Chapter 42

Chapter 42: ii. Game

It was supposed to be the end game of the season, she recalled the cheers as everyone started screaming for their athletes.

Even Mary who was naturally silent couldn’t stop screaming her boyfriend’s name as the game started to heat up.

Everything was fun until the unthinkable happened, five no maybe six members of the football team tackled Dominus to the ground.

One minute he was running towards the goal, and the next he was on the ground wheezing.

The cheers died and people crowd in front of the unmoving person. The head coach and the professors pacified the crowd and prevented them to come closer.

His spine might have gotten injured, one of the professors mindlessly said as they controlled the crowd.

It seemed forever until the ambulance arrived and she didn’t have the guts to follow the vehicle.

.....

She realized everybody already left when the rain started pouring, making her aware of her environment. She was already left alone, sitting on the bench as the cold rain soaked her body.

She stood up and looked for her bag, there it is sitting beside Dominus’s backpack.

Why again? What again happened? Her brain couldn’t register reality even as she felt tears stream down her cheeks.

It could not possibly be true. No, she could be having a nightmare right now. She just needed to wake up from this horrible dream.

She began to slap her cheeks as tears continued to fall down her cheeks, erased simultaneously by the unstopping rain. But even the wet feeling of the rain on her skin made her think of blood.

No, Dominus! This could not possibly be real. How could this happen to the school prince? How could such a thing happen to the one person the whole school adored?

She couldn’t accept it, her brain won’t go that way. If she accepts it to be real, then she might just die from the pain. Even now thinking it was all a dream, there is already an indescribable pain that begins to slash through her heart.

Her shoulders begin to jerk, it was horrible, her whole body was shaking. She couldn’t even fathom if she was trembling because of the coldness of the rain that has seeped through her clothes, or was it all because of the terrible emotion she feels.

Dominus. Dominus. She began to chant his name in whispers, she was like a madwoman who has literally gone insane. All she can think of was the scene replaying in her mind, over and over again.

Dominus! She was unsure if she has been screaming or was there no sound coming out of her mouth at all. She is not aware anymore of her surroundings. She is unaware of anything else except for the indescribable pain she felt.

There must be a way out of this nightmare, this can’t be the end. She wouldn’t let it be the end. She will go insane if anything were to happen to him.

Just thinking about him and the horrible things that could be happening to him while he was in the operating room. She screamed again. Or was it all just a figment of her imagination?

Dominus. Dominus. She chanted his name, faster this time, her voice breaking at every utterance of the word. She was chasing his name, she needs to get reminded of him.

Dominus promised her a lifetime of happiness together. Dominus promised he will love her all his life. That’s why she agreed to get married just after they graduate.

Graduation is just three days from now. How can Dominus do this to her? No, she will not be able to forgive him if he didn’t make his promises come true.

Dominus. Her body trembled as she raised her face to the heavens. She was praying. No, she was speaking in Latin. She couldn’t even understand herself. Dominus. Dominus. Dominus.

When she opened her eyes, she felt a bit of clarity coming back to her. She is beginning to hear the rain falling harshly on the field around her, hitting the bench, drowning her skin.

She is alive. Then, he must be alive too. She can do something. She has to do something.

Yes, Dominus’s mobile phone. She hurriedly looked for his phone inside his bag. She looked at it for a long time and started to rummage through his contacts.

There she found what she was just looking for. She took in deep breaths, even just looking at the name gives her anxiety.

She bit her lower lip and swallowed hard, it is for him, she convinced herself. She can do anything for him. She will do everything for her love.

She dialed his grandmother’s contact number. She is not even sure if she was it because it simply said Mrs. Saito, but she waited and hoped that it was her.

But when she answered, she felt her throat dry up and her mind unable to come up with words to tell her what just happened.

Somehow she felt like she was in the wrong. Like she failed to protect Dominus, although she knew that was absurd, but that was exactly how she felt. What was she supposed to say to this woman who absolutely hates and despises her?

When the woman on the other line raised her voice, that was the only time when she was able to introduce herself and tell her what happened.

The old woman berated her, telling her she was a bad omen from the start and that if anything happens then it was all her fault. This is her karma, and this karma for existing in his world has affected him, he was being made to pay for her own greediness.

She kept silent and simply accepted all the words coming from the old woman’s mouth. Even she felt like she was to blame for this, maybe she really is a bad omen from the start.

She let the rain continue to embrace her as she picked up his bag and hers and started to walk towards the football field.

She touched the spot where he lay helpless earlier. His big form hulked over the ground, his body unmoving.

She lovingly caressed the ground as if he was still there. She lay beside where his body fell earlier and embraced her knees in a fetal position.

If not for her classmate who saw her and felt pity, she might have stayed there until morning.

When she reached her home, she was greeted by the shocked look of her mom, letting her inside.

She was unresponsive as her classmate explained what happened. Her classmate wrote the hospital’s address where Dominus was brought and looked at her worriedly.

Her mother took her in and for a minute just hugged her as she shook uncontrollably. She screamed and sobbed, just repeating his name on her lips over and over.

Dominus. He has to survive, or all is lost. She will not be able to survive living in a world where he does not exist. She knows this.

Her mother cried with her, comforting her and telling her everything will be alright. But it doesn’t seem to matter, nothing can make her feel better, nothing but knowing he will stay alive.

She felt her mother’s hands combing through her hair as she continually sobbed in her mother’s arms.

“Mom, tell me he will be alright. I won’t be able to survive. Mom, I can’t live in a world without him. Tell me, mother, please tell me he will be fine. I need him to be fine,” she raised her head and was greeted by a slap on her cheek.

“Dimwit! Get a grip of yourself! You can’t be saying these things just because of a man! No matter how stupid you are, you could not say these words, do you hear me! Your life is valuable, how can you say you cannot live without a man?!” her mom shook her by her shoulders, tears falling down her cheeks as well.

She lowered her head, and whispered, “I’m sorry, mother. I didn’t want to make you feel sad. But it is true, without him... I won’t be able to live. In a world where he doesn’t live how can I breathe and stay alive? It’s just not possible for me to do, Dominus is the reason for my existence,” because she has lowered her head, she didn’t see the pity in her mother’s eyes and the horror that came with it.

She felt her mother’s arms around her again, comforting her, warm hands rubbing her back. “Then he has to live, no matter what. If he has done this much damage to you, then he has to get up from that sick bed and be with you in the end.”

Mary laughed hearing her mom’s words, oh yes indeed that will be so good. She has yet to tell her mother about their plans to marry.

They have to tell her soon enough, as soon as Dom gets out of the hospital, they have to tell the others. That she and he will finally be united as one.

And then there will be children after they finished college. They will live a simple and happy life away from the constraints of the society he lived in.

Just him and her, and their little family. They will be perfect. She didn’t notice the tears trailing down her cheeks once again as she laughed and sobbed at the same time.

Because even then, subconsciously she knew... she might not have the fairytale ending she desperately wished for just now.