Ali and Ian were tired. One forty-seven in the afternoon they had to go to sleep. Ali was madder than a snake in a barrel. Ian embarrassed her, grabbed her, and went completely weird on her. Worst was how he tried to apologize. He could never just say the words " sorry". There had to be words like " God is watching me, I shouldn't make his judgement distorted." and " I know what I did was wrong. A woman is not an object and I have no right to touch it." Ali walked to her room as Ian tried one last time to talk to her.
" Ali, can we talk?" Ian asked.
" Talking is for sissies. Go to bed."
Ali twisted Ian's arm. He screamed in pain. Ali ignored Ian's pain and walked into her room. Ian tried running after her, but she slammed the door in his face. Hurt, his nose gushing blood from the force of the door, Ian walked away from Ali's room to his room, in pain.
" What did I do wrong?"
Ian went to his room, which was only a small guest room. There was a bed, itchy covers, and a small broken incandescent light bulb. He closed his small bible. The Lord needed to sleep like birds needed to fly and Ali was a Weapon. Tomorrow Ian would make it up to Ali tomorrow.
XXX
Ian got up at six. It was a very tiring night. Ian's eyes felt like sewed apples on a scarecrow. He couldn't tell if he was tired or dehydrated. He had a sore throat, his fingers were anesthetized. With his cold sweaty fingers he got out of bed and walked down to the kitchen.
Ali had a cold heart. It wasn't her fault it was like that. It was his fault. He did it to her. She was his daughter and he threw her away like discarded trash. Ian was thinking of cooking Ali something tasty. He pulled open the cupboards.
" Growwrrr!"
Ian jumped. Inside the cupboard was a terrifying monster. Ian jumped back just as the cupboard was ripped apart by two fearsome claws. What appeared from the cupboard was a skeleton of a beast. It had the bones of a full grown crocodile, the ridge sprouted hundreds of tiny bones, its teeth were sharp like a sharks, and it only had one eye socket embedded in its face.
The beast snapped its jaws at Ian. Ian was so terrified. The beast made Ian yelp. He was all out of holy water. The only thing Ian had was a broomstick in the side cupboard. Ian grabbed the broomstick with both hands ans hit the crocodile rapidily with it.
" Go away! Go away! Go away!"
Someone threw something sharp while Ian was hitting the crocodile with his broomstick. His broom was cut in half. Stickng in the wall beside Ian was a kunai knife. The only one who could have thrown that knife was Ali.
" Hey, stop hitting my pet."
" Your pet? This monstrocity belongs to you?"
" Of course. He's my pet alligator Reggie. Don't worry. He doesn't eat people unless I tell him too. " Ali's face turned evil and kind of scary looking. It was like she was holding a flashlight under her face. " Unless of course he's hungry. I haven't fed him all day. He might start with your feet as the appetizer, then your arms, teeth mutilating your intestines, and then he'll rip your head off!"
" Ahhhhhhh!"
" Just kidding. He's a vegetarian. Watch." Ali picked up a large ball of cabbage. Ali tossed the cabbage to Reggie. Reggie snapped his jaw at the cabbage and munched on the giant leaves. " See."
" B-But you can't keep an alligator. Especially not a dead one. He should be in the wild." Ian took another look at Reggie. His tail fell off. It reattached the instant it fell down. " Or a graveyard for his kind."
" But if he's in a place without humans where is he going to eat donuts?"
" Growwrrr!" Reggie growled.
" Alright, seconds it is. Catch, big guy." Ali threw another piece of cabbage at the boney alligator. Just like before the alligator snapped its jaws at the cabbage ripping it into pieces. " Good eating."
It was a rare occasion for Ian. Since the moment he entered Death Weapon Meister Academy, since he first saw Ali, even after patrolling for hours with her, this was the first time he ever saw her smile.
Her smile was beautiful. It reminded Ian of his sister's smile but her's was much more bigger. Seeing her face still reminded him of his sister-so big, so happy, filled with life, there were things he wanted to say to her.
" Ali...have you..."
Ali shoved a piece of toast in Ian's mouth. The toast was stuck in his throat. The inside of his throat was a rectangular jutting from his throat. " Less talking more eating. I want us both in school soon so I can ignore you."
" Some morning I have."
XXX
Ian and Ali walked to school. Death Weapon Meister Academy was only a short walk away. The entire walk Ian kept thinking about something to break the ice. " Okay, I have so much to say to her." Ian cleared his throat. He would start with something not too personnel. " Do you have any hobbies? What are your favorite-"
" Black cat!"
A black cat walked towards Ali without a leash on its neck. Ali was afraid of the little cat. Black cats were a sign of bad luck. Ali picked Ian up and threw him at the black cat. She missed. Ian fell into trash cans filled with garbage. The cat ran away, and when Ian got out of the garbage he was covered in fish bones.
" Quit sitting around!" Ali shouted. " We have school."
" I'll be up in a jiffy."
Ian and Ali finally reached Death Weapon Meister Academy. Ian was sitting in the middle row of a mountain of seats he clambered up to. Ali was sitting at the very top of the stairs playing with her kunai, carving something on her desk. Ian couldn't see what it was, but Ali was carving a vampire with a 1970 gangster gun shooting Ian's chest.
" Everyone sit down." A man with red hair and a black coat over a white shirt walked into the room. " My name is Mr. Spirit, and I'll be your substitute teacher because I'm the only extra teacher in the academy, and isn't that just sad? According to my notes there's a new one of you male students here. Ian Roguesaw?"
" Here." Ian raised his hand up.
" There you are. I'm sorry I couldn't see you. You're too black."
" I get that a lot. Hehehe."
" Yeah, enough about you, where's your paired student?" Ian pointed to Ali. Ali stared at Spirit, her hands under the desk, while Spirit made a silly laugh. " Hey there. Want to stay after class to hear more of my lectures? And maybe after that we can go to my favorite restaurant."
Ali quickly pulled her kunai out of her desk and threw it at Spirit's head. The kunai went into Spirit's head as blood gushed out. Ian was surprised Spirit wasn't dead. But Spirit pointed at Ian with the knife still in his head.
" You're getting the lowest grade for this, new kid."
" What? But that's not fair!"
XXX
Ian and Ali were playing outside. The game was kick ball. Ian against Ali, and boys versus girls. Ian was the first one to kick for the boys. Ali, who was team captain, was going to be throwing the ball. All the girls cheered for Ali.
" Come on, Ali," a girl with Chinese buns said. " Knock this boy out."
" Come on, Ali," a tall blond girl said. " Show your Meister who's boss."
Ali pulled the ball back, squeezing it with all her strength, and threw the ball towards the umpire. Ian kicked the ball with all the power of his right foot. It was a home run! Ian ran around the field, sound of booing to Ali.
" You suck, Ali!" The Chinese haired girl said.
" I believed in you!" The blond haired girl cried.
" They can quit with their yammering and go get the ball," Ali thought.
But it was too late. Ian already touched the baseline, his home, ran to the back of the line behind the fence, with a crowd of boys applauding him. One tried to give him a handshake.
" Wait," Ian said. " Did you wash your hands?"
A boy with navy blue hair and maroon eyes stepped onto the base line. His hair was bowl cut, except for one strand sticking out. He was wearing a green Chinese dress with blue trimmings.
Ali threw the ball. It moved with rolling speed towards the boy. He jumped over the umpire and kicked it.