The Masked Emotions Redux: Linger

DARK AMBITIONS

SAMUEL

Samuel Knight spent the first few days of his summer break getting reacquainted with his family and friends before hitting the ground running within his father's law firm. His dutiful, traditional mother greeting him with smiles, hugs, and kisses and was slightly upset that his girlfriend couldn't come, but seemed joyful when he reassured her that she would be over by summer's end. His toxic father, however, simply gave him a cold stare and complained about how limp his handshake was before making a snide comment about being in his inability to grow facial hair despite being in his early twenties. "You should eat more protein and if you need to drink a milk substitute then drink almond milk, stay away from that soy shit." It was annoying, to say the least. No, great job on your grades or congratulating him on winning the track meets, none of that. It was just one cheap shot after another, but that was his father. The opposite of toxic masculinity.

Many people would say how college opened their minds, but it really happened for Samuel. In high school, he was the spoiled rich kid who couldn't seem to do anything right in his father's eyes. Unlike the other privilege boys his age, he never drank, didn't sleep around, never did drugs, in fact, he only had one girlfriend up until senior year before she ghosted him for no reason. He was heartbroken and thanks to some newfound friends whom his father deemed as a terrible influence, he drowned his sorrows by having sex with as many women as possible much to the dismay of his father who believed in chivalry and had a weird sense of traditionalism that just made their relationship worst. Not realizing that his son was heartbroken and borderline suicidal.

When he arrived in college, he took a gender studies course to use a filler, but he really took a liking to it. He learned about the patriarchy, male privilege, the suffrage of women around the world. It really opened his mind and heart. He learned a lot about himself, both good and bad, and unlike the other men on campus who would put on the feminism mirage to get some tail. He felt like he was the genuine article until he met that bastard. Enzio fucking Salazar. It happened during what Lana would call the 'pledge incident' and unbeknownst to her, he was a part of.

It was during pledge week, the fraternity he was pledging, Delta Kappa ordered him as part of his initiation to sneak into the Beta Lambda Omega sorority and steal their letters from the top of their door. It sounded simple enough and at first, everything was going as planned. He was dressed in all black and had a mask on as instructed and he already took the first two letters and was about to take the last letter when someone grabbed him from behind and easily pulled him to the ground. At first, he tried to take a swing, but the person was able to easily twist his arm behind him and forced his face into the dirt. "Move and I will snap it in two," the man inhumanly growled into his ear as he applied more pressure to and Samuel did as he said.

By the time his frat brothers appeared to explain the situation to the sorority, it was already a shit storm. Campus security handcuffed him in the patrol car and was taking a statement from his attacker. His name was Enzio Salazar, a sophomore who was built like a brick shithouse. He was heading to the sorority to check on a couple of his friends when he spotted Samuel, dressed in all black, wearing a mask, and hovering over the door. In hindsight it was understandable how he reacted, however, at the time, Samuel was humiliated, pissed, and wanted revenge.

The women in the sorority were equally embarrassed by the whole situation. All of them began ganging up on a single woman. Telling her that if they got banned from any Delta Kappa's parties then she would have hell to pay. At that moment his attacker walked up to them and with a single glance, shut them all up and began to console her.

Because of who his father was, his identity was kept a secret, but it didn't grant him immunity. As punishment, the campus board of directors decided to ban him from any house pledges permanently. This decision crushed him and caused his father to be furious. "I knew you weren't Delta material." His father scolded before smacking him several times in the face. It was the first time his father ever laid a hand on him. "You are a Knight, how dare let an uneducated spic manhandle you!" he raised his hand to smack him again, causing Samuel to flinch, but his father shook his head while lowering his arm. "I failed to raise you properly boy." The tone in his voice stung more than the blows were given. "A real man would've told those Delta boys that a Knight is not a thief, a real man is a leader, not a follower. I thought I raised you right. Turns out I raised you soft."