The Hunting Past: Part one

Mr. Edward hoped that Leo would find the answer to his problem by listening to his story. A story of a boy that went through hell and still came out on top.

Mr. Edward cleared his throat as he began telling the story.

"Back in 1986, there was a high school that wasn't popular, but was a good school, considering the fact that they charged very little. This enabled lots of kids from poor families to attend and get the education they needed. Of all those kids, there was one who stood out from the rest. A kid who towered over the other kids but was very quiet and gentle."

Mr. Edward raised his hands to demonstrate the kid's height to Leo.

"I mean, one look at this kid and you would think, yup, this has got to be the school bully, but no, he was nothing like that. Now this kid had always been mocked by the other smaller kids. They made fun of his size. Some of the kids even started spreading rumors that he was meant to be in his 12th grade and not 8th grade and declared that he was a big dumb dumb."

He let out an awkward cough, as if trying to acknowledge his poor choice of words.

"The ridicules continued, causing the kid to develop a fear of association with others. In other words, he became shy. But in truth, the kid was actually meant to be in his…"

his story was interrupted by a gentle knock on the door.

"COME IN!!"

It was clear from the manner in which he responded to the knock and the look on his face, that he did not like it when his story was interrupted. He glared at the door as it opened up to reveal the culprit of the interruption.

[Creak]

The door made a creaking sound as it opened up. This was probably because the restaurant was constructed years back.

After the door was pushed back enough for someone to step in. a young lady came into the office. She had on an apron and a hairnet to hold up her hair. It was clear through the hairnet that she was blonde and had long hair and despite the fact that she had no makeup on, she was still a beauty to behold. With a slim and yet slightly curvy body and a face that would make a man think twice before approaching.

Mr. Edward let out a sigh.

"Sara, what can I do for you?"

Sara was a polite and humble young lady.

Leo's eyes widened at the sight of Sara and he immediately looked away from her direction before she could catch his gaze.

'She's as beautiful as ever.'

"I'm sorry to disturb you sir, but there's a male customer that would like to meet with Leo."

Both the boss and Leo had a puzzled look. This was not a normal occurrence. In fact, it was rare for someone to come by looking for Leo with the exception of his younger brother. But all the employees knew his brother. Jax was the opposite of Leo; he was always booming with excitement. But it couldn't be Jax since he was supposed to be in school.

Mr. Edward turned his gaze towards Leo and asked him.

"Are you expecting someone?"

Leo who knew very few people answered with a look of confusion.

"No sir, I'm not."

"Did the customer say why he wanted to meet with Leo?"

"No sir, I inquired about his reason and he only said that it was important and private."

They both stood up to go meet with the customer and when they got to where the supposed customer was meant to be, Sara, the girl that went to fetch Leo began to look around as if she was searching for something.

"Well…where is he?" Mr. Edward impatiently asked.

Sara pointed at an empty seat

"He was right here sir."

she then proceeded to move around to see if she could find him.

'Maybe he switched seats.'

She went up and down the entire restaurant before concluding that the man was no longer in the restaurant.

"I'm sorry sir, but it seems that the customer has already left"

It was weird that a customer would ask to see Leo and then vanish. It took Sara less than 3 minutes to go in and come back out with Leo and the boss, so why did this man leave all of a sudden?

Mr. Edward was already furious that his story was interrupted for this, he turned around to go back to his office. When he was almost at his door, he called out in a loud voice

"Leo!!"

A puzzled Leo still trying to understand why someone would ask for him and then disappear. This made him unhappy because he was looking forward to meeting the man.

Leo still lost in thought, thinking about the event that just occurred was shocked when he heard his boss call out his name.

"I'm coming sir"

Leo then hurried off back to the office, leaving Sara alone and confused. She thought about how determined the man was to see Leo and the fact that he was a regular customer made him eligible to make such a request; only for him to leave right after she went to get Leo.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"It must've been an emergency"

Back in the office, Mr. Edward was already seated when Leo came in. Leo sat down while his boss resumed his story. It was starting to look like Mr. Edward was more interested in telling his story more than the impact on Leo's life.

"Where was I?"

Leo was scared that he might start from the beginning if he didn't remind him.

"You were talking about the kid's actual grade"

"Yes, that's right."

He adjusted his seat and leaned back

"So in truth, this kid was meant to be in 8th grade, his current class. He was not held back for failing or misbehavior. Yes, he was no Einstein, but he was definitely smart. This kid's shyness kept growing as he was alienated in his class and amongst his peers. But one day everything changed when he was selected to represent his class in a race. A race between students of the same grade with candidates from each class."

Mr. Edward seemed to be getting to the good part of the story because he looked excited and he sounded more energetic.

"The kids in the boy's class thought that although he was dumb, his physical abilities should be leagues above theirs. And if there was a chance that they were wrong, then they could blame him for their failure without remorse since they already disliked him. It was a win/win."

Leo stared at his boss, thinking about how devious those kids were.

'Didn't he say that they were 8th graders? This sounded more like a political campaign held on an island surrounded by a sea of sharks.'

Leo's imagination always ran wide, because of the fact that what he couldn't do because of his shyness, he would always fantasize about it.

"The boy was unaware of how physically capable he was, because he had never gotten into a fight with any of his peers and no one ever dared to fight him. He was never challenged to anything that involved one's physical prowess; in fact, he had never been challenged to anything at all."

Leo watched his boss as his eyes began shining. Mr. Edward felt a rush, a rush he felt only when he got to this point of the story. Leo wasn't the first person he told this story and he was definitely not going to be the last.

"The boy ignorant of his abilities, knew that this was a defining moment for him. No one in his class liked him, but they still chose him to represent the class in the race. There was no room for failure."

Mr. Edward's face hardened a bit, a sight that Leo definitely did not miss.

"Even before the race had started, insults were already flying at him from the other racers. Turns out that he was even popular among students from the other classes. The insults however, had no effect on the boy. He was determined to win and nothing could stop him from achieving his immediate goal."

At this time, Mr. Edward was already standing and demonstrating the actions in his story with his entire body. The sight was amusing to say the least, but it also showed the magnitude of the passion behind the story.

"Chuckle"

Leo let out a faint chuckle while watching his boss, but did well not to let it show.

"The racers were called to the starting line and asked to get into position. Even at the lineup, the insults didn't stop. But just like before, the boy did not listen. This left a good number of the other racers flustered"

[Phwwwwwwwhht!!]

"The sound of the whistle signaling the start of the race was blown and all the racers took off. Loud screams came from the students seated, cheering on for their fellow classmates. But the whole crowd went silent after realizing that all the racers were running, except for the boy. He maintained the starting posture of racers even after the whistle was blown"