If Things Should Stay the Same

Flashback: Vulnerable

"No! No! Don't!" It sounded like someone screaming at the top of his lungs.

Echoing from the empty corridors leading to the West Hall, a series of loud thumping sounds reverberated in the air as if an object of considerable weight was being lifted and dropped onto the floor repeatedly. Venturing further until the near end of the area, they could hear someone taking heavy labored breaths that partially drowned out a chorus of low-pitched snickering.

It was certainly out of norm to find people in the West Hall. Especially on a Friday when classes normally ended before 3:30 p.m.

At this time, most – if not all – of the students were gathering around the school's gates for the dismissal bell, their faces displaying such enthusiasm for the weekend. Meanwhile, the teachers and the other staff would be busy exchanging their grown-up plans for the upcoming days-off from their job in the faculty room, leaving all the school areas except the Main Hall completely devoid of any human presence. The newly-instated remedial classes were only held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, making the ruckus even more questionable than comfortable.

However, knowing that the West Hall barely had anyone there during this time, it might have been someone's intention all along. The noise led deep into the empty corridors flanked by lockers with a few tables placed across the passage as if to block someone's entry. In front of the penultimate set of rooms in the West Hall was a scrawny male teenager on the floor clutching tightly onto his backpack surrounded by three other unscrupulous-looking individuals dressed in expensive clothes.

"Stop it!" the brown-haired student cried out on the floor, panting haggardly. A small bruise slowly forming on his cheek and on a corner of his forehead, he wiped the blood off the cut on his lip with the back of his hand. He glared at the three with a defiant scowl, his clothes covered in patches of dirt and ripped at certain areas.

"Hush now, little Seven. For someone named after a lucky number, you sure don't live up to the associated superstition," said the female with several piercings in her ears, flipping her dyed hair – an unusual combination of pink on one half and light blue on the other. She then glanced at one of her companions and gestured towards Sev's backpack.

The hulking brute of a young man complied with a twisted grin on his acne-ridden face, approaching Sev with a tottering gait as if his thick legs could not support his lumbering weight. Although Sev held onto his backpack with the best iron grip he could muster, the towering accomplice simply snatched it off his hands in one effortless tug.

"Give it back!" Sev screamed out of reflex, trembling with both rage and fear. He had already been subjected to more than a few blows as well as the throbbing pain of his body from being thrown around and dragged on the floor by the collar. But he knew better than to make one reckless move. Especially when no one else was around to answer his cries for help.

"Let's see what we've got here now, shall we, Lester?" the female sneered as she received Sev's backpack, unzipping all its compartments and shaking the entire bag upside-down. Falling out were an array of books, notebooks, pencils, pens, erasers, a wallet, a few coins and a couple of small tin cans possibly containing mint from the looks of it.

"You carry all these trash of mediocrity to school? How lame," said the male with greatly misaligned teeth, howling in laughter. "Here I thought our target came from a more... respectable background." Sev cringed at having to see the disgusting smile this lackey gave him. Like a set of piano keys unevenly wedged into his gums, the presence of food debris between his teeth made the sight all the more unbearable.

"Oh, here it is," the female smirked, spotting a secret pocket in the main compartment of the bag. She dug her hand into the cleverly-camouflaged pouch before fishing out what seemed to be five cards in the air for all to see. "So this is what Alvaro wanted from you. Who knew a popular card game could mean so much... and get you in so much trouble?" she exclaimed in mocking contempt.