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Chapter 11: What I lost
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Reah grew up in a very logical world. If you do this, you'll be rewarded. If you do that, you'll be punished. In her eyes, that was the logic of this world. Everything had an order. The strong bullied the weak. The weak get hurt. When people get hurt, turn your cheek. What's their business isn't yours.
Cold and methodical. That was how she survived. Because it was shunned on, she didn't show off. Because people like nice beauties, she studied fashion and smiled. It just so happened that Robin was someone she smiled to. At the time, there was nothing between them. No bet, no relationship. She just smiled and did her thing. If anything, she pinned him as someone not worrying about and left it at that.
Then in one of their social gatherings, he did something as grand as confess his obsession with anime and video games.
“What an idiot.” she thought.
Didn't he know people like them were shunned? Does he want to kill himself? If he said nothing, he could live in the dark, but now he was be the honorary butt of all jokes. The world had an order, and he was at the bottom of it. Then her 'friends' brought it up.
“Hey Reah, I bet you can get that loser to fall for you.”
“Huh?”
“No way Liss.” Carl said. He was Reah's boyfriend at the time. The public saw them as an item, so an item they were.
“That guy's too timid. There's no way he'll confess.”
= That's all you have to say about your girlfriend flirting with another guy? =
But in reality, Reah already expected that kind of attitude. All of her relationships were like that. Reah couldn't just ignore this though. They were questioning her beauty. If she backed down at this point, she would be destroying the image she worked so hard for.
“Oh yeah? I think I can do it. By the end of next year, I'll get him to confess.”
“No way.”
“20 bucks each says yeah way.”
“You're on.”
And so Reah began building yet another 'relationship'. Every morning she would greet him. Grabbing his attention little by little, but nothing happened for an entire year.
= God damn it! He's too timid! At this rate my image will be up in smoke. =
She doubled her efforts, and then he finally confessed in the middle of their second year. She was shocked. He had done something as lame as writing a letter.
= How shy is this kid? Even during his confession, he couldn't even tell his feelings to my face. What a loser! =
She shared it with the class. Watching his reaction was so funny she couldn't help laughing-- because he was just gonna take it and cry about it-- because he was too shy to do anything about it. She was dead wrong.
Robin screamed in rebellion and grabbed her. Reah shrieked. The suddenness of his assault was completely unexpected. He was just supposed to be a shy kid with balls the size of a marble.
“Don't worry.” Lisa said. They were in the classroom after Robin's unconscious body was carried to the infirmary. “We can all vouch for you. He definitely attacked first. You'll be fine.”
= Right. I'm at the top. He's at the bottom. There's no way he can touch me. =
Then, both parties' parents had arrived. Her own confirmed her safety while Robin's had disdainful looks.
“I can't believe he would sink so low.” Robin's mother said.
“Doesn't he know whose family he's representing?” Robin's father said.
= Heh. Even his family doesn't love him. There's no way he'll touch me. =
But the next thing they saw changed everything. Robin was hanging from the ceiling fan. A belt wrapped around his neck and was tightly fastened. His arms were limp and his face purple. Robin's eyes were still open but dead; a trail of tears could be seen on his cheeks.
Her parents screamed. Robin's mother fainted. His dad just stood there taking in the image of his deceased son with wide eyes, not quite registering the reality. Reah immediately made a bee line for the toilet.
“Bleeaagu”, vomiting into the toilet, Robin's image was forever imprinted in her mind. What happened after that was a blur to her. They had gone to court and lost to the Cunninghams. Apparently, despite their coldness, Robin was still their first born. The mother was devastated to see the first child she held in her arms to be nothing more than a cold corpse. She sobbed the entire trial. The father misdirected his guilt for driving his own son to death at Reah's family. As a lawyer, he got every accusation.
The so-called friends that promised to have her back had confessed her actions of revealing the letter. They said nothing about themselves being involved. She was left to rot by the same system that kept her safe for so long.
Reah looked up at the bathroom mirror. Days had past since the trial. Her former beauty was nowhere to be seen. She had bags under her eyes. The usual tanned skin had turned pale from staying indoors. Her usual wavy, blonde hair was tangled and messy. She looked like a complete mess.
In the corner of her eyes, a thin figure made her gasp in surprise. It was Robin, in the very same clothes that day she last saw him. Out of his mouth came the last words she heard from him.
“You monster.”
*CRASH*
Reah threw the cup that held her toothbrush at the mirror, breaking it and sending fragments all over the bathroom.
“I'M NOT A MONSTER! I'M ONE OF THE TOP BEAUTIES! I TOOK THE EFFORT TO STAND AT THE TOP! TO BE THE BEST! SO I WOULDN'T BE LIKE YOU!! ISN'T THAT HOW THE WORLD WORKS?! I'M NOT WRONG!!”
As she ranted at the phantom, she leaned against the wall and slowly slid down onto the floor, her voice getting smaller and smaller.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“.. I'm not wrong.”
Her parents had ran up the stairs to see what the commotion about. Her mother, upon seeing her daughter in such a miserable state had no clue what to say. It had never happened before. Her father untactfully yelled.
“My god Reah! Get a grip over yourself! You've need to stand up. You're not so weak tha--”
“I'M NOT WEAK!!!” she screeched. Her parents froze up.
She immediately went back to bawling into her lap, whispering to herself. The weak loses to the strong, she wasn't wrong, he was. Yeah, he was the outlier. He messed everything up, but outliers are one in a few. As long as she stood up and ignored this, it would all go away. Just like every other time. Yeah.
This scene repeated itself many times over the weekend. Whenever she did anything, his face popped up. When she went to sleep, the image of his dead body flashed across her mind. After the long suffering, she went back to school. They would accept her, she thought. It was the place that was proof she did the right thing.
But reality isn't so happy. Outliers might be few in number, but the effect they leave behind is truly outrageous. By the time she went back, rumors had already spread. Reah's no longer rich. Reah's figure is terrible. Missing those few days last week started rumors everywhere. Reah's appearance didn't help. Although she could fix her hair and somewhat cover her face with makeup, anyone could see she just wasn't the same.
“Hey Reah.” It was Carl Simpson, her boyfriend...or he was, but in his arms was her best friend Lisa.
“Morning Carl, Lisa.. why are you?”
“Because we're going out now.”
Reah was speechless, her mouth open wide with no sound coming out.
“What do you mean? I'm the one ranked number 1. I'm supposed to be going out with you.”
“Things have changed.” Carl coldly announced. Everyone's eyes were on them.
“You're no longer the beauty you once were. Plus, we don't really want to get involved in whatever punishment you have now. We don't want to be condemned as murderers. You understand right?”
Tears started forming, she couldn't believe it. Her sanctuary, her image, all her work gone. Turning around, she started to run. It was over, the one place she had left was gone.
= It's over, everything's gone. Everything I worked so hard to gain. It's all gone. Just like Robin, gone forever. Oh god, is this your revenge? I'm so sorry Robin. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I didn't know I hurt you so much. I'm so sorry.”
She ran and ran. Tears blurring her vision. Somewhere along the way, she had dropped her bag, but that was the least of her worries.
“I don't want this kind of life. If I left you alone, could I have kept my life? Why? Didn't I follow the rules? Didn't you follow the rules? I was the beauty. You were the joker. What went wrong? The roles are clear, so isn't everything supposed to fit? Why? Why did you have to kill yourself?”
Running out of breath, she slowed down to a walk.
“...Did you hate your life? Did you maybe wanted to be like me? To be liked, to joke, to laugh instead of being laughed at? Oh god, I'm so sorry Robin. Please forgive me. I'm so sorry.”
Holding her hands to her face, she cried a long time. Whispering-- murmuring to the person that was no longer there. At that moment, a car ran around the corner. It was going way too fast and she was still in the middle of the road just holding herself, crying. Looking up at the vehicle, Reah couldn't even react to it. She had been running for so long. Strangely enough, she never felt the need to get out of the way.
“Ah..”
Just like that, her body collided with the vehicle. Her body doing somersaults in the air before landing with a splat on the ground. Reah died 9:34 in the morning.
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At that time, an middle-aged man was making his way through an enemy hideout. The only thing was, there were no enemies. It was a completely abandoned base. The man wore a black trench-coat with a gray scarf wrapped around his neck. His spiky silver hair stood up as he moved his eyes, watchful of any sounds and movement.
At that moment, a wail could be heard. The man pulled out a mass of metal colored green and silver from behind his back. At a push of a button, the mass of metal extended and transformed into a long scythe. Approaching the room containing the source of the noise, he activated his Detect skill to see if there were lifeforms or traps in the vicinity.
What he saw shocked him. There was only one existence, small enough to hold in his arms. He put away his weapon and rushed to the baby. It was wrapped up in a cloth, but was left all alone in the hideout.
“I can't believe it..This is without a mistake HER daughter, but to leave her here..”
The baby starting crying more intensely, as if it went through a lot a pain. Picking it up, the man named Qrow started rocking it to and fro.
“Shhh..”
Gradually, the baby calmed down and fell asleep. The man looked around to check if there was really nobody else. Satisfied he was alone he used the skill identify.
“... unbelievable. No worries child, I'll take care of you. I'll make sure of it.”
He walked out of the room and left the hideout.
“I'll raised you like my own child, Reah.”
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I was gonna do work, but nah. Dialogue filled my head, so I typed it out. Alright this means no update tomorrow, but hey. more for you guys right? So tell me what you think. How well did I portray Reah? Your thoughts? Questions?
Next chapter we go back to Robin.