The Pseudo Semicolon

CHAPTER 21: Uncertainty in Normality

Akira immediately rang up Devland, chewing on his fingernails as he anxiously waited for the boy to pick up his phone. "Fuck!" Akira cursed as the call went to voice message. He tried again. "Pick up, pick up, pick up you little—"

"Hello?"

"DEVLAND!" Akira cried, sitting up on the bed, "I found something. Actually—I found lots of things. Lots of bad things. Lots and lots of bad things. Like—I feel like 'bad' is an
understatement—"

"Akira slow down. You okay? Are you hurt?"

"Wha–huh? No, I'm fine." Akira waved his hand dismissively, "It's about the diary!" And Akira tried to slowly explain what he had learned but he kept on stumbling over his own words so much that he had to backtrack a lot.

"Damn that—Wow." There came a laugh from the other end that made Akira's blood run cold, "Wow. Very interesting."

"Dev this isn't fucking funny! You need to get away from them—they're merciless bastards who—"

"No."

"No?!" Akira yelled out in frustration, "What do you mean 'No'?!"

For a moment there was silence on the phone, and Akira could hear the sound of water beating against each other in the background. Akira also realised that Devland's voice was echoing. Just where the fuck was he?

"Akira." Devland said his name like a plea, and it made Akira's stomach turn, "I'll be back within two days. You're free this Sunday right?"

"Why?"

"Well you're not free anymore. I'm taking you out on a date. I've sent you a gift—I'm sure it'll arrive today. I hope you'll like it—"

"Devland—"

"A date, Akira. I swear I'll never miss it. I swear that I'll be standing before your door at 3:00pm with a bouquet full of roses—or whichever flower you like—and I'll kiss you, deal?"

Akira felt like a lump had formed in his throat. On one hand, he wanted Devland to come back, to get away from The Elites as quickly as possible. Sometimes, images of Devland shackled against the stone altar would appear in his mind; he would be crying and screaming for help and no one would come and rescue him.

And it would all be Akira's fault.

On the other hand, he trusted Devland to handle himself—they had gotten out of certain sticky situations before, and the boy was careful, considering the way he broke into Mr. Rogers' house.

Damn you Devland.

"Sunflowers." Akira sighed, "I like sunflowers."

A small chuckle from Devland made Akira's heart flutter, "Okay. A bouquet full of sunflowers."

And they hung up, with the promise of a dozen sunflowers still hanging in the air.

***

Akira somehow managed to get through the rest of the week. He gave his all for every class, earning some very high praises from his teachers, and managed to score good marks for all the tests.

He also managed to write up his admission essays, sending it to every college near him. He decided to apply for Pensinkton College's scholarship exam, even though it was very much outside Halderberry and nearer to the cities, he applied knowing that he would never get accepted.

"Hey you're Devland's friend right?" A girl tapped on Akira's shoulder. Akira raised an eyebrow, very much confused. Sure people would talk to him but it was mostly guys. And if a girl ever did talk to him, it was either to ask him whether he could complete an assignment for them in exchange for some cash.

Akira obviously took all the jobs that gave cash in return for completed homework. Nowadays though, he didnt have much time for it considering everything that was happening.

"Uh, hello?" The girl asked again.

Oh right. "Ah yeah, what's up?" Akira gave her his signature smile, the one that showed all his slightly crooked teeth.

"Oh–Oh–Um." The girl chuckled nervously, "Devland paid a lot of money to help me cure my dog—Jamsie. I just wanted to pay him back since the cash he gave me covered half of the payment required for the treatment."

"Damn, that's nice of him." Akira felt a certain giddiness, "He'll be back by next week so you can treat him then."

"Thanks! I'm Aubrey by the way."

"I'm Akira. You in the same grade as Devland?"

"Yeah we have AP Algebra together. But we don't talk much so I was surprised when he suddenly asked about my dog."

"He probably learned that from your Instagram." Akira nodded thoughtfully as he recalled the time when Devland had scoured plenty of Instagram profiles to find the cat, "He's chronically online."

Aubrey laughed lightly, adjusting her black glasses as she did so. "I know a thing or two about being chronically online."

"Oh?" Akira grinned. He was starting to like Aubrey; the girl looked easy-going and sweet from her first impression. The two of them continued to talk more until Aubrey was finally whisked away by her friend, Ivan.

Akira was happy that someone had talked to him and never once mentioned anything about schoolwork. It was... freeing. Perhaps he should've interacted with other people more because, if he could manage a relationship while also being the top in class, he was sure he could manage friendships.

'But I'm gonna graduate.' A tiny voice inside of him spoke, 'What's the use?'

Akira immediately felt his spirits lowering, realising that looking back on it—he should've had more fun in his high school life instead of burying his head in a book. But his hard work would pay off—he knew it.

He prayed it would.

He was tense the rest of the day—keeping an eye and ear out for god knows what. He also was laser-focused on his work, trying his best to distract himself from all the negative thoughts in his head.

Akira thought about his upcoming date and wondered what the package would be. It arrived yesterday as promised, but Akira didn't want to open it yet. Not until Sunday.

How he longed for Sunday.