Leo
The silhouette of her back as she walked away from him was distinct and memorable as he drifted off into the darkness. The bitter feeling was difficult to ignore. His mind endlessly repeating on a loop, why! why! why!' as the fires of his life-force burned out he finally croaked out in a voice hardly recognize as his own.
'Why? Why would you do this to me….to us?' he asked as his five senses left him one by one, his sight, touch, taste and smell. As if from memory or reality depending on whether his hearing hadn't faded yet, he registered the twinkling laugh that once brought him joy once and only left despair now as something in him broke. then an uncontrollable burst of rage rose from him with one word in his that he failed to shout out as his own blood choked him...' BULLSHIT'
Leo woke up to find everyone, including a very pissed off English teacher, Mr Phineas glaring at him. If looks could kill then he definitely would have gutted him.
"So, Mr august, my lesson is not entertaining enough for you huh?" he asked menacingly as he stepped towards Leo's desk with all the intimidation that his short stature could afford him. Leo ever the charmer plastered on the best confident smile on his face in an attempt to appear less guilty." Um, forgive me, sir, I merely drifted off for a bit to fully ruminate on the implications of this particular work," he spouted in the best eager student impression he could pull off to the eruptions of laughter of the whole class around him. His antics even brought a begrudging smile to Mr P's face as he placed a hand on his desk and locked eyes with Leo. "Interesting, so after such deep contemplations what have you concluded about what we were discussing today?"
Leo started to curse and regret over how much of a smartass he could be. With sweat sliding down his back and onto his ass he tried to recall what they were talking about. 'Okay so we were on literary influences on culture and vice versa especially pop culture in the 21st century, 'he thought to himself nervously. He looked to his neighbour Boomer from the corner of his eye beside him and saw the letters G.O.T scribbled on a note quite elaborately. 'bingo, the game of thrones? Child's play,' he thought as an idea popped into his head.
"Well young man, are you finished?" Mr P asked a smug look on his face. He seemed to be enjoying making Leo squirm (the sadist). Leo stood up from his seat dramatically as a solemn air suddenly came over him. "Sir, the author clearly wanted to reflect how the personal political agendas of those in power will cloud the judgement of the whole populace thus making the trend of putting the focus on more selfish and individually oriented ambitions while undermining more majority issues the norm. For instance, how certain governments will push for wars and petty conflicts in pursuit of control over resources while a greater problem for everyone exists in the form of climate change."
The dumbfounded looks on everyone's faces were like hot air inflating Leo's ego and he started to lose the initial nervousness, 'I'm just so good that I even surprise myself sometimes' he thought to himself the picture of smugness. Mr P cleared his throat to interrupt his reverie, "what are you on about Mr August? What does global warming have to do with our reading?"
"Well, sir I was of the opinion that the author used fantastical symbolism that was relevant to his story as a sort of parallel to actual problems we experience due to our leaders in the real world. For instance, look at how the various different so-called kings and queens were declaring wars against each other, with Cersei against Daenerys or Jon against Ramsey. This only increased the number of human casualties in the long run while the looming threat towards all humanity, the night king and his white walkers peacefully mustered their strength. Like I said our leaders will focus all our resources and manpower on crusades that are otherwise stupid in the grand scheme of things while ignoring things that are for the betterment of mankind anyways. That is what I think George Martin was trying to allude to in his narrative."
That whole tirade caused the class to go completely silent as they fully absorbed his brilliance. Then the sound of clapping began. Mr P did the slow clap like some sort of evil mastermind about to deliver some bad news which caused a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"Bravo Mr August, you have fully shown the depth of your analysis of this particular piece of literature and it was very interesting, however, it was not what we were covering today."
"Uh I'm pretty sure it was sir or maybe I got lost somewhere," he said feigning confusion as if that was going to help him with his situation.
"it astounds me that you can confuse game of thrones with any other piece of literature. I really don't understand you kids, I chose to make this class more interesting by covering books that you are actually inclined to read or even know about at least and still one of you manages to fall asleep huh," he said while shaking his head to really show just how disappointed he was. "How one confuses game of thrones with the lord of the rings is beyond me. So, what's your excuse this time?"
Leo was mentally kicking himself while also imagining himself kicking Boomer's ass for the false tipoff he got from him that in hindsight might not have been a tip at all. He sighed and finally said, "my apologies for my lack of focus today sir, it won't happen again."
As Leo walked off to the bathroom for the free period, he felt as depressed as usual. The class joker turned out to be the most depressed of them all, what a surprise. The detention slip he fisted in the pocket of his hoody did little to help his current mood. What a perfect way to end a week. He got in the bathroom and washed his face at the sink to clear his mind and then stared into the mirror looking at himself. He had a thin face from his years of poor eating and had eyes that had crinkle lines around them to show that he laughed a lot. His brown skin was fairer than his mother's dark skin but his face was hers through and through. He looked into his eyes and saw his loneliness there. His hair was done in a shorter fade haircut that he liked because it was easier to maintain.
He spent the rest of his free period reading in the library before eventually making his way to the school gardens where the agriculture students did their practical work to do the manual labour he was supposed to for detention. He worked as hard and as fast as he could to be able to head home faster but still made it home at 5 pm. His mother was just about to head out when he got home.
"Hey my love, I thought I wouldn't be able to catch you before my shift. How was your day at school," Sarah, his mother asked as she hugged him after he got in. she looked like a more feminine version of him. She was petite and with a pretty and approachable face that became even more so when she smiled. She has had hair tied with a scrunchy since she handed gotten it braided or a weave in a while to the protests of Leo, but she kept saying she liked her hair that way. The natural and simple look she called it. she had that calming effect about her that was able to make anything better. She was all he had in the world and really all he needed. He put on his best smile and said, "it was great, so great, glad to be going into the weekend though. I got lots of books to read on my phone."
She looked at him with her hands on his shoulders with a look on her face that said she wasn't buying it; she always was able to tune into his thoughts almost like a psychic. "okay I gotta hurry to work but once I get back were going to talk about what's getting you down sweetheart," she said as she kissed his cheek and then took up her backpack (which gave him the same twinge of regret that she wouldn't even get herself a nice purse) and headed out the door. He was left in their small flat and he looked for something to eat. He had some food while he read reincarnation of the strongest sword god on his phone and then he passed out 30 minutes later around 5:35. This was something he regretted for a long time after.
He woke up after hearing a bloodcurdling scream from outside. He looked out the window and saw chaos. He saw people running around and a lot of damaged cars and such. Then he saw the source of the scream that woke him, there was a young woman who might have been a couple of years older than his 17. She was on the ground while something was looming over her that he couldn't really understand. It looked like a humanoid dog creature and it had her by the leg and seemed about to put an end to her. Leo hurriedly closed the windows and curtains. His heart was pounding as he was at a loss of what to do. 'wait, where's mom. She hasn't come back from work. He checked his watch and saw that it was 8:30. She finished her part-time gig at the theatre at around 8:15 so she should have been heading home by now.
In a fit of worry, he rushed out of his flat and out of the building in a rush toward the theatre at the mall near their home. It is a true testament to his luck that he encountered no monsters as he was headed there. All the while his worry outweighed his fear as his mother was truly the most important thing in his life. He arrived at the theatre to find the windows displays completely broken which elevated his worry threefold. He rushed in with no worry for his own wellbeing and found a lot of blood on the floor in the lobby. His mom was a part-time janitor and only aided in cleaning to supplement their funds. He rushed towards the staff room and tried to open it but found it locked. He knocked on hit frantically and as loud as he could. "Mom, mom, are you in there? It's me, Leo, I came for you. Mom!"
The door finally opened a smidge to show the worried face of Ellis who worked with his mom. "Ah dear I'm so glad to see it's you, I was worried it was that monster again."
"What about my mom, is she in there? Did she get hurt? I saw all the blood."
"No, she was fine me, when all the chaos started lots of us hid in here while some went into the back office, but then she got worried about you and left when it quieted down. That should have been 30 minutes ago."
Leo's mind was in chaos, maybe he had missed his mother somehow if she took a different path than he did to avoid the monsters. He refused to consider the alternative of her having been caught by one of them. He rushed off to the distressed calls of Ellis who seemed to have been the only one left in the staff room now. He rushed home as well as he could now more aware of the possible dangers. As he hurried along on the road home, he spied a green humanoid creature of short stature as it moved some distance away, seemingly not to have noticed him. He hid behind a corner store wall and observed it. It seemed to be stupid and alone. He picked up a stone and threw it into a window near it to distract it. Once it ambled into the place he hurried past as stealthily as he could.
He became even more vigilant as he left the proximity of the mall and arrived near their building. That is when he saw them. Gigantic creatures blocked the entrance to the flats almost as if to keep something trapped. They looked like a cross between a fat man with the arms of a bodybuilder and brutish faces that seemed meant for violence. He instinctively knew they were trolls like those from the fantasy books he liked to read so much. He saw them lighting a fire at the entrance and felt too scared to do anything about it. Once the fire began to spread, they ran off making gurgling sounds he presumed were their laughter.
Once he was sure they were truly gone he raced towards the entrance to access the situation. He found the fire too strong for him to get through and spreading fast deeper into the building. In a fit of desperation, he ran to find the drums of water that they kept in case of a water shortage and a bucket near the place that the building's residents used for washing and hanging their clothes. He filled a bucket and in his irrational state threw it into the flames which did little but make the flames hotter and angrier. He was unaware that these were no normal flames. As he was about to rush off to get more water something exploded behind him, the force of the explosion sending him flying headfirst into a parked van some meters away. He lost all consciousness.
While he was out, the fires raged on and voices were finally heard screaming inside as the building burnt down. Those that thought they were safe inside dying in agony. All this occurring as he was sprawled out metres away. Then a voice echoed around the world where countless screams and cries of misery rang out as uncountable tragic stories were playing out.
On this day many heroes were born and their stories were fuelled by the tragedies of what they lost this fateful night. But in the city of Bandai, on one street in front of a burning flat. Something else was born. Not a hero, not a villain, but vengeance made flesh.