Saving the Villain

pAn,D a-n0ve1,c-o-m "Hey!"

Cosette and Luke jumped in surprise when Remo's voice erupted. The latter's voice was so loud it almost sounded like an echo of thunder. Meanwhile, Maxen furrowed his brows, watching Remo hastily run to the door and kick it open.

Without further ado, Remo ran inside the classroom as fast as he could. As he did so, Maxen caught the shock and fear plastered on Remo's side profile.



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"What… what's going on?" Luke stuttered, blinking to keep his eyes from shaking. He darted his eyes between Maxen and Cosette. Cosette had slightly recovered as she gazed up at Maxen before setting her eyes back to Luke.

Three seconds felt like minutes, having this realization slowly dawned on them. It wasn't a ghost. And with that, without another word uttered, the three of them rushed to the classroom.

To their surprise, the three stopped by the open door as their eyes caught Remo holding a female student. Cosette covered her gaping mouth, noticing the disheveled uniform she was wearing, which had some bloodstain on them. Luke and Maxen, on the other hand, just stood there, stunned at what they were seeing.

"Are you crazy?!" Remo roared, keeping the young lady in his strong arms while she was sobbing and struggling to break free. "Did you seriously plan to jump out of here?!"
"Let me go!!!" cried the young lady at the top of her lungs, struggling to break free from Remo.

As her action grew more and more aggressive, Remo clenched his teeth. He then grabbed her wrist, holding it tightly to stop it from bleeding. Even though he hadn't heard the entire story, Remo had already got the gist of this young lady's intention.

She was probably trying to slit her wrist but figured doing that was too painful. However, she was desperate to end whatever suffering she was going through. And therefore, instead of slitting her wrist, which was just so painful to do, she probably thought jumping out of the window on the third floor was quicker and relatively painless.

"Let me go! I can't take this anymore! Just let me die! I'm so fed up with everyone — I'm tired!" cried the young lady, but this time, she couldn't move because of Remo's hold.

She kept crying, sobbing, telling Remo to let her go over and over. The young lady didn't stop until she felt weak and helpless because Remo didn't budge the slightest. She was used to this. Too used to feeling this helplessness against the opposite sex. And thus, it only made her feel thousand times more miserable.

"That girl…" Cosette's lips quivered as a thin layer of tears coated her eyes. "... she's that girl in that clip."

Luke and Maxen turned their heads in Cosette's direction, only to see a tear roll down her cheek. Maxen gulped down the tension in his throat, setting his eyes back to Remo and the girl he had just stopped from committing suicide. Meanwhile, Luke let out a deep exhale, combing his hair with his fingers, unable to discern if he was relieved or angry — perhaps, both.

"Calm down first," Remo advised under his breath, lifting his eyes at the three figures by the door. As soon as he met Cosette's eyes, she nodded at him.

There were no words exchanged as the three entered the classroom, leaving the door wide open. Luke turned the switch on, and only then did they see clearly smeared blood on a particular desk and on Remo.

'Shit.' Luke ground his teeth, propping his butt against one of the desks.

Maxen, on the other hand, didn't have any particular reaction to the mess when the lights were turned on. He stood near the window, looking over it. If they weren't here and Remo idled more, Maxen would be looking over this window and would see a dead body on the ground.

"Calm down." Cosette squatted down beside Remo and the young lady. The latter was still sobbing, but she wasn't breaking free anymore. "Remrem, let her go now. She'll be fine."

There was reluctance in Remo's eyes, but she instantly noticed it.

"I'll be fine," she reassured him with a subtle smile. "You're here, Max and Luke, too. But I don't think she will harm me."

Remo let out a huff as he gazed back at the young lady. His heart was still racing like crazy, but since Cosette was already here and she was also a girl, she could probably calm her down completely. With that thought in mind, Remo carefully released the young lady from his arms. He did it carefully, lest she would do something to harm herself and Cosette.

When Remo was certain the lady didn't do anything despite that he had loosened his hold, he drew back a little faster. Cosette nodded at him as a gesture of thanks, before shifting her focus to the crying young lady slumped on the floor.

"Hey," called Cosette softly, but the girl didn't raise her head. Instead, she just cried and cried, hiccuping, keeping her head low. Another shallow breath slipped past her lips before her eyes fell on the girl's bleeding wrist.

"Here." Cosette looked up when Luke's voice suddenly rang from beside her. He was holding a small first aid kit, which was surprising since no one had told him to look for it. Surely, Luke was reliable at moments like this. "I found this in one of the lockers."

"Thanks." She smiled subtly, accepting the first aid from him. Luke simply shrugged as a reply, glancing at Maxen and then at Remo before taking the nearest seat.

"It's okay if you can't talk, but I'll dress up your wound first, alright?" Cosette softly told the young lady. "I'm going to touch you for a bit. Is that alright with you? We need to sanitize it and bandage it so it won't get an infection."

Cosette didn't make a move and put an ultimatum in her head. She waited patiently until the young lady slowly lifted her head to her. The moment their eyes met, Cosette sported a reassuring smile.

"Can I?" she asked quietly, and then the young lady nodded with pursed lips. "Thank you. I'll make it quick."