Strategy 4 - Flügel

The son of Daedalus, Icarus, is well-known for his escape from Crete by flying with two pair of wing which his father crafted.

For once I am about to experience the moment which Icarus had. The lightness of my body, the clear mind is all I could feel. My body lifted off the ground like plane taking off from the runway.

For that moment, I managed to catch a glimpse of the orange sun in midst of the gray clouds. That faint orange hue of it which seems trying to capture the one’s attention. It was splendid.

However the story of Icarus ended up falling down to the ocean after his wings got broken up as he flew too close to the sun.

The next moment, I crashed down hard on my bottom.

“Ahhh! “ She screamed at me at a volume equivalent to the height of Mount Everest. The shockwave seems pulsing toward me, emptying the surround air as if turning it into a vacuum.

My mind was blank.

Wait. I couldn’t even think of what had happened. My senses was impaired, I couldn’t feel well since the pain of my bottom numbed my sensation. My ear was still ringing from that deafening scream.

The culprit was right in front of me.

She was staring down at me. She was surprised that on how exaggerating it was. But to me, it wasn’t an act.

Of course, I recovered immediately as it was not pleasant for someone to lie down on that dirty ground.

I managed to find a spot along the bench.

While using my hand dusting off the dirt which stained onto my uniform, Audrey was looking at me. I guess staring could be a better word to use.

“Are you okay?”

Audrey asked me worryingly but in her soft voice. Probably she was feeling responsible for it and was feeling guilty. But that soft voice doesn’t seem to suit this barbarian at all.

Nonetheless, I was partly responsible for that as well. If only I did not startle her earlier, nothing like this could have happened.

“I’m okay…”

I assured her as I do not want to make her feel worse. To tell you frankly, I wasn’t even feeling good. My previous cold which I gotten few days ago had already clouded my mind and I could actually feel my breath is getting heavier and heavier. Together with that fall earlier, I could say that I already half-dead.

The next moment, there is a cracking sound which echoed through the quiet surrounding. It was Audrey who left my back burning once again.

“You know you nearly scare me to death!”

She mentioned without shedding any guiltiness in her words.

“Seems like the earlier image of her is just an illusion, and probably she was like this all along” I jolted down onto my memory’s notepad.

The next few minutes were us, waiting for the bus. She was sitting right beside me, but I couldn’t want to start any conversation as I could feel that my back could no longer withstand her attack anymore. They are on the verge of breaking.

The surrounding was only filled with the buzzing noise of the passing cars until Audrey’s phone rings.

Even though her ringtone is a bit too loud, but it is energetic just like the owner herself.

Her face got lilted by the LCD display as she flipped her phone and read it. She was reading it words by words. That explosive Audrey appeared to be so quiet now.

Maybe I spoke too soon.

The moment when she finished reading, she exploded. Yelling in the bus stop like some lunatic. She was grasping so tightly to her phone that she might broke it any time. I actually feel pain for her parent’s wallet if she really broke it.

Her yelling however only lasted for a split second.

Right now the situation was tense. Audrey was as if like an unstable explosive substance which might react anytime. I would feel the wrath if I accidentally startled her again.

From far, I could hear a louder buzzing noise. I strained my eyes as I was trying to find out which bus it was. However it wasn’t going to the direction of the hospital.

Nonetheless, why could I care for that as well? Especially since Sheryl got discharged earlier and also it is not like I got another relative or friends for me to visit in the hospital.

As the bus approached, I realized that it was empty since this bus wouldn’t go to any interesting places.

“Do you have anything later?”

Audrey asked me in a hurry. It was quite random of her, especially since she is going to visit Kobe in the hospital later on.

“Not really…”

I replied back to her especially since I don’t have any activities after school. It was pretty much the same all long where I went home straight after school.

The next moment, Audrey was holding onto my hand and I got dragged into the bus by her.

Strategy 3 - Bushaltestelle

The bright orange hue disappeared slowly behind the clouds, leaving behind a silhouette image of the surroundings.

The surrounding was filled with the buzzing sound, generated by countless number of vehicles passing past by us.

There I am, sitting at the small shady bus stop which is in front of the school building. There aren’t many students at the bus stop at this time as it was getting late.

There I am, waiting for the bus which seems to take years to come. I was getting impatient especially since I waited for close to an hour. From the crowded bus stop which packed with students to a dead silence bus stop.

The sky, together with my hope was getting fainter and fainter as the time passes. My current mood was like the sky now, Down.

“Why does it turn out to be like that…?” I questioned myself for quite some times.

It’s wasn’t like that until an hour ago when I received a text message from Sheryl. Apologizing to me for not able to fetch her from the hospital as her mom was already made arrangement for her discharge.

Things surely don’t end up as expected. Maybe I was too optimistic in the first place.

The buzzing noise from the passing vehicles was accompanied with a consistent stamping noise against the ground.

I glanced to the side, only to see a silhouette of a girl in the dim lighting. She was stamping impatiently, in fact each stamping got louder each time.

She was Audrey.

My instinct was telling me not to glance any much longer as I could actually feel that she is firing up.

“Arghh! What’s taking it so looooonnnnngggggg?”

She grumbled loudly, loud enough for everyone to hear. Luckily there isn’t anyone except me at the bus stop.

However, I wasn’t even happy for the fact that I am alone here together with Audrey. God knows what will happen next, especially after what she did to me earlier.

“PAAATTTTT~”

I could feel the same burning sensation on my back again. It was burning, and I wanted to scream but I couldn’t. That excruciating pain overwhelms me, making me forget the frustration for waiting the bus.

With that, I turned my back to face her within the next second.

Her face was just right in front of me. She was surprised as I could see her pursed mouth opened slightly. As her fringe was curtaining from her forehead, I could see that her big round eyes were staring at me. As if wondering what am I going to do with her.

The next thing I saw was her hands coming toward me.

Strategy 2 - Frau

The breeze was brushing through my hair gently, leaving a unique yet extreme pleasantly sensation.

Nothing can be heard except the faint sound of the violins which filled the school with its pleasant melodies.

A light yet sweet melody was produced as the ribbon-like bow was drawing against the golden silky string.

The string instrument club was having their practice over at the music room.

Here am I, along the corridor where everyone else is having lessons in their classes. Just like what I planned earlier.

Looking at the time on my phone, I’m still left with probably another twenty minutes before the first class ended and the school gate would be opened by then.

Everything was just as planned

However there was another girl standing right beside me. She was about a head shorter than me. With her fringe flowing down from her forehead to her nose, I hardly tell whether where she was looking at.

Her face was looking at the direction opposite of mine. Her eyes were darting away as if she was trying to avoid me.

Wait. She was definitely avoiding me like a plague.

Stamping her feet against the cold hard floor, like an impatient child who got annoyed with the long wait for the bus, she really seems to be in a hurry.

This impatient girl was the girl who was together with Kobe the other time in the hospital. She was the same girl who went crying while she was trying to stop those thugs back at the park.

Her name was Audrey

However that was not as planned.

All these wouldn’t be happening if I wasn’t hit by the blackboard duster earlier.

Touching my face, I could still feel a layer of white powdery chalk dust on my face even though I tried to dust it off as much as I could.

This girl who was right beside me was responsible for that especially since the duster was aiming toward her as she was caught sleeping in class.

However, she managed to dodge it miraculously that it ended up slapping straight into my face.

Of course, both of us got called out from the class for not paying attention.

“Why am I still in school?”

I questioned myself as I am supposed to be rushing to the hospital to meet up with Sheryl, who was about to discharge.

I could feel that my back was been stared at. It was most likely to be Audrey who might be staring me behind her fringe.

Was she trying to push all the blame to me even though she was at fault in the first place?

I couldn’t care much about it except to think of what should I do when I was late and Sheryl was already on her way home alone.

This was when I felt a heavy slap on my back. It gave a sudden burning sensation as if my shirt got ignited and I got knocked down by a car the next moment.

I turned back at once.

Audrey was right behind me, staring right into my eyes. Even though she was a head shorter and so much smaller built as compare to the rest of girls in my class but yet I could feel a killing aura around her.

I couldn’t tell what exactly she was trying to do next.

Strategy 1 - Plan

Resting my head on top of the cold hard table restlessly, like a setting sun which was about to retire from it radiant horizons.

I couldn’t hear anything, except for the buzzing commotions among the classmates which made me even sleepier. This is just another typical lesson after lunch where everyone could either be so energetic or be so restless like me.

Peeking though the corner of my eye, I could find that the notorious cliché behind was chatting amongst themselves while some of the members were yawning away in the afternoon heat.

I could feel that they were staring at my back for all the while, especially since their member, Kobe, had not been coming to school for days. I wasn’t surprised when everyone suspects that I am responsible for Kobe’s disappearance since both of us went missing at the same time.

In fact Sheryl and I got down with a persistent flu after spending the night on top of the hospital in our wet uniforms. Coming to think of it, I’m actually surprised that I managed to survive from the coldness where strong gush of icy wind hitting us ruthlessly at that night.

Luckily we were found by the hospital staff at the next morning. But instead of being scolded, we were sent to the emergency ward as both of us almost suffered from hypothermia.

However, Sheryl was in a worse shape compare to mine as she required another 3 days in order to fully recovered.

Today is the third day ever since I saw that familiar face of her which bids farewell to me with her heartwarming smile on the day where I got discharged. I could still remember that stubborn face she gave me when I tried to persuade the doctor to let me stay for another 3 days. However Sheryl insisted that I shouldn’t worry about her and went to school instead.

These three days seems like a year. Every day seems so long, every lesson seems like days. It’s as if that the flow of time was retarding quietly, without anyone realizing it.

These had been the most boring and worst part of my life. Without her, I lose the ability of smiling. In fact I was grumpy all the while.

“Turn to page 35…”

It was the chemistry teacher who speaks in such a monotone where feelings don’t seem to exist in his words. Every of his word was as if computer-generated, cold and lifeless.

I could feel that I am raging deep inside me. My mind was questioning whether why did I waste my precious time over here while I can spend it to accompany Sheryl who is going to be discharge from hospital today.

Finally, I decided to make my mind to accompany Sheryl instead of wasting my life over here. However, it’s wasn’t easy to skip his lesson nor leaving this school halfway.

I got to plan…