11 – The Sighting.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR GODDAMN SCHOOL POLICIES SAY - THAT ABOMINATION OF A STUDENT BURIED A BALLPEN ON MY CHILD'S LEG, and I AM NOT LEAVING UNTIL I SEE HIS FACE EXPELLED FROM THIS INSTITUTION!!"

The enraged mother of Sid, Bart's bully, wasted no breath in declaring what she wanted to happen. A defeated silence washed over Bart. Even though he didn't want things to end this way, he had to face the consequence of his actions.

After all, he injured several students in a fit of rage -

... though, as far as the truth would've stretched out, someone else made him do it.

Bart's eyes glanced at the doorway. Standing in front of it, its presence unseen by the naked human eye, was the grotesque, malformed creature that had been stalking him from the time he came after the night of the Black Cross Festival, its height past the teachers stationed by the doorway. As inhuman as it may have been the moment they met, Bart could feel something tugging the entity towards him.

And because it was drawn to him, it would do anything in its power to keep him from being harmed - or at least, that's how he interpreted the situation.

Earlier today, when Sid and his lackeys decided to land a few hits on Bart's face out of irritation, the entity's presence corrupted Bart to stab Sid on the leg with a pocket pen. It scared the other bullies by throwing a wheelie bin at them, and the guy named Rovic had his arm broken in the process.

Bart sighed.

<Even if I tell them what I know.. who in the world would believe a creature only I can see is behind all this carnage?>

It was that cyclic thought that reminded him how it was fruitless to talk his way out. He can only wait for the storm to pass and for the final verdict to be passed on to him.

"Mrs. Sardonay, I would advise you to lower your voice. All of us from Eldridge College want this resolved without drawing too much attention, and frankly, you're the only one shouting here."

The cold yet enforcing tone of the Prefect of Discipline, Morris Rosenhall, exuded dominance. Wearing a short-sleeve polo unbuttoned on the upper areas of his chest, a jacket tied around his waist, and black pants, he pushed strands of loose hair between his fingers and kept his faded blue eyes on a pile of documents in his hands. Bart could only guess they were information sheets of him and his seniors.

Seated in front of Mr. Rosenhall were Sid's mother - a sharply-dressed businesswoman who apparently rushed out of work just because of the emergency that involved her son, a woman in a housewife's dress who is likely to be the mother of the senior Rovic, and the older sister of the third bully Hank. Unlike Mrs. Sardonay who came in the PoD's room all worked up (as is expected of any raging parent in this circumstance), the other two were surprisingly silent. Which, seemed very odd to Bart.

Bart was seated at Mr. Rosenhall's left - a certain distance away from the three guardians. He could feel the hostility at the sight of him, but for some reason, the two guardians besides Sid's mother weren't planning to move at all.

As though they are aware of something Sid's mother wasn't.

Mrs. Sardonay gritted her teeth and sat. Mr. Rosenhall shifted his attention to Bart. "We tried to contact your uncle but he seems unresponsive. Do you have any clue on what he's doing right now?"

Unusual - but Bart knew these things happen at times, too.

Bart briefly cleared his throat. "He's probably busy with investigative field work. He always turns his phone off when he's doing that."

"Thought as much." Mr. Rosenhall shook his head. "Seriously.. even when he's got someone under his care now...his one-track mind's never changed..."

Bart glanced at the shrugging PoD.

Mr. Rosenhall and his uncle.. they were classmates back in the day.

Rosenhall turned to the parents in front of his table.

"Since Sid, Hank and Rovic are all at the local hospital, with Sid and Hank both injured to a degree and all three insisting that they want to stay away from Bartholomew Owens as much as possible, we will have this discussion with the people present."

Bart lowered his head, feeling sick.

He remembered how scared the three were, staring at a face twisted by the manic desire to hurt those who have hurt him.

He remembered how one look spurred them to run for their lives.

<Like they've seen the devil.>

"Mrs. Sardonay, you work for an insurance company, correct?" Mr. Rosenhall stated while leafing through the documents in his hands. "As the current CEO of the Reitner - Sardonay Insurance Firm, you have been hard at work, ensuring the company you and your husband managed when he was alive would endure."

"That's right."

Mrs. Sardonay glared at the Prefect, somewhat peeved. "And what does that have to do with this issue?"

"It has every right to be involved in this issue." Mr. Rosenhall said with brevity and intent in his voice. "Since you came in later than the other guardians in this room, I have already talked to them. They too, have been preoccupied with their own endeavors that in turn, distanced themselves from their family members."

Mr. Rosenhall's eyes darted towards Bart.

"Bartholomew Owens. Show us your chest, please."

"!!"

Bart felt his body tremble in an instant. A climbing urge to protest was right at the tip of his tongue.

He couldn't find the urge to say it.

Rosenhall's stern eyes never left Bart. His free hand tapped across the table, waiting.

"Mr. Owens."

Bartholomew slowly stood from his seat. In front of the PoD and the three guardians he unbuttoned his uniform and lifted the t-shirt beneath it up to his neck. The three women's faces turned to that of shock.

Bart's chest was full of reddened welts spanning from the upper to lower abdomen, some faded while others were stray patches of bright red and dark skin - a sign that they had recently been dealt upon him.

Bart wore his uniform back in haste, biting his lip as if regretting he ever showed these injuries he hid from others. The three women soon exchanged troubled looks, affirming suspicions that formed in the back of their heads.

Mr. Rosenhall pushed his hair back between his fingers again.

"It is as suspected."

The man drew his attention towards the women. "A source tipped us that Sid Sardonay, Rovic Todd and Hank Cramer have been bullying Bartholomew Owens for two months now. They often extort money, schoolwork and other academic necessities from him. Sometimes, they gang up on him during lunch period and kick him around for the fun of it, and as you have seen, they attack him in that part of the body so that it won't be noticeable to teachers and adults like us."

"H-HOLD ON a SECOND -" Mrs. Sardonay said in disbelief, her fingers jabbing at Bart's direction. "T-That can't be my boy. Th-this has to be a trick! This bastard must've set my boy up - he's faking those injuries to make it look like he's the victim!! In the first place, how can you even trust information that came from a nobody??"

"It's true."

The older lady who is Rovic's mother lifted her head. "There were student witnesses who saw the beatings first hand. The boys... always cornered him out of camera range. He never told people he was bullied, and the other students simply looked away because they were afraid of the three."

Sid's mother fell to her seat, face riddled in disbelief. To her right, the sister of the bully Hank - an older college student from another university- gripped the edges  of her skirt, biting her lip.

Bart glanced at the girl. She seemed familiar..

Rosenhall folded his arms, breaking the momentary silence. "You may have believed your son was an upright individual, Mrs. Sardonay... but because of your working background, you were never able to truly discern how your son acted in school. The same goes for Rovic and Hank. Personally, I never expected they would be this.. cruel to a freshmen. They were always regarded as the faces of the senior student body."

"And as for you, Bartholomew Owens.."

Hearing his name, Bart fidgeted in his seat. Cold sweat beaded on the sides of his face. Rosenhall's eyes narrowed at him as if peering into his very being.

"Why did you never tell anyone about this?"

...

Bart lowered his head and never uttered a word. Instead of pressing him for answers, Rosenhall sighed as though it reminded him of something.

Bart dared not wonder what it was.

Though, the words Rosenhall said next were outright consoling.

"I can only imagine how it had been for you. It was only a matter of time... before you finally snapped."

Rosenhall turned to the women again, his tone serious. "If you wish to confirm this for yourself Mrs. Sardonay, we will call the student witnesses again. I and a handful of the faculty members there by the door stand by the belief that the witnesses are telling the truth. And for the verdict..."

The PoD's voice eeked of authority.

"The four students involved in this incident were all found guilty of harming one another, albeit in separate incidents. All will be sentenced to 3 weeks of suspension from any academic involvement. In the case of the trio, their sentence will be effective once they are discharged from the hospital. There will be no further questioning on the part of the students until further notice. That will be all."

The women said nothing. Bart knew they could only nod in agreement: the terms were better punishment than expulsion.

In that moment, when Rosenhall formally declared his decision and allowed silence to linger in his office..

Bart wondered, deep in his heart, how things managed to steer towards this unprecedented direction.

-----------------------------------------

Bart shuffled out of that office 30 minutes later, passing students all staring at him for some time but quickly leaving for their own interests. He was thankful Rosenhall asked why he kept quiet about the bullying. He didn't want people involved with him, and him involved with them. He wanted things to stay to himself, as it had always been.

Still, he did not expect things would turn out the way it was.

"..I guess I have to report this to Uncle as soon as he gets home.." Bart told himself.

.....

<'A source tipped us that Sid Sardonay, Rovic Todd and Hank Cramer have been bullying Bartholomew Owens for two months now...'>

...

<A source...>

Bart gripped the shoulder straps of his bag.

Someone told the Prefect of Discipline about his plight.

Someone.. who often witnessed him being bullied.

<...I hope that person doesn't show up all of the sudden..>

Bart groaned. He didn't want to make himself feel indebted to this person even though he should be.

Being indebted to someone... causes a person to become invested in another. Thus, enabling a deeper form of involvement.

He was not prepared to handle that kind of scenario.

A pang of pain slid into Bart's left hand. He quickly checked it past the bandages  - and sure enough, the grim reminder of the Black Cross Festival incident greeted him: the gateway-shaped burn in the center of his palm.

It was burning up.

Bart had barely placed his attention to it when he realized something was beside him. The entity was flanking his right, looking at him vacantly with its eyeless facade. Bart immediately felt annoyed.

"What?"

The entity growled. Nothing more.

Ignoring the flash of pain he felt, Bart wrapped his left hand up in bandages again. He kept his eyes on the path ahead.

Things that seemed distant in concept started to piece themselves together. Ever since the Black Cross Festival blackout and the dream about the mark on his hand, the entity had been watching over Bart. Keeping out of sight until the time when he - its 'host' of sorts - was in danger.

So, if he's a 'host' to this thing, what is it supposed to be? What does the mark on his hand really mean?

Bart never realized that as he walked on, he would spot something up ahead. The only other individual in the empty school walkway.

A strolling Mallory Nelson.

Bart stopped. This direction he had chosen to leave school.. it wasn't a place students like her would usually take.

"... Miss Nelson?"

Mallory Nelson, in all her quiet demure, smiled with a hand beneath her lips.

"My. Isn't he cute?"

Her tone shifted. A tone that was fickle. Unstable.

A tone unlike her.

....

"....Miss? I dont...follow."

"Oh. I apologize." Mallory grinned. Eeriely.

"I was talking about that demon - right beside you."

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NOTE: @JeielYozama here! It's been a hectic ride, and I've been doing oodles of crap. Anyway.. Bart sure managed to escape his troubling situation - but what's with Mallory? Mark this as the beginning of a weird... friendship.

Like my story ? Add it to your library! It makes me happy that you guys are reading and enjoying the content. I sincerely thank you all for your support, and watch out for the next updates! Peace! xD