pretend you're normal even if you're not.

I went home, changed into something more comfortable and went to bed. The soft bed behind my back helped me relaxed. This was another day of shame. Holding up my damaged hand, I felt that I missed it. I could see the hand and could even use it to hold things but I was aware it was a fake. There was no warmth from it. I also don’t feel anything when I touch things. It was just there. I am disabled and it is because of that stupid Tebang.

The wind suddenly howled violently blowing my window open.

“Is this a joke?” I uttered loudly to not scare myself. Everything felt too quiet with nothing but the howling of the wind. At some point it was creepy.

I felt a cold chill ran up my spine as I sat up to go to the window. The curtains waved violently. They looked like hands inviting me to go closer. As the curtains moved, I caught a glimpse of someone sitting in my window sill. It stopped me in mid-step. I felt the hair on my skin stand on their tips. I felt danger. The waving curtains hid him from me only to show a bit of his image little by little.

He was a little boy with a strange two-point hat. He was looking at me without a blink. A searing pain climbed from my damaged hand and instantly the pain spread throughout my body. It was a warning. This creature was an enemy. It was Tebang.

I made a fireball and shot it at the window. The curtains were devoured in flames in no time. He suddenly vanished. But I didn’t care where he went, my apartment is going to burn if I didn’t do anything. I called the fire back to me as they disappeared with a puff. Good thing I saved my apartment unlike my hand.

But why is he following me?

The next day I went to the school library to find something about Tebang. I searched those yellowish ancient books that were already stacked in the darkest corners of the library. I hate being in the library. It is full of geeks and grade conscious people. I think I'm allergic to them. I am a studious student but I don't exaggerate studying unlike them. I collected five books. The Encyclopaedia of Mythical creatures, Time travelers in History, Folklore revealed, Magical and Mythical creatures –factual and fictional, and of course, Gurimbaw Tebang. This is the first time I learned that even that brat has a book title of his own.

Two of the books I needed to read were thick and so I decided to bring them one by one to the nearest table. I missed my hand so bad that I could kill the first person that has a hand just like mine. However, I just dismissed that thought. That was crazy.