The Fragile the Broken and the Brave

37. Shut Away

8.19.20

As soon as the battle was over, I made sure to get back to school before the rest of the teachers in case they had an assembly to celebrate "their" initial victory. Like, bitch that was all me. I just hope they don't recognize it as my own magic. Then I'll get caught. I scaled the side of the school carefully, and I slowly slid the window open. Thank you, Mikey, for having the brain to leave the window unlocked. "Listen kid, I don't care how much you think that he's 'using the bathroom.' We need proof that he's here, or I'll have to turn you in for lying. Then it's bye bye to your perfect record."

"I can bring him here! I'm sure that he can spare a few moments off of the good old bowl." Mikey backed into the bathroom without looking in, and I could practically see his sigh like we were in some anime. His shoulders dropped down, and he shook his head slowly. "Man, what the hell do I do," he breathed, and I put on my best high school acting face.

"Bro! Can't you respect someone's bowl time? I swear all of my intestines are in that toilet right now and there are more coming!" His head spun around at my voice, and the relief relaxed his muscles quite a bit. He even managed to break out into a small smile, and I felt my cheeks turn a bit scarlet.

"I did not need to know that. The teachers are looking for you now."

"Fine, fine. Gimme a moment. Can you pass me the toilet paper?"

"Ew, no. Get it yourself." Mikey pushed the door open, and he swiftly walked out into the living room. "Sorry about that. He'll be out in a minute." I ran the toilet paper 5 times before standing, and I flushed the toilet. I looked at myself in the mirror before intentionally hyperventilating so that I appeared more clammy, and I stumbled out into the living room once I was sure my performance could be convincing. I could see the lead teacher for our section, the woman that told me to stay still, and a totally unrecognizable face in front of my. I held one hand over my stomach dramatically, and I could see worry sparked in everyone's eyes.

"Benjamin, are you okay?" If there was anyone I felt bad about lying to, it was Ms. Harring. She had helped me so, so much throughout the past 24 hours, and I felt like I owed her better than this. I just hope she wasn't at the battle; she would recognize my magic almost immediately and know that I had taken a detour off of campus.

"I'm fine... Probably just ate something bad," I breathed harshly, and I was beckoned forward. Mr. Sequiz grabbed onto my arm suddenly, and he got uncomfortably close to me. "Sir, what are you doing?"

"You smell like fresh leaves of a blackberry bush, spent magic, and I cannot catch a trace of bodily solids on you. You've been outside, and he's been lying."

"Sir-"

"No buts. You blatantly disobeyed your teacher and undermined the whole system and for what? A little bit of glory?"

"I had to keep my family safe."

"Well clearly they were fine or they wouldn't be alive right now. I don't know who the hell saved those two, but they should be given some kind of accuracy award or something."

"With all due respect, you should know that they would not have been okay had I not been there. I was the person that hit those men; I saved my cousin and uncle. It wasn't anyone else."

"Oh please, someone who has only been learning for 3 days can't do something like that. Kid, don't even try to lie anymore."

"I am not lying to you!"

"End of story. I can see that you have a very narrow concept of what's acceptable and what isn't. Well let me tell you, lying and running away isn't it. It seems that's all that you've done for the last few days. I think that you should be taught a minor lesson. Don't worry; it won't be that bad. We're just going to take you somewhere for you to learn exactly what happens when you misbehave too much."

***

"I don't think you can lock me in a small room for 2 days legally!"

"We are permitted to do anything that may help you either be safe or learn better. I like to think that this will be much better for you. Now, no magic. I don't even want to see the aura disperse out of you."

"What am I supposed to do if I can't weaken my magic at all."

"Just let it explode."

"Couldn't that kill me?"

"Possibly, but you'll be fine, right? Walking inexperienced onto a battle field also isn't safe."

"Do I even get food?"

"One meal a day if you behave."

"This is torture; my father will hear about this."

"Your father will remember when we did this to him and remember exactly why he landed himself in here."

"You're sick."

"Have fun." The door closed slowly, and the entire room went totally dark. The lack of light level set fear deep in my chest, and I curled into a ball in the corner. What happens if they never let me out? What if I do get killed from a magic explosion; I can already feel the energy brewing in my chest. You know what, they never took my spell book away. I can memorize all of the spells while I'm down here and make a bit of use for myself. I will come out of this lock up stronger, and they can watch me. After reading until the sun went down in the tiny window above my head, I practiced a few of the forms I knew before making up a few of my own. I made sure not to use magic so that I didn't end up stuck down here for much longer, and I knew that my flow was getting a lot better between my different movements. I then began to work on my fighting skills, and it was immediately obvious to me that I was falling right into what they wanted me to do. They wanted me to become more studious while I'm down here. Well, then again, I guess it will work, so that's one point for them.

I laid back on the thin mattress they had left on the floor of my prison like room, and I was unable to find a blanket to keep myself cold. I could feel my magic building up in my chest again, and it was much worse than last time now that my body wasn't used to it. I couldn't do anything about it, so I just stayed down on my side as the pit of my stomach slowly filled up with energy as well. I used to be able to run around to make it go away when it got this bad, but there wasn't enough room in here for that. Whatever was about to come out of me, it was about to be stronger than even that Sequiz guy who put me down here could control. Let's just hope that the school can withstand my magic, or this is about to get really interesting really fast.