WILDly (24 page)

“Valerie, as
the new Ruler of this Galaxy, I order you to come back!” he yelled
at me furiously.

I couldn’t
believe my ears. I stopped in my tracks and turned back.

“What?”

“Yes, didn’t I
tell you?” he asked, feigning surprise. “It must have slipped my
mind,” he added, sarcastically. I shook my head.

“And as the new
Ruler of this Galaxy, I shall keep you to your promise. We shall
fight for your hand and you will witness it,” he scowled.

Tears welled up
in my eyes.

“Don’t ask this
of me, Benjamin, I beg of you? Don’t,” I begged through the tears.
“Please, please, I don’t want this?”

His expression
turned bitter and he whispered: “For once, you will keep your
promise to me.”

I shook my head
and then bowed it down; I couldn’t face him any longer.

“But I’ll give
you this: you may choose to heal whoever you wish,” he said before
turning away and walking back to the old truck that had passed us
moments ago.

***

Chapter 20 –
Natural selection

It was the
middle of the mid-term exam, full moon outside, but overcast.

It was
time.

I’d made my
peace with the task ahead, that of witnessing the fight. Alex had
assured me over and over that it would be okay, as long as I didn’t
interfere or try to stop them.

Thinking back,
I should have recognised the warning signs right there and then,
but I didn’t. Alex had been angry with Benjamin trying to take over
the healing, but the problem was that this anger had amplified in
me, and it was still lurking inside me. I’d been a little surprised
at the strength of it, but I should have been absolutely terrified.
at it.

In some way I
saw it as a blessing – I still had to prepare myself for Duncan’s
murder, and this hatred would probably give me the strength to do
it. I’d gotten to know and accept the new Valerie, the killer
Valerie. I wanted her around, but only until the job was done.
Perhaps witnessing the fight between Alex and Benjamin would
toughen me up even more.

Duncan wasn’t
in the foreground of my or Alex’s minds – the fight was. Everybody
else was getting nervous because Duncan hadn’t attacked yet, but
everybody else didn’t know about the fight. Only Alex, Benjamin,
Lisa and I knew, and Lisa only because I’d confided in her. She
didn’t act surprised at my and Alex’s secret relationship, but she
was keeping her distance from him.

Jennifer had
noticed the separation, but for once didn’t comment on it. She was
too absorbed in her own feelings and her new boyfriend. Wilfred had
offered her a sincere apology without telling her what’d happened –
he obviously couldn’t tell her the truth – and she had accepted it.
She loved the firm approach that he took with her. She’d tried to
tell me a million times already about him and kind-of blamed me for
not being around much to talk to.

I hadn’t seen
Alex around a lot lately – he’d kept himself busy preparing himself
for both the exam and the fight. I’d told him over and over that
I’d heal him first, but he still took the preparations
seriously.

It was very
difficult for Alex, I’d noticed his paler than usual face, his
tighter than usual knuckles, his dimmer than usual eyes and his
weaker than usual smile. After all, Benjamin had been his best
friend for a long time. Somehow I got the feeling that there was
more to this, but he wouldn’t say a word. Every time I’d prodded in
that direction, he’d pick up the guitar and start playing. And I’d
lose myself in him again, in his eyes, his music, and his charm.
The last time I saw him before the fight, he’d played me Kings of
Leon’s
Closer
, which had moved me to tears, which he kissed
away one by one...

Alex came to
pick me up around ten that evening - he waited for me in the
parking lot, slightly glowing. When he saw me, he jumped from the
car and opened the door for me. He was dressed in his usual,
stylish way but darker than always – he had on a modern, black
collared shirt that showed off his blonde hair and tanned skin
beautifully, and a pair of jeans.

“Hey,” I
grinned, happy as always to see him, in spite of the terrible
prospect of the fight.

“Hi, Valerie,”
he said as he hugged me before I got in.

“Alex, I am
really, really sorry that it has come to this,” I apologised for
the umpteenth time.

“You know I
don’t see it like that, Val, it’s not your fault. Benjamin wants
this,” he said softly.

We were silent
in the car, each to our own thoughts. I didn’t take in much of
anything around me, not the road, not the music, nothing except
Alex next to me. He was in this predicament because of me – on his
way to fight his best friend because of me, or rather for me.

They’d agreed
to meet in the log cabin in the mountains, the one Alex had taken
me to on that weekend when I’d run away from my parents. Each
minute felt like three, and by the time that Alex had parked the
car, I was tautly overstrung. I had a nagging feeling deep inside
that this night was going to be a bad one.

No, a
terrible
one. A tragic one.

“It’ll be
fine,” Alex tried to calm me or maybe himself. He pressed my hand
and then got out. As I climbed out, raindrops dripped on my
head.

We walked up
the stairs to the porch and entered the log cabin, to find Benjamin
waiting inside. He was having a cup of coffee, appearing eerily
relaxed.

“Valerie,
Alex,” he greeted as we approached.

“Bennie,” Alex
greeted, sounding as sad as I’d seen him many times over the past
few days. I was wordless - tension and emotion constricted my mind
and ability to speak.

“Let’s do
this,” Alex urged.

“Do you want
something to drink first, Valerie?” Benjamin politely offered, as
if nothing was wrong.

I shook my
head.

“Let’s get
going then,” Benjamin agreed. He put down his cup and walked out to
the porch, Alex and me trailing behind.

“Val, you can
wait up here. Don’t mind the rain, just stand under the roof’s
overhang. You’ll have the best view from here,” Benjamin
instructed.

I did as he’d
said, almost going into shock for what was about to happen.

Alex and
Benjamin walked about twenty paces away from the cabin. They were
clear as in daylight in the full moon shining down on them.

“Do you really
want to do this, Bennie-boy?” Alex asked as they stopped.

“Take your
stance, Alex,” Benjamin warned. “I love her too, and this is my
only chance,” he apologised, sounding slightly saddened
himself.

“May the
strongest...no the best man, win,” Benjamin said as he lifted his
hands towards Alex.

Alex had tried
to prepare me for this, explaining that it wouldn’t be a typical
bar fight, and that I’d have to keep a safe distance not to get
pulled in by the strong and weak nuclear forces and the gravity and
the magnetism and a lot of other things that I couldn’t exactly
remember then, partly because I didn’t want to think about the
energy being unleashed. But all of his attempted preparations and
warnings weren’t enough.

I couldn’t
identify the sound at first, a continuous, loud crackling. It came
from far away, somewhere in the mountains and became louder and
louder, closer and closer. With it, the smell of burning filled the
air. It tasted like death in my mouth, reminding me of the
destructive power of a wildfire.

Then it
happened: the sky started glowing right above Alex, in the form of
a cloud. It became redder and hotter, in spite of the pouring rain.
I could feel the heat against my face as it grew hotter and redder
still. And then, suddenly fire rained down on him, like hailstones
from the sky. But it wasn’t the normal type of fire because the
rain didn’t do a thing to it.

The smell of
the wildfire changed to that of scorched hair and I felt weak with
shock, about to vomit, seeing Alex burning in front of me. He
screamed in pain and then stopped abruptly, concentrating. The fire
slowly lifted from his skin, and moved away from him in the form of
a sphere, as if an invisible shield was pressing it away. Alex
balanced the fire away from him and then launched his own attack, a
quick one.

The clouds
thundered and with an ear-splitting crack an enormous lightning
beam filled my sight, a black one, like at the party. It was headed
straight for Benjamin’s face.

Benjamin
deflected it with ease, and laughed at Alex, a bitter, unhappy
laugh.

“Is that the
best you have?” he asked Alex. “You better step it up a notch, or
you’ll lose this fight,
friend
,” he scowled.

I knew Alex
didn’t want to hurt him, but I also knew that Alex didn’t want to
lose the fight. Not because of his ego, but because that was the
only way that Benjamin would leave me alone and accept our
relationship.

“I don’t want
to hurt you, Benjamin,” Alex warned. I immediately understood the
promise behind the threat.

Benjamin
laughed again.

It was getting
too much for me, this fighting. I didn’t have the stomach for it; I
had fooled myself thinking that I’d be able to kill Duncan. Killer
Valerie, my eye! This fight had only just started, and it was
already intolerable. How was
I
ever going to be able to
fight?

The sky flashed
brightly, turning night to day, and Benjamin fell to his knees. I
didn’t see anything, and didn’t understand the sudden expression of
sheer pain on his face.

“Stop! Stop
this!” I yelled.

The next moment
an invisible force pushed against me, hard, almost like a hurricane
wind. I lost my balance, and the wetness contributing to my
clumsiness, I fell back and tumbled down the stairs. My head hit
the ground first with a loud ‘
clunk
’ sound, and then the
rest of me tumbled over.

Black spots
danced in front of me, but I fought it with all my might. I had to
see what was happening. I ignored the throbbing egg on the back of
my head, the pain in my forearm and the nausea pressing on me and
got up, slowly.

Neither
Benjamin nor Alex had noticed, they were too absorbed in the fight.
But I was weak and disoriented by the fall. It made me lose both my
sense of time and my balance. Through the black spots, I tried to
keep my eyes on Alex and Benjamin, and I stumbled forward to try to
part them. I fell again, and then crawled on.

“Stop this,” I
yelled, my mouth opening slowly.

I didn’t see
everything that happened; I could only make out an occasional thing
here or there. And I didn’t know how long the black spots danced
across my eyes.

One moment Alex
was facing Benjamin and Benjamin was screaming in pain; the next
Benjamin was gone and Alex was facing Duncan!

My mind was
playing tricks on me, I thought. I must have hit my head very
hard.

Rain turned
into hail, deafening their conversation.

“Duncan?” Alex
yelled. He stopped his attack immediately, out of pure surprise.
“Where’s Benjamin?” he asked, panicked. “Murderer! I’ll have you
killed for that!”

“Hold your
horses there. I didn’t kill Benjamin. He died in the car crash, the
night that Valerie slipped away from him,” he answered calm as a
millpond, not the least bit intimidated by the pain of a few
seconds ago, or by Alex’s tirade.

They both
suddenly noticed me, crawling on hands and knees towards them. Alex
rushed to help me up and then took up a protective stance in front
of me. Duncan sneered.

“Do you know
what his dying words were, Valerie?” he asked smugly, laughing at
me. “He kept saying over and over: ‘
She promised she would stay
close to the dorm’
. The best part is that I actually told you
who I was, Valerie. I told you I could change form, remember? That
night I visited you in your room?”

I recalled it;
he had actually been unnerved by my question at first. I thought it
was strange of him. Then the realisation pushed that thought
away.

No! Benjamin
dead! No! He had died because of me! Alex would never forgive
me!

“You arrogant
rogue!” Alex thundered, furiously angry, making even me jump
through the dizziness and black spots and all.

“Calm down
there, Mr. Powerful. Do you know who you’re talking to? I’m the new
Ruler of this Galaxy, you know?” he jeered.

“Aaaah!” Alex
yelled again, sounding desperate for the first time.

“Hear me out
first, before you decide I’m the terrible person that you’ve always
made me out to be.”

“I don’t have a
choice, do I?” Alex answered shortly, glowing as brightly as I’d
ever seen him.

“I do love
Earth. And Valerie. I am obsessed by her, I’ll admit. I’d do
anything to get her and keep her. And I’ll do anything to remove
all obstacles out of my way. And that’s my only crime. Love.”

“That’s not
love, that’s jealousy! And if you really believe you love her, then
why did you hold her hostage and mistreat her? You even assaulted
her?” Alex countered.

“Yes, I’m very
sorry about that,” he said looking genuinely sorry. “But you need
to understand, it was all part of the plan. When Benjamin died in
front of me, it was my chance to get close to her. Those Reds
running around her all the time made it difficult. The more she
hated Duncan, the easier it was for her to grow fond of a helping,
caring friend, you understand?”

“You hoped the
bond that forms from healing would be enough to tie her to you? And
now I’ve messed up your little plan again? You underestimated
my
power for once!” Alex gloated.

“Don’t get me
wrong, I still want to kill you and actually now I can, being
Ruler, having all the extra power and might at my possession. But I
won’t kill you. Rather I’ll send you away; give you the worst
punishment of all – exile. Just think about it: you’ll be all
alone, somewhere in space, trapped forever. Forever looking down on
the two of us, together.”