FDD 18

“…..”

The song started playing from the middle. It was a song the three of them were familiar with. Luca, Noah, and Chloe remained silent for a long time. Then, Chloe spoke up.

“……Are you a Belieber?”

“What is a Belieber?”

Noah asked and Luca, who was standing nearby, answered for him.

“A Justin Bieber fan…….”

“Aha…….”

Noah exclaimed in understanding, but even knowing Gerald was a Justin Bieber fan, he had nothing specific to say, so he just remained quiet.

“Well, Justin Bieber. It’s okay to like him. But Gerald and Baby. Hmm. I did not expect you to like this song.”

Chloe barely held back her laughter as she spoke. Gerald’s face turned bright red, and he shouted, “Ah! It was my little sibling who was listening!” but they didn’t exactly believe him. While Luca was still reeling from the shock, Noah started speaking again,

“Anyway. If we put the phone playing loud music in the puddle of ethanol, won’t the noise attract him here?”

“So you’re saying you’re going to burn my phone?”

Gerald shouted as he snatched the phone from Noah’s hand. However, Chloe, who was standing next to him, took it back.

“You’re a wealthy white man. If anyone is going to make a sacrifice here, who should?”

Chloe said as he pointed at the four people sitting together. An Indian girl who was a second-generation immigrant, a Korean (gay) boy, a Latino (gay) boy who was a third-generation immigrant, and a white man who was an immigrant but completely devoid of an immigrant identity. The answer was obvious. Yet, Gerald didn’t want to let go of the phone he had only recently acquired. As Gerald hesitated, Chloe yelled at him.

“Do you value your phone more than your life! Even Steve Jobs (former CEO of Apple) would have gladly burned his iPhone in this situation! As a white man who has caused all sorts of harm to the world, if you have any conscience, hand it over! Or do you want to give up your life?”

Gerald held out his phone and Chloe snatched it away with a “Hmph!” They ignored the sulking Gerald, and roughly mapped out the school’s layout in their heads while formulating a plan. It had many flaws, but for now, it was the best option. The plan the three of them came up with was as follows.

They planned to pour ethanol into the corner where the hallway turned, fill a bag with fireworks, place a phone playing loud music (they decided it wouldn’t be “Baby” for now) on top, [unauthorized copy]and hide in the classroom attached to that corner. Their plan was to throw the lit fireworks when Baphomet arrived, then either run away immediately or lie flat on the ground depending on the situation.

Only Luca and Chloe had bags today, but since both had lost them after being jostled around, Luca found a crumpled paper bag lying around the room. As he crouched down to fill the bag, Noah pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him. He then bent down and whispered to Luca.

“Luca, I still have six mint candies left.”

“So, you want to do it now…? It’s not that I don’t want to, but…”

Luca trailed off as he watched Chloe pace back and forth in the classroom and Gerald, who wore a sullen expression.

“I know it’s not really possible right now, but… since I don’t know what might happen in the future, I just wanted to say it.”

Noah already knew. However, the sadness in his voice made Luca’s heart ache. Yeah. They might die. Luca aslo desperately wanted to kiss Noah. There were times when he would do crazy things without thinking twice, as if a screw had come loose, and this was one of those times. Luca jumped to his feet.

“Chloe, Gerald. I have something to confess.”

Luca called out to Chloe and Gerald in a loud voice. The gazes of Chloe, who had been pacing back and forth in the classroom, and Gerald, who was slouched on his chair, turned toward Luca.

“I… I’m dating Noah.”

Noah looked at Luca in surprise, while Chloe stopped in her tracks and stared at him. Gerald shouted, “Noah Solano is gay?”

When he saw Noah’s flustered face, Luca asked with an apologetic expression, “Ah. Is it an outing? Is it too early? Should I have hidden it?”

Although flustered, Noah found Luca’s reaction cute and funny, so he waved his hand and laughed.

“No. It’s fine.”

Chloe watched Noah and Luca for a moment before speaking.

“…A coming out now? Well, you two look good together. But it’s a bit sudden. I do not mean anything bad about you both being gay. It is just the current situation, and Luca, I know your parents, so I did not expect this…….”

Chloe’s expression looked calm, but she started rambling incoherently. Gerald mumbled,

“Maybe he wanted to die as a confirmed gay guy instead of a straight assumed guy.”

“So, the reason I told you is that I want to kiss before I die, so don’t look this way.”

Luca continued resolutely. At his next words, Chloe looked dumbfounded, and Gerald straightened his slouching posture.

“Is he a lunatic? Solano, I think you need to reconsider dating him. I usually don’t say nice things to you, but I don’t think he’s a good fit.”

“Luca has no intention of becoming a Bieber’s baby like you, so it’s fine. You know Bieber is a married man, right?”

“…I’m not listening!”

Even though Gerald was badmouthing Luca, Noah smiled because he found Luca adorable for saying such things just to kiss him.

They were a match made in heaven.

***

“If you’re going to do it, hurry up and do it. It’s really hard walking around the classroom without looking at you two.”

Chloe walked back and forth through the classroom like a racehorse. She looked straight ahead so that her gaze wouldn’t [stolen content]drift toward where Luca and Noah were.

“Dad only allowed kisses. No more than that.”

Gerald sat with his arms crossed and turned away, spouting nonsense in an exaggeratedly stern voice. Noah and Luca faced each other. Luca looked up at him and whispered.

“I really did something crazy, was it not good?”

“No, it’s adorable?”

Noah replied to Luca with a sweet smile. He had never once found Luca unappealing. They ignored Gerald shouting, “I can hear you!” and immersed themselves in their own world.

“We will continue after we survive.”

Luca said after kissing Noah.

“You two are the weirdest and most cheesy couple I’ve ever seen. Congratulations. Hang in there, even if it’s tough. If you break up after all this, it would be such a waste that I tried my best to look away.”

Chloe clapped, and Luca held Noah’s hand. He smiled again in delight.

“Hey! Cheesy couple! Get the fireworks ready!”

Chloe shouted. At her words, Luca grabbed the heavy paper bag filled with fireworks with his other hand. He still did not let go of Noah’s hand.

***

They moved to the room at the very end. Since the surroundings were still quiet, the four of them tried to move as quickly as possible. Noah poured ethanol onto the floor and placed the bag of fireworks Luca had brought on top of it. Then, Gerald said goodbye to his phone and played a song. Fortunately, this song wasn’t by Bieber.

After getting ready, the four of them hurried into the room. Fun.’s “We Are Young” played from Gerald’s iPhone. It was a song Luca, Noah, and Chloe knew all too well. Their hearts pounded in time with the drum beats coming from the intro.

Thump, thump, thump. Thump, thump.

Thump, thump, thump. Thump, thump.

To avoid singing along to the lyrics of a song they knew so well, they focused on listening to hear sounds other than the music.

Then the song headed toward its most famous part.

[Tonight

We are young.]

“We can burn brighter than the sun.”—immediately after that, a pounding sound was heard. It wasn’t the sound of drums. It was heavy footsteps that could actually be felt as a vibration. The sound of footsteps grew closer, and Luca peered out through the gap in the window. It was not yet visible from where Luca was standing, but soon a single horn caught his eye.

Luca nodded to Chloe, who was standing in front of the adjacent window. Then, she lit a firework, quickly opened the window, and threw it. Now, it was time for the killer to burn brighter than the sun.

The firework flew and landed in the puddle of ethanol, and the fire spread in an instant. Flames spread beneath Baphomet’s feet, making him look as if he were standing on a small stage with special effects. Baphomet’s ethanol-soaked shoes caught fire easily, but while the fire spread to his dry clothes, they did not burn as quickly as something soaked in ethanol.

After throwing the firework, Luca, Noah, Chloe, and Gerald immediately ducked down, but they did not hear the sound of the fireworks exploding. Gerald looked up and cursed. Baphomet was not standing where the firework had been. And then the firework exploded.

Bang!

Boom!

Pop!

“Ugh, fuck!”

“It failed!”

“What do we do now… look over there!”

The deafening explosions shook the building. The four covered their ears, and looked toward the door that had just opened. Baphomet had entered. His feet were on fire, but he didn’t seem to mind; his eyes, revealed by his broken goat mask, were staring at them.

Baphomet was missing one hand, but he acted relaxed, as if the saw in his single hand was enough. They had dealt with the boy so easily that they had started underestimating Baphomet too.

The four stepped away from the window and backed away to the wall furthest from the door. Baphomet pushed his way through the desks and chairs to approach. They had already used up all the remaining fireworks and ethanol, and none of them had a proper weapon. All Luca had was condoms. He regretted not at least bringing tweezers, but it was too late now.

Noah picked up the nearest desk. He waited for Baphomet to come a little closer, then hurled the desk at him. Baphomet flinched and caught the flying desk with his body. Taking advantage of that brief moment, Noah grabbed Luca’s hand and ran.

The two escaped the room. Sparks flew at them from a spectacular fireworks display that had gone to the wrong place behind them. Running against the backdrop of the dazzling fireworks, they felt as though they were in a cheesy teen movie filled with chroma key special effects.

However, the genre Luca and Noah were in right now was horror. And a B-grade slash movie at that. If such a movie existed, the audience would have thrown their soda cups at the screen and stormed out in anger. It would have been nice if Luca ​Read on​and Noah could escape this movie just like that. But the scene didn’t end. Because it was reality, not a movie.

For the two running for their lives, the one saving grace was that since Baphomet was chasing them, they didn’t have to witness Chloe and Gerald’s funeral; the unfortunate part was that they might end up attending their own funerals, which they couldn’t even see in person.

In the midst of this, Luca considered it fortunate that his family was Christian, so his mother wouldn’t have to perform ancestral rites. However, even without the rites, Luca hoped that his own death anniversary wouldn’t arrive yet. Moreover, he hoped the anniversary of Noah’s death wouldn’t come soon either.

Baphomet never ran. He walked, but at a fast pace. He walked as fast as a race walker. Since he had never seen such a speed before, Luca thought Baphomet must be very angry. Luca and Noah ran and threw whatever they could find in the hallway.

At first, it was the most common and heaviest fire extinguisher. They slowed Baphomet down for a moment, but it didn’t have much effect. Then, they threw Chloe’s backpack, which had landed there at some point and was rolling on the ground. It was quite heavy because it contained a laptop; they felt sorry for Chloe, but they had no choice.

However, it had no effect because Baphomet knocked the backpack away as if the saw were a baseball bat. With nothing left to throw, Luca was getting increasingly out of breath, and Noah opened the fire hydrant.

Since he had never used a fire hydrant before, Noah fumbled a bit, and Baphomet came within hitting distance.

“Don’t come any closer…!”

At last, Noah figured out how to use it and blasted water. The water pressure was strong. It hindered Baphomet’s movement, but that was all.

Noah moved while holding the fire hydrant. Due to the water, Baphomet didn’t realize the hose was wrapping around his foot. Luca stood behind Noah to help prevent the hose from getting tangled. And when Baphomet’s foot had loosely wrapped around the hose a couple of times, Noah turned off the water and pulled the hose taut. Because of the wet floor, Baphomet slipped and fell as his foot was suddenly pulled.

Crash!

Bang!

Baphomet lost his grip on the saw and was dragged towards where Noah was pulling, but he clung to the wall.

As Luca pulled along, following Noah in a tug-of-war, Baphomet could not withstand the force and was dragged along. Then, Chloe, who had run over before they knew it, held out a firework and pulled the hose along with Luca and Noah.

“This was lying on the floor.”

It was too big to fit in the bag, so Luca had set it aside and forgotten about it.

“This should be enough, right?”

“It should be.”

Luca took the firework and hugged it. At this size, visit our siteit was sure to be powerful. Gerald, who had followed along with Chloe, joined in and wrapped the hose tightly around Baphomet.

The hose was long, so even after tightly wrapping it around Baphomet’s massive frame, there was still some left over. Even so, Baphomet wasn’t intimidated. He struggled more fiercely than before while glaring at the four of them. Luca ignored his gaze, and lit the firework. He then placed it on the area where Baphomet’s crotch should’ve been.

“Happy Independence Day.” (There is a tradition of setting off fireworks on American Independence Day.)

The four of them turned their backs to Baphomet and ran away without looking back. A few seconds later, beautiful fireworks burst out from behind them. And the rapid-fire fireworks spewed out flames nonstop.

Bang!

Pop!

Pop!

Bang!

It was an overly flashy and chaotic ending that didn’t fit a horror movie, but for the four of them, it was the best ending.

***

The barrage of fireworks had dealt Baphomet serious damage. However, he did not die just from being hit by them. Fortunately, it was enough to knock him unconscious, so they were able to tie him up tightly to one side.

“Do you still have your phone?”

Chloe asked, and Noah rummaged through his pockets to pull out his phone. Chloe checked the screen and smiled. Then, she pressed the keypad and made a call somewhere.

“Hello? Yes! This is Haddonfield High School!”

Relieved that the call connected properly this time, Luca looked at Noah, who met his gaze with a soft, affectionate look.

‘I like you.’

Noah mouthed the words. Luca answered by standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the lips.

***

They split into two groups: Luca and Chloe, and Noah and Gerald, and boarded the two ambulances. He wanted to get in with Noah, but things didn’t go his way. Luca received simple treatment inside the ambulance, and fortunately, Chloe had ​stolen content​no major injuries other than minor bruises. Chloe watched Luca being treated and then spoke up.

“We have to go back to our normal lives now, but are you going to keep seeing Noah?”

“Of course.”

Luca frowned at Chloe like she had asked something ridiculous.

“I thought so.”

“Yeah… I can’t keep running away anymore.”

Luca said playfully. However, Chloe could sense the anxiety in his words. The Luca Chloe had watched over from the sidelines, was a child who, even if he could not understand his parents, constantly wanted to understand them and craved their approval and love.

Luca’s parents only saw exactly as much of him as they wanted to see. And they believed that was the whole picture of Luca. That was the gap between him and his parents. To his parents, it was arrogance and insensitivity, but to Luca, it was a great tragedy.

***

Luca was only able to see Noah again upon arriving at the hospital.

Noah had only minor bruises and scrapes. He was sitting in a hospital chair.

Gerald screamed as his cut arm was being stitched up, while Luca, who had the most severe injuries, had to wait for his wounds to be stitched up, with the minor cuts already treated in the ambulance.

After receiving treatment, Luca felt as if he had become a stuffed doll. The feeling of having parts of his body stitched up and patched was excruciating, yet at the same time, the constant suturing felt grotesque and bizarre.

After undergoing various tests, including X-rays, and having the front and back plates of his upper body, his cheeks, and even his palms stitched up, Luca was prescribed various medications, including burn ointment, antibiotics, and painkillers. Fortunately, he did not have to be hospitalized, but he still had to visit the hospital regularly until he was fully recovered.

Luca felt resentful that he had suffered the most serious injuries, but he had no time to express it. He was completely exhausted from the long examinations and treatments. Eventually, he sat side by side with Noah and rested his head on his shoulder.

Gerald said he hated staying in hospitals and caught a taxi home, while Chloe sat next to Luca.

Chloe had lost her bag containing both her cell phone and laptop (Luca hadn’t mentioned that he had thrown the bag at Baphomet), so she was staring at the TV showing an entertainment program when she suddenly stood up upon hearing the sound of someone calling her name.

“Chloe!”

“Mom! Dad!”

The Chopra couple, who had rushed over from their own hospital without even taking off their white coats, ran to their daughter.

They really looked like doctors at this hospital.

Mrs. Chopra confirmed that her daughter was safe and hugged her tightly. A moment later, Mr. Chopra spotted Luca and shouted in surprise:

“Luca! What happened to you?!”

“Haha. Hello…”

Feeling embarrassed, Luca greeted awkwardly. Only then did Mrs. Chopra notice Luca and exclaim, “Oh my!”

Upon seeing Luca in such a wretched state, Mr. and Mrs. Chopra were overcome with the thought that Chloe could have been injured like that and they took their daughter away.

Wrapped in her parents’ arms, Chloe turned back briefly to say goodbye to Noah and Luca before disappearing.

And Luca could see his parents approaching from a distance.

“Mom! Dad!”

Mr. Gerald Ha (his Korean name is Ha Jaecheol) and Mrs. Jane Ha (her maiden name was Lee Jaeyoung; after immigrating to the U.S., she took her husband’s surname, and her surname became Luca’s middle name) ran toward their son with shocked expressions.

“Luca! What, what happened! Why are you so badly hurt? Where else did you get hurt?”

Mrs. Ha asked urgently as she rubbed her son’s uninjured cheek.

Luca leaned his face into his mother’s hand and whined like a child.

“It really hurt…”

Mrs. Ha was even more heartbroken hearing her grown son act spoiled.

She patted his back then quickly pulled her hand away when Luca groaned.

Mr. Ha simply frowned at the sight of his injured son and clicked his tongue.

“Tsk tsk…”

He looked angry, but Luca knew his father was reacting that way because he was upset.

He didn’t necessarily have to acknowledge it, but Luca always tried to understand his parents’ unexpressed feelings, and he had figured it out.

He tried not to do it anymore, but it was a habit that had persisted for too long. Then, Luca walked forward, following his mother who was leading him with her arm around his shoulder.

Left alone on the hospital chair, Noah stared at Luca’s back, unable to even say goodbye to him as he left. As Luca’s figure finally vanished at the end of the hallway, Noah let out a sigh and covered his face with his hands.

Tap-tap.

He heard the sound of someone running. Noah assumed it was another person rushing to the hospital after hearing a family member had gotten hurt. However, the person was looking for Noah.

“Noah.”

Startled, Noah pulled his hand away and opened his unauthorized copy eyes. Luca, whom he thought had left, was looking at him.

“What about your parents?”

Noah asked Luca, who sat down beside him. Luca chuckled and leaned his head against his shoulder.

“I told them to go first. They said okay since they seemed busy.”

“…Are you really going to stay with me?”

Noah asked in an anxious voice while holding and rubbing Luca’s hand.

Luca covered the back of Noah’s hand with his other before answering in a firm voice.

“Yes. I’m going to be with you forever.”

“Luca.”

“Yeah?”

“……I love you.”

“Me too.”

“Don’t just say ‘me too.'”

“Okay. Noah Solano. I love you.”

Amidst the bustling hospital crowds, Luca and Noah leaned against each other for a long time. Luca held Noah’s hand tightly.

He didn’t want to keep running away from this warmth anymore.

He no longer wanted to keep hurting Noah.

That was what Luca thought.

Noah couldn’t read Luca’s thoughts. However, he could clearly [Read on]feel that Luca’s hand, held in his, was warm.

End