In My Hands, Know Suffering

9: How To Bury Your Friends

College life was hectic in every sense of the word. No course was ever easy to accomplish and neither did adjusting to a new environment every time life moved around just to fuck you up. Sometimes one would even end up wondering what he's done wrong when he did everything in his abilities and effort to make things right. Circumstances would mark the pages with inequity too, leaving poor students with an unfair judgement of aesthetics on grades.

They all went to University after what Castellone thought was an eventless high school graduation. It was true though. Kerxis was the only witness to attend that day and he found it empty somehow. Nevertheless, his brother's presence paid for what his parents couldn't give him. Their courses were the only ones that varied. Genon, Blaze and Castellone attended the same campus.

Genon had taken up Architecture because his mind was inclined to a kind of challenge where only he understood what it was. Blaze took up a music course because he told them it was his interest, though none of them really saw him do anything with an instrument or a piece of score before. Sirius, who was stuck in Clawde City, took a business management course since he was the one to inherit the Vintage Insurance Company that was owned by his departed father.

Castellone had no idea why he took up Literature. Maybe he wanted to write the things he couldn't really say out loud since they were beginning to get bottled up inside him. He knew the risks of talking, and he didn't want to say something that he might regret soon.

Abrielle, being the only witness to the power that rose, followed him around and even took the same course he did. He wasn't sure if it was really her interest. He would never know why. She had hidden sponsors somewhere. Perhaps even underground. She dared to settle beside him in every class they attended and even took the same schedules he did. No matter how elusive he tried to be, she was always there. Watching, listening.

To be honest, it creeped him out to the point where he actually ran across the yard of rallying quarterbacks to lose her who actually chased him into the field. It was the most absurd thing that happened as a freshman. Idiotic. His friends and schoolmates had laughed at the foolish entertainment he just pulled. He was soon heralded as the Maze Runner for daring to cross paths with the athletes during their final game.

Almost everyone had known him after that event. Whenever there were parties, no one had left him uninvited. They made sure he arrived by the call of their so-called 'friendly invitations.' They treated him with appreciative gestures and tried talking to him about random stuffs until they've squeezed enough words out of him.

He wasn't someone who talked that much because he knew that if he said anything unpleasant, Abrielle would kiss him in front of them. She was always there wherever he was. Except the dormitory. That was his safest haven away from her prying eyes and ears.

"Hey, name's Ryna, is she actually your girlfriend?"

One girl asked him during the current party they were at who offered him a cup of cheap wine and eyed him seductively. Cheap was the word to describe it. To describe what was currently going on. She was showing interest while she closed her legs near him until she bumped his waist. She wore denim shorts that reached so high he could actually see her pink underwear peek underneath.

Abrielle just stood a few feet away beside him, acting nonchalant while eyeing the crowd. She appeared more of a sidekick than what Ryna actually claimed her to be. Perhaps it was deeper than that.

Castellone moved away from her before facing the stranger. What was it with girls and relationships? "No. You want her? She's all yours." He didn't care whether there might be some lesbian action about to go on. It might be some good entertainment for the others who looked bored.