ELEMENTARY VIRTUE: The Savior

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ELEMENTARY VIRTUE: The Savior Page 3

by Sonja Wuthrich


  Leyla and Brooklyn were on their way back from the gym when they heard the turmoil from the hallway. They saw that Gregory lay on the ground with a bloody nose and Leyla quickly ran to him. His behavior of yesterday didn’t matter anymore. The only thing that mattered was that she was scared that something had happened to him. When she got there, he was already on his way to the infirmary together with the black-haired girl and another girl that she didn’t know. He held his bleeding nose with a tissue and gave her an unhappy look. Then he disappeared around the corner accompanied by the two girls. Leyla had no chance to talk to him and went back to Brooklyn, who stared intently at the bad boys. Leyla asked her what was going on.

  "You are not going to believe this, but apparently Jason's clothes started to burn after he punched Gregory. His clothes so to speak, caught fire for no reason and were blazing fiercely."

  "I don't understand what happened, why did he beat up Gregory and did Jason get hurt? What did Gregory do to him that his clothes caught fire?"

  Leyla didn’t get the point.

  Brooklyn shrugged, "I don't know. All I know is that Jason is an ass. Probably started the fire himself. I don’t think that Gregory had something to do with it. He was on the ground bleeding the whole time, remember?”

  Leyla nodded absently. Somehow, she couldn't get rid of the feeling that Gregory had something to do with the fire anyway. She couldn't quite explain her feeling, but it was like a déjà vu somewhere deep in her mind. She wasn’t able to get hold of it for now, but it was still there.

  Leyla’s epiphany

  Leyla wandered towards the subway station, lost in deep thoughts. She was alone because Brooklyn had gone off to cheerleader training. Leyla was on her way to her weekly Judo training. She was looking forward getting rid of some of her aggressive emotions without having to smash actually something. She couldn't get the fire out of her mind. Somehow, she knew that Gregory had caused it, although this was complete nonsense. How could someone start a fire while lying on the ground? She was so lost in her thoughts, that she did not notice that somebody was following her. Without attracting attention, but still steadily, she was followed by a dark figure, who actually looked a bit like her, wearing the same dark clothes and a hooded shirt.

  In the meantime, she had reached Bloor station, got off the train and approached her dojo at corner of Bloor and College Street. She already saw the big black sign

  ‘Mixed Martial Arts Gym BJJ’ when she felt a pat on her shoulder. It startled her and she almost had a heart attack. Her heart skipped a beat, as if it would jump out of her chest.

  When she finally saw who had followed her, she was even more stunned. The dark figure which had patted on her shoulder was no one else than scary Aiden, who scared the shit out of her just seeing him from a distance let alone standing in front of her. He leered at her with his almost black eyes and tried to fabricate something close to a smile.

  She was in state of shock, as he almost looked friendly.

  "Hey, you're Leyla right?” She nodded, guiltily, but immediately pulled herself together; she had no reason to be afraid of this moron. She had the green belt in Judo after many years of training.

  "What do you want?”

  She gave him an unfriendly look.

  “Don’t come any closer or I’ll smack you against the wall with a Taiotoshi move, no matter how many muscles you've worked out in your fitness training, or how many of your protein Shakes you have had today. I have the green belt in Judo!”

  Leyla had learned from her training that these muscles coming from fitness training were usually more decoration than anything else and had nothing to do with real power. So he wouldn’t stand a chance against her, would he? She threw her gym bag on the ground and got into a fighting position.

  A broad grin lit up his face. His smile even reached his eyes. She would never have guessed that Aiden could smile that way. “I must disappoint you,” he said still grinning.

  “I have a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The clubs name is BJJ and I am training here. I just wanted to be friendly.”

  It was slowly dawning on Leyla that BJJ stood for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu; actually she had never really thought about it. How embarrassing, she shouldered her gym bag again and mumbled something to herself stepping embarrassed from one foot to another. Aiden broke into laughter and seemed unable to recover. He gasped for air and sat down on the stairs outside the entrance of the BJJ.

  Leyla started to relax slowly sitting down beside him. Once more, she threw her gym bag on the ground. Aiden was still gasping for air, pointing at her bag.

  "Let’s just hope, that you've got no eggs in there, or your protein shake for your muscles.”

  Leyla followed his gaze and shook her head in astonishment.

  ”Who would have guessed that you're such a moron?

  I always thought you were a grim, tough guy. You scared the shit out of me, literally, even if I saw you somewhere from a distance.”

  Aiden looked surprised and somehow guilty. Since her training was about to begin, she started walking in direction of the Dojo. She gave him a nod, “See ya, muscleman.”

  He grinned at her and raised his hand, still slightly out of breath. Leyla had to agree with her girlfriend, Brooklyn; he was probably quite sexy in his own way. She sighed, her aggressions were gone. She actually didn’t even feel like training anymore.

  She had trouble concentrating. Jamie, her judo partner, threw her a couple of times on the ground. Her coach Elliott looked at her with a slanted look and took her aside to demonstrate a few throws on her. When training was finally over, she was exhausted and limped into the changing room.

  After a quick shower, she felt a bit better and the good news was that she had brought some clothes to change. It had become very humid outside and the dark clothes seemed to intensify the heat even more. She put on her favoured, light grey SWAG-labelled top and her new Jeans Shorts. She braided her hair, still wet from the shower and left the changing room.

  There was no need to hurry and she sat down at the bar near the entrance to drink some mineral water, when Aiden came out of the changing room together with some heavily muscled guys. All of them wearing sleeveless black basketball shirts and matching black sweat pants, fitting damn low on their hips. Holy crap, she thought.

  Testosterone - she had never seen so much of it.

  She pretended not to see them whilst she read a magazine covered with tattooed men. Unfortunately, she didn’t notice that she was holding it upside down when the full load of masculinity came around the corner.

  Aiden smirked at her taking the magazine out of her hand. He flipped it over and gave it back to her. Leyla was flabbergasted; she didn't think he would notice her if he had a few of his bros with him.

  Yet to her astonishment, he even introduced her to the guys. “These are James, Matt, Sebastian and Alex. Guys, meet Leyla, a friend from school.”

  Leyla remained speechless; she had just mutated to a friend from school, incredible but true. The guys sat down at the bar and ordered something to drink. Then, the four of them took off and Leyla stayed behind alone with Aiden. She felt somehow strange and had no idea about what to talk with him. She remembered the tattoo he had on his upper arm. It was a circle with a blazing flame in it and looked quite unusual. The guys who had been training with him had similar tattoos on their upper arm; James’ is a circle with a drop of water. Matt, Sebastian and Alex had the same tattoo like Aiden; a flame in a circle. So, she asked him about it as they were on the way back towards the subway.

  "What does your tattoo and the ones of your friends stand for?”

  She touched his arm with the flame. He looked at her, and there he was again - the grim, frightening Aiden. She jerked slightly back and he smiled disarmingly. “Sorry, sometimes I am quite harsh on people but I don’t mean to be. So don’t be scared, it's okay. This is the symbol of my clan.” Leyla frowned, "What kind of a clan, like a membership?"

  He smiled lightly.<
br />
  “I know it may sound strange, but I belong to the Akandos, a clan of the community of Onendas. We have Indian roots and each of us is assigned to one of the four elements after birth. Like some kind of an imprint. It's a shamanic legend, that we have the power to influence the element we are assigned to. That’s what the tattoo stands for.”

  Leyla shook her head in disbelief.

  "I have never, ever heard such bullshit, you got to be kidding me?”

  “Let me show you,” he said, and took out a match out of his gym bag. He pinned it with his jet-black eyes and it lit up by itself. Leyla looked at him accusingly.

  "This means that it was you today at school. You were the one lighting up Jason’s clothes!"

  "No, that wasn't me and that is exactly the point. That’s why I had to talk to you!”

  Leyla couldn’t believe her ears.

  “What the hell do I have to do with that shit? Wait a minute, that's why you were following me, you freak,” Leyla turned abruptly, trying to get away from him, but he grabbed her quite rudely on both shoulders.

  "Now you listen to me. It was someone who doesn’t have his power under control and that can be damn dangerous.”

  Leyla had heard enough nonsense for one day and yelled at him. “What do you want from me, who the devil was it then? Sure thing it wasn't me. Because if it happened to be me, you would be a pile of ashes by now.”

  With her angry outburst, she made him laugh again.

  "You really are a crazy number. No, I think that it was your cousin Gregory!”

  Leyla felt scared all of a sudden. In a flash, everything made sense.

  She had known it somehow! In a flashback of her memory, she saw the blanket in which they found Gregory as a baby. The blanket showed four different items. A drop of water, a flame, a symbol that looked like three question marks that were upside down and a leaf. She looked up in Aiden’s black, questioning eyes.

  "He's my stepcousin,” she said absent minded.

  He touched his forehead in sheer despair.

  "My God, who cares about that right now? We need to prevent him from putting someone at risk again by lighting up randomly. The whole clan could be at stake. We could be exposed!”

  He looked annoyed and his hair seemed to stick out like spikes more than ever. Leyla was in deep thought.

  “Wait a minute,” she said, “Gregory had to come to Canada because he had problems in his old school.” He seemed to have some kind of outbursts. Aiden looked interested.

  “Now we're getting somewhere. You know, our powers start to show around half a year before our eighteenth birthday.”

  Leyla mused.

  "That might be true, but how do you know what element you are actually assigned to?"

  "We get a blanket at our birth from the elders in our community, mostly the own family tradition is continued, but there are exceptions.”

  Aiden tried to explain and Leyla continued.

  “With a drop of water, a flame, a symbol that looks like three question marks that are upside down, all of them in a circle and a leaf?”

  Aiden looked startled.

  ”No, of course not, only with one element. Where have you seen such a thing?”

  He shook her, impassionate.

  “Think about it, it is very important.”

  She knew exactly where she had seen it. It had been Gregory's blanket. The blanket he was wrapped in when the preacher found him on his morning walk. He had been just a baby, lying next to his dead mother. The preacher had saved him from his mother’s pursuers then and Franco and Shannon had adopted him later on. She had heard the tale often enough, but she wouldn't tell Aiden. She didn’t trust him that much yet.

  “No, I haven’t, I was just wildly guessing.”

  She looked at him innocently. Aiden didn’t know whether he should believe her or not, but he had no chance to question her any further, as Brooklyn got on the train at Chester station and came straight over to join them. She seemed to be checking him out from bottom to top throwing him an interested look. Then she involved Leyla in a conversation and Aiden had no opportunity to point out that her knowledge was important and could be lifesaving. Leyla got off at Main Street Station. Brooklyn called after her, “Don't forget the ten bucks you owe me.”

  Leyla nodded and waved at them. Aiden tried to avoid Brooklyn interested glance. She observed him and said, “So, now Aiden tell me how come that you were out and about with Leyla?

  As far as I know, you are scaring the shit out of her, just seeing you at a distance.”

  He looked at her in surprise and got off guard for a moment, “That’s what she told you?”

  A smug smirk lit up his face.

  “My God, handsome, was that a smile?”

  Brooklyn rolled her eyes.

  “Lord, a miracle! I had no idea that he knew how to smile.”

  He looked a bit puzzled.

  “No, please keep the smile; even if it is a smug one. It makes you even more attractive… It is almost unbearable,” she laughed.

  "Too bad, handsome. I would love to chat with you some more, but unfortunately, I have to get off at the next stop.”

  They approached Victoria Park Station. She leaned toward the still baffled Aiden and kissed him on both cheeks and then completely unexpected, square on his mouth. He remained baffled behind watching her leave, her short skirt swinging in the wind.

  Women were a mystery to him, Aiden thought to himself. Yet, he couldn’t deny the fact that this one made him nervous and her image was not easy to get out of his head.

  Leyla took the path to the nearest ATM to withdraw the ten bucks that she owed Brooklyn. She had forgotten about the money in the whole mess. Brooklyn got hold of a birthday gift for Gregory at a garage sale in her street last week - a T-Shirt from the Toronto Maple leafs for only ten bucks...

  A real bargain, considering that the maple leafs were Gregory's favorite team. She just wanted to withdraw the money when she stepped into a nasty pool of vomit and alcohol with her new vans. Disgusted, she tried to find a position in which her feet wouldn’t touch the pool. Then she realized that the wall next to the ATM was full of puke as well. Some small pieces of eggplant and zucchini stuck to the wall. Yeak, Leyla shook herself, grabbed the money and tried to strip off her vans in the grass. The world was full of creeps. After she more or less cleaned her vans, she headed home.

  Leyla was glad that she had met Brooklyn on the subway. It had given her the opportunity to get away from Aiden’s piercing eyes. Now, the time had come to surprise Gregory with his late birthday gift and to apologize for her harsh behavior this morning. She really had to talk to him urgently. Some things she did not understand needed to be clarified before she met Aiden again.

  Flirting and Disaster

  Gregory could hardly believe it. His first day of school could not possibly have gone any worse. First, this dumbass Jason had punched him in the nose out of nowhere. Second, as if this had not been enough trouble, he had lost control and lit Jason up just like a candle. He literally had burst up in flames. So much for not drawing any attention, he had really done a great job so far.

  The good news was his nose was not broken. Otherwise, he would have had to call his uncle or his aunt. Yet, sure thing he definitely looked like a zombie. He hoped that Leyla had not caught too much of the incident. Actually, when he thought it over, that was not that important. He had other issues. The most important of all was that he urgently had to get this fire issue under control. Yet, how was he supposed to do this?

  He did not have the slightest idea. This afternoon, the teachers had some kind of reunion and he was glad, because he wasn’t sure if he would have shown his face again at school this afternoon. Maybe it was for the best to let some grass grow over what had happened until tomorrow. After all, Jason was probably hurt because of him going up in flames and all. Even though he had done it unintentionally, it was still not particularly helpful. Well anyway, it was not likely that someone ha
d noticed anything. He had been the victim in the first place. He shook his head. No one knew anything about his problem so far.

  He remembered the grim-looking guy with the black spiked hair giving him quite a thoughtful look as he lay there on the ground, just before Natalie and her friend, Mila had rushed up to him. It sucked that whenever he got really angry about some shit, he felt this heat wave rising within him, and he could not do the slightest thing about it. Every time something went up in flames, but until now, it had never been a person. Only curtains, tablecloths and napkins.

  His condition seemed to worsen lately. The other day he could have sworn that his untamed anger had produced a strong wind. Maybe his imagination was running wild. Maybe he was paranoid. He was going slowly nuts, a fruitcake with a goofy grin on his face. He had been wandering around the city all afternoon, thinking about his problem, but he hadn’t come up with any solution on how to deal with it. Would be nice to have someone at his side he could at least tell about it. Yet, there was no one and there was no way telling his family, not even Leyla. He walked slowly to the nearest subway station. It was already after four o’clock and maybe it was time to head back home. He passed the window of a hairstylist with a big mirror in it.

  He jerked back at his reflection. He looked dreadful. Tangled hair, piercing, swollen eyes, and his nose seemed to have reached double in size. One side of his face had turned yellowish blue. He was truly a sight for sore eyes. He also felt smaller than his normal six feet. Maybe it was because he slouched his shoulders as if he had to carry the weight of the world. He had the feeling that his clothes did not even fit him anymore, and his whole being was limp. He was standing there, looking for long in the mirror. He would probably have to ask Leyla for some concealer. Hopefully she had something like that, but surely all the girls did own stuff like that; it was in their nature. If not, he would ask his aunt. Sure make a great impression, he mused. Then he saw Leyla pass behind him. He saw her through the mirror. She was with the grim, spine-haired guy from his class. They both carried sports bags with them and were apparently having a vivid conversation. He tried not to attract any attention as they had not seen him yet. He pulled the hood of his sleeveless dark blue shirt over his head. This didn’t seem to be necessary though, as the two of them were engrossed in their conversation and had no interest in what was going on around them.

 

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