Maze's
The class just finished and me and my friends decided to grab a bite to a nearby restaurant at the university. But upon reaching the restaurant, my phone suddenly rang and the caller ID shows that it's my great Dad.
"Maze? What's wrong?" I looked at Crimson as Heather and Royce went ahead of us inside the restaurant. He seemed to notice the sudden change in my mood and already had a clue who the caller is. "Well, he won't call you unless it's urgent." He said while shrugging and he's right. My Dad won't call me to have a chitchat cause we're not really close in the first place. So for sure, it's important and I have no choice but to answer him and take the call in front of Crimson.
"What is it?" I asked him with an indignant tone and it took him a while to answer on the other line. I waited for him to answer but what he said had instantly shattered my whole world.
"Y-your Mom. S-she's gone."
"Maze? Maze? What's wrong?" I can hear Crimson's worried voice but I can't find any words to answer his question as my tears started falling down my cheeks and everything around me seemed insignificant.
'This is not happening.'
°°°°°°°°°
"Maze, let's go. We have to leave." My friend, Royce tried convincing me to go with them for the nth time but I ignored him and stayed still. The burial ceremony has ended and everyone who attended the ceremony had already left but I remained sitting on a nearby marble bench while staring blankly at my Mom's grave. I don't want to leave her.
She's all I have. And now that she's gone, my home's also gone.
And there's no point in coming home and see how my Dad is doing just fine amidst of the fact that his wife committed suicide because of him.
I can still remember that day when he called me only to tell me that my mother took her own life.
And funny how I knew right away what's the reason is.
And it's none other than my father's cheating.
He's been cheating on her.
He's abusing her, mentally and emotionally.
I tried convincing her to just leave Dad and go with me just for me to save her from living a miserable life with her unfaithful husband but she refused.
What's more funny is how my Mom tried convincing g me to reconcile with him just because she loves him so much and she wants me to have a happy family and that I'll understand her once I get older.
And I can't help but flash a mocking smile while still staring at her grave. I can feel my eyes welling up bit I tried my best to stop my tears from falling. I can also feel my friends staring at me.
I know that they pity my situation right now.
But I don't need that.
And I don't think I can ever understand my Mom for loving my Dad unconditionally that it came to a certain extent that she took her own life. And if that's what love is, then fuck it. I don't want to experience it.
Ironic how the only woman I've ever loved and the one who wants to teach me what love is took her own life because of the very same thing she always believed to be wonderful.
She took her own life because of the only man she had ever loved and dedicated all her life with.
'Is this what you call beautiful, Mom?'
She had always told me that love is the most wonderful feeling that a person can ever feel.
But obviously, it's not.
"Maze, please--"
"I just need some time alone, Guys." I cut off Crimson's word before looking at the three of them. Heather was about to voice out his protests but I looked at him to stop him from whatever he's going to say and he did. "Please. I'll come home later. You can go ahead of me." I said before looking away from the three of them and looking at my mom's grave once again.
Helena Johnson King1
971 - 2018
'Is this really how you want it to end, Mom?'
"You can leave him with me, Boys." I saw from my peripheral vision how my friends turned in sync to look at my father while I sat frozen on my seat just by hearing his voice. "My son and I needs to talk."
It's obvious that my friends would rather listen to me than him so I looked at them before nodding. Trying my best to look calm and compose but God knows how much I wanted to run amok. I had to convince my friends that I'll be fine cause they all looked hesitant about leaving me with my father.
So I nodded at them before sighing.
"You can go now, I'll be fine." I assured them. And Crimson, who knows me best understood. He nodded at me before they all turned to face my Dad and bowed their heads to show their respect. Which my father didn't deserve in the first place.
"We'll leave now, Uncle." Crimson said and they all left without waiting for my Dad's answer.
I did not bother looking at him and just stared blankly at my Mom's grave once again. We remained silent for I don't know how long until I felt his presence beside me. And I couldn't stand it. Not because I felt intimidated or what. But because I felt suffocated just by having him around. I cannot stand a cheater's presence let alone my Dad's who's the reason for all my suffering.
But I have to do this. And after this day, I'll make sure that he won't have any chance to suffocate me. I should've done this a long time ago if only my Mom had agreed with me. But it's too late.
And now, I'm doing this for myself and there's no turning back.
It's now or never.
"Your Mom left this box for you." He extended his hand in front of me to hand me a small box. My name was written on top of it in a beautiful manner that made me so sure that it's my Mom's handwriting. And it made me miss her even more. And so I took it from my him and just stared at it. I heard my father sighed but I didn't looked at him as I was too focused at the box. "I know you're blaming me." What he said made me snort.
"Good for you, then." I said sarcastically. And that's when I saw him turned to look at me.
"Listen, Maze. I never wanted all of these to happen--"
"You can stop pretending now. No one's watching you. It's only the two of us left so you can definitely drop the facade cause we both know very well that you everything but a great family man." I retorted as I can feel my anger overshadowing my resolve.
"Maze, I love your Mom. Will you please listen to me?" And that's when I lost it all. I stood abruptly and looked at him with fuming eyes. My mind refused to accept another lie.
"No, you don't! You never loved my Mom. You just loved the fact that you can hurt her every night and she would still wake up early in the morning to prepare your favorite breakfast! You just loved the fact that you can fuck other woman all day long and she would still wait for you to come home like a fucking puppy! You just loved the fact that you have a martyred and naive wife who believed all your lies and did her best to revive our family until she couldn't handle it anymore." My voice cracked in the middle of my outburst but I couldn't stop. "You don't fucking court someone, ask her to marry you and them make her life a living hell the whole duration of your marriage. That's not what fucking love is! You know everything but love, you hear me?! All you know is to make your so called family suffer and make then see how fucking miserable it is to love you!" I can feel my tears streaming down my face when I said that. And I can't help but to smile bitterly. "All you fucking cared about is your reputation, your mistress and you're fucking Empire. You were never a good father to me neither a good husband to my Mom and I. And now you're telling me that you love her when I know for a fact that you've been fucking other woman?!" I shouted and him and he just stared at me. It's obvious that he can't find the right words to answer me.
"I am still your father." He said and I couldn't help but to smile mockingly. I even laughed at what he said because he sounded so ridiculous.
'What a fucking clown.'
"And who fucking told you that I see you as my father? The only one that binds us is my Mom and now she's dead because of you. Because she can't fucking take your cheating anymore! She killed herself because of the too much pain you've caused her!" I shouted once again. I can't keep my hands to myself so I pushed him hard just to lessen my suffocation. "The moment you started hurting my mother is also the time when you stopped being my father! And that's long ago so fuck off!" I said through gritted teeth. I saw his bodyguards walking towards us so I looked at them with anger causing them to hesitate for a second. It was then my Dad looked at them and he sighed while clenching his jaw. I can see that he's just trying his best to hold back and not to show me his true colors and I must admit that he's good at keeping such facade. So good that it makes me want to puke.
"Leave us alone." A single order is enough to show me his authority but I didn't budge. His bodyguards immediately walked away from us and we are left once again. "Maze, please listen to me, My son."
I looked at him with disgust cause I can clearly see how fake he is.
"I've heard enough lies." I said through gritted as I turn my back. "You can actually forget about me and my Mom. Go live with your mistress and I won't bother you anymore. And you can keep your fucking wealth and legacy all by yourself. Cause I will never ask for your help." I said indignantly before walking away.
"You can't do this to me, Maze! You're my son!" He sounded so desperate and I can't help but laugh without humor. He seems as though he can't live without me, but it's obvious that I can't live with him.
"I refused to be your son." I said with finality in my voice and continued walking away. Not even looking back.
I should've done this a long time ago. I could've saved my Mom from killing herself if I was only able to take her away from this horrible man.
But I was too late.
And now, I am doing this for myself. I can't live with the man who is the reason why I lost my home. I lost the only woman I've ever loved.
"You can never survive living alone in this world, Maze! You hear me?! You will crawl back to my mercy and I'll make sure of that!" He shouted once again but I didn't bother looking back as I continued walking away while holding on tight at the box that my Mom left for me.
'Fuck your mercy.'
And as I walk away, I am no longer Maze King. I choose not to be associated with a clown. I will use my Mother's name to honor her.
I will be Maze Johnson.
And I will walk away from these bullshits and never come back. And I will never let Mazon King have the satisfaction to see me crawling back to his mercy. And in order to do that, I must not be weak.
I choose to live a new life away from the things that reminded me how weak I was then for not being able to save my mother from her love. I refused to feel love cause I know that it will be my weakness.
And I refused to be weak.
I will prove Mr. King that I can survive without his help. That I can survive without anyone. And I will never let love be the death of me.
One year laterGabriel's"Gab!" I was awaken by the loud knock outside my room and judging from the loud voice of the owner, I'm damn sure that it's my best friend Mike. But for goodness' sake! It's Sunday! Why on earth would he even dare to disturb my precious sleep?!The loud knock on my door continued and I had no choice but to grunt as I get up from my bed and walked towards the door. Not even minding the fact that I'm actually shirtless. All that matters to me now is to be able to smack Mike's head for ruining my Sunday rest!And so, I opened the door with a grumpy face only to see my best friend smiling brightly at me. Totally unaware that he's in for some scolding for disturbing me."Rise and shine, Boss!" He greeted with such a jolly tone but I was too pissed to greet him back and just gave him a death glare."You had the spunk to tell me to rise and shine
Maze's"Maze, where have you been?" Mark asked me as I entered the backstage. I looked at all of them and saw how excited they are to perform. Mark couldn't control himself from playing with his drumsticks. While Cole is busy tuning the guitar same with Troy who's in charge with the bass."Finally, the man of the hour is here!" I looked at Top when he entered the backstage with a wide smile. I smiled at him slyly as I shook my head because of his exaggeration. "Where have you been?" He also asked so I shrugged as I remembered how unfortunate I am to witness such dramatic scene a while ago in the rooftop and how I felt satisfied upon seeing that cheater's red cheeks from the slap given by the girl."Someone called me and I had to find a quiet place to answer the call so I went to the rooftop." I answered and they all nodded. So I sighed before smiling at all of them. "Are we good?" I asked them and I suddenly caught a glimpse of nerv
Gabriel's"Thank you very much, Everyone! I hope you enjoyed our performance for tonight!" And again, he flashed his sweet smile showing how overwhelmed he is by the crowd's loud cheer for their band. Even Mike did not hold back and cheered for them loudly. "We hope to see you all again tomorrow night. Again, thank you." they are all about to get off the stage but the crowd stopped them."Wait!" One of the audience shouted. The vocalist was the one to look at him and smiled as if he's waiting for the next thing he would say. "Aren't you going to introduce yourselves, first?" The guy asked and I couldn't be more thankful to him. Cause I also want to know what's the vocalist's name. The whole crowd agreed and cheered for them again. I looked at the vocalist and he seemed to feel a bit uneasy.'Hmm. A private person, I see.'His bandmates talked to him as if convincing him to introduce himself and he seemed to ha
Maze'sI decided to live in a dormitory near the campus where I enrolled for it doesn't have curfews. It's also been a year when I first came here and if it wasn't for Top and Mark who convinced me to enrol again for this academic year, I would have never want to study again. Not when I'm still unsure if I'll be staying here for a long time. But they are both right, it would be such a waste for me not to study while I'm still here.If I had decided to enrol last year, then I'll probably be at the same year as Top by now since I just finished my first year when I ran from home. I'm also a Psychology student in my former university. It's also been a week since the class started but I filed a one week break with the reason that I had to work on my papers. I was able to change my name from King to Johnson. And so far, that's the biggest thorn that I'm able to remove in my heart.That I am not carrying the cheater's name anymore.
Gabriel's"Gab, my friend!" Mike greeted me cockily as he entered the room. Our block mates looked at him weirdly as it was too early to be that loud but Mike is naturally loud. That's actually his voice's normal volume and I can't do anything but shook my head as I wait for him to finally settle down at the chair beside me. I frowned when I saw how wide his smile was. It's as if he won the lottery with that kind of look and that's quite far from the usual grin he flash every morning.Well, Mike is the type of guy who can't easily get sad. He always looks at the brighter side of things. That's why he decided that he'll also study Psychology with me so that, he'll be able to infect his future clients with his happy virus. And as for me, I wanted to study Psychology to be able to read people's mind. Well, not totally read them to a certain extent that I can guess what they're going to say but I want to be able to know who's telling the truth amo
Gabriel's"That's all for today, Everyone. Class dismissed." Our professor said and we all uttered thanks in unison before he left. I heaved a deep sigh before stretching my arms same with Mike. Our block mates started to get out of the classroom one by one but I prefer to let them go ahead of us.It's our lunch break already. I looked at Maze on the other side and saw that he's looking at his phone intently with a frown. I can also see that it's ringing but it seems like he doesn't want to answer it."Maze! Gab!" The three of us looked at the guy who called us and saw Top with the other three members of Thoughts at Midnight. I can't pretty much remember their names as I wasn't really focusing on them last night.I don't know but I felt something weird when Top called our names. It sounded cute. Suitable. My eyes widened when I realized what I was actually thinking.'Suitable? What the f
Maze'sI don't understand the look on their faces especially Gab's when we finally settled down on our table. Their faces is unusually sour as if they had lost their appetite the moment they saw the person that I came along with. I was talking to one of my subordinates over the phone when the guy suddenly approached me and introduced himself as the same guy who bought some drinks for me last night, which I obviously ignored. I tried to get away from him by blabbering some excuses using my band mates. But it turns out that he's their junior and he said he wants to bond with us today.And of course, I'm not dense. I know his agenda and it's kind of irritating me but I don't have a choice. As much as I want to get rid of him, I can't risk my band mates' relationship with him. There's a possibility that he'll vent it out to them if ever I made a wrong move.Such a great way to start welcome me in my first day here, right? Ts
Gabriel's"Okay, Guys. Make yourself at home!" Top exclaimed jokingly as we all settled on our seats. They all laughed except me as I was too busy looking around. My eyes lingered around the bar, trying to cope up with the wild lights surrounding the place as it started to become crowded."We have just arrive but the predator is already looking for a prey." Mike blurted out, clearly pertaining to me as soon as he noticed that I can't stop looking around and I winced. Of course my friends teased me for being a natural sex predator that I am but little did they know that the one I'm looking for was actually more deserving to be called a predator rather than a prey.Who else could it be aside from the coldblooded Maze?I hadn't seen him on our afternoon class, and even his friends doesn't know his whereabouts when Mike asked Top. It's just his first day yet he already had the spunk to ditch clas