The Lost Brother
The world is peaceful when my eyes are closed. The chirping of birds, the hustle around me, and the wind blowing through my hair give me relaxation and put a smile on my face.
As I was about to dive into the infinite possibilities of dreams,
“Mr. Mathew Stones! Will you please stand up and tell the class about the inverse trigonometric functions?” asked Mr. Stuart, throwing a marker at me.
I opened my eyes and glanced at the rest of the class. The familiar stares were fixed on me again. I got to my feet and looked at the board. It was a simple problem.
If sin x = 0, then x = ?
I knew it. Everybody knew it.
“Sorry, Sir! I don’t know the answer,” I said.
The next thing I knew, I was out of the classroom. I was alone in the entire corridor.
Students usually don’t get punished like this in 11th standard. I wanted to explain why I said I didn’t know the answer when I actually did, but nobody asked. I wanted to tell someone that I hated Mr. Stuart’s classes, and the easiest way to bunk them was to do something silly.
Never mind. At least the cool breeze kept me company.
I leaned back against the wall to relax when the school bell rang. It was lunchtime.
Mr. Stuart opened the classroom door. I met his brown eyes only to receive a grin from him. I stood up straight and made my way to my desk, passing through judgmental eyes, laughter, jealous whispers, and curious stares.
I sat at my desk. My friends — the sparrow Rubin, the pigeon Robert, and the crow Rustin — gathered on the branch beside my window. I greeted them with crushed biscuit pieces spread along the beam outside.
They treated it like a feast. Usually, I enjoyed watching them eat until they were done before heading to the cafeteria, but today was different. There was a strange heaviness inside me, as if my weight had doubled overnight. I thought maybe I was sick or something, so I left my cute friends and headed for the cafeteria.
I walked through the corridors filled with clusters of students giggling and gossiping, but I was invisible enough for nobody to talk to me. I really loved being alone.
Maybe it was because back at home I only lived with my caretaker, Mr. Scott. Or maybe nobody showed interest in a quiet, rich class topper with the worst classroom performance.
“Just one year left now. It’s January already,” I muttered to myself as I entered the cafeteria.
I behaved like a normal student, took my plate, collected my lunch, and was about to find an empty seat when someone tossed my plate into the air, drenching me in mushroom curry.
I wiped the curry from my eyes and looked toward the person responsible. It was none other than Wayne and Johnson, the professional bullies. Last time I heard, someone had hired them to bully me because I stood first in 10th standard.
Honestly, I was used to it to the point where I didn’t care anymore. I knew they were worthless brats not worth wasting time and energy on. I turned around and started walking away, but Wayne grabbed my arm and pulled me back toward them.
I turned around only to be kicked into the nearby wall. I collapsed at its base.
I glanced around.
Nobody cared. Nobody seemed to notice. Nobody saw anything.
I stood up, but Johnson pinned me against the wall. He grabbed my collar with his left hand and punched me in the stomach with his right.
It was a strong hit. I bent forward in pain, but he forced me upright and continued punching me again and again until blood burst from my mouth.
His movements were fast, but eventually he grew tired. Surprisingly, he seemed weaker than last time. Usually, I could endure those hits fairly well, but this time something felt terribly wrong.
That feeling of heaviness returned.
But it wasn’t limited to me anymore. With each hit, the burden grew heavier. Two times. Three times. Five. Ten. Twenty times heavier than before. It felt as if I were being crushed beneath it.
As the heaviness increased, everything slowly became silent. My hearing faded until Johnson finally stepped back, allowing Wayne to take over.
Wayne grabbed my collar and yanked me upward against the wall. My legs had lost all strength. Blood gathered into a small puddle beneath me. My head felt like it was about to explode from the pressure.
For the last time, I raised my eyes and looked around the cafeteria. It was filled with selfish, immoral people too busy protecting themselves to even glance at injustice.
“Since when did I start thinking like this?” a voice questioned inside my mind.
For a split second, all the heaviness rushed into my brain, and it felt as if something exploded inside my head.
My eyes caught something in the shadows — a giant dark mass forming above me before being absorbed into my head and bursting apart.
But none of it happened in the real world.
I lost all control over my body except for my eyes. Wayne pulled his fist back, preparing to deliver the final blow. My body was frozen, and not even my own mind responded to me.
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The punch darted toward my face.
Then something happened.
My left hand moved on its own and caught his punch midair without even shaking.
Everyone watching was stunned.
Wayne himself was too confused to react.
The very next second, my body pulled him forward while my right fist slammed upward into his stomach with tremendous force.
It looked like he had never been hit before. He crashed into the blood puddle.
I couldn’t comprehend what was happening. My body no longer belonged to me. It moved entirely on its own.
Meanwhile, I kicked Wayne in the neck, knocking him down completely.
My eyes scanned the entire cafeteria. Everyone was now witnessing something they had never seen before. I wanted to mock them, but then I noticed Johnson charging toward me.
He punched me in the face, forcing me against the wall. He swung another kick toward my head, but I caught his leg before it landed.
I twisted his ankle, throwing him off balance.
I climbed onto his chest and punched him in the face. He raised his arm to retaliate, but I pinned it down and struck him again, this time knocking out one of his teeth.
I grabbed his collar and punched him again.
And again.
And again.
I was acting like a maniac.
With every hit, his face split further open as blood splattered across the floor. I kept punching until I realized he had passed out.
His friends rushed forward to help him, but they stopped before even crossing the circle of onlookers when I slowly rose to my feet.
My body sagged weakly, but something felt horribly wrong.
I was smiling.
Blood dripped from my mouth as laughter escaped my lips.
I laughed louder and louder while my trembling body slowly straightened itself, my arms spreading wide apart.
My eyes locked upward as I continued laughing.
Wayne’s friends stood frozen in place, terrified. Not only them — everyone in the cafeteria felt fear in that moment. Not disgust. Not annoyance.
Fear.
I had never behaved like this before, and no normal human being would do something like this.
I placed one foot on Johnson’s blood-soaked head and laughed like a maniac.
The worst part was that it wasn’t even me. My body was acting on its own without my permission. Even my own mind refused to listen.
Random evil thoughts flooded my head. Thoughts completely different from my true personality. I had never been like this.
Then suddenly, I felt a strong push from behind.
Instantly, I regained control over my body.
But the very next second, I collapsed unconscious into the blood puddle I had created, my shirt stained red and half torn.
The last thing I saw before my eyes closed was a gigantic shadow standing before me.
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This is the first chapter ‘The Invisible Presence’ of my book “The Lost Brother”.
https://www.bribooks.com/bookstore/the-long-lost-brother-by-vaibhav-raj
Use this link to buy the book or check the preview.
