"Is Viola going to walk Father Abel?" asked Javier, the
campus security guard stationed outside, as Father Abel handed him
the bat.
"I hope not,"
said Father Abel grimly.
The door to the
Principal's office opened, and Senator Clarke stormed out, followed
by Viola and her parents.
"Hey,
Spielberg! You better watch your back!" Martin threatened Father
Abel, following behind Senator Clarke with his arms around Viola.
"Abel! Get in
here!" shouted Father Joseph, his voice booming through the
hallway.
Father Abel sighed
and opened the door, stepping back into the office.
"This is the
last time you turn my office into a courtroom, Abel. Pull this kind
of stunt again, and I'll have you suspended," snarled Father
Joseph.
"What about
Viola?" asked Father Abel.
"Her parents
have voluntarily withdrawn her, thanks to your shenanigans, and I'm
feeding you to any wolves Senator Clarke brings on us," growled
Father Joseph.
"Bring it on,
Joseph. I can handle myself," said Father Abel, his eyes
narrowing.
"Relax, Abel.
I'm just giving you a heads-up. I already was leaning towards
throwing those idiots out, it's one less headache for me," said
Father Joseph, his tone softening slightly.
"You had me
worried there for a moment," chuckled Father Abel, shaking his
head.
"Yeah well find
out what makes Zakhrov tick, we can't afford another incident like
this one," said Father Joseph, his tone serious.
Father Abel nodded
and left the office.
----
Aaron knocked and
entered to find Father Abel with a very grim look on his face.
"I see you have
already amassed quite a fearsome reputation. That little stunt you
pulled in the parking lot has had all the students terrified of you,"
said Father Abel grimly
"I intended no
harm. I merely wished to either scare her or attract campus
security," answered Aaron.
Father Abel pulled
out his phone, and showed Aaron a video of the incident.
From the angle the
shot was taken, it looked like the BMW was revving, getting ready to
slam into Viola and her car.
Viola herself had an
expression of abject terror and was frozen in place.
"I believe my
father and campus security can testify that there was no danger to
Ms. Viola. I only wished to prevent her from vandalizing the car with
her baseball bat," said Aaron.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Father Abel sighed
wearily. "We know that, which is why you are not in trouble.
However, it has made your ability to socialize much more difficult,"
he said.
Aaron raised an
eyebrow. "If my peers don't have the intelligence to understand
the context of my actions, then I'd rather not associate with them,"
he replied, eliciting a wry chuckle from Father Abel which he quickly
suppressed with a shake of his head.
"Onto another
matter, I've had the most disturbing phone calls from Mei and Kate."
said Father Abel grimly. His eyes boring into Aaron. Aaron regarded
Father Abel coldly. "What are you talking about?" he asked
quietly. Father Abel rubbed his temples. "Did you notice that
they were calling you 'Master Aaron' and obeyed your commands despite
them being much older than you?" he asked.
"Well yes. I'll
admit that I liked it even if they were just humoring me" said
Aaron.
"They weren't
humoring you. They actually enjoyed the control you had over them,"
growled Father Abel.
Aaron's Stoic
demeanor cracked, and he looked confused, giving Father Abel the
confirmation that Aaron didn't realize the power he had over them.
Father Abel sighed,
"What you are feeling is not uncommon, but it is something that
needs to be addressed.
You have a strong
desire to control your environment and the people in it.
This can manifest in
many ways, including the way you interact, and the way others respond
to you" he said gently.
Realization dawned
in Aaron's eyes. "So what I'm feeling is normal?" he
whispered. His Stoic mask crumbled, and Father Abel saw the
vulnerable side of Aaron for the first time.
Father Abel felt a
wrench in his gut. He realized that Aaron's stoicism and extreme
self-control were the result of him attempting to suppress these
urges. "When did you start to feel these desires?" he asked
gently.
"Three years
ago" replied Aaron. He then poured out to Father Abel exactly
what had happened:
Three years ago,
when Aaron was 10, Ivan had taken him to a BMW dealership to take
delivery of the new BMW M5 Ivan had bought. Aaron, who had seen his
father work long and hard on extra projects, was thrilled and proud
of his father for being able to buy such a beautiful and powerful
car.
That night though,
he witnessed a vicious and violent argument between Annette and Ivan.
Believing that he
was asleep, Annette had confronted Ivan about his purchase of the BMW
M5, she could not believe that he was actually serious about owning
it and had taken on extra work to earn enough money to afford it. She
was simply furious and screamed all sorts of things like 'toxic
male', 'brute' and had even tried to slap Ivan. He had caught and
twisted her arm, threatening her in a low voice, before releasing
her. The argument continued, with Ivan calmly but firmly standing his
ground on his purchase decision while Annette was hysterical.
Finally, Annette had
screamed that he could keep his stupid car, but it would be the last
time he ever pulled something like this, or she would leave him and
take Aaron with her. Aaron had felt fear for being separated from his
father, and was confused why Annette was so angry about the car.
His confusion about
Annette's anger over the car only grew and came to a climax the day
after the delivery of the car when she had screamed in terror when
Ivan had pushed the car to its full acceleration on the highway. At
that moment, he felt pleasure over Annette's fear and happiness that
Ivan was enjoying himself. He also felt guilt since it was his mother
who he was happy to see scared, but he realized that this was
something deep within him. Ever since that day, he had been trying to
control and suppress his desire to see girls and women in fear.
Drawing from his knowledge of movies and TV shows, he adopted a
persona to hide his emotions. As he practiced his stoicism, he came
to realize that he liked the way it made others feel uncomfortable
around him, and he liked the feeling of control his ability to hide
his emotions gave him.
After he had
finished speaking, Aaron felt as if a massive weight had been lifted
of his shoulders. Father Abel, came around his desk and laid a
gentle, comforting hand on Aaron.
"I am sorry
that you had to witness that fight Aaron. But do not worry. You are
not alone. There are lots of people who have the same tendencies as
you." he said gently.
"Thank you,
Father Abel" sniffled Aaron, drying his tears. With several deep
breaths, he stopped crying and returned to his Stoic self.
"Your use of
stoicism to control those tendencies do you great credit. Another
person would have resorted to thuggery or bullying to satiate those
desires." said Father Abel, admiration clear in his voice.
"I don't look
for trouble, but I won't back down from it either," said Aaron.
Father Abel sighed
in relief.
"All right, now
on to our current situation. Both Mei Ling and Kate have agreed to
minimize their interactions with you, friendship is not off the
table, but no more flirting or any other behavior that could be
construed as romantic," he said, his tone serious.
Aaron nodded, "I
understand Father Abel. I will respect their wishes," he said.
"Another word
of caution Aaron. This sort of thing is not widely understood or
accepted, and can be horribly misinterpreted. I urge you to not
openly discuss this with anyone," said Father Abel as a final
warning.
"I understand
Father Abel. I'll keep it to myself" said Aaron as he stood to
leave.
