Chapter 4 : Mother's final kindness

Hours had passed. It was 3:50, classes were over, but Edward had to stay behind to clean. The others went off first to the meetup spot, saying they were famished.

Edward was wiping the walls.

“I wonder if they are already there…”

Edward was a man of few words. He talked very little, and conversed in his mind. He was the total opposite of Jonathan. If Jonathan was able to say everything he was thinking, Edward was the type to say everything he wanted to say in his mind. Edward was the silent thinker. That was his nickname in school. He was the top student, he always got top grades, and performed well in sports. He was on a path of loneliness. He didn’t know how to converse with his peers and classmates, until Jonathan picked him up. Jonathan was the one who carried him around, and slowly but surely, Edward picked up on small things that Jonathan would do and tried to copy them.

Though smart, he was also very knowledgeable. He knew many things. He liked to dabble in a lot of different subjects and interests. When he saw something he was interested in, he would instantly lock into it. His whole focus on that particular thing. It was like a superpower. He could adapt to so many things.

But when it came to something he wasn’t too interested in, he couldn’t do it even if his life depended on it. He never liked to clean, or listen to what other people told him to do. The only reason why he aims for good grades is because of his mother.

Swoosh!

The door abruptly opened, a guard stood there looking around before he spotted Edward.

“Hey kid, it's already 4:30, why are you still here? All the other cleaning kids are gone already. You’re the only one left.”, he said, a little annoyed and impatient.

“The classroom looks plenty clean already, get a move on already. I’d better not see you when I come back, otherwise I’m reporting this to the principal.”

Fuu-Clack!

With the door closed, Edward stood there, spaced out.

“Did 40 minutes really go by just like that?”

“Didn’t I just start earlier?”

He wondered, but the classroom was spotless. He had spaced out again. It was one of his habits. When he’s lost deep in thought, he tends to space out and forget the things around him. Sense of time, direction, and even things he could hear, see, smell, or feel. Sometimes, he doesn’t know what’s going on at all around him when spaced out.

He packed his bags, and was about to head to the meetup spot when his mother texted him:

“Don’t get on the train tonight.”

“Heard there was a crazy man earlier”

“I know you like to ride it with your friends”

“But don’t”

Looking down at his phone, he stared at it, then started typing back:

“Ok”

“Love you”

He put the phone back into his pocket, and started heading out.

His mom only really cared about him because she could brag about it to her friends. Her son, the top student of his high school, and accepted into the most prestigious school in the country. 

And he knew it.

He walked out of the school and onto the street. The sun is still out, but slowly going down. He walked for a bit, before checking his phone. But right as he pulled it up, he realized the phone was never turned off, and there it said:

“Ok”

“Love you”

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