Memory 010

Allen Kautz was that type of guy me and Monster hated; He was obnoxious, pretentious and arrogant. He would often brag about himself and showed off his expensive toys in front of us whenever he got the chance. Maybe it was also due to him being from the Kautz family that made us hate him even more— back then we had already considered the Kautz family as our enemies.

Surprisingly I had thought that maybe Monster would at least show neutrality when interacting with him, however, he himself seemed to hate Allen’s guts.

It takes a true demon to truly be registered in Monster’s blacklist, and so because of that, we had often referred him as Allen the Demon Lord. When he heard us call him that he would wickedly smile at us as he basked in the evil name he had already accepted– It was as if he was born to have that name.

However, he wasn’t the evil type of villains who would use violence to hurt others, instead, he was more of a gentleman type of evil where he would often verbally insult us with his witty comments or challenge us in games or competition whenever there was a chance.

Well, when you think about it that way it doesn’t seem that bad right? But you’re wrong.

Just like the Demon Lord, Allen was OP (overpowered). He was talented in anything he touches, and he was the smartest kid in the block, and because of that, it made me and Monster feel bitter whenever we saw him.

Both of us were the type of kids who didn’t shy away from challenges and because it was the Kautz family kid challenging us, we didn’t have much choice but to accept his challenge— else we dishonor our family name. Yet every time we competed we would most of the time always lose…

If you had hated someone so much and they always challenged you in any competitions and would always win wouldn’t your hate for them grow each time? Well, that was the relationship between us and Allen.

Memory 011

When I was still newlywed, my wife had asked me what my biggest fear was since I was the type of person who looked fearless on the outside, and I remembered telling her one of my fears.

The demon lord, Allen Kautz, was a mutant that didn’t look deformed and ugly but looked like those rare types that were actually quite good looking. His exotic traits and appearance made even mutant-hating human look twice just because of how attractive he looked. Many would often compare him to those mythical creatures in fantasy novels that had enchanting looks that would mesmerize anyone nearby.

One time during middle school I was one of those kids who had come across the period of time where I fell in love. It was with a mutant girl who had sat next to me in class. I had a slight crush at first due to how pretty her appearance was. Later on, I began to grow even more in love with her because of her wild and fun personality.

At first, we got along quite well. I thought I had a chance with her as I tried to woo her by being that sort of mature reliable guy that most girls around that age seemed to like. It was silly really, as I tried my best to act like those princes that you would often find in romance novels. When Monster saw me acting like them during lunchtime he would often laugh on our way back home— teasing me of my efforts.

Laugh as you may but that technique I used seemed to have been working as I had become closer with the girl I liked. I was planning to take it to the next step but before I could even do that the Demon Lord unmasked my façade in front of her.

If my memory serves me right I was trying to explain to the girl I like about a complicated topic.

Acting all poised and pretentious I had bullshitted my explanation with my meager knowledge at that time. As I had wanted to impress her with any opportunity available, I started to resort into desperate actions like that.

Usually. I wasn’t caught when I spouted lies to her, but at that time the Demon Lord was in our class chatting with his friends. Overhearing what I said he snickered in the corner of my eyes as he blatantly began to walk towards me to point out my façade.

Everybody knew he was the smartest in our year and probably in the whole school. So when he started to point out my mistakes in public, everyone began to laugh at me. Since everyone knew that the Perez family and Kautz family was at odds with one another they would often like to watch our strife.

It was then my first mistake came when I tried to defend myself for my lack of knowledge.

Each defense I came up with was broken by a solid attack from the demon lord as my prince-like character was obliterated to smithereens in front of the girl I had a crush on.

It wasn’t all bad since I could probably recover later on, but the demon lord was merciless as he gave me no chance to resurrect myself.

Looking at my red face he sniggered as he looked at the girl beside me and said, “What? Were you trying to impress this girl?”

I couldn’t refute what he said that time and so I stayed silent which was the second mistake I did. Since my silence made the demon lord began to assume things, he started to ask questions like: “Don’t tell me you like this girl?”

Hearing that assumption many people who were there began to spread rumors around the class about me liking my desk-mate. So my third mistake came to be as I tried desperately to deny those rumors, which made others feel more inclined to say it as to tease me about it.

After that day it became quite awkward between me and the girl I like and slowly we began to grow farther apart. Later on, she started to even act hostile to me, which made me wonder why.

It was only after Monster had told me that she had a crush on Allen did I realize why she started to hate me.

When my wife heard the story she couldn’t help but laugh at me, as she asked if my fear was this Demon Lord that me and my brother had often talked about.

Looking at my wife I slyly told her, “It’s a good thing the Demon Lord didn’t go to the same high school as me.”

She curiously asked me “why?”

In which I answered. “I fear that my desk mate would have been taken from me again, and I would remain single throughout my whole life.”

Hearing my answer she couldn’t help but bury her face on a pillow in embarrassment, as she laughed at my assumptions.

Memory 012

Speaking of fear Monster had recently shared with me one of his little fears that he had when he was young.

At that time we were having lunch together and suddenly he decided to tell me his secret. When I heard of it I instantly spurted out the drink which was in my mouth.

Looking at the mess in front of us I couldn’t help myself but ignore the fact that I did something disgusting because what he had told me made me laugh so hard that I wasn’t even aware of what I had done.

He had told me that he was afraid of sharks. Now, this wasn’t that uncommon, many people are quite afraid of this big fish that has the ability to track you down by your blood and completely eat you up with their sharp carnivorous teeth.

At first, Monster wasn’t that afraid of it until one time me and him watched a series on TV called ‘Shark Attack’ that exhibits the horror experienced by some survivors who had been face-to-face with those sea monsters.

At that time I could clearly feel the terror when the TV show began to explain the cruelty of those man-eating sharks. It was more so since the way they directed the show really made the viewers feel like they were underwater trapped with the monster.

Well after watching that, Monster had told me how he had been scarred for life because of it and had developed a fear of shark and any large aquatic creatures.

After he told me that I was a bit surprised but it wasn’t all too unique, that was until he told me something else.

“I was so afraid of sharks back then that I would never close my eyes during a shower, or else if I did I would feel like I was underwater and a huge shark would always appear in my mind.”

“I was afraid the water coming out from the shower head will spawn a huge shark that would gobble me up from head to toe!”

Hearing that made me spit out my drink and laugh.

Subsequently, when he looked at me— hysterically laughing my ass off— he didn’t stop and instead added, “Remember how you always asked why my eyes were so red after a shower? That was why. Even when I put the shampoo on my hair I had my eyes open!”

That was the day I almost died from laughing too much.