The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

Chapter 10: KEEP ON YOUR TRACK

Emma nodded and hurried went down the stairs. She helped Poppy to up the stairs go out of the alley.

“Looks like we escaped. They are out of sight now.” Poppy said with a grimace in pain.

“That’s right. I saw some gang guys up ahead. But it looked like someone had beaten them up. At least our way seems to be safe now.” Emma said.

As soon as they managed to get out of the alley, there were indeed three gangster men who were already lying on the ground with battered faces. They rushed past them towards the safer main street. Emma slowed her steps so that her three friends could walk in the front. She looked down at the bloodstains on her sneakers. Secretly, she rubbed the soles of her shoes on the asphalt, which turned out to make a blood trace there. Once there was no trace on her shoes anymore, she jogged after her friends. For some reason, a joyful feeling seemed to be blooming in her chest.

***

The four people sat at the bus stop with dumbfounded faces. Lament and try to understand what was just happened. Especially Emma and Rina who were the newcomers in Handway city.

“This is crazy! What’s going on in this city?” Emma said while fixing her little messy hair.

.....

“They are gangsters. Looks like there was an attack.” Roger said. As a man, though he was a loser who didn’t have any friends to hang out with. However, because he often had to deal with bad boys – which was, when he was bullied – little by little it increased his knowledge of the outside world. He understands very well, in this kind of world’s food chain, he was at the lowest level. Which was the bully-victim.

“I didn’t know there was such a thing in this city,” Emma said.

“Emma.. Sorry if this city doesn’t live up to your expectations. I also just found out that the gangsters in this city are that bad. However, they are rarely to be seen.” Poppy explained.

“Gangsters are always moving in the shadows.” Emma muttered subconsciously.

“Huh?” The three of her friends looked confused to her murmur.

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“Eh? Nothing.. Haha..” She scratched her non-itchy nape. Suddenly, Emma remembered something that made her stare straight at Poppy with a guilty face, “Poppy.. I’m sorry for what happened earlier. When your boyfriend was beside me when we were thrown by the chair. We both don’t have any relationship..”

Poppy was a little surprised and then chuckled, “It’s okay, Emma. Maybe he thought that the chair was going to hit you.”

Emma looked at Poppy even more sadly. Obviously, the chair was pointed closer to Poppy. It seemed that the girl loved Donny too much to keep defending him.

“They are so mean. Why would they leave us during chaos? After all, it was them who brought us down that street.” Rina grumbled. Emma nodded agreeably. “I will call Lary later and ask him to break up!” she continued her words and received support in a form of small applause by Emma.

“Are you serious about it?” Poppy asked. “Their group is one of the cool guys’ groups on campus.”

“Huh?” Emma stared in surprise. As a woman, hearing Poppy say those words was really hurt her pride. What the hell was she talking about?

“Em.. But, Poppy.. Do you still remember? That they left us earlier.. Even right now, we still don’t know where they fled.” Emma gave an unpleasant grimace.

Poppy just kept her face down. Roger quietly watched the cute girl with fists clenched in anger. It was true, that a girl like Poppy would like handsome, tall, and cool boys. Even though they treat women badly and have bad traits, still the girls will idolize them. A guy like Roger could only feel lucky enough to spend the night surrounded by three beautiful girls by accident. After this day passed, his life would return to being a loser as usual. He could imagine that, if one day one of those three girls hit in his paths on campus, they might not even give a glance at him at all.

“The bus is coming.” Rina stood up. “We’re neighbours. I’ll help Poppy to get home.” She carried Poppy’s body which was smaller than her. It seemed that the pain in Poppy’s leg had also improved somewhat, so she could walk quite well.

Emma waved at the oncoming bus with Poppy and Rina behind the window. Now, Emma was left alone with Roger. The air that blew was getting colder, cold as the atmosphere between them.

“Hmm.. where is your house?” Emma tried to start a conversation.

Roger glanced at her then looked back at the ground “Not far from here.” Emma nodded. Then she scratched her cheek with her finger.

“Thank you.” Said, Roger.

Emma looked at him confused, “For?”

“A few hours of my life, I felt like a normal guy. Even though it was in a strange situation.” He chuckled.

Emma smiled gently, “You can feel it in your daily life when you open your heart to people.”

“A cool kid like you, doesn’t know how it feels like to live in a loser’s world.” He let out a breath that made white steam billow in front of his mouth. “Our worlds are so different. You’ll never want to know what it’s like to live in mine.”

“Sorry, but as far as I know life is a choice. I’m practising it now. We can be whatever we want, as long as we have faith and are willing to try.” Emma denied.

“Everyone has a soul within them that cannot be changed. By anyone or even by themselves.” He looked at Emma blankly. “I’ve tried for sure. But this thing that lives in my soul can’t be removed. No matter how hard I tried.”

Roger got to his feet as a red bus that was almost empty approached. “You’ll regret being friends with me. Don’t let yourself be dragged into a world of losers.” He said before stepping onto the bus.

Emma stared at the red bus that was speeding away as the door closed. She turned her face back to look at her own feet. The white shoes she wore still had traces of blood that couldn’t be removed. Roger’s words made Emma start to think again. Had she made the right choice? Pursuing her dream of becoming a ballerina. But if it had to be clear, actually Emma also didn’t know what she wanted to achieve after becoming a real ballerina. Because in fact, she had no intention of becoming a famous dancer who appeared on various stages in various countries. Did she just want to escape reality? Tired of her old life? But the feeling of pleasure that ran through her veins when she had beaten the gangster was terrifying. What actually lived in the depths of her soul? A Dancer or A Gangster?

Ckitttt!!

The deafening sound immediately made Emma turn around with a grimace on her face. Her eardrums hurt to hear the sound. It turned out that the sound came from the screeching of the bus tires which suddenly braked because there was a sport motorcycle passing in front of it. The motorcycle violated the traffic at the crossroads.

BRUMM!! The motorcycle that had stopped was speeding up again, not long after, four other big motorbikes followed. From there, Emma could see that the four motorbikes were chasing a black motorcycle that had a maroon list that looked familiar to Emma’s eyes.

‘Isn’t that Calvin’s bike?’ Emma thought.

The bus arrived in front of the stop. Emma rushed up and stuck her bus card on the payment machine next to the driver who was still mumbling annoyed at the behaviour of the motorbikes. Along the way, Emma’s forehead didn’t stop frowning. Was that Calvin Lee? But there was something else that occupied her mind more than that. Nothing was more disturbing than Roger’s words earlier.

Emma got off of the bus when she arrived at her destination stop. As soon as she set her feet on the ground, she looked at an oil and auto parts shop that was right across from the bus stop. All this time Emma had never paid attention to the shop. But this time, the big slogan board in front of the shop was making Emma smile.

‘KEEP ON YOUR TRACK’

Emma rose her palm up, floating in front of her chest when she saw the white dots were slowly falling down. The first snow greeted her. Her first snow as the new Emma Hillland. Emma Hillland that she chose. In the middle of a quiet street, lit up by the white lights from the slogan board. The brown-haired girl regained her purpose. If Roger couldn’t, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t either. Even if everyone was not capable, she will show that she was different.

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