Dazed, my body ached too much for me to move. But, from a distance, I could hear Casey’s weak scream.

That girl wasted no time at all.

I don’t know what reason she may have for her to do such a thing, but I know that she’s serious about getting the job done. I struggled to stand up, but after recovering and getting to my feet, I began sprinting towards Casey and the girl. I saw her on top of Casey, grabbing her neck as she squeezed with all her might, Casey struggled as she clawed her assailants face in hopes of breaking free. Seeing the scene felt like de ja vu.

The trees shadow, the grass, the position of her body, I’ve seen it all once before. It was like watching a traffic accident, already knowing how it ends.

“…H…Help…” Casey cried.

Shit.

Holy shit.

This is wrong.

How many people have I seen strangled to death before?

“S-stop that! Right now,” I shouted at her, but she didn’t even budge. As if there’s only one thing on her mind right now, and that’s to squeeze the life out of the girl below her.

“D…Damis…” Casey groaned as she began to lose her strength.

Damn it.

“Why the hell is May taking so long!” I screamed as I sprinted towards the two of them and grabbed the girl on top. I lifted her up, but she kept on hitting my face with her elbow causing me to let go of her. After getting her feet back on the ground, she immediately tackled me towards the wall with such momentum that I almost puked again on impact.

“Stop… Interfering…” She said as she began choking me with her hands, “I’m not… going to let him… be…”

“… What are you… talking about…?” I said as I struggled to get her away from me.

“Damis!” Casey began frantically pulling the girl off me.

“Let go of me!” the girl screamed as she pushed Casey to the ground and began pulling on her hair, “Why won’t you just disappear!”

I got up and ran towards the girl before locking her by the shoulders from behind to prevent her from getting away. I tried to distance my head away from her as much as I can in case she was going for a head-butt. I began to hear multiple footsteps coming from inside the building. Out the exit came May and two members of the student council. Feeling relief at their arrival, I let out a brief chuckle as I stared at them with an elated expression.

“Ha… What took you guys so long?” I said, still breathing heavily. Suddenly, I felt a sharp, crushing pain on my left arm,

“Agck!” The sudden jolt of pain as she bit me caused me to loosen my grip on the girl, where she retaliated with a swift motion of her right hand. I reflexively crossed my arms in front of me in defence.

“Oh… dear…” Casey uttered, covering her mouth with her hand as she looked at me with shock.

Noticing the girl was holding a small pair of scissors, I felt something warm dripping down my arm. When I looked to see what it was, I felt weak to my knees.

It was blood.

My blood.

“Damis! Are you alright?”

I don’t like seeing my blood.

“She’s making a run for it, get her!”

“Stop!”

It makes me… feel…

Light… hea…ded…

Plop.

…

“… My back hurts…” I groaned as I found myself laying on a bed inside of what looks to be the school infirmary. Not only do I feel my aching back, my shoulder, as well as my arm felt incredibly sore. Well, I did get my body considerably battered up. I glanced at my left arm, discovering that it was covered with bandages.

“It looks like you’ve came to.” Said May, who was sitting on a chair on the left side of the bed, messing around with my phone, “The school nurse patched you up before she went home. She told me to let you rest for a while, and gave me the room key to lock up afterwards.”

“My back hurts… my arm is sore… my throat feels all clogged up” I sat up from the bed as I rubbed my face, “What the hell was wrong with that girl?” I said with a sigh.

“The girls name is Kate, a green tie. She’s pretty athletic, been doing judo since middle school.”

Well, that kind of explains how she managed to throw me around like I was some kind of inanimate object.

She continued, “Apparently, she knew the freshman that Casey recently introduced to her club. To be specific, they were in a relationship.”

An extreme act of jealousy. Kate still had feelings for him and seeing that he was getting all chummy with another girl, it must have instigated her to do something about it. Still, to go to such lengths as to go out and kill her, I don’t think jealousy is the only thing that made her do such a thing. Well, whatever it may be is no longer my business. As far as I’m concerned, we finished our job. We saved Casey’s life.

“Where’s Casey?” I said, looking around the room.

“She’s currently being held in the student council’s office for questioning.”

“… And Noah?”

“I messaged him everything that had happened, he should be on his way here.”

“Is that so…” I positioned myself and got ready to get out of the bed.

“Shouldn’t be staying in bed for a while longer?” May said with unusual concern.

“Nah, I’m good…”

I think.

Anyway, I don’t like to lay down on any bed other than the one I have in my room.

Before walking away from the bed, I looked at May and reached out my hand.

“My phone, please.”

She let out a short chuckle, before handing the phone over to me.

“Still, I’m surprised that seeing your own blood is enough to make you pass out.”

“I’m surprised you never knew.” I stretched out my sore arms, “Normally, I’d be okay with it if I say it coming from another person. But, if I were to see some of it squirting out of me, my head gets all blurry.”

“Do you think your visions might have something to do with that? Or is it just something health related?”

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I’ll just have to avoid seeing it again.”

“I imagine that to be quite the inconvenience.”

“Heh, Tell me about it.”

You can even say my life’s full of them. That’s why I’ve always kept a straight face and tried my best to avoid those inconveniences.

“Damis?” May asked in a tone that I found weird.

“Yeah?” I replied.

“Why did you save Casey?”

…

“…What?”

May’s question terrified me.

She didn’t say it in an intimidating tone, nor did she look at me like she was going to hurt me. That question alone had elicited fear in me.

A question that I cannot answer is a question that terrifies me.

Why did you save Casey?

Why did I save her?

I saved May because I wanted to know more of about her reasons for stalking me.

I saved June because the two of us were stuck with each other, and she was a valuable asset in my escape from that warehouse.

But with Casey, what was the point in saving her?

“… Because I wanted to offer my help to you.” I replied meekly

“That’s strange,” May laid back on her seat, “you don’t look like the type of person who’d let himself get hurt just because you wanted to help someone. You’ve said it yourself, you always turned a blind eye on people you’ve seen die, and yet you saved Casey, you saved me.”

“I saved you because I wanted to know more about why you were stalking me. About the fact that you talked to Sir Mavene. About why you’re so keen about helping me with my visions.”

“Do you feel so in debt to me that you’d risk your life just to do as I say?” she said, crossing her arms.

“No, I don’t.”

“Then why save Casey? Why go in harm’s way just to save her life?”

“I… I don’t know”

“… Is that it?” She asked, as if the answer I gave her was disappointing.

“Back then, I used to save the people I see in my visions. Noah helped me, and we successfully kept a couple of them from harm’s way. I saved them because, it felt like I was the only one who could do anything about it.”

“What changed? Why did you stop saving people?”

The discussion made me reminisce about the people I failed to save. Adam, a friend I had back in middle school. And our teacher, Sir Mavene. They were the people whose deaths affected me more that it should. It made me suffer.

“Because, it was getting too risky.”

“You became afraid of failure, didn’t you?” Hearing what May said, I couldn’t bear to look at her. Once again, she was able to guess something about me, something that I despise.

“You lost the people you cared about after you’ve failed to save them. Knowing that, it’s easy to figure out why you stopped getting involved with your visions. Failing to save them, even though you were the only one who could do anything about it, the regret you’d feel would be unbearable.”

I instinctively crunched up my fists, as if I was getting ready to punch something.

Having someone explain to me how I feel felt too uncomfortable.

She continued, “This also translates to how you approach your studies. Working hard, always giving it the focus it deserves. Doing your best to avoid any semblance of failure.”

…

Is it wrong?

Is it wrong for me to avoid getting involved?

To try to live my life as if these visions never existed?

May is right, I’m afraid of failing.

That’s why I’ve been putting all of my effort on to something feasible, that’s why I work hard and study, because it’s the only thing I’ll never, ever, fail in.

The wound on arm began to sting from me clenching my fist to hard.

With all these thoughts echoing inside my head, I still couldn’t muster up any retort.

…

Suddenly, loud footsteps could be heard from outside the infirmary door. The door opened and behind it was Noah who breathed heavily as he looked all worked up.

“D…Da...” he uttered, staring at me with an astonished expression, “Damis!” he screamed as he began rushing towards me with open arms before almost tripping over a misplaced chair.

Another figure emerged out of the open infirmary door, Casey glanced at us looking gloomy as she walked into the room. Although, it looked like she was avoiding our gaze as she paced towards our direction.

“Dude! Are you alright? What did she do to you? Can you walk? I told you to be careful, didn’t I? Why didn’t you give me a call?” I pushed him away as he tried to hug me.

“Relax, I’m fine. I never called you since I didn’t have my phone with me.”

Even if I did, I wouldn’t have had the chance to use it anyway.

“You sure you’re okay? You look really messed up right now.”

“It could’ve been worse.”

She could’ve easily dislocated my shoulder or break my arm if she wanted to, so I’m really glad she didn’t.

“I-I…” Casey uttered, looking down as she stood in front of us, “I’m sorry!” she apologized as she bowed down.

“You… you got hurt because of me. I’m sorry!” she began sniffling.

Ugh, I’m really not in the mood to hear someone cry right now. If I do, I might decide to join in as well.

“This was, by no means, your fault.” Said May as she stood up from her chair, “If I’ve gotten there sooner, Damis wouldn’t have had to intervene. Damis,” she turned towards me, “I’m sorry.” She bowed to me apologetically.

What’s with this scene?

It’s making me feel uncomfortable.

“It… It’s my fault too!” Noah shouted in sorrow.

“The hell it is.” I told him.

I let out a brief sigh.

“What happened, happened. There’s no use in blaming yourselves for something that was bound to happen anyway whether you did something about it or not,”

I’m being real hypocrite right now.

But I kept talking about it, as if hoping that some of the words I’m saying right now might be able to console them, as well as myself.

“Stop lamenting on the past, and instead of thinking about what you’ve done, keep in mind what you’ve learned.”

Remember, Damis. Mistakes are lessons we teach ourselves. So, rather than dwell on them with regret, why don’t we just learn from them and never do them again? That would save us a lot more time and energy, don’t you think?

…

Noah began sobbing on my shoulder, “There’s really something wrong with you, you sound like an old man.”

“Get off me.” I pushed the sniffling Noah away from aching shoulders.

May began chuckling softly.

Casey, after wiping off her tears, began giggling herself.

“I never knew you were capable of saying something so compassionate.” Said May.

I shot her an annoyed look as a response before turning towards Casey.

“Shouldn’t you be laying down on a bed as well? That Kate girl did a number on you too.” I said to Casey who was looking at me with a gentle smile.

“No, I-I’m fine.” She looked away for a brief moment before looking back at me with her sincere smile, “Thank you.”

Hearing those words made me smile.

“That’s what you should’ve said earlier.”

The next day.

Lunch break.

“… What’s this?” I asked Glenn who placed a document on the table in front of us.

“A club registration form.”

“I can see that.”

Under a paragraph of text was a list to be filled up by the names of the registered club members, as well as the club’s name on the very top. I looked at the list and was surprised to see that there was already a name listed on it with a signature and class number on the right.

Casey Lore | 3 – B

“Earlier in class this morning, Casey asked me if the three of you are in a club. Upon finding out that you had none, she suggested for me to create a club for you guys since the four of you comply the minimum number of members needed to form a club.”

“I didn’t know the two of you were classmates.” Noah said to Glenn before writing his name on the document.

“And what club is this supposed to be?” I asked.

“The club is an extension of the student council. As you know, the student council has 3 main obligations. The first is to keep the peace and order of the school, second is to perform our duties to the best of our abilities, as members of the council and as students of this school, and lastly, to provide assistance to any student who requires it, as long as the request is supported by a valid reason. Now, that last bit is where your club comes into play. The purpose of your club is to assist students or members of the faculty and help them with whatever problems they may have. But don’t worry, you’ll receive proper compensation for working with the student council, such as extra credit for subjects and a discount on school fees. And we won’t give you all the jobs, just the ones beyond our abilities.”, He glanced at May who was staring intently at the document, “Does that sound good, May?”

“What room will we be using?” she asked before writing her name on the list.

It bothered me how they’re taking these turns of events extremely well. Writing their names on the list as if it was to record their class attendance.

“Lawrence will take you there momentarily.”

Lawrence led the three of us to our clubroom, which I hoped had air conditioning like the student council’s room. Soon, we headed inside the library, making me confused as to why we had to go in there. We arrived at a wooden door at the back of the library.

“Here’s the room. The trouble maker and her ex yesterday tidied up the whole place as a sanction, although they’ll still get suspended afterwards. “

Suspended? That girl should’ve been expelled.

“Anyway, this’ll be your club room from now on.” He opened the wooden door, showing us the room laden with shelves and piles of books. The room had one window and was almost as spacious as the student council’s room. Although the number of books that were inside were considerably a lot. There was still enough space to fit a small coffee table, a desk, four chairs and a bench large enough to fit 3 people.

“Quaint, isn’t it?” Lawrence said as he smiled for some reason.

“This place looks like one of those secret rooms inside a big mansion.” Said Noah as he looked around the room, ecstatic.

“This room is certainly quite, charming.” May said, looking around the room as well.

Well to me, it just looks like any other room in this school. The only difference here is that there’s books everywhere. And I like books. And because the room is practically a part of the library, there’s no need to worry about any noise pollution. Though, it would’ve been perfect if it had air-conditioning, as well as a sofa.

“Glenn never mentioned this but, your club will function just like any. Meaning you’re free to use this room and do as you please during your free time. Just remember to keep it down, it’s next to the library, after all.” Lawrence handed me the document before leaving us, and the room. Just before he walked any further, he paused and looked back at us.

“Don’t you guys go and—”

“Shh!” uttered by the library woman as she glared at Lawrence. Margo was next to her, staring at him with a curl on her lips.

Heeding their warning, Lawrence paced closer towards us and continued speaking in a modest voice.

“Don’t you guys go and slack off. You’re basically members of the student council now.” With a brief smile and a wink, he continued his way back to the student council’s office.

Basically, members of the student council, huh?

I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

I like the extra credit, though.

“So, what should we name it?” Noah asked, making himself comfortable on one of the chairs. May opened the window to let the air in.

“We’ll name it later.” May replied, “We still have to wait for—”

“Ah, hey guys.” Casey went inside the room, carrying yet another lunchbox in her pouch, “Did you all fill up the registration form yet?”

“I haven’t filled out my name yet.” I said, looking at the form once again.

During this month alone, I almost got engulfed by an explosion, got kidnapped by serial killers, and managed to survive a scrap with a psycho. To be honest, I’m having second thoughts about continuing this way of life. I’m not built for this, I think to myself as I stare at the bandage over my arm.

So do you trust in me to do something about your visions, or will you give up on it halfway?

May’s question rang in my head.

Should I keep on doing this? Is the deal worth it?

Can she actually do anything about my visions?

…

I contemplated, but nonetheless reached an acceptable conclusion.

Maybe it’s too soon to jump into conclusions, it’s only been a few weeks since all of this started after all. And it seems like she already had some progress concerning the deal with made. She already found a person online who has similar abilities as I do. At least, it seems like he does.

And I already told May a lot of information regarding my visions, so I can’t really ignore her now.

So I’ll wait.

Until I get results, until I get satisfied, I’ll play along.

Because if she somehow plays an important role in getting rid of these visions, then it’s worth trying out.

“How about we name it, the helper’s club?” Noah suggested, “Or service club? Or even the school’s quick response team? That last one sounds so badass.”

“Before that,” said May, turning towards Casey, “Are you sure about this? I know you’re doing this out of gratitude but, you don’t have to join us.”

She gently shook her head, “I owe you guys a lot. What you did for me is more than enough reason for me to do this.” She briefly glanced at the bandages covering my arm, “I really want to help you guys,” She tilted her head downwards, “A-and if my help is not needed then… I’ll just do this for myself.”

I took out my pen and began writing on the document, “We never said your help wasn’t needed.”

Upon hearing my words, she raised her head.

I continued, “And I kind of understand where you’re coming from so…” I put my pen down as I turned towards her, “Welcome to the club, I guess…” she looked at me with a gentle smile, her eyes shimmered and her smile grew even brighter. The way her face lit up somehow reminded me of June. Casey nodded and continued her way inside the room, placing her lunchbox in the middle of the small coffee table before taking a seat at one of the vacant chairs. I turned my attention back to the document in my hands before finishing it up and placing it on the small table for everyone to see.

“Hm, simple yet fitting. I like it.” May said after reading the name of the club.

“It’s good, I guess. But the one’s I thought of weren’t as boring.” Noah muttered.

“They sucked.” I rebated, taking a seat at one of the empty chairs.

“Come on, they weren’t that bad, right May?”

“They were.” May added, “But I have to say, the one you came up with is quite longer than I expected.”

Casey gently shook her head, “I think it’s perfect.”

“Well, it’s decided then.” I concluded.

S.C.A.O.

The Student Council’s Assistance Office.

Chapter End