The Kingpin's Possession

26: Alive

Kit:“Earth!” Prem’s voice forced Kit to open his eyes as Earth’s hands were ripped off of him.

Kit found Prem standing between the two of them, blocking his attack with both hands before he pushed Earth back hard enough that he stumbled to the ground, falling onto his back.

“Get the fuck away from us, Prem!” Earth hissed, his anger no longer under his control. “You have no idea what this son of a bitch has done! Don’t come in between us!”

“Stop it already!” Prem hissed back, standing in front of Kit like a shield. “Anything you want to solve or fix can be done in a civilized conversation! Do not make a scene here!”

It was only then that both Earth and Kit looked around at the crowd that had suddenly started forming around the stone tables. People stopped on their way to class to look at all the fuss going on and it had drawn other curious souls to the ground as well.

Earth hadn't realized it, but their conversation hadn't been as quiet as he had wanted it to be.

“Come on.” Prem held out his hand so Earth could take it and get his ass off the ground. “Let’s get out of here.”

Slapping his hand aside, Earth got up on his own and dusted off his clothes before giving Kit an angry look as he walked away.

“What on ear…is going on here?” Prem turned to look at Kit expectantly. “Will one of you please mind telling me?”

“It’s nothing.” Kit shook his head, unable to tell Prem because that would mean involving him as well. “We had a bit of a…disagreement yesterday.”

“A disagreement, you say?” Prem scoffed, not believing them for a bit. “We’ve been friends for how long now? Any disagreement you’ve had in the past had never ended with you guys trying to beat each other up!”

“Prem…” Kit shook his head. “Let’s not…”

“Why the hell not?” It was Prem who appeared angry this time. “Earth’s been in a foul mood all morning; you show up late to Uni and get into a fight with Earth right away and now Ben’s missing or something? What the fuck is even going on?”

Right then, the sound of the bell going off caught all their attention almost immediately.

“Let’s talk once class is over.” Kit tried to reason with him, buying time so he could figure his shit out before getting any more people involved. “Let’s meet up at the terrace? SO we don’t have so many prying eyes on us?”

“Fine.” Prem sighed, breathing out through his mouth before he turned to look at Kit. “Let’s meet and have a ‘discussion’. But this time, I want the truth.”

“Ok.” Kit agreed, just so that Prem would leave him alone for the time being. “See you after class.”

Prem’s classes ended a few minutes after theirs, so Kit was hoping that Earth and him could come to an understanding in the time being. It was better for them if Earth didn’t spill anything to Prem before they had a chance to talk.

As he saw Prem walk away to his faculty, Kit too turned to his own building and headed to his classroom. Public Relations was one class that Ben, Earth and Kit usually have together. However, when he entered the classroom, it was to find Earth at the very back of the class, distancing himself from everyone else.

Kit went to the back as well, in hopes that he could sit next to Earth, but as soon as he approached the seat, Earth placed his backpack on it, blocking him from taking a seat.

Kit got the message loud and clear. So he moved to an empty seat a couple chairs away from Earth, in hopes that he could still manage to communicate with him.

Since this was a shared class, the seats began to fill up almost immediately. From the corner of his eyes, he saw someone take the seat next to Earth, as a girl from another faculty took a seat next to Kit.

He gave her an awkward smile before turning to look at Earth once again, but he had his head down and was avoiding even looking at Kit.

An overwhelming sense of guilt began to haunt Kit at that moment.

Fuck!What did I really get my friends into?This wasn’t his first time watching P’Kim kill or shoot other people.

Their very first encounter had been stained with blood and it was still haunting him to this day.

Then there had been the debt collectors and now P’First.

Whenever he was with P’Kim, either he or those closest to him keep getting hurt. He couldn’t think of a way to stop all this, but at the same time, he knew in his heart that he was already too involved with P’Kim to back out now.

His sister trusted him, but did she even know what he was really capable of?

And now…one of his closest friends from high school had gotten involved with the mafia, moreover, an enemy gang.

Was Ben even…alive?

He didn’t have the strength or the willpower to say it out loud…but he knew that Earth was thinking the same thing.

Earth was usually a peaceful person. He liked his calm and his own space. Even though he like to tease his friends and get on their nerves sometimes, he was also the first person to break up any fights and disagreements among the friends.

To see him get so angry at Kit…it hurt Kit more than he let on.

“Good afternoon, class.” The teacher entered the classroom just as the second bell rung, signaling that it was twelve in the afternoon. “Is everyone here?”

Both Kit and Earth’s eyes went to the empty seat at the corner of the class. It was the only seat left and it belonged to Ben.

Worry began to gnaw at Kit even more. He didn’t want to believe it, but the more the clock ticked time away…the only thing on his mind was the fact that Ben didn’t make it.

Just then, the classroom door opened and a figure stepped inside, causing Kit to hold his breath as he watched the man enter and bow to the teacher.

“Ben…late again.” The teacher shook her head before pointing to the empty seat. “Go take your seat! Class has already begun.”

It wasn’t until Ben turned to face the class, meeting eyes with him that Kit felt a flood of relief wash over him. His lungs burned from the lack of oxygen, but most of all, Kit felt like a humongous weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

However, the relief lasted only so long until he saw the black eye and the way Ben’s face was all but drained of color.

He looked behind him, at Earth; found him looking back at him with just as much worry etched into his expression.

Ben didn’t say anything. Just silently went and sat down on his seat.

And Kit and Earth began to wait for the painstrikenly slow movement of the clock until their class was over.