Chapter 12 - Superhuman

Pangkor Island Resort,
Dunes.

Vylum’s face was dark. His braids swayed slightly in the still wind of twilight. His fingers, previously clenched, were now stretched out wide. As if he was trying to grab at a huge imaginary ball. Popping veins on his fingers due to the effort was visible even from Shaun, Jasmine, Maggie, Ren and Mei Ling’s vantage point. Kevin looked sad, but not a bit surprised. As if he expected something like this to happen.

Something like this. It had to be what everyone was thinking. A fight.

A fight is how two people settle their differences physically. A fight is not just a fight, but also why they fight, and in what manner, they fight. Why they fight is still a murky blur.

But in what manner they fight. Is a completely different story. Vylum’s words echoed in everyone’s minds. ‘I’ve gone to places you’ve never thought possible and met people who could do things you’ve never imagined,’ No one thought much about anything when he said those words, but as they watched, they began to realize that he actually meant it.

Again, thousands and thousands of black, slimy tentacles crept up Shaun’s body, wrapping around him again and again, swallowing him whole. That alienated green in his eyes, down to the bleached white skin, every part of Vylum’s whole he was afraid. He feared. Not only he, Jasmine, Maggie, Ren and Mei Ling too were feeling the same thing. That same fear. A slimy, black, disgusting fear that hid in the corner of your mind and waited to pounce on you. The minute you think of it, the fear creeps back slowly, gradually. Eventually.

Black, vine-like tentacles were crawling like worms out Vylum’s sleeves. They were small, tiny, vein-like and shiny at first, when they started to crawl out from Vylum’s sleeves, slowly and invasively. But they grew in length and size, and soon, black vines so long crawled up his arms and his legs, they forced their way into every nook and cranny of his body, into his pores and out again, in through his mouth went a million tiny, vein-like things, into his nostrils and his ears, into his eyes and into his skin. Ren retched, the others gasped. They couldn’t believe what was happening. Only Kevin didn’t seemed surprised. The black veins were sharp-tipped at the end, and as they pierced Vylum’s own eyeball he screamed, blood poured from his mouth as the blackness consumed him. Swallowing him whole. His skin darkened into a terrible, dead gray. His eyes a brighter shade of green and his mouth an endless black abyss. The veins retreated after they transformed him.

Violent Vylum.

He let out an inhuman scream. He had fangs, bristling with a dirty, rotten yellow. His hair was long and ragged, but his two braids remained. Maggie bit her finger to stop herself from screaming. Jasmine retched. Shaun’s eyes were wide open.

That’s not human.

The shrieking stopped. Vylum returned back to his senses as every trace of black tentacles retreated into his sleeves. Leaving only a darkened, terrible figure in its wake.

‘This is who I am now,’ Vylum snarled. Again, an inhuman edge tainted his voice. In a flash, he extended an arm and black-green vines shot out from his sleeves, sharp-tipped, gleaming and headed directly for Kevin!

Everything happened in less than a second. One second, the vines darted out like deadly blades, homing onto helpless Kevin. And the next, they were a wreathing, burning, smoldering mess on the floor. The stench of rotten, burning meat filled the air. Kevin’s palm was up. Vylum raised an eyebrow. His other arm flashed out in a second and more of the killer blade-like vines shot out from his other sleeve, they lashed out at Kevin. And again, Kevin’s hands went aflame. A bright red fire flared up and engulfed his hands and in a swift movement, he set the approaching vines aflame and a wreathing mess on the sandy floor.

A pause. The flames cackled as the vines ceased their wreathing. The stench. Shaun felt like vomiting. Everyone did.

‘You’re special too?’ Vylum asked. His voice almost human.

‘Since forever,’ Kevin nodded gravely.

Shaun stared at the two of them bewilderedly as the enormity of the whole situation hit him in the face. Humans were the creation of God. They were meant to walk this Earth under his service. But Adam and Eve sinned, and for that we have to pay. Humans have evolved since then. That was all. Humans have no purpose, no extraordinary thing that allows them to bend the laws of the universe, let alone break them. The chains of human boundaries, no one can run superfast and not one can jump superhigh. No one is supersmart and no one is superstrong. No one should be able to shoot black vines from his sleeves and no one should be able to make fire sprout from his hands.

Superhumans. Was that it?

In the time he took to think, more of the horrible stench filled the air and the cackling flames increased in a chorus as more black vines shot out directly toward Kevin and more of them fell to the floor in a burning mess. The fading light and the speed in which Kevin and Vylum were moving at made it difficult for anyone to see anything. All they saw was blurs of black that encompasses the distance between Vylum and Kevin in a second and flashes of bright red on the sand.

In a few minutes, there was a pause. The whole area was filled with a rotten, putrid stench now and the ground was littered with burning foliage. As Shaun looked closely, the vines burned like paper, like plants. Tentacles that swallowed him whole, green eyes.

Plants.

Kevin was breathing hard. But Vylum seemed like he wasn’t breathing at all. He smiled again. An alien smile.

His hands moved in a sudden blur and black blurry things flew around in a rapid flurry. Kevin didn’t even have time to react, when probably ten or more shards of wood, each two to three meters long, lay head buried in the sand all over. The cracks and seams in the wood glowed an alien green as they pulsed and illuminated the darkness of the twilight. Kevin lighted his hands and spun around, the fire trailing a tail of brilliant flame behind him as he spun, running toward the nearest shard of wood. He ended his spin and connected with a shocking blow to the shard of wood, an explosion ensued, splitting the shard into millions of pieces that flew everywhere.

Kevin composed himself, then turned his attention to Vylum.

‘What are you playing at Vy!?’ He yelled. ‘If you wanted to kill me you would have done so by now!!!’

‘I enjoy these little pleasures,’ came the soft reply. From each shard of wood, a vine sprouted and lashed itself toward Kevin. The shards of wood was everywhere, and if from each shard, a vine lashed out at the same time…

Razor tipped vines drilled through his palms and sliced off his fingers. The vines gouged out flesh from his body, sliced the tendons in his ankles and hauled him upright. Each vine tensing. Kevin was tied up and helpless. Fresh blood spilled onto the floor, accompanied by agonizing screams.

Retching. Vomiting. Gasps. All the five of them could do was stare. Or could they do something else? An invisible hand grabbed hold of Maggie and pulled her into reality. Someone was murdering someone else! The police can help! She felt for her phone. For Kevin’s phone. Shaun saw her and did the same thing. Jasmine felt for her phone and so did Ren and Mei Ling.

They were all not there.

More screams. The vines pulled, stretching Kevin’s joints and sockets to their limit. A shoulder popped, an elbow snapped. Screams. Agonizing, painful screams of a dying person. The pulling stopped, the vines slacked and Kevin slumped to the ground, his fresh wounds grinding with coarse sand. He was barely conscious. Vylum strolled closer, smiling his alien smile. The swagger in his walk indicated that he wasn’t even bothered that he was killing his best friend so painfully. It indicated more of a ‘walking along the beach’ feel.

‘How did you like that hm?’ He grinned down at Kevin. He spat at him. ‘My job is nearly done, once I finish you off, I would’ve accepted my honor, and the real killing begins,’

Vylum reached down and patted Kevin’s bloodied, matted hair.

‘I gave you my trust Kevin,’ he smiled sadly. ‘And now I’m taking it back,’

He lifted his hand, and took a few steps back. When he stopped. All the vines suddenly tightened again, Kevin screamed. He was hauled up onto his knees, bleeding all over from deep, disgusting cuts infested with black slime. Black tendrils again sprouted from Vylum’s right arm. But this time, it took the form of a huge, lance-like cone with a razor sharp tip. It lengthened and thickened and became blacker and shinier as the slime hardened.

‘Goodbye, old friend,’

He flashed forward, the huge black, hardened lance right in front of him, its razor sharp tip directed at Kevin’s bleeding, battered body. A deathblow.

When suddenly, a figure sprinted out of nowhere. He was so fast, no one even saw him. His whole figure was just a blur of motion as he sprinted across the undergrowth, over the sand dune and directly toward Kevin and Vylum. Sand was thrown everywhere as the blurry figure flashed forward, and then, like in a slow motion scene in a movie.

The figure kicked Vylum directly in the gut.

Blood, black in the moonlight spilled out of his mouth and his green eyes widened. Even his wild, ragged black hair flew around wildly. Ribs cracked, bones broke. The force of the kick threw Vylum almost thirty paces from where he was standing, he face planted in the hard sand just after the tideline in a sickening thud. All eyes turned to the figure, standing now. Behind him was a tangle of footprints in the sand and far beyond, over the sand dune, a ragged gash where he tore out of the undergrowth.

Jasmine concentrated. That guy. With a pair of glasses, a belt, and his shirt tucked in, he’ll look almost exactly like, like…

George.

Chapter 11 - Truth

Pangkor Island Resort,
Dunes.

The five of them ran through the undergrowth beside the hotel, trailing a lone figure walking toward the sand dunes on the other side of the beach. Jasmine, Shaun, Maggie, Mei Ling and Ren kept their voices down and their bodies close to the ground, being careful not to be seen by the lone figure. Thankfully it was sunset, and their shadows were spread out behind them. It would be harder to navigate while remaining hidden from Kevin if their shadows could be seen easily. Shaun wanted to see who this someone was. He needed to see who this someone is. Who could have been manipulating them all this while?

The five of them trudged slowly now. They’ve been tailing Kevin for more than ten minutes now. Originally, they thought Kevin was already there and meeting that someone, but he didn’t left yet, when they set off for the dunes, Maggie saw him walking out from the beach and the five of them managed to hide in the shadows of the setting sun. For the last ten minutes since then, the five of them stuck closely to the flora, shadowing Kevin silently. Adrenaline raced through Shaun’s mind, was Adranne and Lucas okay? Were they going to keep the Adwin, Jonathan and Ryan in their room? Is Nicole okay? Where did she go?

Shaun caught sight of a slight change of movement in Kevin’s direction and stopped everyone in their tracks. They all watched Kevin. He turned off right a little, toward the beach slightly; his eyes were glued to a sand dune ahead.

The meeting place.

Shaun signaled to everyone that that was the dune and began moving slowly toward it. Kevin walked pass the small sandy hill then turned a sharp left, it was then when Shaun knew why Someone chose this place. It was like a room, with walls of sand instead of brick and cement. On the wall of sand facing the sea, there was no wall. The sand dune opened out only to the sea and this was where Kevin strolled in. This was the meeting place. It was secluded and someone had to climb over quite a bit of sand to see what was happening inside. And anyway, it’s so far from the beach that nearly no one came here. The sun was setting slowly in the distance. Its bottom just touched the horizon. A dapple of light, like a heat wave, vibrated the image, distorting the horizon, light melted with water.

Twilight. The middle of night and day, when it was neither too dark, or bright.

Shaun, Jasmine, Maggie, Mei Ling and Ren went down on their hands and knees and crawled on their bellies to the top of the dune, to see what was happening on the other side. Thankfully, some bushes were growing at the top and they could hide themselves well, especially in the fading light. They all sat there and waited, staring at the lone figure before them. Kevin had his back faced towards them. He was looking out over the sand dunes on the other side. Waiting. Just waiting for him to come.

And come he did.

A figure slipped out on the ridge of the opposing sand dune. He was short and had black hair. But what really made Shaun gasp was his black turtleneck, bleached white skin and his two braids. The millions of tentacles began crawling all over his body again. Swallowing him whole.

Violent Vylum. He walked towards Kevin and stood roughly five or six meters away, his pupils of his eyes still shadowed by the two long, black braids that covered them. Maggie wasn’t that taken aback when she saw him, because perhaps she had seen him like this before and she had felt this scary feeling before. But this was new to Ren, Mei Ling and Jasmine. They were frozen to their spots, eyes wide with fear. A drop of sweat slid past Jasmine’s brow. She rarely perspired.

‘Hello, old friend,’ Vylum said with a grin, so like a smile but so completely joyless.

Jaws dropped.

It all made sense now.

‘It’s been quite some time since we last talked hasn’t it?’ Vylum asked Kevin. His smile unwavering, his body unmoving. Kevin on the other hand, wasn’t as scared as he was supposed to be. He was calm, he looked almost distant.

‘Yeah man, hello buddy,’ Kevin said.

Jasmine reminded herself again that there was no possible way that she was hearing was what she was hearing. She knew with every fibre of her being that it was the truth, but other part, the sensible part, denies it. It was worst of for Maggie, she wasn’t just denying it, she was rejecting it. Gasping, unable to believe what she was hearing, lies. All lies, from someone she had trusted for so long. Shaun shushed just loudly enough so that everyone could hear, but not the two figures facing each other.

‘How long has it been? One and a half years?’ Vylum answered his own question. ‘My my how’ve you grown Kevin, grown more and more idiotic,’

Kevin had a quizzical look on his face after that. Almost sad.

‘You’ve grown away from the truth Kevin, you’ve denied yourself, unable to control the guilt that’s building up within, no matter how much you bully, you’ll never ever be able to get rid of the guilt. Ever,’ Vylum hissed.

Kevin was the one bullying George! He did it to get it out of his system, to get rid of the pushing! To get the guilt out of himself!

‘I was feeling guilty! And that’s the one thing that’ll never change! I’m truly sorry,’ Kevin said in a rapid outburst, his voice trailed into a sad, soft and timid tone, a voice that sounded like it knew it was not going to help out in anything within the situation. ‘Vylum, forget this madness, forgive me and come home,’

‘No,’ Vylum hissed in reply almost immedietly. His face darkened. Up till now, his braids always hid his pupils. But now, in the setting sun, his braids moved to the side, and his green pupils flared up in the fading light. It was almost glowing. None of them could explain it. The vines crawled and spasmed all over their skins, a feeling of scared-ness so great, that it amounted to fear. And very little, do we actually feel real fear. Maggie gasped. Everyone gasped. But not Kevin.

Kevin just stared at Vylum with sad eyes.

Thoughts were rapidly rifling through Shaun’s mind. It HAD to be yet it COULDN’T, it was too impossible. Kevin is Vylum’s best friend!

Kevin is D!

He was the one who pushed C down, whoever it was! He was Violent Vylum’s best friend once! He killed someone!

Ren’s words of what Kevin had said to George echoed through his mind resoundingly, almost sadistically, mockingly. ‘Do you want to know why I do this George? Huh? Do you want to know? Its because I have to get it out of my system, you see pushing is always a bad thing, it always hurts the person you’re pushing, but it makes the person pushing you feel better, feel good, I’ll give up after the pushing is out of my system, but until then, I’ll continue to push you because no one cares about you,’

Kevin is the one bullying George!

The pushing. Kevin needed to get the pushing out of his system. Shaun’s eyes widened, he then whispered, more to himself, than anybody else.

‘The pushing that he needs to get out of his system is like, like…’

‘Guilt,’ Vylum snarled. Unknowingly completing Shaun’s sentence. ‘You can’t take the guilt, Kevin,’ Vylum continued. ‘You’re not strong enough,’

‘I’m sorry, just come home old friend,’ Kevin said, the sadness in his voice was unmistakable.

‘We both know that’s impossible,’ Vylum smiled, almost kindly. ‘I’ve gone to places you’ve never thought possible and met people who could do things you’ve never imagined, I’m superior, I’m not insane, I’m better, I’m stronger,’

‘Why call me here?’ Kevin said softly.

‘I’ve always lived by this Kevin, its something I believe in,’ Vylum started. The key to sanity, is having two important things,’

Vylum waved two fingers out.

‘One, life,’ he said as he smiled. One finger closed and only one remained.

‘And the other, trust,’ he finished. ‘With these two things, one can keep their sanity, and use it as a shield against madness, but you see, what made me this, this … monster,’

Vylum looked up, straight into Kevin’s eyes. Everyone could hardly believe it. Vylum’s eyes were misty with memory.

‘Is you,’ he choked. ‘You were my best friend Kevin, you were my trust, and Delia was my life,’

‘Delia?’ Shaun whispered. A girl?

‘His first love,’ Maggie sobbed. ‘She was C,’

The memory in Vylum’s eyes vanished in a blink of an eye, and its substitute was pure rage that burned so intensely in his green eyes. ‘You killed her Kevin, you killed her and I lost my faith in you,’

‘You took away my life, and my trust,’ He snarled. ‘And therefore, I lost my sanity,’ His hands were clenched into fists and his face muscles were flexing and shaking, in a futile effort to contain that much rage and hate.

‘I have a mission Kevin, I could have chosen anyone, but this, is why I chose you,’

And with those final words, Violent Vylum took over, and the night knew no happy end.

Chapter 10 - Convergence

Pangkor Island Resort,
On the way to Room 370,
5:00p.m.

Adranne had provided everyone with tasks to complete. It was late noon now, around five o’clock she guessed. She headed briskly to George’s room to talk to him, to comfort him. As she was moving, she knew that everyone was doing their supposed tasks. Lucas and Shaun were meeting up with Kevin and Maggie, Mei Ling was comforting Ren and Jasmine was comforting Nicole in their room and Adwin, Jonathan and Ryan were probably in their rooms or out swimming she didn’t know. That was another problem she had to deal with, she’ll probably ask Lucas to check on the trio to make sure they stay put and that none of them knew anything about what was going on. If one of them wants to know, the three of them would want to know and if the three of them wants to know, they would waste a lot of time explaining what had happened last night and this morning to them. Speaking of which, so much has happened in such a short time.

Ren thinks Nicole betrayed his trust because he told the story of George’s past to her and she told everyone else. In fact, no one told anyone anything. The only person that told someone something, was that Someone. That Someone told George that Ren had betrayed his trust and that Ren told his new friends George’s secret. That Someone was pulling the strings, turning everyone against each other.

Adranne’s train of thought was cut short when she stood in front of a door with the big number ‘370’ engraved on it. She pressed the doorbell and waited. She could hear sounds from inside, of a scared-looking boy flinching, then inching forward to the eyehole to see who it was then gradually, finding the courage to … click. The door opened and a boy whose face was dominated by his glasses and his fear stared out.

‘What do you want?’ George said softly. He was as timid as a girl.

‘I just want to talk to you George,’ Adranne said in her most calm voice possible.

‘About what?’ He asked back.

‘About what we know,’ Adranne said. ‘About you,’

Pangkor Island Resort,
Room 302.

Jasmine blinked awake. She had fallen asleep.

A little while earlier she brought Nicole into the room and they barely talked. She could sense that Nicole was in one of her don’t-talk-to-me-when-I’m-THIS-pissed modes and she understood that. Nicole couldn’t be talked to when she was angry. She had to let if all out before talking about it and then, let even more out through the talk.

It was somewhere during the waiting for Nicole to ‘let it all out’ that Jasmine fell asleep. It was quite awkward just now, being in the same room as her and not talking to her, especially since hotel rooms are relatively small, but she didn’t mind. She knew Nicole well enough to just ignore the awkward-ness.

She rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock on her phone. Five o’clock. She glanced around her room, then her eyes set on a sleeping figure under a blanket on the single bed beside the one she was lying on.

Nicole.

She must have fallen asleep too during the wait, Jasmine guessed. She smirked; at least she could go out and look for Adranne now, once Nicole falls asleep, it was seriously hard to wake her up. Jasmine went and washed her face, grabbed her stuff and her phone then sped off to the lobby to search for Adranne.

After she left, and after the door clicked behind her, a handphone dropped to the floor, falling seemingly from nowhere. The screen blinked, then the whole phone switched off.

It was Jasmine’s.

Pangkor Island Resort,
Room 307.

‘So it really is Kevin?’ Adranne asked softly. ‘Kevin is the actual bully?’

George nodded timidly.

It was almost half an hour before when George had let her in and they both began talking. Only now was she able to get George to tell her who was his actual bully and now that she knew the truth, George began to look like he was going to run away. Finally she had managed to get him to tell her what she wanted to hear, what else could she want? More answers? He couldn’t tell her so many things, so many so many things. She wouldn’t understand or even comprehend the size of it; he couldn’t take that many questions.

Adranne was confident. She knew now that Kevin is George’s actual bully. Kevin is the one who pushed George about and told George that he wanted to get rid of the pushing in his system. Kevin is the one who made George look scared, not Violent Vylum or any lame character that Shaun made up. She could talk to Kevin and Maggie, ask Maggie to make Kevin stop bullying George, they could call a councilor, they could make things better between George and Kevin. She looked at her watch, 5.20p.m.

They could help George.

Suddenly, George yelled at her. It wasn’t just any yell. It was loud, almost feral. It wasn’t that timid, nerdy voice that he used when he was talking to her for the past half an hour, actually she was doing most of the talking.

‘SHUT UP!’ He screamed. His eyes were wild and he was breathing hard. Adranne nearly screamed as well. She didn’t say anything! George seized a pillow and hurled it at Adranne, who was sitting on the bed. The pillow hit her in the face and she fell backward onto the floor, but it was a pillow, how much damage could it do? She actually nearly laughed a little when she was struggling to get up, seriously, how much damage could a pillow do? Pushing the urge to laugh and the humour aside, she got ready to yell at him back. An anger was bubbling inside her and she was so ready to scream at the retarded nerd. But she heard the door open, and then there was a gust of wind.

She tossed aside the pillow and dashed to the door, looking out.

George’s room was the very end of the block and a long corridor lay in front of his room, there was no staircase at his end that allowed easy entrance or exit, the only way was for someone to run through the long long corridor and down the staircase or the lift at the end of it. But to Adranne’s amazement.

There was no one there at all.

Pangkor Island Beach,
The Streamz,
5.30p.m.

Shaun and Lucas spotted Maggie sitting by herself at a table at the Streamz, her face a sheet of worry. They sped to her and grabbed seats around her before she could object, apologizing repeatedly and so loudly that it was drawing attention from the other hotel guests who were eating there. The repeated apologizing got so much on Maggie’s nerves that she yelled at both of them to shut them up.

The two boys shut up immedietly.

‘What the hell do you two bean-spillers want,’ she snapped. Her phone was on the table and so was Kevin’s. Where was he by the way? The boys have never seen her without her boyfriend by her side. Shaun started first.

‘Look, sorry Maggie that I told my friends, I was sure I didn’t tell anyone about it but Someone told you that I told my friends, I need to know and I need to know now,’ a pause. ‘Who is that Someone?’

Maggie’s features softened. ‘You’re really sure that your friends didn’t tell anyone at all about it?’

‘Absolutely,’ Shaun said softly. ‘You have to trust me, Someone is turning all of us against each other, you NEED to tell me who told you,’

Maggie sighed. You could tell that she was still angry a little at Shaun, but not as much anymore, partly because… ‘There, look at that message,’ Maggie said, handing her phone to Shaun. Lucas and Shaun read the message slowly.

‘Shaun and Lucas spilled, they told everyone about it, you cannot trust them,’

It was from an anonymous number.

‘Do you know whose number is that?’ Shaun asked and looked at her.

‘No, I acted too quickly and got angry too fast, I’m sorry Shaun,’ Maggie said softly. It helped now that she thought about it, she wasn’t someone to forgive that quickly but now that she knows that Someone is playing around with the others two, she was reluctant to remain angry at them.

‘It’s okay,’ Shaun said back, the softness of his voice could match even Maggie’s. Lucas had a little awkward moment there as the two of them shared a look for a brief moment.

‘Okay so anyway,’ Shaun said, stopping the moment abruptly, ‘Who could have sent this?’

Maggie shook her head in reply, ‘But,’ she added. ‘I have this,’

She waved Kevin’s phone in front of their two faces.

‘What does that have to do with anything?’ Lucas asked.

‘If you look closely, this message has to do with everything,’ Maggie whispered. Shaun and Lucas looked at the first message and their jaws dropped. It was the same number as the message sent to Maggie’s phone, and no doubt, the same message sent to George’s phone! That Someone was manipulating them all! The message said:

‘Kevin, meet me at six o’clock in the dunes, at twilight,’

‘Kevin’s gone you know,’ Maggie said. ‘He went off like fifteen minutes ago, told me that he was going to party in one of the boys’ room, but so obviously he went to that dune place,’

Just at that moment, Shaun’s phone rang. It was Adranne.

‘Shaun, Adranne here, I know who’s bullying George!’ Adranne said, she was out of breath and she sounded like she was running. ‘It’s Kevin!’ She almost shouted through the phone.

Shaun yelled a silent yes. It wasn’t Violent Vylum; Vylum had nothing at all to do with any of this. It was Kevin and all they had to do was talk to him, talk to a councilor, it was so much more easier than the alternative, than if Vylum was the bully.

‘BUT!’ Adranne gasped. Shaun could tell she was really running now. ‘He ran off somewhere, I think he couldn’t stand my questions, you need to find him, I’m going to check on the three boys and make sure their in the room, I need Lucas’ help, ask him to come up while you find for George?’

‘I can’t find for George, apparently Kevin also ran off and I need to find for him with Maggie! I need to go find for Kevin, Adranne, George can wait, Someone sent something to Kevin and asked him to meet him at some place, I need to know who this Someone is,’

‘Someone,’ Adranne said softly. That person was connected in everything, who could it possibly be?

‘Yes, I’m gonna find out who he is and why is he meeting Kevin, I’ll send Lucas to help you and I’m going with Maggie, I’ll update you,’

Adranne nodded to herself and mumbled an okay, then hung up. Imagine, George running off, Kevin running off, a random message from a random number for him to meet someone at someplace. Everything was beginning to sound sinister. It was beginning to sound strange. But at least now she knew that Vylum has nothing to do with anything, that maybe Shaun just made stuff up. That was good news. Could Kevin and George be getting into a fight?

Shaun hung up at the same time, telling Lucas to go and help Adranne upstairs, he stuffed his phone in his pocket and grabbed Maggie's hand.

'Lets go!' He said to her.

Maggie grabbed her phone and Kevin's phone and stuffed it in her bag. As they were running off, something fell from seemingly no where and smashed to the pebble-washed ground in millions of pieces. Three things actually.

Kevin's phone, Shaun's phone and Maggie's phone.

Pangkor Island Resort,
Lobby,
5.50p.m.

Mei Ling was done consoling Ren and they both were walking back to the lobby. Ren was so ready to forgive Nicole if she said sorry. He didn’t know why she told her friends but obviously she didn’t mean for her friends to tell. She trusted her friends like he trusted her, so it wasn’t really her fault and he was wrong to blame her. It was more like everyone’s at fault. Including his.

Ren and Mei Ling suddenly bumped into Jasmine, who was just coming down from upstairs, looking for Adranne. Before either of them could say anything, Shaun and Maggie ran into the lobby. The five of them stared at each other for a while, Jasmine, Shaun, Maggie, Ren and Mei Ling.

‘Guys, follow me, we’re going to see what Kevin is up to,’ Shaun grinned at them, then took Maggie’s hand and sprinted off to the beach, the beautiful sunset in the distance, it was nearly twilight. The time between night and day, where it was bright, and dark at the same time.

‘Where are we going?’ Jasmine asked Shaun as the five of them ran toward the dunes on the other side of the beach. At the same time, Lucas and Adranne were keeping Adwin, Jonathan and Ryan in their room and Nicole was sound asleep in Room 302. The five of them were on their own, going to find the truth, the last piece of the jigsaw.

‘We’re converging, to find the truth about things,’

Chapter 9 - Someone

Pangkor Island Resort,
Swimming Pool.

Nicole was in an outrage. She stormed off in a different direction from where Ren walked off. She couldn’t get it, why can’t Lucas and Shaun sometimes get the information, process it and apply it accordingly? Why couldn’t they be more like Adranne or Jasmine, who kept everything to themselves the whole one-hour they were with Mei Ling and Ren. Why couldn’t they just get it? She knew it simply wasn’t their fault that they forgot or let something accidentally slip, if they knew that they weren’t supposed to tell George that, they wouldn’t. But it was because they forgot or they let something slip that she was mad at them. To confront them now would cause chaos. Nicole knew herself better. She needed time to cool down, to get so pissed off that her stress would just flow away, then she’d go back to one of their rooms and asked them what happened properly.

Obviously what happened was Lucas and Shaun accidentally let something slip about how Kevin bullied George and what Kevin told him about pushing. They obviously told George that and tried to talk to him. But he got scared and ran off, then he texted Ren right after that George knew he couldn’t trust Ren anymore because Ren told his secret to someone. And that someone was her! Nicole! He trusted her and she had been so stupid to tell the guys!

Pangkor Island Resort,
Lobby.

‘Why are you guys so stupid!’ Adranne cried as she slapped her forehead. After the commotion died down, the what what about Ren storming off then Nicole storming off. The four of them, Adranne, Jasmine, Lucas and Shaun sat down for a talk. Mei Ling had gone to check on Ren. Adwin, Jonathan and Ryan had obviously slept late last night and were still sleeping. ‘What did you tell him?’

‘We just told him that we wanted him to come down and swim with Ren and us later, did we do anything wrong? Like seriously, did we give him the idea that we know about something? Cause I don’t think we said anything wrong, right Shaun?’ Lucas said softly, guiltily. He and Shaun felt extremely stupid and embarrassed but Shaun nodded all the same. The two boys thought that Adranne was going to slap her forehead again. But quite the contrary, Adranne changed her expression. It was from angry, to confused.

‘Are you sure that’s the only thing you told him?’ Adranne asked. Shaun and Lucas nodded. ‘He only told Ren this and Ren only told Nicole. Obviously once one of you know, George would know Ren had breached his trust and Ren would think Nicole had breached his. But if you didn’t reveal anything, then who did?’

Shaun and Lucas looked estranged.

Adranne sighed.

‘Now, Mei Ling is off to find Ren,’ Adranne said, more calm now. ‘I’ve asked her to calm him down and bring him to her room, hopefully when we sort things out we can talk to him later, but as of now…’

‘I’ll go get Nicole into our room and calm her down?’ Jasmine suggested.

‘Yep,’ Adranne grinned. ‘I was going to say the same thing,’

After Jasmine took her handbag and sped off, Adranne stared at the two boys. ‘Shaun and Lucas,’ she sighed. ‘Go check whether Kevin or Maggie knows anything about this, whether Ren texted them or something, which I highly doubt, but it’s still on the safe side that we check,’

The two boys nodded.

‘I’ll go check on George himself and tell him that everything’s alright and that it’s okay to be afraid,’ she said. ‘We’re still under the assumption that Vylum is the true bully right?’

Lucas and Shaun nodded. ‘I hardly think it’s an assumption anymore though, I think it’s quite obvious that Vylum is the one bullying him,’ Shaun added.

Another sigh. ‘Alright, get hopping you two,’ Adranne said. ‘After Maggie and Kevin, maybe you can go check on the three boys and tell them to swim or something,’

Nods.

As everyone turned to go, Adranne suddenly stopped the two boys, her voice slid down to a secretive hiss. ‘Shaun and Lucas, you seriously didn’t tell anything else to George?’

The two boys again nodded. Adranne could see it in their eyes. They were telling the truth.

‘If you guys didn’t tell George, then Someone else must have. But who else could it be? Nicole, Jasmine and me are completely out of the question. And Ren himself knows about George’s past so what good is it that he knows? And I’m sure George was the one who texted Ren and told him that he doesn’t trust him anymore, right?’

Nods again. Adranne sighed loudly another time.

‘I’ll talk to you guys about this later, this is seriously strange, Someone told George, but seriously who?’ With that, everyone split up to do their things.

Pangkor Island Resort,
The Streamz.

A text message beep. Maggie’s phone. It was Shaun.

She grabbed it and looked at it in anger. She couldn’t believe that Shaun actually told his friends about the story both she and Kevin trusted him with!

‘Hey Maggie, you wanna hang out with me and Lucas around now? We want to ask a few questions about Double V,’

She was so angry, she replied back in a frenzy, ‘No I don’t want to be hanging out with untrustable people like you, ESPECIALLY you. I can’t believe you told your friends the story I trusted you with. And I even liked you a little Shaun,’

When Shaun received the message. He was bewildered. Not about the fact that Maggie was pissed off at him. But at with the question:

How did she know?

The story Ren told Nicole about Kevin bullying George was a different thing entirely. Even if Lucas and Shaun accidentally let word slip about THAT story to George and word somehow got to Kevin, even if both Kevin and Maggie knew about that story, and it wouldn’t matter to them. What matters is the Violent Vylum’s story, the story that they told Shaun and Lucas. But Shaun only told Adranne, Nicole and Jasmine and none of them told anyone. So how did they know?

Someone was pulling the strings. It had to be. There was someone in the group, in the whole group, Maggie, Kevin, George, Ren, Mei Ling, he himself, Lucas, Adranne, Nicole and Jasmine that was telling secrets where it was not meant to be told. He knew that he and Lucas was not fault for letting any of George’s past slip to George himself. He knew that even if Kevin and Maggie couldn’t possibly know that he told Adranne, Nicole and Jasmine because none of them told Kevin and Maggie. Everything would be okay if Someone hadn’t intervened and told George his own secret and Kevin and Maggie Violent Vylum’s story.

Someone.

Someone told Maggie and Kevin that Shaun told his friends about Violent Vylum’s past. Someone told George that Nicole knew about his past. That Someone knew about that no doubt. But who could that Someone be? This has to do with everything. If Someone didn’t tell Maggie and Kevin about this, at least the situation wouldn’t be so bad now. If Someone didn’t tell George, the situation wouldn’t be bad at all. All of that was a mystery but he must focus on the task at hand. He must talk to Maggie about it, he must say sorry and ask her for real if Kevin was bullying George, and if he did, why wasn’t she doing anything about it. Shaun himself will talk to Kevin and ask him to stop. That was manageable. Shaun could ask Adranne to tell George that it would be okay and he has to stand up for himself to prevent himself from being bullied. Everything would be okay then.

But if their assumption was right and if it wasn’t Kevin who really bullied George. Then it had to be…

Violent Vylum.

That would be a different story completely and if they knew that truth they could talk to a teacher or something. To stop George from being bullied and to expel Vylum or something for bullying George.

Nicole could always apologize to Ren, and say it was a mistake. That would all be okay in the end but what they really need is to help George. It was noon now. Shaun guessed that he had to skip lunch.

If Kevin really bullied George, they could settle it among themselves and Shaun could advice Kevin not to. A councilor would help.

But if it were really Violent Vylum who was bullying George, then no councilor could help. He need to inform teachers, probably kick Vylum out of school.

Speaking of which, of that Someone who was pulling the strings.

Could that Someone be, by any chance, Violent Vylum himself?

Chapter 8 - Breach

Pangkor Island Resort,
Room 302.

‘Shaun did you say anything?’ Jasmine asked.

‘Violent Vylum, maybe it isn’t Kevin who’s bullying George, maybe it’s Vylum and he’s making George scared to tell the truth,’ Shaun said aloud this time.

‘Who the heck is Violent Vylum? And anyway, George himself told Ren who told me that Kevin was the one who pushed him around and treated him badly,’ Nicole countered.

‘I’ll tell you who’s Violent Vylum,’ Shaun said. ‘Maggie and Kevin told me his story and I think it’s quite true. It would make sense. Vylum is manipulative, and dangerous,’

‘He isn’t dangerous, you just think he is!’ Lucas said.

‘Have you looked him in the eye?’ Shaun snapped back. ‘Have you stared at him in the face and felt the millions of vines crawling all over you body?’

‘What are you talking about?!’ Adranne said loudly.

‘I’ll explain, I will, but remember, no questions until you’ve heard me out,’ Shaun said.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

After making sure no one would interrupt him, he began telling them about Violent Vylum’s story. About his two best friends C and D and how they were playing when D pushed C down to his because of jealousy. He told them how disturbed Vylum felt and the sadness and anger he had to endure after losing his two best friends. How he went crazy because he felt C needed justice but D was still his best friend. Shaun talked about how Vylum was torn between the two and then went crazy afterward, saying that he was the one who murdered C, who pushed him down. He told them how the police didn’t investigate and no one pressed charges against him. He told them how Vylum earned the title Violent as he was sucked deeper into depression, rage and insanity. But most of all, he told them of how he felt when he first stared into the face of Vylum.

Of the millions of dark, crawling tendrils, winding around him again and again, sucking him deeper, swallowing him whole. It was a terrible feeling.

‘It made people …’ Shaun said. ‘… Scared,’

A long pause. An uneasy silence.

The talk had definitely been more disturbing than that of George’s story, and even that of the female’s story. But Shaun had connected the dots between George’s story and Vylum’s past. And as soon as he finished his tale, everyone began connecting the dots too.

‘So are you trying to say that it isn’t Kevin who’s really bullying George?’ Adranne asked, managing to make out what Shaun was trying to say first. Shaun nodded. ‘You’re saying that it was Vylum and he’s making George scared, and when George is scared, he is forced to accuse someone else of the bullying and told Ren lies to get rid of some of the stress?’

‘Exactly,’ Shaun cooed.

‘But one thing I don’t get,’ Jasmine said. ‘You said that Kevin told you not to be friendly with George when you first met Kevin didn’t you?’

Shaun slapped his forehead. He forgot about that part.

‘It’s okay it’s okay,’ Nicole cut in. ‘The assumption is going to be this, Kevin doesn’t have anything to do with this. It is Vylum who is bullying George and making George scared. The result of George’s fear is bringing Kevin into the story, that Kevin is bullying him, okay?’

Everyone agreed.

‘Why are we trying to help George anyway?’ Lucas asked.

‘Because he just looks so scared sometimes,’ Nicole said softly.

‘Okay, Nicole, fish out more from Ren. Me and Jasmine will talk to Mei Ling while you two,’ Adranne gestured to Lucas and Shaun, ‘talk to Maggie and Kevin about it and try to figure something out tomorrow,’

Everyone nodded again.

‘Remember, no one tells Ren that we know and no one tells Kevin and Maggie that we know about their secrets respectively, get it?’ Adranne asked.

Nods.

‘Alright, now what?’

‘Partayyy!’ Shaun laughed and jumped on the bed. And party they did til one a.m. After that Adranne chased everyone to bed and pleaded them to be ready for breakfast by nine.

Monday,
Pangkor Island Resort,
Lobby.

‘It’s TEN O’CLOCK,’ Adranne moaned. ‘We can just forget about breakfast and go!’

She, Nicole and Jasmine were the only ones down at the lobby at nine. They couldn’t reach any of their phones and none of them wanted to go all the way up and call them, besides, they were engaging in a lively conversation with Ren and Mei Ling. They both were down early, had their breakfast and were hanging out in the lobby when the three girls came down. Ren and Mei Ling decided to accompany the three girls until the boys came. Nicole couldn’t try to fish anything out from Ren because the other two girls were there. Ren can’t know that she told them already! There was no way to ask Ren questions until he and her were alone by themselves, and that was hard to come by. On Adranne and Jasmine’s side, things were no different. They can’t ask things about George to Mei Ling if Ren and Nicole were there! It was like mutual interference. Each didn’t want the other there and can’t tell them to move off. They just had to wait patiently.

Suddenly, Shaun and Lucas came out of the lift, looking neither tired, nor sweaty from running from the room all the way down to the lobby. They didn’t even look like they knew it was late!

‘WHERE WERE YOU GUYS?!’ Nicole snapped at them.

‘Sorry,’ Shaun grinned. ‘We were talking,’

‘To whom?’ Adranne said and she stood up and stood beside Nicole.

‘George,’ Lucas grinned.

‘NO!’ Nicole yelled. ‘What did you tell him?!’ She hissed.

Shaun and Lucas’ face suddenly darkened. The look of uncertainty dawned upon them. What was going through in their minds was whether they did the right thing or not, they weren’t exactly sure what they could tell and what couldn’t be told. They were confused.

‘We didn’t, I mean…’ Lucas began.

‘DON’T HESITATE!’ Nicole cried. ‘What did you tell him,’ she hissed again. Everyone was silently staring at them now.

Suddenly, Ren’s phone rang. It was a text message. He took up the phone, and from the look of his face you can tell that the message was from George, that Lucas and Shaun had actually accidentally let something slip. And most likely, it had to do with…

‘Nicole,’ Ren said softly. His face showed no expression. ‘I trusted you,’

With that, he walked off without another word.

Chapter 7 - Connecting the Dots

Pangkor Island Resort,
The Streamz.

The buffet dinner was as good as breakfast was. Even though it was good, the eight knew that for the next two more nights this was to be their menu til the parents and the kids get home. Their cruise would take them to Thailand and back and was quite a nice surprise for the eight of them.

They were having conversations while eating.

‘So, how do you like Kevin and um, Maggie?’ Nicole asked. She wasn’t looking directly at Lucas and Shaun but she was eating. It was an honest question, but it was inquisitive as well. It was as if she wanted to know something.

‘Their nice,’ Lucas said. ‘We’re going down to the bar with them later I think, why?’

‘No reason, I just wanted to ask if they’re nice,’ Nicole smiled. ‘Cause Ren, Mei Ling and George are,’

She stressed the word George, but no one seemed to have taken notice.

‘Anyone here know who’s Vylum?’ Shaun asked everyone. Lucas nodded and put his fork down. He and Shaun had discussed about it earlier and Shaun told Lucas how he felt about Vylum. About what one feels when one stares into his eyes.

‘No, who’s that?’ Jonathan asked.

‘No, nothing, its just some guy we met earlier,’ Lucas interrupted before Shaun was about to talk. He hissed into Shaun’s ear later, ‘We’ll tell Adranne, Nicole, Ryan and Jasmine later,’

The talk on their newfound friends didn’t really help Nicole accept the fact that Kevin would be a nice person. She didn’t like it that Lucas and Shaun were mixing with them but she already promised Ren not to tell anyone and she isn’t someone to go back on a promise. Adranne liked Mei Ling’s company, but didn’t love it. Mei Ling had a tendency to continue talking on and on and she had an annoying accent in her English.

‘Like morning call girls,’ Jasmine grinned.

From what the talk showed, Ren, Mei Ling and George weren’t really popular in the school. Ren was the guy who everyone thought was a geek, but was actually pretty cool when you got to know him. Mei Ling was a typical Chinese girl and George was a bottom feeding nerd bullied by Kevin. Kevin was obviously popular and Maggie, being his girlfriend would be popular too. Vylum was the only one no one knew about. Except Lucas and Shaun of course.

He was disturbed. Crazy even. But he obviously loves his friends a lot. Correction, loved, his friends a lot. Now no one looked at him and no one cared about him. Shaun wondered about his parents. What’s their story? Did they give up on him and sent him to social services? Or maybe beneath that veil of rage and insanity, was a softer part of Vylum, his true self that opened up to only his parents?

Whatever the reason was, Violent Vylum was a suitable name indeed. Shaun still gets the chills whenever he thinks about that face. Those whites of his eyes, his pupils blocked by his black braids, his white face. He still felt the tons of dark, black tentacles climbing all over him, swallowing him whole. But like Kevin said, it got better. And hopefully it will continue getting better until he would just think that he was unwell at the time. Vylum really made him feel uncomfortable.

What of the female?

That was what was going through Adrannes head over the course of the dinner. That female, it gave her an edgy feeling. A nervous, anxious feeling when she’s around, whether material, or in her mind. Adranne felt like she was up to something, and that something isn’t something good. And that guy. Although he looked quite okay it was strange that he was together with her.

Weird stuff was happening.

Or maybe she was just really beautiful. So beautiful that it made her unconsciously jealous? Could that be what is bringing out that edgy feeling? She would have to ask the girls, like she planned earlier. If they had that edgy feeling too, wouldn’t it seriously change the way they thought about her?

Dinner was over in a jiff. Adranne hurried Jonathan, Adwin and Ryan to sleep. She convinced them that they were tired and offered to switch rooms with them. Since she herself, Adwin and Ryan were in the same room, and Jonathan, Jasmine and Nicole were in the same room, it would be better if she exchanged rooms with Jonathan for one night. So the three crazies Adwin, Ryan and Jonathan get to sleep one room and the three girls get to sleep in the same room so that Adranne could talk to them.

Lucas and Shaun were going to wait it out in the lobby for Maggie and Kevin so they could all go to the bar later. Adranne didn’t bother asking them to sleep early cause Lucas was the same age as her and Shaun was a year younger but more or less matured enough to handle himself. They were both sleeping late again no doubt and they could maybe meet up with the female again, that would mean that they would both be sleeping even more later than usual. She made up her mind not to rush them tomorrow and make them skip breakfast.

Pangkor Island Resort,
Lobby.

Waiting was long and boring, it was an hour since they started waiting and they could hardly stand it anymore, especially Shaun because he had really wanted to go for drinks with Kevin and Maggie. Which wasn’t that big of a surprise. Lucas asked him just now whether or not he fancied her, but Shaun said she was only a friend and waved the question away briskly.

Later on, Shaun received a text message from Maggie that she wasn’t able to come back and that she was really sorry. She said Kevin wanted her to follow him to a club with some friends so she had to follow. She added at the back that she really didn’t want to go though and would’ve came back for drinks if she could and that lightened Shaun’s mood a little. Lucas smiled a little at that. There had to be something going on between them. Not texting or calling or any of that yet. But soft spots he guessed. They liked the look of each other. But Lucas didn’t tell this to Shaun.

Lucas called Adranne and asked if they could go over for a talk. She said yes so they began to make their way to their room, Room 302. Today was Sunday and tomorrow it would be Monday. On Wednesday morning, the parents and the kids would be back and everything would return to their boring routines. It wasn’t boring boring, but it was less fun than it would be once the parents were gone.

Pangkor Island Resort,
Room 302.

‘The guys are coming,’ Adranne said when she hung up and faced the two other girls.

‘All of them?’ Jasmine asked.

‘Nope, only Shaun and Lucas,’ she replied hurriedly. ‘Okay quick! Continue where you left off before they get here!’

‘Okay, as I was saying right, it’s just strange how the guys look at her and fuzz out like that when they imagine her,’ Jasmine continued. ‘It’s okay that she’s beautiful and if they want to talk to her I get it, but not that much and not that obsessively la,’

‘Agreed,’ Nicole said. ‘Especially with that not that obsessively part,’

The doorbell rang. Adranne opened it and let the two guys inside.

‘Where is the other three?’ Lucas asked.

‘Oh, in the next room, talking or playing around I guess,’ Adranne said in reply.

‘What did you guys want to talk about?’ Nicole asked. Her eyes intent. The three girls just sat and watched them. A second or two of silence passed.

‘I don’t know,’ Shaun mumbled.

Laughs.

‘Okay la, let’s talk about our new friends,’ Nicole grinned.

Silence once again. Adranne didn’t really had anything to say about Mei Ling, only that she was seriously a typical Chinese girl. Jasmine didn’t really have anything to say about any of them too cause she didn’t spend the day with them. It was down to Lucas, Shaun and Nicole to talk about what they think about their new friends.

‘Okay la I’ll start,’ Shaun grinned. Always in his eager mood to start something and get it going. ‘You guys know Kevin right?’

Everyone nodded. Nicole tensed a little at his name. Only slightly, not noticeable. She had an urge to tell everyone what Ren told her about George and Kevin. She knew she was supposed to keep it a secret and forget it, but she also knew that she could trust her friends.

‘He’s quite cool la, he likes surfing and water sports I think, and his girlfriend is Maggie and…’

‘That’s not really talking,’ Adranne interrupted, grinning in the way she always did.

‘I know something that I shouldn’t tell you guys, but I want to,’ Nicole hissed in a low whisper. She was smiling. Everyone leaned in, curious.

‘Okay Shaun, about that Kevin guy, he’s not as cool as you think. He’s a bully. Do you know anything about George?’ She asked.

‘Oh, the guy he asked me not to make friends with? The guy with the high pants and the glasses and the…’

‘Yes,’ Nicole said. ‘That George,’

Shaun nodded.

‘Yeah, Kevin bullies him a lot apparently,’ Nicole said. ‘Kevin pushes and shoves him around a lot. Pushing may not sound like much but pushing George everyday is, Ren told me that George isn’t happy about it and Ren’s not supposed to tell me about this so none of you can spill!’

‘Oh my god, are you serious?’ Shaun said. ‘He seems like a really nice guy.’

‘No he’s not in fact,’ Nicole said. ‘You know what Ren told me? Kevin tells George that he pushes him because he wants to get the pushing out of his system,’

Everyone put on a face.

‘Weird I know but still, pushing is not nice and Kevin isn’t being nice either. Does Maggie know that he’s bullying George?’ Nicole asked.

‘I don’t think so, I don’t think she’s agree to that,’ Shaun said.

‘Why, you know her well enough to know what she agrees to and what she doesn’t agree to?’ Lucas teased. Shaun pushed him playfully and they all laughed.

‘So Maggie doesn’t know that Kevin is bullying George, and Kevin pushes George around when bullying him to ‘get the pushing out of his system’, is that it?’ Shaun asked.

‘Yeah I kinda guess it’s like that,’ Adranne said. ‘Both George and Ren can’t know that you told us right Nicole?’

Nicole nodded.

‘So it means we can’t tell Maggie to tell Kevin off for bullying George,’ Adranne sighed. ‘I hate bullies,’

‘Me too,’ Nicole moaned. ‘It makes George look so… scared, all the time,’

Silence.

Suddenly, ‘Wait! Say that again,’ it was Shaun.

Nicole blinked awkwardly. ‘I said, it makes George look so scared all the time,’

Scared.

Shaun connected the dots.

‘Violent Vylum?’ He muttered under his breath.

Chapter 6 - George's Turn

Pangkor Island Resort,
Swimming Pool.

Adranne sat on a wooden chair with Mei Ling under an umbrella, chatting with her feverently about furthering studies. They seem to get along quite well together. Adwin, Jonathan and Ryan were fooling about in the pool like they were supposed to. The crazies were splashing water and dampening the soil of the plants that were planted around the pool so much that the plants looked fit to die in a few days.

Ren and Nicole were engaged in an, well engaging conversation. It was about George’s past.

‘You get the feeling don’t you?’ Ren asked her.

‘The feeling that he’s always so scared all the time?’ Nicole asked, just to clarify if it was the right feeling. Bingo. Ren nodded.

‘He has this thing about him, its that look in his eyes and how he seems so paranoid all the time,’ Ren said. ‘It makes him look scared, all the time,’

‘But who or what could make him this scared all the time? Does he have a phobia? A bad childhood? It’s the bullies isn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Ren said softly. He lifted his head and looked around, to see if anyone was listening. It wasn’t necessary, but it was just something you do before you say something that was seriously a big secret. ‘It’s Kevin, the guy your brother and that guy Shaun is hanging out with,’

‘That guy?’ Nicole asked. He was good looking and she didn’t think that he would be into something like bullying. ‘How bad does he treat George?’

‘Basically he just pushes him all the time,’ Ren said.

‘Just pushes? No dunking into puddles and wedgies and name calling and all that?’ Nicole asked.

‘Nope,’ Ren replied. ‘But he pushes seriously hard, all the time, its like he has something to get rid off, something inside him and he always has to be pushing it away,’

‘Wait, I don’t get it, who’re you talking about?’

‘George’s bully, Kevin,’ Ren said. ‘Once, he told George after he pushed him so hard he face planted on concrete, I’ll say this in his exact words: ‘Do you want to know why I do this George? Huh? Do you want to know? Its because I have to get it out of my system, you see pushing is always a bad thing, it always hurts the person you’re pushing, but it makes the person pushing you feel better, feel good, I’ll give up after the pushing is out of my system, but until then, I’ll continue to push you because no one cares about you,’

‘He said that?!’ Nicole exclaimed. How cruel that must have been! ‘Didn’t George tell anyone about it or something?’

‘He told me,’ Ren said softly. ‘He tells it to me nearly everyday, he memorized Kevin’s words, and what he hates the most is that Kevin knows that pushing is a bad thing and he’s still doing it to George. He’s seriously a bully,’

Ren sighed loudly after that. Nicole sighed too. ‘Poor guy,’ she added.

‘Come on,’ Ren smiled. ‘Lets go swim,’

With that, he ran and cannonball-ed on top of the three crazies.

Pangkor Island Resort,
Beach.

‘D told you guys?!’ Lucas exclaimed.

‘Yep,’ Maggie chimed. Obviously delighted at the amount of bewilderment she caused the boys. She liked the way Shaun’s eyes and smile widened when he had that bewildered look on his face. Kevin laughed.

‘But don’t you want him to pay after what he’s done to C?’ Lucas asked, again with the bewildered tone in his voice.

‘It is not our place to decide who is right or wrong, I mean who knows, D was good friends with Vylum, we don’t know the actual truth yet, D has one side of the story, one that is biased against him, but that doesn’t mean we trust that his story is true, we have to hear the stories of others, and most of all, of Vylum. Why did he do that? Why did he say that he killed C?’ Maggie explained. ‘Was it because he couldn’t bear to see one of his best friends dying and the other going off without justice, or was there another reason? If D’s story was true, then Vylum really didn’t have a choice. He loved his two best friends so much that he went insane,’

‘If I were Vylum I’m quite sure I won’t do the same thing,’ Shaun said.

‘Agreed,’ Kevin and Lucas said together.

‘But that is the supposed story and we all partly believe in it and partly do not, we have to seriously start asking around again la Kev,’ Maggie said, she threw her arms around him and leaned on his shoulder.
Maggie stared at Shaun. Waiting for a reaction.

A look. Then he turned away.

Exactly what she was looking for.

Pangkor Island Resort,
Swimming Pool.

‘So you’re planning to actually go there?’ Adranne asked. Mei Ling nodded. From what Adranne saw in that period of time when they talked, Mei Ling was greatly analytical, impatient, short-tempered, snappish and superstitious. Every characteristic a proper Chinese girl who looked like her should have. Those two ponytails were the best of them all.

Adrannes gaze wandered across to the three boys, Nicole and Ren playing in the pool. Mei Ling was talking to her but she couldn’t be bothered. She was in a dreamy mood.

They talked until it was evening, like about five. Lucas called her earlier and told her that he and Shaun were going back to take a nap and shower. She asked them to be ready for dinner by seven. She doubted that they could be ready by then, considering that they slept so late last night. At around five, she hurried Nicole and the three boys to go and Mei Ling yelled at Ren to get out of the pool before she ‘burnt him with her breath’. They both laughed. It had to be an inside joke Adranne guessed.

An hour passed by in a hurry. She collected the four of them, made them dry up and pack their things and say bye to Mei Ling and Ren. They were all going to a dinner outside, so they couldn’t have dinner with Ren and the rest. They were having a buffet dinner at the Streamz, so Adranne had to gather everyone and get ready by seven. She after she’s settled with the four, she had to call Jasmine to get her to get ready. Jasmine wasn’t feeling well so she slept in til around three, after that she went to the library at the hotel to do some reading. Pretty soon, everyone was ready and at the lobby, waving the others off.

Nicole could see how George pulled Mei Ling in front of him and Ren behind him when going up the bus. Kevin and Maggie were behind them, waving goodbyes at Shaun and Lucas. ‘I’ll see you guys later for drinks or something!’ Maggie smiled and somehow, both Kevin and Lucas knew that that comment was especially for Shaun. That could be good news for Shaun, but bad news for Kevin.

A trip to the bar?

Adranne heard Maggie shouting it across to Shaun and Lucas and guessed that it would mean bad news. They may meet the female again.

It wasn’t only that. That they’d meet the female and they’d talk about her non-stop, neglect the girls and sleep late. Adranne was beginning to have this edgy feeling whenever she thought about her. She was going to have to ask the girls later.

She was disturbed.

Females.

Nicole was disturbed.

George and Kevin.

Shaun and Lucas were disturbed.

Violent Vylum.

What did it all mean?