Leus
"Make sure to let Cavin speak. I will record it." I reminded the others.
We badly needed Cavin to follow our trap. It's for our blackmail strategy that we can use in the future. He's from Japan, and he is still not fluent in our language. That is why we are always opening our recorder to record him, because there are still some words he can't pronounce correctly, and it's funny to hear him. However, we only tease him at first, then correct him until he can pronounce it perfectly. Nevertheless, we still use our cards on him whenever and wherever possible. We all have our cards against each other. This is how we survived.
"Is that Aera?" Ricx said, so I turned to see if that was really her. "Look, she is getting―"
F*ck.
"Hey! Hey!" I shouted to get their attention. "What the hell are you guys doing to her!?" I yelled at them and quickly helped Aera.
Ricx also helped me to get her out of their reach.
"So you are not just playing hero that day?" One of them said. "Why do you even like her to be your friend?" she added.
I sighed.
This is so funny to hear.
"You dared to ask me why do I like to be her friend? Isn't it obvious? She is kind, unlike you and your friends." I mocked. "Can't I befriend anyone I like? Cut the crap. You do not have the right to tell me who should be my friend. And you, Sandra, stop doing this to her or else I will tell them your secret." I said, warning Sandra to stop doing this.
Her eyes widened after I warned her. "Secret? Did this mute tell you about it?" Sandra asked.
I shook my head. "She does not need to tell me about it. I heard your conversation with her at the emergency exit." I answered.
"Don't you dare!" She said, fuming in madness, that she was about to approach me.
"Why? What was that all about?" Her friends asked her.
"It's nothing, actually." Sandra replied.
"So they do not even know it? Then stop doing this to her in exchange for your f*cking secret." I said and turned to Ricx, who was attending Aera. "Aera? How is she?" I asked, trying to calm her.
"We should take her to the clinic." Ricx suggested it because she appears to be struggling to breathe.
I carry her to the clinic. The moment we entered the clinic, they immediately knew that it was Aera. It's like they know what to do with her. They never bothered asking us or what to do and they attended Aera right away.
"Look at her wrist, Leus." Ricx said that made me look at Aera's wrist right away.
"What the hell was that? Look at her wrist. Did they do that to her?" I said, panicking at the sight of her wrist.
What happened to her wrist? Why is it always like that?
"Please calm down. She can still hear you. It might worsen her condition," the nurse said, trying to calm me down. "We will explain later. Please wait here for a while. We will call you if she is okay afterwards." she added, and did not even bother to wait for my reply, quickly entering where they put Aera.
I can't even stay at my place.
"Ricx, go and see the others. They might be wondering why we are too late." I told Ricx.
He nodded. "I texted them already. I think they are on their way here," he answered. "Is it your first time seeing her wrist?" He asked.
I nodded. "Yes, it is. I never saw them since she is always wearing long sleeves or a jacket. " I replied.
Is that why she was always wearing long sleeves or a jacket? Because of what's in her hand? She never mentioned anything about it to me.
"Ricx! Leus! What happened?" Drake asked when they arrived here at the clinic.
"We saw Aera. She is being bullied by her..." Ricx answered, then looked at me.
"By the students in our department." I continued. "I think Sandra likes to bully her since she knows Aera, and Aera knows her secret." I added.
"Secret?" They asked, a line etched between their brows.
I sighed. "One time, I heard Sandra talking to Aera at the emergency exit. I was about to walk, but I heard them. So I stopped and waited for them to finish their talk. I learned that Sandra is from the orphanage where Aera is living. She does not want the others to know that she was adopted." I shared.
"What? That Sandra? The famous Sandra from your department?" Keon asked, his pupils dilated from the news.
"Oh, Sandra Santiago. Eh, she is not beautiful. Aera is prettier than her." Cavin commented. "I heard that they are also bullies. She and her friends are bullies." he added.
"So Sandra is targeting Aera because she knows her secret, and also, Sandra's friends do not know about it." Drake said, combining the news together.
Allen shook his head in disbelief. "If I was Aera, I would scream out her secret. So that she can't bully me anymore. I would whack that bad immature girls." He said, whacking the air.
If I was in her shoes, I would really do what Allen said, too. I would not let them hurt me just because of that secret. It's not even something to be kept at all. Sandra is just too bad, while Aera is kind.
We stopped talking when a nurse went out of the room-like setting and stopped in front of us. "Excuse me. Are you guys Aera's classmates?" The nurse asked.
I raised my hand. "Yes, I am her friend. We are also classmates." I replied. "How is she? What happened to her wrist? Did they do that to her?" I asked nonstop.
"We called her guardian already. Sister Ailee is on her way to fetch her. You can ask her about Aera's condition. She will be able to explain it better than me." The nurse answered.
Ricx, on the side, raised his hand as well. "Wait, can I ask something?" He asked the nurse. "Did this happen already? It looks like you know what you are going to do with her. Is this something that always happens? Did Sandra and her friends always hurt her?" he asked her again.
"We are well-informed about her case. Aera has a sensitive case and if ever this kind of situation happens, We all know what to do and what not to do for her." She calmly explained. "About what you have said, if there is bullying happening to her. We will tell Sister Ailee and file some reports to the guidance. We just heard about it now, and we should take action on it. You can wait for Sister Ailee in Aera's room. I will go now." she added before leaving.
"Thank you, nurse!" We said our gratitude and entered the small room where Aera was lying.
I sighed. "This is not the appropriate time to meet her family, though." I said with regret.
"We can't do anything about it. We have to meet Sister Ailee." Cavin said.
Aera is sleeping. I went beside her to look at her wrist. There is a big scar around her wrist. It's like it was tied with something before, causing it to leave a mark like this. Is it from her past? I don't think Sandra did this.
"She is in the room, Sister Ailee. Her friends were also inside, waiting for you."
We heard them talk. We immediately stood up from our seats and waited for Sister Ailee to come into the room.
Since we did not lock the door, it opened and a nun entered the room.
"Good afternoon, Sister Ailee." We all greeted. "I am Leus, and we are her friends." I said, introducing myself.
The others started greeting Sister Ailee and introduced themselves as well.
"May our God bless you. Aera mentioned you guys to me already. Thank you very much for your help." She said this and began walking towards Aera."Sister Ailee, can I ask something about her?" I mustered the courage to ask.
It would not let me sleep if I did not ask it right now. As a result, I'd better do it now rather than later.
"Let's have a seat first," she answered before taking a seat, and I sat beside the others. "Is it about her wrist?" She asked afterwards, making us shocked in our seats.
How did she know that we were going to ask about it? Did the nurse tell her about it?
I nodded my head and said, "Yes, Sister. May we know about it? If it is too much to ask for, you do not have to tell us."
"We are just worried, and it is the first time I saw it. She also never mentioned it to me." I added.
"It's okay to tell you since you guys are her friends and I know I can trust you with her stories, right?" Sister Ailee replied. "Aera's body was full of healed wounds. That is why she always wears this," she started, referring to Aera's jacket.
"According to Lance, her parents were abusing her. Six years ago, one of our staff, saw her on the road burning with fever with a chain around her hands and feet. She was also unconscious. That is why he brought her to our orphanage."
I can't believe that her own parents did that to her.
"When we first saw her, she was so dirty. Lance shared that her parents locked her in a room while being chained so she could not escape their house. She was also considered like an animal that they were feeding in a dog bowl. She did not know many things at that time and thought that it was normal for her to do that. She also has a weak body." she added, making our hearts in pain. "She escaped before the fire gutted their house. So that's how we got her. She was traumatized. We had to approach her gently to get her to not panic. She remembered how her mother had hurt her. She easily gets panicked by just yelling. She is hurting herself too."
"All I can advise you is to please treat her kindly and do not hurt her. She has already gone through a hard time. Please help her to heal. I know it was a lot to ask, but I was hoping you could assist her. Just treat her normally and do what a normal friend would do."
"She was not able to meet a lot of people her age because being scared was eating her up already. It was the first time she had friends. All of us were happy for her when she learned that you guys asked her to be your friend. She was smiling the whole day and was lively." She added.
That was so painful to hear.
We all could not be able to reply immediately. It was hard to absorb what we had heard. We had never experienced things like this, so it was a big blow to us to hear some kind of this story.
It was so depressing.
"D-do not worry, Sister Ailee. We are here now." I told her. "As long as we are here, we will help her. We did not know that she was really having a hard time." I added.
How could she carry that pain to herself? It was too much for her to bear.
"We are her friends now. You can rest assured that we will help her." Cavin added.
"Thank you, thank you very much. We are grateful that she now has friends like you. We are always worried about her attending school because of her condition. Now, we can wait for her patiently and we do not have to worry too much." Sister Ailee said.