The Story of Samo: Chapter Two, Part Nine
All right, as I had said last night, I’m finishing chapter two today. I hope you like it.
The Bonem twins stared at the door, and then at each other. Kia groaned and said, “We’d better go after him.”
Kiara grabbed an apple and said said, “Let’s go. If he makes me miss lunch, he’ll be in deep trouble.”
In the hall, they could hear Samo’s voice. It sounded distant, as if they were hearing it through the walls. In fact, they were. He was screaming as he ran through the halls. Kia said, “He’s finally lost it!” He started running and yelled, “We have to find him before the doctors do. Come on!”
The once-empty halls began to fill with curious students and teachers trying to discover the source of the ruckus. They could hear that Samo was obviously shouting words, but no one could hear what the words were that he was shouting. It all seemed to run together, as if he were speaking in tongues. His shouts were not babbling, but were intended to make sense. It wasn’t his fault that they did not. Not only was he yelling quickly and loudly, but he was so far away that his voice was too muted to understand.
Kiara said, “We should separate. We’ll find him more easily.”
“What?” Kia yelled. “Never split up! That’s the first rule of emergency.”
“This is Samo we’re talking about. He’s not an ax-murderer.”
“Not yet, he’s not!” His voice rose to high alto as he argued.
She answered, “Kia, shut up and go that way.” She pointed down a hall and turned the opposite way to go. As she ran, she could hear Samo more clearly. He wasn’t shouting sentences, or even phrases. He was shouting the same word, over and again. She stopped, horrified at what he was shouting, screaming at the top of his lungs like a lunatic. They would come and take him away if they found him. His voice echoed through the halls, creating an eerie sensation of surreality as he screamed, “Lasci! Lasci! Lasci! Lasci!”
Kiara shouted, “Samo! Where are you?” She heard a loud echo of his voice down an atrium and ran that way. Looking to her left, she saw a narrow hallway, at the end of which, Samo ran past. She ran toward him and turned at the end of the hallway, only in time to see him turn another corner, still screaming the name of Professor Lasci. Following him, she turned the corner, again just in time to see him escape around the bend. As she chased him like this for some time, she realized there were others chasing after him too. One person, whom she saw out of the corner of her eye, was Kia. That was good. Another, whom she saw more clearly, was dressed as a police officer. He saw her too. Tarat. That was not good.
Why would someone call him? She didn’t have time to think about that now. She just needed to get Samo and get him away from Tarat. There were more people trying to find him. Teachers, other students, even Chancellor Naram was going after him. It seemed that the entire school was released to capture the “mad apprentice.” No one really liked Samo; that was no secret. Many people thought he was a jerk even before Gianan was killed. After, many pitied him, but still thought that he was crazy. In a way, he was. Finding Gianan’s body traumatized him, and that was only two weeks ago. It was no wonder that he would lose his mind like this.
She turned another corner and found herself face-to-face with Samo. His eyes were wide with—well, Kiara couldn’t tell if it was fear, excitement, rage, or a mixture of all three. She started slowly toward him, holding her hand out.
He whispered, “I have to find Lasci.”
“Just wait, Samo. Please,” she said. As she started to lay her hand on his shoulder, he bolted past her. She squealed as she turned after him. Two strong hands gripped her shoulders as Tarat said, “Did he hurt you?”
She pushed him off. “Get your hands off me! No, he didn’t,” she said. Tarat drew his gun and said, “Well, he’s not going too.”
“You’re right, he’s not. Now put your gun away before I have to hurt you!”
He stared at her in amazement. He said, “You just threatened an officer of the law.”
“No,” she retorted. “I just threatened a boy I used to beat up when he was eleven and I was eight! Dork.” She ran after Samo, leaving Tarat behind her.
As he ran to catch up with her, he said, “Do you know what he wants with Lasci?”
“I don’t know. Why are you following me?”
He said, “Because you’re following him!”
She stopped and whirled on him. Whispering hoarsely, so as not to shout, she said, “What do you want with Samo? What did he do?”
“All I was told is that I’m supposed to bring him in for questioning.”
“Bull,” she said. “You know more than that.”
He said, “You’re right, but I’m not allowed to tell anyone I even know what’s going on.”
They both turned as Samo’s screams stopped moving. Someone had caught him and was fighting with him. Tarat drew his revolver and ran toward the sound of struggle. Kiara followed after him and yelled as she found three large students holding Samo down with a fourth kicking him in the ribs. Tarat aimed his revolver at the fourth’s head and ordered him back. He then took a pair of handcuffs and, ordering the other three off, handcuffed Samo’s wrists and stood him up gently. He said to the four, “All of you are under arrest.”
One the students who was holding him down said, “What? It was citizen’s arrest! He’s a murderer!”
Tarat aimed his revolver at the boy’s head and said, “He is not even a suspect, and besides, you do not beat a suspect after arresting him. Now march. All of you are spending the night in the city dungeon.”
Kiara said, “What about Samo?”
As he started to lead them away, Tarat said, “He’ll be kept at the guard house and patched up from the beating.” He glared at the assailants and said to Samo, “Are you all right?”
He moaned, “I have to find Lasci.”
Tarat said, “We’ll see about that later.”
“No!” he said, “I have to find him now!” He struggled against the handcuffs and Tarat’s grip with futility.
Tarat pulled him closer and said, “Come on. Don’t make this hard for me. I’m trying to help you.”
The student who had been kicking him shouted, “Help him? Are you insane?”
“Do you want to spend two nights in the dungeon?” Tarat glared at the boy. He said, “If you don’t, shut your mouth. Now walk.”
Kia arrived as Tarat began leading them away. He said, “What’s going on?”
Kiara said, “He’s taking Samo.”
“Whoa. Um, do you want to go finish lunch?”
She gave a sob. “I’m not hungry anymore. I’m going home.”
Tales of the Inventor's War 