Meo Animus: The Mover: Episode VII

Two of the intoxicated men held Ava each at her arms while the rest of them were laughing at their enjoyment. She struggled to liberate herself from their grip but she wasn’t strong enough to break free. All the store-owner could do was watch and plea for them to let her go, but the men didn’t listen. They wore nothing but their shorts and sandals. One of them had a necklace hanging on his chest. It was a golden cross and a glint of sunlight reflected into Ian’s eyes. He could not believe such act of desecration—to be happening just outside the majestic Parish Church.

The wind stopped and the leaves hanged helplessly from their branches—as if it showed an impression of disappointment. And the sky darkened when a great cloud traversed across the sun’s vision. The cross on top of the Church seemed to look down at the scene in discontent while the men continued their sinister laughter. It was boisterous and loud—it seemed like it could be heard from a fair distance.

The one with the golden cross stood up and placed his hands on Ava’s hips. She tried to shake them off but the men’s grip constrained her movement. She screamed for help as he slowly moved his hands lower to Ava’s thigh and then back up to her hips. His hands continued its ascent past her hips following the contours of her body. He had a twisted look on his face but before his hands could get any higher, Ian stopped it with his.

There was a mushing sound of flesh when Ian hit the man with a stone to the head. He fell down on the wooden floor with a bit of blood dripping down his face. The remaining four men stood up against him. Ava was finally able to free herself and watched the scene at a distance. Ian held his eyes with a furious glare towards the unconscious man. The others progressed slowly, surrounding him. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, the stone still in his hand.

Suddenly, one of the men in front charged towards him. Ian opened his eyes and swung the stone towards the approaching bloke’s head. The timing was perfect and knocked him to the ground. But the man behind him grabbed his body, immobilizing his arms. He struggled to find leverage but the man’s grip was firm. They again broke out in their ominous laughter—a menacing sound that stirred through the air.

One walked up towards Ian and landed a punch to his stomach. He jerked and it felt as if a knife stabbed his insides. The other grabbed a beer bottle and arrogantly approached him. With his twisted laughter, he raised the bottle up—ready to strike. Ian roared a chilling screech.

He slowly lifted the man behind him with his mind but it looked as if he lifted him with brute force. Before the bottle could reach Ian’s head, the man behind shielded him. Broken glass shot across in every direction. The man was out cold.

Ian shoved the unconscious body to the ground and slowly stood up. The remaining two drunkards stood at opposite sides; one in the front, the other at the back. The one in his line of sight looked as if his grin had been wiped off completely as he held in his hand the broken bottleneck. It had edges sharp enough to sever a person’s throat. Ian glared at him and the man glared back. He wasted no time and charged towards the bloke. The drunkard prepared to strike him with the bottleneck. Suddenly, it felt as if Ian’s world slowed down that he could see the detailed movement of everything in motion. It gave him time to think and it was as if his reflexes was everything but ordinary.

He controlled the movement of the man’s hand holding the broken bottleneck without touching it. He guided it to collide with the stone in his hand. At the moment of impact, the stone struck the drunkard’s knuckles and with it—shattered the bottleneck. Shrapnel of broken glass with tiny stains of blood shot out. Ian stopped the shards moving towards him in mid-air. But shrapnel progressing towards the drunkard had nothing in its way—it went directly to his face and to his eyes. He cried out in agony and wrapped his face with bloody hands. Ian got closer and struck him with the stone to his head.

Before he could drop to the ground, Ian noticed the other behind him holding up a chair ready to strike him. He manipulated the object to drop down like a rock on top of the last drunkard—knocking him out. Finally, he exhaled and gathered himself. He stood with an authoritative posture—all five men lying unconscious on the ground. With pure coincidence, the sun slowly regained its sight to the world and the wind cautiously picked up speed.

They were living a life of contradiction and needed to be taught a lesson—he thought. Being drunk was no excuse—they acted and chose to drink irresponsibly when they were sober. And as a result of being under the influence, they tried to violate a person and tried to hurt another who attempted to liberate the former. There was no reason why he should’ve hesitated to do what he did.

Ian ordered the awestricken store-owner to call the cops while he approached a stunned Ava—her mouth slightly opened in shock.

“Are they dead?” she asked worriedly.

“I didn’t hit them too hard,” snapped Ian, “they’ll come to in a little while.”

Both of them went inside the house as if nothing had happened. Ava left Ian in the living room as she went upstairs to fetch all the needed materials for the project. He looked around and stumbled upon a picture of her family on top of a small table with carvings of roses to its legs. He could recognize her father—who wouldn’t? He probably was one of the few people who had the purest soul in the city. He stared at the photo—Ava was still a little girl and she looked strikingly similar to her mother. Both looked beautiful and innocent.

He looked up and was startled when he saw the same exact face in the photo with the same exact smile. At the same time, Ava had just come back downstairs with the materials.

“Ava?” her mother asked, “Is this the boy you were talking about?”

“Yes mom.”

She maintained her smile, as if she was glad of his presence. She took a quick breath and exhaled, “Well, I’ll just leave you two to your work,” then went on back to her room.

The two of them finally started with their project. They sat in front of the computer with Ian taking control of the keyboard and mouse while Ava had all the materials neatly stacked up on a large space on the widely-built computer desk. They discussed and worked diligently the whole afternoon and finally finished up just as the orange sun across the window slowly hid its form.

When the first paper came out of the printer, Ava, with an awkward voice asked Ian, “Would you…stay awhile for dinner?” Ian turned his head towards her with an astonished look, “I already asked my mother to cook for us, please?” she continued her plea.

With a nervous voice, he couldn’t resist her, “Okay.”

The Mover Episodes

Episode VII