SEVEN-- SERVING HIM A TASTE OF HIS MEDICINE

After that incident, I didn't go back home. I stayed with mom in the hospital. She was there for four weeks, receiving treatment for her eye and throat. I went home with a kind nurse to have my bath because mom insisted that i live my life like a normal kid. She wanted it, so I did it for her. I dressed up and went to school as usual. 

In school, I was very quiet and didn't talk to anybody or answer my teachers' questions. I was thinking about mom's baby, if she was fine. Sir Colin brought me back to the hospital after school, because I insisted that I would not like to go home for anything.

But it wasn't until my second week in school that the news about the incident began to circulate. It was on the lips of every student and teacher that .."The house of a multimillionaire business mogul called Cameron Peyton was burgled. The estate is a multimillionaire one called Kangaroo estate, a popular exquisitely built and gigantic building in the city, worth millions of dollars.  As a matter of fact, it was burgled by a hired assassin who allegedly attacked the woman of the house, Ruby Peyton who also happened to be the business mogul's wife, by trying to suffocate her to death, but was allegedly saved by some unknown person who, according to claims might have stabbed or punched the assassin into coma..." 

The police had surrounded our estate, when dawn broke, taking statements and checking fingerprints on every item in the room. Some of them were also taking pictures and scrutinizing every piece of matter in the room.

Sir Colin's family actually cleaned the room and gave their statements to the police

They however insisted that I make myself available for questioning or interview, whatever they called it, but I was very scared. They said I was a first witness, and so my statement was highly essential for their investigation.

I stopped going to school because the news was circulating fast, and inviting glares. My classmates discussed amongst one another in low tones, while pointing at my direction. What's worse, Big Joe was nice to me all through this time. 

Yes you read that right. Big Joe was the only one in the whole school that didn't talk about me. He didn't join the conversation in class, and he always distracted the class by bringing up games whenever we had no teacher in class. It was weird. And I also noticed that he was unusually quiet. Since the incident that happened to me, he hadn't been, or tried to be mean to me. 

One day, three days after the incident, he came to my seat. It was lunch break but I remained in class, with my head buried in my locker. 

"Ariana" If not for his voice that I recognized, I would have thought it was someone else, because he never called me by my first name. It was always "Fatty", "Clumsyline" or "Peyton". He came up with the name, 'Clumsyline', because according to him, I am clumsy. 

I didn't lift my head because I was very surprised. I wanted to hear it again before reacting. It was probably someone else who had a voice similar to his. 

"Ariana" the voice was closer now, almost very near my eardrums and it was irritating. I wanted that moment to punch him in the face and kick him out of my sight because I was sure it was him. He must have been acting nice to me so that I'd keep his little secret.

 I slowly replied him, "Joe, what is it?". I was the only one in class too , who didn't call him, "Big Joe" like others did. I tried to avoid him.

"I want to talk to you" he said. His voice had a distant and nostalgic tone to it. I couldn't believe a loud, tall, mean boy would ever sound that way. Besides, I didn't want to talk to anyone or see anyone even though I knew he wasn't coming to hurl mean words at my face. If he wanted to be mean, he wouldn't have stopped for a while during those moments. His meanness had no end. So he being kind was altogether weird to me, or maybe it's because of the little secret we both now share. 

What little secret, you wonder? 

"Ariana please" he said again. 

"Is the police here? What is wrong?" I asked, with my head still buried in my locker. All that was in my mind was the baby in mom's stomach, if she was fine, and if mom was getting better yet, and also the fact that the police could come for me anytime, and would ask me about that night, and I'd be so jittery and tense that I'd have to confess to stabbing Cameron, and they'd hit me with their club, handcuff my hands and bundle me into their vehicle, straight to prison, and I'd never see my mom, never see the baby when it will be eventually born, never will see  school, only prison gates, wicked wardens and criminals with bloodshot eyes-some my age, and some much older.

"Are you scared of the cops?" He asked with the same small voice. It was then i looked up at him. The way he asked that question made it seem like he knew about me stabbing the man who wanted to suffocate mom to death that night. 

"Do you know?" I asked

"Know what? That you're scared of the cops? Yes, it's written all over your face" 

"I'm not scared of them" i said, relieved that he had no idea what I was talking about. He didn't smile. He just shook his head. This new version of him actually seemed like an adult. For some reason, looking at him that moment, he could pass for a thirteen year old, he was so tall, coupled with the fact that he looked serious, calm and collected. But he was only ten. Nine on ten. There was silence for few seconds, after which he spoke up. 

I was looking outside the window. Wondering when the lunch break would be over, and school would be over, and I'd be able to go to the hospital to see mom, again.

"Ariana, I have a confession to make" he said and sat beside me, on my seat. I wondered what is it he wanted to say. 

"On that day.. remember that day?"

"What day?" 

"The day you were kidnapped. I was the one who gave that man the information about you" he dropped the bombshell and I stared at him in disbelief.

"What??" I yelled

 He got up immediately and started to cry. He produced so much tears in few minutes that I began to wonder if he had put 'Artificial tears' eyedrop in his eyes. It all seemed fake to me.

 "That man is my father. He has been taking care of me since my parents died, when I was a baby.... It was incredible.

I stared at him with irritation. How was that even a business of mine? What worse thing can a nine-year-old do? I clenched my jaw and my fist, about to punch him in the face. I would never believe a young boy could do that.

"He forced me to tell him, Ariana. I am sorry" he cried some more. But those tears didn't move me. Not one bit. Maybe my heart was starting to harden. Maybe I had a lot of frustration in me that I wanted to shed, and since I couldn't shed tears, violence was my weapon.

"He forced me to work for him....He..he.. initiated me into that cult, I swear. I used to be a good boy...I am really sorry please. Let it be another little secret. Please... I'll give you anything you want" he kept pleading amidst a ocean of tears.  The cult. Now he was letting out the secret. Did he forget that he shouldn't mention it at all?

"Ariana" he said, again. I was fuming. I felt like breaking the desk on his head. I tried to speak but couldn't find my voice. Honestly, I was seven but my brain was fifteen.

I moved closer to him and shot him a deathful glare. Then I found my voice.

"Call me Ariana again and you're gonna hate yourself" 

"Wait Aria... Immediately I heard him utter those words, I punched him hard in the face and kicked him with my chubby legs before he could recover from the punch. I stood on his body and kicked his knees until they bled. I didn't mind that he was taller than I was

 I didn't mind that he was groaning in pain. I didn't mind that one of my punches had landed in his eyes. Even if I was fat and clumsy and ugly, at least I was strong and could throw huge blows that'd make a taller, older boy cry in pain. That, I showed him.

Before I could rouse attention, I picked up my school bag, crept to the back of the school and escaped through the road there. I ran as fast as my feet could carry me. I had committed my second offence. It seemed to me that I was starting to become violent, at 7. 

I didn't stop running until I got to the main road. By that time, I was already panting. My long hair was tangling at the sides, and my face was sweaty. It was about to rain. I looked back to be sure no one was chasing me.. I expected that my teachers would be after me now, after finding out what I did to Joe.

I crossed the road quickly and continued running again. I wanted to run to Sir Colin's office, but I changed my mind. I stopped a taxi instead, after scrutinizing the face of the driver. 

"St Patrick's Hospital please" I said. He must have wondered what a little girl in uniform was doing out on the streets at 12:15pm. But he didn't say a word. I wondered what would happen if he turned out to be another kidnapper. 

"I'll punch him and bite his throat" I thought in my mind. I was that strong. Never was I going to let anyone use me or take advantage of me anymore, or use mom or take advantage of her. If the person had to die, I was ready to stab him or her. I planned to keep another sharp knife in my pocket everywhere I go. I didn't care that a wicked person should die in my hands. After all, they were going to kill me if I didn't kill them first. They deserved no mercy. Cameron deserved no mercy. 

"We have arrived" the driver said, and i didn't realize how much time I had been lost in my thoughts. True to his words, we were parked under a tree very near St Patrick's Hospital.