Page 42 of His Untoward Hate

The sound of his heart beating erratically made him unable to breathe properly. The tension in the air was strong, corrupting any positive energy if there was. Sky walked around the coffee table and absentmindedly set down his silver laptop, the familiar bitten Apple logo gleaming on the back of the lid.

Jude flinched immediately when something hit his face. It felt like his soul instantly left his body, almost screaming in shock. He touched it when it fell on his lap.

It was a black shirt.

“Change,” Sky ordered.

Jude held the shirt in his hands with quiet force.

“I’m going out. You can go home once you’re done with that fucking shit,” he seethed, and Jude kept his head down more, almost kissing his lap.

There was a brief silence until he heard footsteps heading toward the door.

“Wait!” Jude softly raised his voice, mindlessly.

Jude turned to look at him. Sky paused, stopping in his tracks, though he remained with his back turned, and his hands tucked deeply into the pockets of his grey sweatpants.

“I-is your laptop having a password on it? C-can you o-open it before you l-leave?” Jude stuttered badly, struggling to form coherent words.

Jude tried to swallow, but his mouth felt dry, and nothing came out.

“P-please?” his voice cracked.

Jude almost cried in this quest. He had already come this far, and he no longer cared if Sky hit him or beat him up for having the courage to speak. There were only a few months left anyway. Soon, he would never have to see this monster again.

Jude gathered what little courage he had left for the sake of his project. It took him a couple of seconds before Sky responded.

“Don’t ever demand something from me anymore. You are already wasting my time, and you will never be worth my time.” he went to the door and held the knob to open it.

“The password’s your name.”

With that, he stormed out, slamming the door so hard that Jude jumped from where he sat.

The password’s your name.

The password’s your name.

The password’s your name.

It kept on repeating inside his head.

It took several long moments before he finally snapped back to reality. Still dazed and struggling to process everything that had just happened, Jude stared blankly at the device. When he powered it on, he entered “Yourname” as the password, only to be met with an Incorrect Password message.

Jude was not foolish enough to think that his number one bully’s password was his name. However, Jude thought maybe because he wanted to be reminded to bully him now and then. But the reason was vague, and it was not all coming together.

The second time, he tried his first name, ‘Jude’. It was only incorrect again.

What does he mean that the password’s your name? he thought. Jude’s mind kept replaying Sky’s words over and over. For the third time, he entered “JudeFinn” but the device rejected it once again.

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he chewed anxiously on his nail. Panic tightened around his veins at the thought that one more failed attempt might lock the device for good—and Sky would surely kill him.

“Okay, last one,” he mumbled.

If it would not open again, he would not continue. He briefly closed his eyes and took a deep breath,

For the last attempt, he typed his name in all capital letters, ‘JUDEFINN’, and boom!

Jude’s face lit up the moment he gained access to the device. A triumphant shout nearly escaped his lips, until his expression froze at the sight of the familiar face staring back at him from the wallpaper.