Speechless

Why was it that it was easy for her to find him, but exactly the opposite for him to find her?

“Any idea where they might have gone?” May asked, once all together again after splitting up.

“They’re certainly not in any empty classrooms,” said Matthew, the dark haired boy with the glasses.

“Or the auditorium, where Alphonse said they found her,” May added grimly.

They had searched for a while, and Alphonse had started wondering if he was too late. If the jocks had already humiliated Raven in front of all the nosy teenagers. By the time they found where they were, who would they be there? Would the nosy teenagers disperse and go about their normal lives, leaving only Raven alone and helpless? Or would Raven have had enough and been able to escape? Alphonse almost had all the questions, but no answers.

“Did they go outside?” one of them asked.

“They could’ve,” May said. She thought about it, then added, “That would explain why we haven’t been able to find them inside.”

“We’ll go check,” another boy, whose name Alphonse could not recall, said. “If we see them, we’ll come back immediately and report back to you.”

Alphonse blinked at him, surprised at his choice words, and at the same time, amused. Report back to you, he’d said. They really took this situation as a real life mission, didn’t they? thought Alphonse.

May nodded. “You two go look, while the three of us return to find any possible locations where we might find her.” She took Alphonse’s hand, startling him for the second time, and made her way down the hall. Matthew followed after them, while the two boys that had volunteered to look outside went their way.

They continued searching through places where they thought would be big yet secret enough not to catch the teachers’ attention. Unfortunately, their luck was not doing well for them. There was still no group of people making commotion wherever they looked, including Raven. Things seemed to become helpless until Alphonse abruptly stopped and motioned the rest to do the same.

May leaned closer to him and said quietly, “Do you hear something?” There was a slight disbelief in her voice, but she wanted to be sure.

“I hear voices,” Alphonse said slowly and just as quietly. He glanced at Matthew’s spaced out expression change into that of concentration. Maybe he could hear them, too.

Alphonse took a few unconscious steps backward, and as he concentrated on the muffled voices of people near him, he couldn’t exactly make out where they were coming from. They were somewhere behind him. He turned around and looked, already recognizing the doors of the rooms they had already checked. He passed looking over the door that had a small sign that read “STUDENTS NOT ALLOWED ACCESS,” and continued searching. Not until Matthew stepped beside him and stared intently at the same door he had skipped, did he realize where they had gone.

“The roof,” they all said in unison.

May looked at Matthew, then at Alphonse. He looked back, a worried expression clearly visible over his features. But they had no time to waste thinking about it. He had barely known Raven since a few days before, but already he knew that the possibilities of him being late to stop it were fair. Fifty-fifty…Alphonse thought, anxious, and already making his way towards the door.

Matthew opened the door forcefully, and they all made their way up the metal stairs that led to the roof. They could all hear their excited and nervous voices clearly; they had obviously found them. And they wouldn’t know if they’d been late or not until they reached their destination.

Alphonse looked around them, once in the complete view of the crowd of the nosy teenagers and trouble-causing group of jocks. He couldn’t see Raven as he looked, though he had only just arrived. May looked the most worried of all, now that they were surrounded. Matthew seemed used to it, but Alphonse could somehow feel the uneasiness. He took a moment to memorize the faces of the people around him. He would have to remember the people he’ll have to stay clear of from now on. He didn’t want anything to do with these people. Who would want to watch someone being tortured?

“Al.” Alphonse heard someone whisper his name among the crowd. “Alphonse! Over here.”

Alphonse turned to his right to see Luis waving with his hand for him to join him. Hadn’t he made himself clear that he had no intention of watching? Apparently not. Before Alphonse could even shake his head, May had elbowed about five other people to make her way towards the group in the center of it all.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Alphonse heard May yell, silencing everyone. Not even whispers were heard among them.

“Oh, look.” That was Francis’ voice. “Here comes little red riding hood.” Then he laughed. “Are you lost or something? If you’re not, then go ahead and get lost.”

“Bite me,” May said fiercely.

Alphonse followed after her, having to elbow a few other people himself, and stood not too far behind her.

“Ooh, I’m so scared,” Will said, moving his hips in the way he thought was like a girl.

Morons…

“Let her go,” Matthew said, coming up to stand beside May.

Abruptly, there was a sound at the exit. The door had been pushed open. Alphonse looked back to see the two music lovers that had gone looking outside pushing their way over to where they were. The boys stopped to look at the group of jocks, and then joined Matthew and May. Perhaps they were thinking they were outnumbered. Though they could easily take them down, Alphonse saw a very small chance that it would be a fair fight.

“Why?” Perry spoke for the first time. The rest had not bothered to even utter a word of ignorance, Will and Francis had taken care of that.

“We’re not really doing anything wrong,” Francis said, taking a step forward, a smug grin on his face. “If she doesn’t want to jump, then she doesn’t have to.”

Alphonse froze where he stood, barely taking in the words that seemed to roll off of his tongue. If she doesn’t want to jump, Francis had said. Jump. From a roof. He felt like someone had picked up a rock and tried to cut his veins with it.

The argument was still going on without him, and it seemed he wasn’t the only one aghast at Francis’ words. “Jump?” Matthew uttered, his eyes shimmering with fury from behind his glasses. “You expect her to jump?”

“Well,” Will sighed, “I did give her a choice. She can either jump or speak.” He grinned. “Her choice. Apparently she values her girly little voice more than her life.” The rest of them began to laugh.

“What…?” Alphonse whispered to himself. He was sure no one else heard him. How could they do that to her? They really were complete idiotic morons. Didn’t they know that she could never speak, even if she tried? That even if her life was the point where it could end, she could never even whisper? Had they even guessed? Alphonse felt horrible, a sickening feeling beginning to make its place in his stomach. What kind of people did he hang out with? He would never take his time to do something like that.

While the sickened thoughts ran through Alphonse’s mind, May had finally found what she was looking for.

“Raven!” she exclaimed, throwing herself pass the group of grinning jocks.

Alphonse took in a shaky breath. As Matthew and the rest made their way pass them, he couldn’t help himself from doing the same, wondering if she were on the breaking point, and praying that she wasn’t. He barely noticed the jocks’ surprised expressions to see him involved with the music lovers. They didn’t try to stop him, or made any sound of protest as Alphonse pushed them aside and stopped to take in the sight before him.

May was kneeling before a shaking body curled up against the edge of the roof. The fragile girl’s long, black hair was spread over her arms, which were hugging her knees against her chest. With every shaky breath she took, her body trembled. And with every tremble, Alphonse felt his tolerance get even smaller. His mercy for these foolish human beings was getting weaker and weaker. His anger grew, until eventually it resulted into words.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Alphonse yelled, turning back towards the surprised group of insolent teenagers.

“Alphonse-” Francis said.

“What,” Alphonse said, directing every bit of his hatred filled glare towards Francis, “did you think that giving her the option of jumping off a school roof or speaking was funny?!”

“All she has to do is talk!” Will said defensively.

“She can‘t, you idiot!” Alphonse told him. “She’s freaking mute!”

There was a silence between them. Even the crowd had been left wide-eyed and speechless. Even though they went to school with her, probably saw her around various of times, they didn’t even have a clue she couldn’t utter a single word. Not now that she was being threatened to jump off a school building, and not ever.

“We…” Francis’ voice faltered. “We didn’t know-”

“Did you ever even ask?!” Alphonse spat. Then he looked at everyone else who stood there, shocked to silence. “Did any of you even ask? Did you even think?” A bitter snort escaped his lips. “Or did you just not care?”

An expression that looked like guilt and shame took over everyone’s faces. Some couldn’t even look up from the floor. Alphonse calmed himself down. He was showing a part of him he never wanted anyone to see. But of course no one knew. It had never crossed their minds, not even once. He just wanted to make sure they felt ashamed for watching such a thing happen.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Will cleared his throat and began to laugh awkwardly. Alphonse looked at him, still angry and now confused. “Well,” Will said, receiving the same confused looks from the rest of the guys around him. “At least she didn’t jump.”

Then, Alphonse punched him.