Monday, 07:29 AM.

Locked.

The entire weekend, I managed to spend most of my time locked inside my room, just like most of my summer holidays last year and the years before that. My parents tried their best to get my ass off the bed and out of the room. They wanted me to walk Myla as an excuse, but in the end, Lu saved me by volunteering.

After all, she was the only person in my family who understood that I just wanted to be left alone.

Hugging my bolster, I thought about insomniac nights I had these past few days. I kept rolling in my bed, closing my eye and wanting for sleep to take in, but something was stopping it from doing so. I successfully had fallen asleep, only to be woken up by flashes of that nightmare I had on Saturday night.

I just wish there's an invention that can erase memories...

I have yet to make a single contact with my friends during those days, even Rena. I simply checked their Facebook posts to what they were doing. Seb was busy with his works, while Alyssa and Rena both went shopping at the mall with their other friends yesterday. It slightly bothered me, but I knew that it was a girl's thing to go shopping and stuff, so I shrugged it off.

As for Florence, she probably spent time reading novels at home, as she had no updates on her profile.

Even though I wasn't really close to her, I still knew her from my childhood. She was that quiet observer of the group and loved bringing a book along with her to read. She was that girl with a small, feathery side ponytail, and often seen hanging out with Seb. Besides, he met her first in fourth grade, and I could see that since then, they have grown closer. Even after that day, their rapport still remained firm until now.

Not only bookish, she was also infatuated with the act of being critical. Alyssa was often judged as a girl who knew no limits and had no sense of direction. Rena was called off as a naive girl who lacked courage. Seb and I weren't lucky to escape from her so-called opinions, even though she had a crush on him. She even dubbed me Grumpy, anyway, or even Grumps just to shorten it.

At first, I reminded her to just call me Edward, but then she still went on with the Grumpy shit, so I didn't bother to correct her anymore.

I let out a long, deep sigh.

Since I had been staying on the bed for long periods of time, some parts of my body had been itching since last night, and were quite muggy from the sweat produced. My skin would then stick to the blanket or the covers, and it was making me really uncomfortable. Not to mention, my hair was completely tousled and was slightly oily.

There, I was determined to stir myself off the bed that I had been staying since yesterday. I slowly adjusted myself, before ambling towards the bathroom. There, I turned on the faucet of my bathtub to fill in. As the sound of water rushing and hitting against the floor of my tub resounded through the area, I walked towards the mirror, and began to strip myself off my remaining clothes.

I kept looking at the mirror as a boy stared back at me with his cold, dark blue eye that used to shine brightly back then. The more I kept gazing at him, the more pathetic he became. I could notice more glaring flaws than before.

One of them being that I had almost no visible muscles, just a lot of useless, flabby tissue that filled not only my arms, but my entire body. Guys in my school thought that it would be awesome to have strong builds and muscles that you could show off to people, especially the girls. Fucking hell, why should I be jealous of them? I don't even play basketball anymore, nor do I do workouts everyday.

Before I got to criticize myself further, I looked away from the mirror, gently entering the bathtub. Even though the water wasn't at the same level as my body, I could still feel the stinging coldness piercing against my flesh.

Minutes after dipping, I splashed my entire face with the water as a refreshment, and obviously, it was so satisfying. The icky feeling I was harboring began to fade away into thin air, which was a relief. It felt like I was starting everything anew. Subsequently, I leaned against the wall of the tub, folding my knees and looked up to the ceiling.

Today's Monday, huh... I thought inwardly. Rena told me that around this week, we were planning to go and hike the chilly mountains with our friends. I didn't know whether the plan was still active or cancelled, due to all these conflicts. Probably, I should go to the mountains with Rena alone, so that I could have even have more private time with her.

Uh... what plans am I trying to make...? It won't happen, especially when Rena was busy hanging out with her friends. Even when I had apologized to her, I felt like she was still a bit mad with me.

I shook my head, getting rid of my thoughts. I took the soap from its place and began to scrub it against my body thoroughly, washing away every dirt and sweat. Coldness swarmed over me, to which I urgently needed it over this hot summer. I let out another loud breath, and started to wash the foam away.

Inside my mind, I was doing a quick recap about what happened last week. From visiting Adelynn's grave, hanging out with Rena at the mall, to an encounter with Raphael after three years. I recalled the conflicts I have with my friends, and even the times where I collapsed because I thought back about my history.

With a blank stare, I gazed down at my hands, inspecting my scrawny fingers. I narrowed my eye as I discovered some leftover scars I had gotten due to work, and due to many personal issues. Thankfully, most of the wounds I received had disappeared.

As I continued observing them, something crawled into the back of mind like a silent cockroach, and I tried my best ignoring it. However, as seconds passed by, my hands began shaking, for no apparent reason. I wanted to stop it, of course, but I couldn't. The trembling gradually grew worse.

I felt my eye widened when there was an image of my hands, drenched with fresh blood, scooted through my vision. My heart instantly stopped beating at the flash of the memory, but it recovered quickly. I was also briefly pulled into a state of confusion, as to what it the fuck it was and why did it haunt me. I recalled seeing the same exact image days ago, and of course, I freaked out.

I breathed heavily, as I continually berated myself to calm the fuck down. I shouldn't be starting yet another scene just because of an image. I repeatedly told myself these words:

It's just my imagination.

It's just my imagination.

It's just my imagination.

...but then, I heard laughters, sounding not only one person, but a group of people. I didn't know where it came from, but surely it startled me to the fullest. I searched around the bathroom for the source of the noises, and there was no sign of any humans except me. The only sound I heard other than that strange laughs was the water dripping from the faucet.

They appeared to be imminent of danger, giving out some sort of an ominious vibe. It wasn't even childlike nor did it seemed like people laughing in joy. Instead, it sounded so taunting and sinister, which further cowered me in my place. The laughter grew louder by each minute, and while so, another image shot out. However, it was all too blurry and so I couldn't figure it out what was it, but I still could see the grayish background.

It took me a few minutes to realize...

...it was from inside my mind.

***

2009

"Come back here, faggot! Wait for us!"

The boy taunted as he chased after me, followed by the gang beside him. I was running as fast as I could, clutching on my bag and my school supplies. I loudly gasped for breaths, desperately trying to escape from their clutches. My heart thumped so hard, that it would fly out of my chest if it wasn't embraced by my ribs.

Only fear conquered my mind, and I couldn't think straight. All I knew was to run away from them, that was it. I didn't even care what directions should I take.

Those guys were a year above me, but for some reason, they always targeted me... probably because I looked like a freak compared to the other boys in school.

"Ey, don't you run away, freak!" The leader of the group, Joshua, yelled.

"NO!!" I screamed as loud as I could go, glancing over my shoulder to see their figures growing closer. If not for my speed, they would already catch me. "GET AWAY FROM ME!!"

As I turned right on a corner, I felt my body crashing into something hard, and as a result, I was flung into the ground. My rear landed on the concrete first, and the collision shook my bones and induced pain all over my body. I grunted, and glanced up, only to see one of Joshua's friend grinning down on me.

"Aha! Gotcha!"

Before I could escape, he grabbed me by my collar, and before I could scream, he covered my mouth. I thrashed around, punching and kicking aimlessly at the guy, and even tried screaming in his hand, but then there were others who restrained me down quickly. I was then shoved towards a fence, where I was cornered by them.

I watched as Joshua walked towards me, towering my height. The guy who clamped my mouth then released his hand off it, giving me a chance to scream, only to earn a slap across my face.

"Nobody's gonna help you, kid." Another boy chuckled, as the stinging pain from the hit seeped through me. "You have no friends, anyway."

Joshua then smiled at me with a dangerous glint in both of his eyes. One of the boys then forcefully removed my beanie off my head, exposing what was underneath it.

"Listen here, you selfish brat," Joshua taunted as he took my bag, "we all just want your money, and you're not going to get hurt."

"Like I would give you, piece of shit!" Despite my fears, I swallowed them down and dared myself to insult Joshua, while trying to wriggle out of their grasps.

An incoming fist from one boy suddenly landed against my face, and pain instantly lurched out throughout my body, causing me to yelp. I recoiled from the hit, and my vision blurred for a second. For a second, I tasted blood, and discovered that my nose was bleeding from the impact. I groaned in pain, clenching my cheek that was affected by the blow.

"Don't try to act so brave, one-eyed freak. I have all my friends here, ready to beat you up until you give me what I want," Joshua laughed, "and we won't stop. This is our easy way, and if you wanna do it the hard way, kid, oh, we're so happy to oblige."

Why me...?

Of all people, why me...?

"So, what you say, hmm?" He asked. "If I were you, I would rather be a coward and save myself."

"Aw, he's scared now." Joshua's friend drawled, making a fake pity face. "What's wrong, do you wanna run home and cry to Mommy about everything?"

I knew that I shouldn't show them that I feared them, but I was too overwhelmed by own thoughts and feelings. I clenched my hair, pulling the strands, and gritted my teeth tightly, preparing myself for the next punch. I let myself drowned in my train of thoughts, and stared hard at the ground.

The one friend who called me names stepped forward, getting too close to my personal space. He forcefully removed my tie, then unbuttoned my shirt despite my struggles. The others simply watched with amusement in their darkened eyes.

"Hey, how about we take turns?" One of them suggested. "Then we can have a fair share of this freak."

"Bruh, let's!"

That was when I heard something cracked inside.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

I let out a blood-curdling scream, then everything... went blurry.

I didn't even know what I was doing, but both of my fists and feet were hitting something hard. I was screaming a lot, that my throat begged me to stop. I came to a realization that I was pinning a weakened Joshua to the ground, and that I was punching him repeatedly.

Every of my punches was worth my suffering and what I had been going through with my life. Every of my punches was filled with every of my emotions that I had been suppressing since that day. The tears I had been holding back finally slipped off, freely trickling down my cheeks, and I choked back my sobs.

When I regained my control, I finally stopped and stepped back. Joshua and one of his friends were lying motionless on the ground, both of their faces were bruised and bloodied. The others had probably run off, as they had disappeared.

What did... I do...?

Did I just... killed them...?

I froze at the horrifying sight, and when I took a good look at my shaking hands, they were covered with blood stains. My muscles weakened at this and my knees could no longer support my weight, and so I lost my balance and let myself fall into the ground.

And standing there, alone, I finally broke down.

***

I immediately snapped myself off the haunting flashback, bringing myself back to the reality. I wheezed for oxygen, and to efface out the lingering memory, I turned on the faucet and allowed my entire head to be splattered with the cold liquid. When I felt that the reminder of my past was gone, I retreated from it and quickly turned the faucet off.

Water dripped from my bangs as I kept panting, some of them managed to cascade down my face. In the midst of recovering myself, I managed to connect said flashback with the bloodied hands that had haunted me for days, and found out that they were actually related.

It was the young I, back in middle school, beating the shit out of my seniors. The blood that had been decorating my hands was from them, after all. I completely remembered them severely threatening and attacking me. Sure it didn't fail to send chills down my back, but compared to the other memories, this one seemed easy to cope with.

However, I should not let myself fall into another trance. It might cause unwanted memories to flow back. I should be more wary of myself and not daydream so much.

While I was done with my bath, I slowly get off, drained the water and took my towel from the hanger. After drying my body and wrapping it around my lower half, I used the hairdryer to dry my hair while I looked at the mirror, once more. My scarred eye was, again, visible as soon as my forelocks got blown away, still in the same condition: jagged but sewed shut.

My phone was beside the sink, so that when it rings due to a call or text message, I can answer it easily. There were none, though, so it was pretty much useless putting it here, and I should have charged it. Sighing, I turned off the hairdryer and took my phone as I walked out of the bathroom.

However, as soon as I got to my bedroom, I saw Lu, sitting casually on my chair with folded legs, right next to my table. She was still on her orange pajamas, though, so I assumed she recently woke up. Her chocolate eyes that were screaming mischief gazed towards me, before reverting to a photo, but then she looked back at me.

I noticed that the picture she was observing was my photo with Rena from the photobooth.

"Hi. Your face looks so cute in here." Lu remarked, waving her hand and grinning impishly at me. She also proceeded to show me the photo without care.

It took me some time to process that my sister had broken into my room and had messed with my personal stuff. It, however, didn't take me much time to realize that I was half-naked, with only a towel wrapping my lower torso. When I looked at Lu, she only batted her eyebrows and her lips curled into a smirk.

"Bet Serena's gonna swoon." She snorted.

"Lu, get the hell out of my room." I commanded as I lowered my tone, furrowing my eyebrows together. "Who asked you to go through my things?"

"Oh, I do." Lu twirled her fiery, red hair with her index finger. "Besides, this photo is right on the table. I can't help but to see it."

I sighed and carefully closed the door of the bathroom behind me, before going to the closet to look for my boxers and casual clothes. Lu didn't seem to react to any of my actions, and continued sitting on the chair like she owned it. Nevertheless, I still felt her wandering gaze on me.

"Has Serena seen you half-naked before?"

I stopped with whatever I was doing, and stared hardly at Lu as if she had grown three heads. It was completely out of the blue, and of course, it was totally one wild question. To add more, she asked it in a straightforward manner, without any sense of shame.

Nonetheless, I still answered the bizarre question inside my head.

...Yes.

She was coming over to my house to study. She burst into my room without knocking, and as a result, she saw me with only my boxers. She immediately retreated back into the hallway as she burnt up in embarrassment. My face gradually heat up as well when I thought back of that awkward moment.

Well, at least I was not fully naked, otherwise things might even get complicated.

"Stop with the dumb questions." I scoffed. "Leave before my pencil case goes to your head."

"I'm assuming that's a yes? Awh, that must be cute." Lu naughtily simpered. "She must have died inside. Man, you killed her. You should be charged for murder."

As she dubbed me that, I instantly thought about Lynn. Obviously it was not the time to make a fuss about it, so I threw it away before it overcame me.

"So funny." I sneered, pulling out my boxers, shorts and a T-shirt. "Now get off my room unless you wanted to be scarred for the rest of your life."

"I can just look away." Lu shrugged, turning her head away from me.

This urged me to eventually grab my pencil case and throw it at Lu. I expected her to effortlessly dodge it, however, to my surprise, she didn't. She was hit right in the head and flinched, causing her to almost miss her composure. I rolled my eye and continued cleaning up my things.

She was probably still so sleepy that she didn't even notice it.

"Ouch! Now that's a good wake-up call, I must say." Lu rubbed the part on her head where the pencil case had struck her. "Thanks Ed."

"No problem." I breathed, and watched quietly as she stood up from the chair and ambled towards the door. Before she exited the room, she gave me a small but reassuring smile, before she closed the door shut.

Maybe for now, Lu is the only person I could completely depend on.

***

A/N: This chapter reveals more about Ed's hidden past that you might not know in the previous chapters or even in Maze. Tune it next week to see what will happen next!

Hope you enjoy this chapter and don't forget to vote and comment! :)