Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 304. Lightning Show

Henry’s POV

I continued to ignore the psychologist while he continued to ask questions.

"What do you plan to do in the future?"

"What do you think about joining the military?"

"Could you imagine visiting a parallel world again?"

There were long pauses in between his questions, reminding me of unhappy drugstore cashiers forced to advertise the new three-for-one shower gels, only to be waved off by bored and busy customers.

This guy, too; though I didn’t answer him, he proceeded through the questions he was apparently required to ask before we spent the rest of the hour in absolute silence as I watched the sweat spots under his arms grow toward his chest.

When the time was over, I went upstairs.

Somehow, I couldn’t eat with the others anymore because the first time Kenny appeared here was during my absence from dinner.

I had been in the bathroom washing off Kenny3’s blood and that of another petite drag inmate when I found them making out, both high as hell.

I just teleported to him to ask about his unreliable visions, then snapped completely at seeing what he was doing while wearing Kenny’s body and name.

I didn’t have an appetite after coming back, so I opted to wash my hands for a few hours to get rid of the dirt I touched.

Who would have thought?

First Chelsea’s voice, then Patrick’s, but ultimately it was Kenny who was visiting.

Now, I don’t go to dinner anymore and wait in my room, staring at the door and waiting for the special knock that signaled Kenny’s arrival, as if the fact that I wasn’t in the dining room somehow raised the chances of him coming by.

And so I did that day, only to not hear any knocking even until late into the night.

I lay in Kenny’s bed, but it didn’t smell like him.

Finally, I exited my room and went to Harry and Patrick’s room.

"Again?" Harry groaned sleepily as I apparently woke him up, though I had opened and closed the door quietly.

I didn’t answer him and sat down between both of their beds in the darkness—darkness for them, not for me.

Playing with my necklace, I waited while Harry drifted off to sleep.

The first time I came over in the middle of the night, Patrick screamed in terror, thinking it was someone else intruding, which made no sense; who would want to come to them at night?

A few nurses came, and they only left after I told them we were having a pajama party and that they should leave.

Since then, Patrick never screamed again, though he often lay silently awake while I was present. Both guys clearly didn’t like me being there.

But... so what? You stole Kenny’s blood and dared to ingest it.

I have every right to do what I want with them, and what I was doing was just silently sitting there at night. If they knew what I did with Dr. Thompson’s assistant as well as the nurse that helped him, they would understand how much mercy they were receiving.

Every time one of the two moved, I thought it could be Kenny, but in the end, I wasted another night in a room with two people that were not him.

I went back to Kenny’s bed in the early morning hours and slept a bit before the first lessons started.

********

The next day, I had just eaten lunch in my room when the sky changed.

"DING! PLEASE STAY CALM, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO YOU!" The voice of the loudspeaker in the corridor was so loud that I heard it in my room.

I looked out of the meshed window, crossing my arms as I heard screams from the corridor; the people were apparently freaking out completely.

Other groups, damn many groups, were still outside in the garden, although it was lunchtime.

I tapped against the window, seeing neither Patrick, Harry, nor Chelsea outside.

But I spotted the twins, who looked up at the sky, before they both suddenly disappeared.

They seem to be able to teleport as well.

"DING! YOU ARE SAFE AS LONG AS YOU STAY IN YOUR ROOM."

The sky was still lit in an undefinable light color, but there were hundreds, thousands of lightning strikes coming down. Just like strings that reflected the light, one couldn’t see the complete lightning, but there was something in the air, as if it was static—everything regarding this situation indicated that it would be deadly to go outside.

When the lightning struck the people that ran back inside, their bodies fell like soulless dolls.

"DING! I REPEAT, DON’T LEAVE THE BUILDING! STAY INDOORS; EVERYONE GO TO THEIR RESPECTIVE ROOMS!"

A bit late to announce that after shooing everyone outside. It was the last message over the speaker before there was a complete blackout.

The whole building was in an uproar, but it was no comparison to what had transpired in the garden. At least twenty people were spread on the lawn, having died in a few seconds, some of the survivors showing an inhuman speed as they fled.

I teleported to Patrick and Harry and found them scared to death inside the cafeteria. There was also Chelsea, and the twins were just entering as well, the latter running to the former.

Everyone was alright, so Kenny had no reason to be angry with me. I didn’t want to give him one, because I wanted to have the upper hand when settling the score after his ’complete’ return.

I just glanced at them before teleporting back to my room. While everyone stared outside, nobody noticed me coming and going.

Taking my phone, I tried to call Ethan to check on Kenny’s grandma, but there was no signal.

Letting the acid spread through my body, I teleported inside the mansion of Mrs. Howard.

Once I was pieced together by the outside force, I found myself in the big living room; it was utterly silent inside the whole mansion.

"Mrs. Howard?" I yelled.

"UPSTAIRS!" Came an old scream back, seeming to be in no distress.

I breathed a sigh of relief and jogged up the stairs to the third floor, where I found a ladder pulled down from the ceiling.

Climbing the ladder, I saw Mrs. Howard lounging on a divan, watching the spectacle through the ground-to-ceiling window in the attic.

The divan was absolutely out of place, and so was the massive bookshelf on the side; the rest of the attic was filled with covered furniture.

Mrs. Howard didn’t turn around, looking outside through her golden opera glasses.

"So, you are alright?" I asked her, glancing at Ethan, who was using modern mini binoculars to watch as well.

"Henry, yes. How about you?" Ethan asked, not turning around or putting the binoculars down.

That was not as polite as I had known him to usually be. Was he adopting Mrs. Howard’s behavior, or were the lightning displays just that breathtaking for them?

I stepped closer, seeing the whole city through the attic window, the reflecting strings all over the city; in some places, fire blazed.

"Is it a good idea to stay in the attic during... whatever this is?" I inquired while motioning to the window.

"I always watch thunderstorms from here and read." Mrs. Howard continued to watch, popping a grape into her mouth.

So, she hadn’t just brought the divan and bookshelf up; they had been here all along.

"This room has been secured against lightning," Ethan explained.

I sat down on the side of the divan, watching her eat grapes. Ethan was in his suit, and Mrs. Howard wore a black and white dress, looking ready to truly enjoy the opera with her entire getup.

"You won’t get any grapes," Mrs. Howard suddenly said.

I sighed.

"I don’t want any."

"Did that thing visit again?" She changed the topic.

"No news from Kenny." I hummed, suppressing the urge to scream or bite into my arm in front of them.

"I should check on my parents." I mumbled, not wanting to move away from this attic, feeling utterly drained because of the people I have to care for, while the only really important one was a world or two away.

Suddenly, I heard a sound, a muffled voice, and looked to the side.

"Ignore that." Mrs. Howard said, munching on a grape, utterly unconcerned.

I sighed again and stood up. If they had someone detained here, it would be better to get rid of them with my powers, tracelessly and instantly.

If Kenny came back and found his grandma in prison, he’d beat me up severely.

I navigated to the large attic and finally found a big chest that was covered with a blanket as well, with someone clearly inside, wanting to get out.

I dissolved the lock and opened the chest, seeing an older man, dressed casually, with bushy eyebrows and somewhat handsome features.

"Staff Sergeant McAlister?" I pulled out the fabric that was stuffed into his mouth.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

I had only seen him once, accompanying Kenny’s friends to visit him, but I remembered him.

He didn’t scream for help when he had the chance; he just looked at me somewhat embarrassed.

"He is my stalker." Mrs. Howard said loudly.

Staff Sergeant McAlister pressed his lips together while I helped him out. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"I am not. I came to warn Mrs. Howard about... the storm." He said quietly, his stern exterior having turned somewhat sheepish.

"HE BROKE INTO MY HOUSE!" Mrs. Howard yelled.

The staff sergeant dropped his shoulders.

"I was told by the... young men... to leave without the chance to relay my warnings." The staff sergeant patted his clothes off any dust, trying to regain some of his composure while he continued explaining himself quietly.

"I just hit him once, and he immediately fell unconscious." Mrs. Howard said while eating.

The staff sergeant chuckled, holding the back of his head.

I stepped around him and noticed that the back of his head was bleeding.

"We can’t kill him; he is the staff sergeant of Kenny’s friends," I said to her across the room.

"He can talk, so he isn’t dead." Mrs. Howard shrugged, still watching the burning city.

Ethan appeared behind me like a ghost, his binoculars left behind.

"Staff Sergeant McAlister! My name is Ethan Hendricks. I am so sorry you were mistaken for a burglar." He shook the older man’s hand cordially, a professional smile on his lips.

"Though you trespassed into Mrs. Howard’s mansion, you did so with good intentions. We will naturally not report the crime—which it ultimately was. Many thanks for coming here to warn Mrs. Howard! We will naturally show our appreciation. Now, please follow me so we can take care of the injuries you did accidentally receive." Ethan still shook the bleeding man’s hand, pulling him to the ladder that led downstairs.

Mrs. Howard snorted audibly.

"Do you need help? Should I call the mansion staff?" Ethan asked.

"Oh... Oh no, that won’t be necessary." The poor man was overwhelmed, and while peeking at Mrs. Howard’s back repeatedly, he let himself be led downstairs by Ethan.

I followed them down.

"The military knew about the lightning?" I questioned.

"Experts that watch and interpret the upcoming weather had already expressed their concerns. Also, a storm was predicted on television." The staff sergeant answered.

"But nobody described it to be like this. Why hadn’t the citizens been warned?" Ethan took over the questioning while bringing the staff sergeant into one of the huge bathrooms.

The staff sergeant sat down on the edge of the bathtub, not answering this time, the sheepish man gone and someone of a high-ranking position returning.

Ethan wet a towel before stepping into the bathtub and cleaning the old man’s wound, not alerting anyone else.

"Either you hoped it wouldn’t turn out this grave, or you didn’t want to cause panic." I chuckled.

The staff sergeant scrutinized me before nodding briefly.

I didn’t have any expectations in the military, so I wasn’t surprised that they hadn’t even asked the people to stay at home, instead just babbling about some random storm in the weather forecast.

"I have to go. Are Kenny’s friends alright? Jordan, Omar, Danny?" I asked the old man.

"Yes, they are alright."

Mhm. Soldiers are more precious to them than citizens; I understand.

I waved to Ethan, who waved back at me with a bloody towel, indicating that he had the situation under control.

I walked back to Mrs. Howard.

"Could you not get yourself imprisoned while Kenny is gone?"

Finally, she put the opera glasses away to look down at me, laughing sardonically,

"Why? Then grandmother and grandson can be convicts together. WHY NOT BRING THE WHOLE FAMILY BEHIND BARS?"

This topic was apparently still a sore spot for her. Now I understood why Ethan had started to repeatedly sigh during our calls; I also couldn’t stop it the moment I set foot inside here.

"I’ll call you when I have news." I said, letting the acid in my veins spread, only seeing her wave me away dismissively before continuing to eat and watch the show.

I checked on my parents, finding them also in front of a window while they held onto each other. Without notifying them of my appearance, I teleported back to my room in the center.

There, I pulled my sleeve up to finally bite into my arm, feeling better, more tranquil. The urge to scream and rage, to kill and destroy because of Kenny’s disappearance, lessened a bit again.

"I miss you," I mumbled after letting go of my flesh.

"But although I miss you...

...I will have to punish you when you come back."