Enigma Nocturne

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Part Eleven.

Jore tensed in his desk chair, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. He heard a few students in the room gasp, and still others whispered to each other hurriedly behind their hands.
Amgine’s last name was Nairicks ? As in… Headmaster Nairicks of Berns P. Nairicks’ School for the Arts ?! Jore suddenly felt dizzy, and he put a hand over his eyes, resting his elbow on the desk.

How could this amazing creature be related to the Headmaster? There had to be a catch somewhere. Jore peeked out from behind his hand. The boy looked so cute and innocent… not fake at all. He looked rather short and thin and fragile, his features were soft and pretty, and his different colored eyes didn’t look anything like the Headmaster’s. And Jore saw that up in front of the class, after telling his name, Amgine didn’t have even half of the courage left that was needed to tell more about himself. Clearly, Amgine knew what Mr. Nairicks was like, and what the school thought of the Headmaster, and of course he was scared of being treated differently, or (more likely) shunned, ridiculed, or even endangered because of his relation to the Headmaster.

Jore certainly knew what the Headmaster was like, and even as much as he had been through in the past few days, he had a feeling that Amgine had gone through much worse in his past. Jore felt awful for the boy. Was he Mr. Nairicks’ son? Jore couldn’t even imagine how horrible a life like that would be. He suddenly felt thankful for his own parents, even with them being as rotten towards him as they were.


Jore’s mind was brought back to the present when Mrs. Beatis spoke sweetly to Amgine and urged him to say more about himself. The whole class, who had been in a whispering frenzy a few moments before, was deathly quiet again, wanting to hear what the boy had to say.

But all they heard was a quietly mumbled, “May I please take my seat now, Headmistress?”
Mrs. Beatis’ expression softened in sympathy at that request, and she nodded, pushing Amgine forward slightly. Keeping his eyes on the floor, the small blonde boy walked down the aisle of desks that Jore was in, made his way to the back, and slid into a seat silently.

A few students watched Amgine make his way to his desk, and a couple of them looked at Jore as well, wondering what his reaction was to all this. Jore ignored them completely; his mind was buzzing and his heart was beating fast with excitement. Amgine had sat right in front of him! …Although Jore was sure the blonde hadn’t really seen him. Jore was wearing a dark trench-coat over his school uniform, and with his black gloves, leather and metal bracelets, and the way his hair fell over his face, he looked a lot more Goth-y than usual, and he blended into the shadows at the back of the class. Jore mentally kicked himself, wishing he looked friendlier, so maybe he wouldn’t scare Amgine if he managed to greet him.

Mrs. Beatis and the counselor left the classroom after talking for a few minutes to the professor, and then the boring lecture continued as if nothing major had happened. Jore kept taking notes, knowing that this lecture would be important to study for an upcoming test.

The desks in the classroom were a foot and a half apart in their rows, and the orderly rows were nearly four feet apart, but occasionally, Jore managed to steal a glance over Amgine’s shoulder without anyone noticing.

He was surprised to find that Amgine was left-handed, and that he wasn’t taking very many notes. In fact, it looked like he wasn’t paying attention at all. He was in his own little world; sitting hunched over in his chair and scribbling unenthusiastically on his notebook, stopping every so often to flip a page or brush his feathery-white bangs away from his face. Jore got the feeling that Amgine didn’t want to have anything to do with this school. That in his own quiet way he was rebelling against it, even if it meant failing classes and getting reprimands from teachers, which Jore couldn’t imagine the boy had ever gotten before. He imagined that Amgine was a very good student in his previous school, and that suddenly being transferred here was a big, scary change. Jore hoped that he could help Amgine to get used to the school, and maybe they would become friends.
Or more than friends, Jore thought to himself, then mentally shook his head. He couldn’t start thinking like that right now… he had to take this one step at a time.

He continued to write his notes dutifully.

* * *

The last bell rang throughout the school building, and as the giant clock in the courtyard tower hit the 3 o’clock lines, its huge brass bells tolled cheerfully, marking the end of another school day.
Jore exited the Basics in Oil Painting classroom and headed down the crowded hallway. He stepped through some double doors at the main hall junction, and stuck his hands in his coat pockets as he walked under the clock tower and across the grassy courtyard into refreshing spring air. He headed to his dorm building and thought to himself that, all things considered, this had been a very uplifting day, especially compared to… what had happened a few days ago.

Things seemed normal again, and that felt very good. Plus, he had met that boy, Amgine, today… and he had the scary and hopeful feeling that something great was just beginning.


Jore reached the door to his dorm and unlocked it with his school key, and was stepping through it when he heard a noise. It sounded like a shout.

Jore was sure it was nothing, but as he thought it over, the sound had been pretty clear, like a cry for help. He stepped away from the door and listened, and against the noise of kids leaving classes, laughing, talking, and walking to their dorms, Jore heard another shout. It seemed to be coming from behind a corner of building further from the courtyard, away from the crowds. Jore walked in that direction quickly, and soon he was leaning against a dusty stone wall, hidden behind the corner of building and out of sight. He listened.


A group of boys was talking and laughing darkly, and although Jore couldn’t see them, he recognized a few voices as those of the infamous ‘bullies’ of the school.

Berns P. Nairicks’ School for the Arts was an expensive place to stay, and you had to be smart, and truly talented, to be a student there. So naturally, the bullies of the school wouldn’t be your average fat/stupid/mean thugs who beat up on littler kids for lunch money. No, the art school’s bullies were all very tall, skinny, very attractive, and as cold as ice. They dealt in blackmail, sabotage, and scandal, and their leader was well known for his ability to ruin a kid’s social life in one fell swoop if he got even the tiniest bit of juicy information.
Jore didn’t even have to think about the situation to know who their target was this time. The opportunity had practically been handed to the bullies on a platter.

Jore clenched his teeth, fuming. It was all he could do to stay still.


The leader of the bullies, a black-haired student named Lokus, grabbed Amgine by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up off the ground. Amgine was already pretty physically and psychologically beaten and bruised, so he didn’t fight much. Lokus, seemingly displeased that his victim was giving in, threw Amgine onto the ground, causing the blonde to cry out in pain. Lokus and the other boys stood around him and laughed cruelly.

“Oh, my apologies, let me help you up,” said Lokus sarcastically, then bent down and grabbed Amgine by the shoulders. Amgine yelped as his small form was thrown once again, but this time he hit the wall of the school building hard, and nearby Jore almost bit his tongue in half as he heard the blonde’s angelic head whack against the stone.

Lokus laughed at Amgine’s pain. Jore was amazed that even a cruel bully like Lokus would stoop so low as to be this violent. And so directly! Jore figured that this awful attack must be due to the fact that Amgine was related to Mr. Nairicks.

Somewhere inside Jore, he too had the feeling that anyone who was connected to the Headmaster should be hurt purely for whom he or she shared blood with.

But in the case of Amgine, that hatred was thoroughly extinguished. Jore felt that Amgine was totally innocent, and that what the bullies were doing was horribly, horribly wrong. He had to do something.

Amgine slid away from the wall and fell onto his knees, hunching over on the ground and holding the back of his head. His perfect golden-white bangs hid his tear-stained face until Lokus came up and kicked him onto his back. Amgine yelped and sobbed and tried to roll to his side away from Lokus and his gang, but the blonde was almost right against the wall of the school building, so he had nowhere to crawl… and the bullies made a half-circle around him.

“You have nowhere to run, faggot,” Lokus said, and a few of his minions laughed and threw insults. Amgine trembled in fear and pain. Looking upwards, he saw the hatred in the bullies’ eyes… now they really meant to hurt him.


“Hey,” Jore called out commandingly as he stepped out from around the corner, his black trench coat billowing out slightly as he moved.

Lokus and his minions looked away from their prey for a moment and their smirks turned into frowns at Jore. A few of them looked shocked to see Jore, and still others seemed afraid that they had been found out. But Lokus played it cool. “Hey, Meili, how’s it going?” He asked casually, putting his hands in his pockets and stepping towards Jore. The other bullies stood close together in their half circle, blocking Jore’s view of Amgine.

Jore stood still in his Gothy outfit and glared at Lokus through his long black bangs. Lokus stopped walking towards him and put on a fake smile. “We were just… uh, hanging out, yeah. And talking to our little buddy, the new kid.”

Lokus’ words were slow and carefully chosen. Jore could tell that he was just acting uneasy. Inside, he knew that the bully leader was sharp and on task, gauging his next verbal move.

But Jore knew how to play this game. “Oh yeah, the new kid,” he said, relaxing his posture a little, but keeping his gaze fixed on Lokus.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Lokus replied, and shrugged. “So, uh, what brings you out here?”
“Just… getting some fresh air,” Jore said and started walking towards, and then around Lokus.
Lokus was frozen for a split second as the shock that Jore would just move around him took hold. But it didn’t last more than a millisecond, and his fake-friendly expression didn’t change a bit as he moved and intercepted Jore, decreasing the space between them to mere inches.

“Hey, uh, where do you think you’re going?” Lokus asked as he stepped between Jore and the half-circle of boys who were guarding Amgine.

Jore returned Lokus’ fake smile, and wished the bully were shorter than him like most people were. He tried to buy time. He knew that he definitely couldn’t leave Amgine now, but neither could he just barge into this group of thugs to rescue the blonde. Jore’s chest was still hurting him a lot, and breathing was still a little difficult. He knew that if he ended up getting in a fight with these guys, it wouldn’t be pretty.

“Hey man, I don’t want to cause any trouble,” Jore said, truthfully.
Lokus’ expression grew dark. “I know. Why don’t you leave, then?”
Jore smiled again. “Can’t,” he said frankly. Lokus’ eyes narrowed. He was serious now. He leaned in a little closer to Jore and lowered his voice.
“Listen, we don’t want any trouble either. If you stay away from us then everything will be cool, alright, Meili? Just walk away.”

Jore stayed still, and Lokus leaned away from him and glanced over his shoulder. Jore could see that he was starting to get nervous for real. He hadn’t been expecting Jore’s persistence.
“Why don’t you stop it now, Lokus? This can’t be good for your rep. I never took you to be the violent type.”

Lokus glared daggers at Jore. “I can do as I please, Meili,” he said coldly.
“Oh really?” Jore said, and then stepped swiftly around Lokus. In moments he had broken his way through the crowd of bullies and found Amgine. He rushed to his side and pulled him up by his shoulders quickly, then turned back around to face Lokus and his minions.

“That wasn’t a very smart move, Meili,” Lokus said, and his minions took the verbal cue to move closer.

The half-conscious Amgine flinched as the two of them were slowly pushed back against the school building wall, and Jore cursed inside his head.
Now what?!

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