Twisted Thinking

I stood there, outside his room, waiting. With my head bowed down and my eyes shut tightly, I kept on replaying what had happened. Everything that happened.

Vale Murre, one of the kingdom’s prized strategists, was my teacher. And I admired him so. He had all the greatness, the charm, the wit. And I direly wanted him to notice me; to let him see that I too could be like him, that there would even be a possibility that I could surpass him. Yet, I wasn’t his only student in the academy. So I worked my way up to the top so he would know that someone like me existed; to show to him I had talent. But still, he would ignore my every attempt... he would not even dare to listen to me. Vale would only pass me by without a word, without a glance. And my respect for him slowly faded each time we met.

I heard footsteps. It’s the castle guards, I know. I know. I cracked out a grin as I started to make up my alibi. My perfect alibi.

I grew tired of chasing after such an austere professor. He may not be that great of a person after all, I thought. He was a bitter old man... and I started thinking that he might just be jealous of me. And so, days and weeks passed and I was giving him back the cold treatment. And he didn’t seem troubled at all about it. He suddenly snapped one day though. The Great Vale Murre had kicked me out of his class because he said I had no talent; I had no potential of following a strategist’s footsteps. He even told me, in front of everyone that he would kill me if even tried to get back inside his classes. I cursed him for that... I wanted him to realize what he had done was wrong! I HAD talent --- I was always at the top of his class --- and both of us knew I could be BETTER than him. Anger grew inside me and it turned to hate. And hate made me lose control of everything and made me do what I had just done. In the evening at the same day, I snuck inside his chambers and put poison in his wine and food, traps inside his bathroom and another trap conceived under his pillow. I hid inside his wardrobe and waited to witness his death. Yet none of it worked. He did not drink or eat, he did not go inside to take a bath, and he did not even lie down on his luxury bed. All he did as he got to his chambers was sit down on his wooden chair and face the setting sun. Gritting my teeth, I took out a knife from my pocket and gripped on it. I slowly and stealthily got out from my hiding place and crept up to him.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you about privacy?”

I did not stop to listen to the old man ramble on. I quickly pounced on him and stabbed him countless times. I smiled as I finished. After checking if he was really dead, I then placed him on his bed, his hands holding on to the knife that had killed him and I went out. Ignoring the fact that Vale had screamed as he struggled to get away --- which might have caught some of the guards’ attention --- and that I was covered in blood. But no matter... I had killed him. And I was happy...

And my alibi would be... that HE tried to kill me just like he threatened he’d do; only that I killed him first. And I cackled as the guards looked at me, both cautiously and peculiarly.