02x14: Corruption

Depressed from the aftermath of the FS Night, Austin finally tells Janella his true feelings. They also throw a Halloween party on the island.

CORRUPTION

 

     Austin sadly walked out of the school. The campers were gone. The laughter was gone and all the while, Austin wondered if he was going emo. He walked out of the school gates and proceeded to walk to the hotel. He didn’t even want to teleport or fly or anything else. He wanted to take as long as possible. He wanted to make his feet hurt as much as possible.

     He never felt like this before. He didn’t know what this was but it might have been called depression. He felt sad before but not this sad.

     He entered the hotel after twenty minutes of walking but it seemed like hours for him. What if she was in the lobby? What if she was in the elevator? Even if he wanted to, he feared what she would say to him.

     He went in his suite and turned on his laptop. Every time he was depressed, he’d rant about it on Facebook. He did just that and shut down his laptop. He took off his costume and laid down on his bed wearing the black pants he wore earlier and his undershirt. He turned off the lights and tried to sleep.

     He stared into the distance through the window to his right. He couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t even close his eyes. He didn’t feel drowsy. He wanted to sleep but he just couldn’t. He wanted to know what she was thinking. He turned the lights back on and put on a T-shirt and went out of his room.

     He walked to the elevator but he did it so slowly that it seemed like hours. He stepped inside and hit the tenth floor. Everything seemed so slow to him right now. The climb up was slow but every floor that he passed by, his heart would beat twice as fast. It had dinged six times, it was the tenth floor. He stepped out of the elevator. The hallway was lit bright but it seemed like the longest and darkest hallway Austin ever had to walk. He didn’t want interruptions.

     He switched the black band to “Time Manipulation” and stopped time everywhere but her room. The waves outside stopped moving, the air inside stopped moving, only him and everything in her room could move. He walked to her room. The silence was deafening. Although time had stopped, to him, it was still moving slowly.

     He was in front of her door. He had never knocked on a girl’s door before just to talk to her. He needed this. He needed to relieve himself. He raised his arm to knock and took a deep breath. His hand approached the door but suddenly dropped.

     “I can’t do this. How can I? What do I say?”

     Austin tried again. He raised his arm to knock. It dropped again.

     “I can’t but I have to. I couldn’t stand five days without this knowledge. “

     Five days of semestral break without any sleep would be relatively bad for him.

     “Calm down. Take a deep breath. What’s the worst that could happen?”

     Austin raised his arm to knock again. He took an extremely deep breath and finally, his knuckles tapped against the wooden door. The wood felt like it was burning through his knuckles. What was going to happen?

     The door opened. There she was. She was still partly in costume only missing the hat and her hair was tied up. One more thing Austin noticed that night was her hair. Austin loved her hair. It was very curly and his hair could also get a bit curly sometimes. It was one of the things that made her special for him.

     “Austin? What are you doing here?” she asked in a normal tone. She didn’t seem furious.

     “Umm… look.”

     He took a quick glance at her eyes and she was looking at him. He held the eye contact.

     “I’m really sorry about what I did a while ago,” he said. “It’s just that I really got pissed off and just didn’t feel well. Are you mad at me?”

     “You got pissed off at me? Why’d you get pissed off?”

     “No, not at you. It’s just…”

     “Look Austin, calm down. Come on, get in.”

     They went in her room. He sat on a chair while she sat on the bed.

     “Look, tell me what happened, please. I’ll listen.” She said.

     “It’s just that the whole night, all the people, some of the sophomores, the music. I just got confused or something, I don’t know. I just got this weird feeling that you know, bad memories.”

     “What?”

     “Bad memories of last year. Really. Last year was hell and stuff.”

     “Look, sorry and I’m not mad at you. Are you mad at me? I even got mad at myself.”

     “No. I’m not mad at you.  I just wanted to apologize.”

     “Well that’s a relief.”

     “Well, now that I know that we’re not mad at each other. I can breath smoothly now.”

     “Yeah.”

     He stood up.

      “Well, it’s late, you better rest. It’s been a hell of a night. Good Night,” he said

      “Good night to you too.”

     Austin stepped out of her room and resumed time. He felt extremely relieved that everything was fine.

 

The next day, Austin woke up at 7 AM. He decided to go down to the poolside. He hadn’t been here since last year. He didn’t even go here during the summer because he was too busy trying to work out how to get new students in. He sat down on one of the chairs and just watched the pool, the movement of the water and whatnot.

     Soon, Janella went in the poolside and noticed Austin.

     “Austin! I didn’t know you’d be here.”

     “Yeah… Umm…”

     She sat on a chair beside him.

     “You know one thing I was wondering about the whole night?”

     “Yeah?” he replied. What could this possibly be?

     “I couldn’t understand you last night. You kept on walking around with no one to dance with, nothing to do. That’s why I asked you to dance but you refused.”

     “Oh, haha. Umm… I just didn’t want to dance at that certain point in time.”

     “I looked for you before I left last night. I couldn’t find you.”

     “I was just in one side. Just watching over the people dancing. Fiddling around with my camera.”

     “Oh...”

     They stood silent for a while.

     “You know Austin?”

     “Yeah?”

     “I got mad at myself last night.”

     “Why?”

     She looked in his eyes. This was kind of hard for him.

     “It’s because…” she started after taking a deep breath. “I said no. I refused to be your partner. So many people asked if I agreed.”

     Austin didn’t know whether to smile or to just stay as is.

     “You know what? Sr. Edmond asked me if you danced with me. I said no but then Sr. Rommel, he came in and started picking on Ernst.”

     This made Austin smile, at least that night wasn’t completely miserable for her.

     “You know?” Austin began. “I never really asked a girl before to a dance. For two years I always attended the dance but I was always single. I still had a lot of fun even if I didn’t dance. I was single, stupid, and crazy. I don’t know why I kept coming but I did. This year, I wanted to change that. I wanted this year to be different.”

     “You’re already first year, in high school. I don’t join parties. Earlier, I was a bit shy but look, I still enjoyed the night.”

     They were silent again.

     “I better go before my brother wakes up. I have never been to the pool before. You made it right?”

     “Well in a way, yeah.”

     “Nice! Anyway, see ya later.”

     “You too!”

     She went back in the hotel. Austin felt a lot better than last night. He never saw this side of her before.

     A few hours later, Austin was in his suite’s study. He was planning tomorrow’s Halloween event. He was planning to turn the entire hotel into a haunted house. He then picked up his phone. The phones in the hotel were different. You could still dial numbers but you could also type the names of the person you’re contacting. It will contact the global database and give you a list of the possible contacts using holograph. If that person was in the hotel, you could just type the room number. Austin put in Ivan’s. The phone rang and soon, he was on the other end.

     “Hey Ivan, wanna go out for pizza in the city tomorrow?”

     “Why so sudden?”

     “I’m planning to buy some candy for the Halloween party tomorrow but sure I can make candy out of thin air but I just kinda wanted to hang out with you guys.”

     “Isn’t there power outage in the Philippines?”

     “I’ll deal with it.”

     “Sure! I’ll come.”

     “Great, meet me at the lobby. At 12:30 PM.”

     “Okay, bye.”

     Austin said bye and he put down the phone. He called Kyle this time. The phone rang but no one answered. Five minutes passed by without an answer. He decided to skip to Patrick.

     He called Patrick and he soon answered.

     “Hello?”

     “Hey Patrick. Wanna go out for pizza in the city tomorrow?”

     “Sure but why?”

     “I’m gonna get some candies for the Halloween party.”

     “Can’t you just make some out of thin air?”

     “I just wanna hang out with you guys.”

     “Oh.”

     “And have you seen Kyle?”

     “No.”

     Then there was a knock at the door.

     “Hey Pat, I think that’s him knocking. Call you back.”

     “Ok, bye.”

     Austin put down the phone and walked to the door. He opened the door. It was Janella.

     “Janella! Hi! Wasn’t expecting you here!”

     “Oh you’re busy? I’ll just come back then.”

     It was 1:24 in the afternoon. It was a very dull afternoon. He needed this. She was leaving.

     “Wait!”

     She turned around.

     “Look I’m sorry. I’m not busy. Please, come in.”

     She followed him into the room.

     “So, what’s happening?”

     “I don’t know. It just got so boring at my suite so I thought, ‘Why not go to yours?’ ”

     “I was just planning the Halloween thing for tomorrow. Me and some of my friends are gonna eat in the city, wanna join?”

     “No, I’ll just be a nuisance.”

     “Oh, well if you want to join, feel free.”

     There was another one of those awkward silences.

     “So Austin, no reason for asking this but what do you want in a girl?”

     He didn’t understand. This came out of nowhere.

     “Ummm… Well…” Austin took another one of those deep breaths he was taking quite often recently. “I want a nice, kind, usually smiling, spirited, pretty girl.”

     The awkward silence was getting old. It was deafening silence. Then she spoke.

     “So, who’s your crush?”

     He felt like he was punched in the face by the Mastermind, strangled by Dave, impaled by one of the spikes.

     “You don’t know yet?”

     “I wouldn’t be asking if I did,”

     “I already told you who she was.”

     “Is it really that hard to say her name?”

     This was the most intense part of his life. The battle last year and nearly dying was nothing.

     “Okay, you…”

     “What? What was that?”

     “You’re my crush.”

     Austin felt a rollercoaster of emotions: relief, anxiety, worry, curiosity. It was torture.

     “Why me? There’s lots of girls out there.”

     “You’re the nicest and prettiest one.”

     Austin cannot believe that that just came out of his mouth. He felt twice the rollercoaster of emotions. He didn’t look at her. He couldn’t. He held his position as he said,

     “Is it okay? Are you okay?”

     “Nothing I can do about it. I persisted. It’s okay.”

     “But we can still remain friends.”

     “Of course.”

     This was a little uncomfortable but he felt relief the most right now.

     “Well, I gotta get back to my suite. See ya Austin.”

     “Bye.”

     She went out of his room. Why was she in a hurry? Now Austin’s feeling switched to anxiety.

     The next day, Austin woke up early and went over to Kyle’s suite.

     Knock, knock, knock.

     “Hey Austin!”

     “Where were you yesterday?”

     “Oh, I spent the whole afternoon in the lobby. Couldn’t you sense me?”

     “Well, I don’t use my powers often. Look, I was gonna invite you to an eat-out but I have homework for you.”

     “Oh, come on!”

     “Just take Berna with you.”

     “AUSTIN!!!!”

     “Kyle! Just take her with you and illusionize the walls like a haunted house. Just go wild. Make it as scary as possible. Make the lobby a stereotypical haunted house. Maybe second floor’s Nightmare on Elm Street themed, third is Halloween, Fourth is Friday the 13^th, fifth is Saw.”

     “I get it!”

     “You and Berna love horror movies right?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Well, you only like em ‘cause you think Berna might get scared and hug you.”

     “THAT STATEMENT IS FALSE!”

     “This sentence is a lie. So is yours. Good luck. We’ll be back by 4:30. You should be done.”

     “Okay, we’ll do it on one condition.”

     “What?”

     “Reserve the theatre for the two of us.”

     “What movie?”

     “I’ll think of it.”

     Austin went to the lobby. Ivan and Patrick were waiting for him.

     “Let’s go to the basement,” Austin said.

     The basement was still filled with portals. They went into one which said, “Yellow Cab, LPC, Bathroom.”

     “Whoa, wait! If we’re gonna exit the bathroom together, you got another thing coming,” Ivan said.

     “No, I’ll shrink you two. I go out alone. We go through the door and find a secluded corner. I put you back and presto!”

     “Fine, go,” Ivan said.

     Austin switched the band to physical manipulation and tried shrinking Ivan and Patrick. It didn’t work.

     “It only works with me. Crap!”

     Austin thought of another idea.

     “I got it! I possess one of you, go through. Release you, teleport back here, you go out. I’ll possess the other one. Go through, Unpossess, go out. Then I’ll go out myself.”

     They somehow understood this and agreed. Austin possessed Patrick and went through. They were in the bathroom of Yellow Cab in their area. He let go of Patrick and he went out. He teleported back to the basement and possessed Ivan. He went through and let go of him. He went out. Austin teleported outside and went in.

     “Austin, there’s one problem with this. Two people went out, none went in.”

     Austin switched the band to Psychic and warped the minds of all the people in the shop.

     “Done.”

     They ordered two pepperoni pizzas.

     “So Ivan, still crushing on Ymara?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Still not talking to her?”

     “Sadly.”

     Patrick was busy bathing his pizza with hot sauce.

     “What about you and her?” Ivan asked.

     “You know her?”

     “Maybe.”

     “Oh come on.”

     “Fine, I saw you taking to her by the poolside okay?”

     “Keep it hushed!”

     They went to the groceries after and bought a lot of candy. They went to the bathrooms. Luckily, there was no one there so they just teleported back to the island.

     The hotel looked like a full blown haunted house.

     “Hey Austin, like what I did with the place?” Kyle walked up to him and asked.

     “Nice, you used to fail at Art class?”

     “I didn’t have powers.”

     “Right.”

    Austin went up to the fourth floor and saw Janella in the lobby.

     “Hey Janella!”

     “Was this your idea?”

     “Yeah!”

     “How’d you?”

     “Two friends of mine, they did this.”

     Ivan and Patrick went up the elevator. Patrick already knew but Ivan just found out. They were carrying the candy.

     “What do we do with this, Austin?” Patrick asked while Ivan was giving Austin a teasing smile.

     “Just spread the candy throughout the rooms. You got ninety minutes. Ivan, put your mouth back where it’s supposed to be and help Patrick.”

     “Ok, bye Mr. and Mrs.” Ivan said.

     “IVAN!”

     They ran off.

     “Sorry for that.”

     “Austin, do you think I’m annoying?”

     “No, not at all.”

     “Some people do.”

     “Well, don’t mind them. You don’t annoy me.”

     She seemed sad.

     “Why the long face? Don’t like the decorations?”

     “No, it’s great. It’s just that I miss trick or treating. Dad won’t allow me. I’m still twelve after all.”

     “Well, I can’t change his decision but we can give out the candies at your place.”

     “No, my dad might be there.”

     “What about at my place. Everyone will be either trick or treating or wandering about the ‘haunted house’”

     “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

     “It’s okay with me. I’ll protect you from the trick-or-treaters.”

     “Huh?”

     “Just kidding. Come on, It’s Halloween!”

     “Okay fine!”

     They went to his suite and waited. They spent the time watching TV. Finally it was 6:00. The lights in the hallway dimmed and the party started. Trick-or-treaters were all over the place, their superpowers enhancing their costumes. Austin and Janella were talking while giving the candy but there was a lot of trick-or-treaters and it took a long time. A lot of conversation went on.

     “Austin, what if we weren’t classmates anymore next year?”

     “I’d be sad but don’t think about that yet. It’s still October after all.”

     The trick or treating stopped at 9:00. The awarding ceremony was held at the ninth floor hosted by the Malonzos, the family of one of Patrick’s classmates and Austin’s old carpool service before the earthquake. During this ceremony, Janella called it a day and went to her suite. Austin teleported to the base to relax and celebrate.

     He poured himself some orange soda and started to drink it in his chair.

     “Austin, you just hit high score. This was the single most productive week of your life!”

     He finished his soda and filled his cup some more.

     “You asked someone out, dealt with rejection, depression, and soon had the night of your life beside the girl of your dreams only, she’s real and…” he took a long pause. “You’re talking to yourself.”

     He decided to head back. He stepped out of the base and looked at the hotel from a distance. It was looking good.

     “What am I thinking? I need to cherish this moment some more. An hour beside her I mean damn!”

     He went back in and filled his cup again with soda. He drank it and noticed a spark in the camera watching him. This startled him and caused his left arm to move, changing the black band a little. He stopped drinking and just relaxed.

     Out of nowhere, he saw an arm come out of his right side and strangle him. He was unable to fight it. He couldn’t look up at the attacker. He tried pushing him away using his mind but the band had changed.

     He used his left arm to hit the man and he crawled on the table. The man recovered and charged for him. He pinned him to the table but Austin was able to rock him to the ground. He was on top of him. He recognized this man before. He was in his visions, the one with the spikes.

     The man took control and rolled him over. He was again pinned to the ground. The man released spikes from his hand and clenched Austin s right arm. He yelled in pain. The spikes were protruding into his flesh. The man withdrew his hand and Austin was struggling. The man clenched his left arm again. Austin was trying every power possible but he didn’t know where the black band was positioned.

    The spiked hand clenching his arm moved creating slits on his arms. The spikes were big, metallic, and painful. He tried electrokinesis, nothing. He tried plant control, nothing. He tried freezing the guy, suddenly; a jet of icy wind rushed out of his hand and froze the attacker. He crawled out of his grasp but he released spikes, cracking the ice.

     He ran for the door of the base but he felt a spike hit him on his right foot. He fell on the ground. The base felt so big. The man lunged for him and clenched his right leg using his spiked hand. He lifted him into the air and threw him across the room into the steel wall into the other side. He has never released this much blood in his life.

     The man pushed spikes out of his knuckles and punched Austin across the face. Austin still remained conscious. He tried changing the black band to “space manipulation” but he couldn’t. The man clenched his right, unwounded arm using his spiked hand and scraped it down. He was loosing so much blood. He felt weak and pale.

     “Stop torturing me and just kill me you b*****d!”

     The man reached for the black band and clenched it using his spiked hand. It broke into pieces. Austin felt something quickly push his chest forward. His irises lost color and were now white. His pupils also became white. The man stepped back from Austin. He trashed on the floor violently. His movements were getting more violent. He was lunged into the air and dropped hard. Soon he started to slow down and was merely convulsing on the floor. After a while, he was motionless on the floor. There was a pool of blood around him and he was pale. He could be easily mistaken as dead.

     The man slowly exited the base, probably shaken by the scene he has just witnessed.