When Anxiety Meets Ice

Monika Arzen Venura was a mess.

News was being submitted late, Chemistry wasn’t agreeing with her, and then there was the preparations for the Integrated Field Trip that would be occurring that November. Initially, she had thought that September would be the worst, considering that the Medical-Dental Mission that the Juniors took care off occurred in that month. But once November rolled in and classes resumed right after the Semester Break, she could confirm for herself – and for others that definitely no, things weren’t going as easy compared to her previous years as a  Freshman and a Sophomore. She recalled two of her Senior friends wishing her luck on Junior year, commenting that the stress to be undergone was a totally different kind. Arzen took these warnings in stride, thinking that nothing could compare to the stress of being a Senior, but fate digressed.

News Editor, Investigatory Project Leader, and Junior. Of all the years to be appointed as project leader, she just had to be forcedly ushered by her group mates to just take the position. They told her, think of it as representing the group. Just representing. But that proved to be false. She had to step up her game and actually act like a leader, from the researching of topic to the group presentations they had to do.

And then, there was the Medical-Dental mission. Her section was assigned to one of the “bloodiest” (as her seatmate Marie called it) committee there could be – registration. Again, she thought that Maria was reacting too much over it, until their teacher Ms. Corazon had told them that there had always been trouble around the registration, and that there had been various methods to try and neaten the process of registration by the previous batches.

Integrated Field Trip. Arzen had landed into the Communication/Arts group with Elaine, Sharmaine, and Cianna, thankfully enough. But they had to look for contacts for places to go to, a car to ride, and a teacher to chaperone them. (Rumours around the place joked that Sir Richard would be the one accompanying them. Arzen hoped that it was Ms. Mei instead.)

Fast forward to March first, and it would be their prom. Arzen already had a promspect in mind, but she wasn’t completely sure if he was the right one to take. And then there were other aspects like hair and makeup, the after party her friends wanted at her house, and the whole prom itself. She signed up with Elaine into the Logistics committee, and the two were hard at work with the other members for design conceptualization that would help the Invitations committee with their own plans.

To the side, there was the club she was part of – the school publication club which released the first broadsheet only last month. Arzen had gotten good feedback and pats on the back for its’ success (being the News Editor), but she had no time to absorb the compliments because she had to focus on the second broadsheet that would be released around March.

All in all, she wanted to get a good night’s rest.

But academics didn’t seem to want that. That left her with almost little to no time for her hobbies and for other things like catching up with her friends from outside the school. These days, her life was centred on projects, studies, and tests – especially since her Junior grades would matter for which college she wanted to get into.

She hoped that the blue eagle in the sky didn’t abandon her just yet.

Nor would the fighting maroons.

“Arzen, how’s your news coming along?”

She snapped out of her thoughts. Bettina, the Editor-in-Chief of the club, was waiting for her reply.

“I’m still waiting for other articles,” she sighed. This made Bettina nod. To her right, Rosario gave Arzen a small pat on the back.

“Cheer up. I’m waiting for some on my side too,” she snorted. Across them, the Literature Editors, Eleanor and Lina, nodded sympathetically. Their time would come around February.

“Alright, so we need to announce to get their articles done. You guys post later or message your respective department members – wait, no. It would be better to post so Ms. Len and I would keep track of who needs to submit and who isn’t.” the rest of the members nodded in agreement. “Okay, so our cutlines are looking better, and our photos as well…Carinthia, how are your members…”

Arzen tuned out.

Pressure from her parents, pressure from her friends, pressure from everybody.

Hell, she remembered nearly crying out of frustration upon getting a bad Geometry grade.

Eventually, the meeting among Editors ended, and Arzen was left to grab her bag and leave. It was a Friday afternoon, the meeting ending the day and the club eventually dispersing. She saw a club mate waving her goodbye, and she waved back, almost wearily.

Arzen went down the stairs quickly and walked.

She pinched her temples and exhaled. The next week contained deadlines and reports to be handed, and she briefly remembered an English sheet she had to answer and pass by Monday. There was Filipino, which required an intense reading of Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere. And then there was Music, where she had to practice the guitar or risk getting another low grade in the presentation. She had already done badly in the first quarter and wanted to prevent the risk of getting embarrassed in front of Ms. Miranda.

Dried leaves crunched under her feet, and a chilly wind blew gently on her face.

“Monika Arzen Venura.”

A silky voice called out her name.

So gentle, so sweet that shivers rose on her spine.

The kind of sweetness that poisoned your system and left you convulsing on the ground.

She spun on her heels, her long hair almost covering her view.

“How good to see you again, love,” the Setomion greeted. Her eyes widened in shock and she tried running away, but the black figure snapped its sharp fingers and she was immediately rooted to the ground. She recognized the figure. Black all over with a dark green glow emitting from around it, sharp, tendril-like fingers and a flowy shape that made it seem like it was wearing a dress. Ravenous eyes watched her in sadistic glee, and its hair reached the ground in messy curls. “I felt your pain and decided to come for a small visit.” It walked forward, nearing her. “You poor little thing. Doubt, Self-Pity, Loneliness, and then me. You’ve got more feelings than any other victim I’ve claimed,” it sighed happily.

“Let me go,” she spoke lowly. Softly. Trying to break free from whatever was keeping her there.

“Tsk, tsk – now I can’t do that, can I? Not after days of stalking you and finally getting you alone.” It examined its tendrils and Arzen swore it was smiling. “I see that you and the Girl Who Has Explored made up. Perfect. After getting you, I can get her, and then I’ll have that Golden Boy to myself for extra points.”

It took her a moment to realize that the Setomion was talking about Elaine and the Watcher.

“I won’t let you get them.”

“Oh, you’re noble. You’re kind. I can see that. Under that tough exterior, you’ve got a good heart, don’t you?” it sighed. “Almost makes me want to free you. Almost.”

Arzen stayed silent.

“How about this…I’ll still eat you. But I’ll give you a clean, easy, painless death.” It flexed its fingers, “With these. I can assure you that my past victims felt nothing put a small prick right over their heart.”

She said nothing yet again.

“Silence means yes, darling-”

“-And I don’t think you have permission to call her that,” came a cool voice from behind her.

The Setomion frowned.

Or it seemed.

“Mathias Gletscher.”

“Nice seeing you again, Angst. Stalked Eri last week and now you’re stalking Arzen. I guess Cissa and Lisa were right about more rouge Setomions on the loose.”

An icy cold surrounded her ankles, and was quickly replaced by warmth.

“I thought I’d never see you again. Not after my friends attacked your dataflow.”

“Well here I am.” She heard the cocking of a gun. “And if you’re thinking of eating her, I’d like to give my own opinion regarding that.”

Arzen almost felt sick at the new appearance of the Setomion.

It looked like a ragged doll, hair strewn and its right eye missing. It wore a simple white nightgown with stitches all over, and the side of its mouth was stitched as well, giving it a permanent half-smile. Scars littered the face and went down to its neck. The limbs were not humanly limbs, but the black tendrils that pierced the ground it walked on.

It was unarmed, but Arzen knew that the tendrils were weapons enough.

A whisper in her ear came next.

“Close your eyes, darling.”

And she did.

She wished she could cover her ears as well, but her arms were glued to her sides.

Arzen could only hear footsteps and gunshots, and the anguished cries of the Setomion. The wind blew harshly, coldly against her skin, roaring loudly as if to cover up the Setomion’s hisses and growls. But it wasn’t enough because she could still hear it as much as the winds tried to hide and tuck away the sound into nothingness.

And finally, she felt as if Mathias delivered the final blow.

She slowly opened her eyes, and the redhead was standing there, holding a small object in his hand. The Setomion was nowhere to be seen. He had tucked his pistol into his pocket and walked back to Arzen, touching her wrists. Once again, the cold came, but this time, no warmth approached afterwards. Something slid away from her wrists and he did the same thing to her ankles, feeling the silky, thread-like object slide away.

“So they too have new technology,” he said to himself, taking the rope and easily putting it inside a cylinder-shaped container. He faced Arzen after, giving her a smile of his own. “Angst has been following you for a while. It did the same thing to Eri almost a week ago, and she was able to stomp it out of Technika. But we didn’t know that it would come here and stalk you.”

“Revenge, maybe.” Arzen replied. He nodded.

“Revenge. And that was the fourth Setomion you’ve attracted so far, darling.”

This made her frown.

“It’s not like I’m doing in on purpose.”

“I didn’t say you were. I’m just saying that maybe, just maybe – you need to confront those feelings more often.”

She said nothing but knew he was right.

Mathias ruffled her hair with a grin.

“Now go on ahead.”

“And what about you?”

“I’ll be around.”

“Around,” she repeated. He nodded yet again.

“You’ll see me when you have to, Arzen.”

And he disappeared completely, almost fading from existence itself.