Author's note: Sorry that took long, but I was just planning a lot of stuff lately. Plus, the Pep Rally we organized is tomorrow, so we're all wishing that everything goes well, and especially that it doesn't rain, and that all the sponsors show up, and that our people don't screw up with the ushering, and that our PA's could do their job, and that I don't do something spectacularly stupid in front of live television. Bloody hell I'm nervous. That, and I'm putting some stock in my new fic "World without End". Figured that since all my stories are connected one way or another, I'd have to do something that concludes all of them. (In which case, many, many people will die)
Frenchy: Okay, I'm fine now. And I'm still waiting for your fanfic miss thing. Yep, all my stuff is intertwined, much like my currently confused life.
Hotaru: I could feel your cuteness from here. I can't say which commercial, because one of the bastard's people would now instantly.
Rozwee: Thanks for the compli. If you're looking for action, try the new fic I'm working on, World without End. Shameless plug, I know.
Orion: Don't worry, we're cool. Besides, there's a whole ocean keeping me from doing something horrible to you.
Chapter 5: "New World"
It was still pouring heavily the next day, a school day. They lived in a world where students care as much for their hair as they do for American history, or perhaps even more. This new world was a succubus, tempting man and woman into the lure of masks and lies, all for the sake of perennial beauty. Truth is different, truth is a lie. The truth is what others perceive an object or a person to be, and that perception is what people live or die for. Like many others, like most others, Derrick was a victim of this new paradise, where the beautiful get what they want, whenever they want it.
"So, have you guys done the survey?" Derrick asked KC and Aileen the moment he strode into the classroom. He was wearing a v-necked black shirt that plunged a little more than usual, showing more of his skin, as well as a pair of dark blue denim pants. A few admiring glances came his way.
"And a good morning to you too." Aileen greeted, wearing the same shirt she did last week, before Derrick's life almost blew all over. KC didn't respond, but rather kept reading a pocketbook involving some man in a mask torturing a group of people over the administration of an opera house.
"I'm just a little down from yesterday." Derrick said, his own way of apologizing.
"Is it okay to ask how a funeral went? I mean, should people ask if the funeral was okay, or if it was fine?" KC asked, not lifting his head from the book.
"It was…wet." The young man responded, he didn't really want to get into any details about how he was feeling. "I got all the survey forms answered." Aileen then commented, taking out a handful of photocopied material. "Me too." KC added, not bothering to follow the girl's suit.
"Okay…so, where's Jay?" Derrick then asked, taking a short glance around the room. A few other students already entered, but their group mate still wasn't there. "He says that he'll be late, traffic." KC answered, finally putting down his book and keeping it in his backpack. KC wore another shirt from Girbeaud, this time red in the front, and white in the back.
"It's weird, I haven't seen you and that Alex guy get separated ever since school started." Aileen brought up. "You two look good together." KC teased, not knowing how deep that statement actually went. "Uh…he's got a busy schedule. Student Council stuff." He immediately lied, a comment he thought up ages before school started. His friends bought it, though his delivery wasn't as convincing as it seemed. It was better though, than the silence, which he replied when his boyfriend asked him the question. It was in silence that Alex understood how much Derrick wanted to keep his identity a secret. Homosexuals weren't condemned by their friends, most of the case; they were condemned by their mothers and fathers.
Alex didn't utter a word when he was greeted by rejection, and looking down he turned away, leaving Derrick alone. When he asked Derrick if he wanted to be seen with him, it was the point where so much could have been molded. The chance, like so many others, was wasted. It was unfair, both the question and the circumstance, but humanity was never about fairness. Humanity is about closure.
"You see, there is a reason, why Jesus Christ did not ask for his apostles to go look for him in Jerusalem." Dr. Protista was a short man, with pale white skin and a receding hairline. "And that is because Galilee was symbolic of something, something within each and every one of us." He began pacing in the front, holding captive the audience. A good thing about a dominantly Catholic University is that religious studies could fill up a student's entire schedule when he or she decides to drop Statistics. "Galilee is what we are. Galilee is our own physical, mental, emotional, and most of all, spiritual root. When Christ told the apostles to look for Him in Galilee, it was also a call, a call to look for Him within themselves. And that, is also what you're assignment is going to be." He stopped and took a piece of chalk. "You will be required to do a Bibliarasal." He wrote the word down as he spoke. "The Bibliarasal is a moment when you and your family would spend time, and explain them the true meaning of Galilee. This is also the time when you share with them what is your own Galilee."
"Like, share your secrets?" a Chinese girl in front asked, to which the professor nodded. This immediately filled Derrick with a sense of dread. "It's a requirement?" he asked, to which the professor also nodded. "This project is twenty percent of your grade." The professor announced. Derrick took a deep breath and rested his face on open palms. "Shit."
Hallie took her car keys from a drawer and was about to leave when the phone suddenly rang. She wore a brown fitted, flannel shirt and a pair of black pants. "Shit." She immediately thought, a trait that got passed on to all her children. "Hello?" she asked the moment the receiver met her ear. "…Oh, Chris! Yes…he's here." Hallie put down her keys by the cradle, and brought the cordless unit all the way to the atrium where her husband was. "Barry, it's Chris. Sounds urgent." She reported as she handed the phone over to the old man, who simply snatched it from her hand without the slightest sight of gratitude. "I'll be going to Derrick's dorm." Hallie said, before leaving her husband. She was used to his estrangement.
"Hello?" Barry's voice was his always, not to greet an old friend, not even to comfort one. He was wearing a black, turtleneck sweater, and pants of the same color.
"Barry, this is Chris, it looks like something's acting up." The man on the other line reported.
"What is it?" the old man asked nonchalantly, taking a sip of coffee.
"There's a new player in town. Someone who's resurrecting old… and very much dead memories."
"Impossible. We demolished all the companies…all the data."
"From what we gathered, this one didn't belong to a company."
"Then, why is he so much a threat?" Barry asked.
"He knows things. Things that no man who wasn't there could possibly know."
"…Hand of God? Gabriel Kane."
"Yeah. All we know is that he dresses up as a preacher. Other than that…we have shit."
"…Wasn't he the one who Mr. Kennedy confronted a few years ago?"
"He's back."
Hallie unlocked the door with the key that was left her by the administration of the condominium. It was still empty, meaning that her son's classes still weren't over. Some shirts were laid out in spectacularly horrid fashion, as if the place hasn't been cleaned for weeks. She smiled as she found the bed, still unmade from that morning. It was her very own request that the staff do not help her son clean his mess. She bent down and took a white shirt from the bed so that she could fold it and set it back in the drawer, but something underneath caught her eye. "Oh my God."
Alex heard a three soft knocks on his unit door just as he was about to undress for the day. He only succeeded in taking off his shirt before his urge to make the noise stop prompted him to open the door without looking at who is on the other side. "…Derrick." Alex greeted, with a look of fatigue. It was the expression meaning he didn't want to talk about it yet. Derrick had different plans. "I decided." He said, quickly getting his boyfriend's attention.
"What is it?" Alex asked, letting the younger man in and then closing the door behind him.
"I have to wait for the right time…to…tell my parents." He announced, clearing his voice.
"…" After a short silence, Alex gave his boyfriend a tender smile, and gently leaned down to give him a soft kiss on his lips. "Thank you." He whispered. Alex's room was different from Derrick's. It was smaller, simpler than the studios from the higher floors. "…Are you…busy tonight?" the younger man asked, watching his boyfriend prepare him a glass of water. "I have a big thing for tomorrow, report on the importance of categorical imperative or something…why?"
"…Well…because I wasn't." Derrick was uneasy, and Alex instantly understood why. He put the glass down on the kitchen counter and walked over to Derrick. "It has to be special." Alex whispered, giving his boyfriend another kiss. "Let's wait until you tell them before we…" he ran his hand across Derrick's head, who smiled and nodded back.
"Want any help with that…assignment thing?" Derrick then asked.
"…Nah, I'm used to going impromptu anyway, just had to organize a few ideas." Alex replied.
"Oh."
"…You know, this place really gets creepy in the dark."
"…"
"Could you just…be here? Tonight?"
"…" Derrick once again smiled and nodded. He wasn't good with words, so the recurring expression was his own way of showing his emotion. It wasn't always that Alex showed his sentiments either, so the area of being with each other in a different sense of the word, was still a new barrage to their senses. "…Want something to eat?" Alex then asked, pulling a bar of Butterfingers from his bag and then throwing it to his boyfriend. "I didn't say yes yet." Derrick objected, laughing, thought it didn't stop him from tearing the wrapper open. "You don't have to. It's your favorite." Alex reminded, opening his own preference, a bar of Reese.
"You know, this isn't the healthiest choice for a dinner." Derrick stated, in between his chewing.
"I know. I don't care." Alex replied, sitting down on his narrow bed, and motioning for his boyfriend to sit beside him. "…When are you planning to tell them?" Alex asked as Derrick sat down beside him.
"…This project we have for our religion class." Derrick said, referring to the Bibliarasal. Alex smiled knowingly at his boyfriend. "Last year, second term, it's also the reason why I came out of the closet." Alex narrated, taking another bite out of his chocolate bar.
"Other than the fact that I couldn't bear to hide it…I felt like it was God's way of telling me to give it a go." Alex finished his snack and crumpled the wrapper, then throwing it into the wastebasket.
"…I just don't get it though. I mean…what priests say…why does the Church…hate us?" he asked. "I mean, they're supposed to be the good guys, right?" Derrick looked worried, wondering how his decision would affect things in a grander scale, beyond his, or anyone else's perception.
"That's the thing. Zealots now…they're basing everything from words written thousands of years ago. People wrote those things from what they thought to be true. Things change."
"…God didn't write the Bible?"
"In a way…He did, it's just that…He had to let people do it. It's those people's error that we see today as contradictions…you know, you'll get a whole term full of explanations in your course."
"…"
"At the end…you'll have to do this exegetical study thing…maybe you can choose this topic for it. Explain why…you know…God doesn't hate people like us."
"I don't even know the answer for myself." Derrick responded as he finished his snack. Alex threw the wrapper away for him. "Give it time."
Hallie sat silently in front of her husband inside the atrium. Her eyes were cast down, while his stared off into a different dimension. The only sounds that could be heard were from their soft breathing, and the minor movements that they made in order to at least be comfortable. "Are you certain?" Barry asked, finally breaking the silence. "I even checked the computer he left open." Hallie responded, brushing back her hair. "I should have read the signs." Barry noted, leaning back on his chair. "This doesn't make him any different."
"Yes, it does." Barry objected.
"Do you mean that this is all a psychological phase? Some sort of latency complex that never got resolved?" Hallie asked sarcastically. "He is still our son."
"…Yes, he is, isn't he? And as a father…it is my duty to set him straight."
"What do you propose?" Hallie suddenly felt a wave of panic when she heard the menacing tone of her husband's voice. "…I admit that I've never been the model of father figures…"
"You aren't even a cutout." Hallie cut, but was quickly silenced by a stern glare from her husband.
"I will be there for him." Barry continued. "Even if it means beating him to the ground."
Derrick couldn't sleep that night, thanks primarily to the decision he just made about revealing to his family, and to his world, what his sexual orientation was. The only comfort he had, was from the hands of Alex, who embraced him from behind as he slept. It was a wise decision for both of them not to pursue their more intimate interests, at least not yet, as Derrick was still fully clothed, save for his socks and shoes, and the same could be said about his boyfriend.
"Will they accept me? What of they don't? What if they…?" so many questions of personal insecurity filled his head, questions of trepidation and anxiety, all the prelude to his own self-gratification. Still, he forgot to put into account, that if he wasn't going to be accepted by others, he still had Alex by his side.
Author's note: A little subtle, but the little text above explains why I chose the title for this story. Hope you enjoyed, until the next time.