Chapter 120: The first step!

It was drizzling and the wind was strong. I'd formed a barrier over my head so there wasn't any worries for the rain. But it felt a bit weird to run around with a scythe at seven. 

All those who saw me shrieked a little, boys and girls alike. 'Maybe I should have just used the trident?' I willed for it, but nothing happened. 

This thing literally had a mind of its own. And it wanted me to look like a knockoff grim reaper. 

So in the end, I kept on marching through the academy with a scythe, like a maniac. 

There were a lot of students out despite the typhoon though. Sharing umbrellas and taking up this opportunity for getting close. I saw duos, loads of duos. 

It kind of irritated me but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. 

But then I saw Johnathan and the bunny girl walking down the road, holding hands. They had one umbrella and they were awfully close together. 

I wasn't jealous. I just wanted to make them a bit impotent. I definitely wasn't jealous. 

Grinding my teeth a little I kept on walking. 

The port was rather close to the academy, about ten minutes if I ran, which I definitely did and almost fell to my doom about half a dozen times. 

But once I reached there, I was just disappointed. 

It wasn't that, the port was closed. Rather, there was no port. All the choppers were gone. There was nothing left here apart from an old guy, sipping coffee and according to him, the choppers wouldn't be back before tomorrow. 

Sigh. 'Then what was the point of me coming here?'

There was nothing for me to do here. 'Guess I'll just have to apologize to mom.'

Mom was sensible, kind of. She'd understand.

I most certainly hoped so.

***

The way back was worse. There were even more couples out now. 

'They're just potato bags, don't worry about them.' In the end, consoling myself was the best I could do. 

I got back to the dorm and entered my room. It was unlocked. 

Merin was sweating and someone was on my bed, sipping tea. 

"SO what do I owe the pleasure to 'a passing poet' was it?" I tried to keep my cool, but it was kind of hard to do so. 

The man smiled and sniffed the aroma of the tea. "Beautiful is it now? The dew of life, tea of sublimity-"

Merin looked at me like a guy who was about to be slaughtered. 

"That doesn't rhyme you know." So I had to end this quickly. 

The guy gave me a glare. "Just because it doesn't rhyme doesn't mean it's not great!" Wow, didn't think he'd start yelling. 

"Alright, alright." This was my second time meeting an obsessed author. "Why are you here?"

"Oh, forgiveth I, for I had forgotten my due duty." The way he spoke was just like he was reading a poem out loud. Unfortunately, I didn't like it. He brought out a letter from his breast pocket and placed it on the table, finished the tea in one go, and got up. "I must thank the heavens and the earth, and you, young man, for the tea was lovely." He was staring at Merin with eyes of acknowledgment. 

Meanwhile, all of this just rubbed me off in a not-so-good way. "What's this all about?"

"Unfortunately, I wasn't told." He made a stern salute and vanished. 

I locked the door and went for the letter. "Well, would you look at that, he can speak normally!" 

"It was him!" Merin finally spoke. "The dude you talked about."

I was actually surprised he remembered. 

"Let's not get too excited." 

I read the letter out loud. 

"Dear Helio Romswell Jintel,

Pleasure to meet you. I hope you're doing well. I've included a recommendation letter for you to join the British army. You're an exceptional talent, don't waste your life on the sidelines. Come, serve the country and live gloriously!

I hope to receive a positive and wise reply from you. 

Sincerely, 

Major General Brine."

This letter rubbed me wrong in more than one way. First of all, there was no meeting, second, I didn't have enough time to care about the country. I had my own shit to deal with. And last, why the hell would I want to join the army for no reason at all? And why did they bother to send letters when they could have just contacted me directly through my phone? Granted I didn't have the best Holo but my phone was good enough. 

I took a look at the recommendation letter and threw it to Merin. "Use it if you want to."

"You're not going to give them a reply?" Merin was still shaken but he tried to calm down. 

"I kind of don't care." I had enough run-ins with the army to know, they were a bunch of powerless good for nothings. "They probably just want to use me."

I gave mom a call. It rung.

"You're not going to say, a typhoon was enough for you to stop you from coming, right?" And that was the first thing she had to say. 

There was no doubt about it, she was my mom alright. 

"You know-"

"Ask Marg."

"Mom, you know-"

"I know. Go ask her." She cut the phone.

Well, this just got complicated. Nay, this got more twisted than my jumbled-up headphone wires. I didn't use headphones anymore though. 

"What?" Merin looked at me with confusion. 

I didn't answer him and just gave Marg a call. She was definitely not going to pick up. I knew it already. 

"Helio?"

But she sure did. 

It almost surprised me. I thought she wouldn't bother with me and completely ignore my calls but I guess I was wrong. 

I gulped. "Can you- take me home?" But I had to take this chance. 'If I can get her there, we can talk.' This had to work. 

There was silence on the other end for a minute. "It'll be a one-way ride."

"Alright." Step one success!

'YES!'