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Chapter 36 (iv)
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2024-10-29 19:42:56“No!” I answered quickly. I hurried to hold the note I’d written up for her to see but she gave it only the shortest of cursory glances before pulling back then throwing her entire weight into the smack she landed on my cheek. The force sent me toppling to the ground faster than I could right myself and by then, she’d begun kicking.
“I bet you think you’ve found something, huh? HUH? Think you’ve got the upper hand now; that you can blackmail me because of what you’ve seen? Do you know who I am, little girl? Don’t you know that I will kill you?”
I shook my head frantically as I curled into a protective ball. “I didn’t—I didn’t see anything, I swear!”
“Don’t fucking lie to me!” Her next kick landed in my face, causing blood to gush from my nose.
“I won’t say anything; I won’t, I promise!”
“I shoul
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The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 36 (v)
It was another seven minutes before the paramedics arrived and when they did, there was a race against time to get me stable. I’d already lost too much blood and kept slipping in and out of consciousness. I learned later that the police had also been called but in the haze I’d fallen into, I couldn’t say when they arrived on our usually quiet street.I was loaded into the ambulance with my brother and an officer accompanying us. It was Detective Charles, the man who’d promised my mother he would find out the truth about her ex-husband’s sudden, tragic death. He didn’t know what to make of the scene he’d come onto but knew there was a deep well that buried secrets so dark that two children had no business holding onto them.Conversations carried on around me, but they were too muffled by my fading consciousness for me to hear. The next time I awoke, I was on a hospital bed with my brother asleep on the chair that sat in the corn
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 37 (i)
Three weeks later, my brother and I dutifully attended our mother’s funeral. There were only a handful of people in attendance and even then, they were mostly family. The genuine friends my mother had made were no more than a handful and only one of them shed any tears.Aunt Rebecca was the only immediate family member to cry with even Nana maintaining a wall of stoicism while the pastor carried on with his final sermon. I didn’t hear most of his words. My eyes locked on the casket waiting to be lowered with a detached sense of disbelief. At any moment, it would open, and my mother would come out barking her laughter at all the fools who’d thought a single bullet would be enough to keep her from her children. She would hug Matt and promise she would never leave him then offer me a plastic smile as she assured me we would talk about it all when we got home.I’d spent the better part of the earlier service with my eyes fixed on the woman while the
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 37 (ii)
“There’s…there’s something I need to tell you.” I only needed the courage to find the words.Jayden’s brows creased as he took me in. “What is it…?”“You’ll be angry.”“I won’t.”“You can’t promise that; you don’t even know what it is…”“And you can’t be sure I will be until you’ve told me and given me a chance to react.”We sat at a silent stalemate as several minutes trickled by. I knew he was patiently waiting for whatever bad news I would spring, and I knew it would hurt him. The fear I harboured had nothing to do with ending the new fairytale I’d taken on and everything to do with the hesitation I felt following everything he’d done for me and now my brother.He didn’t deserve what I’d done, and it had been all for naught. I never got pregnant and didn’t h
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 1 (i)
We moved again. It was always the same; bills, nosy neighbours, new men, suspicious authorities, they made it difficult for us to settle in any one place for too long. My little brother, Matt, hated it; he’d throw a fit every time we had to start packing and Mom would get him whatever he wanted to ease the transition. It became obvious, sometime after he turned eight, that he didn’t really hate the moves but loved getting the presents. After that, his tantrums only ever got worse, and Mother’s indulgence only served to encourage them further. I never fussed. In the beginning, my compliance was a result of my intricate understanding of the correlation that existed between my protests and my mother’s unbridled retribution. But, the older I got the more I found myself looking forward to each new place. It was always a chance to start fresh where no one knew me and I could be anyone I wanted to be. Once, I was a hard-core goth girl who fastidiously washed her face and chan
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 1 (ii)
When it started, it was the same as it always was; school dances, student body elections, pep rallies—I led two of those—and sporting events. Something about rules got sprinkled in but by then I’d completely checked out. Sitting still had always been difficult and, exacerbated by the monotonous droning of the school’s vice principal, I was in real danger of falling out of my chair. Sufficiently through with the sanctioned torture, I asked to be excused to the bathroom and then took off in the direction that seemed more promising. I wanted to check out the music room, chat up the teacher for a bit, and make sure he understood what a prodigy I thought myself to be. Mr. Roberts…I think that’s the name they’d given. It didn’t matter that I’d never been particularly gifted at any instrument. He would find my enthusiasm and passion too hard to resist and once I explained my fateful back story of belonging to failed musicians, he’d stumble over himself to help me actualise my dreams. Teach
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 1 (iii)
"What . . .?" I challenged, hoping I’d only misheard him. "And you are?" The voice I’d intended to be strong had failed me, coming out with frail hesitation. "The guy with the power to get you in trouble.” He continued in a whisper as he leaned in. I could feel his breath against my ear and it sent a violent shiver down my spine. No. I was going to be in the band—I was going to play the drums and tell odd stories about Iggy my iguana. This…this wasn’t the start to my new school life that I was looking for and the more I thought about it was the less I could feel my lips. They remained stubbornly shut, trapped in their own uncertainty. I stared up at him, immobilised by the same fear that I had grown accustomed to at my old school. There were too many variables, the most pressing of them being my concern he was the type to ‘assert’ whatever power had been bestowed upon him by the school administration. I’d run into enough of those to last me another ten lifetimes. "Jayden, are you
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 2 (i)
In the hours that followed our orientation tour, thoughts of the convincing prankster relentlessly plagued my mind. It was that boyish grin, the ease in his movements and the way he’d been so sure of himself. It was the firmness of his chest and the mischief in his eyes that dared you to join in. They were silly little things that shouldn’t have mattered and yet, against my better judgement, I was entranced.It happened like that sometimes. You saw someone and everything just clicked in all the right—or wrong—ways. Jayden was trouble, I was nearly certain of it but that dimpled smile had etched itself into my memory in ways I’d never willingly admit.Listen to me, I sounded like a love-sick middle-schooler who’d never held hands with a boy. The disdain I felt for myself at having entertained such wayward thoughts was palpable, but even that wasn’t enough to silence the pounding in my chest every time his image flashed across my mind.Jayden had the charisma of a politician. I hadn’t y
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 2 (ii)
While I was hardly the hopeless romantic, I liked a good challenge. Misguided as the idea was, they were my chance at redemption. Whenever I won, if only for that brief moment, I felt like I was finally good enough for my mother to love me. After winning anything, I’d be all beams and smiles, eagerly recounting my victory, then we would become the only two people in my world. She’d happily show me off; she’d call the rest of the family and spend hours with them on the phone bragging about what a brilliant kid I was. For just that moment…we would be a happy family.Those moments were always short lived, of course. After that, things would go back to normal and I’d have to work to convince myself that I never wanted her love to begin with all over again.It didn’t always work, but it worked often enough that I fell back to it each time the magic faded and the carriage turned back into a pumpkin.Would Mom care that I’d ‘won’ the student body president? I didn’t know, but winning had bec
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The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 37 (ii)
“There’s…there’s something I need to tell you.” I only needed the courage to find the words.Jayden’s brows creased as he took me in. “What is it…?”“You’ll be angry.”“I won’t.”“You can’t promise that; you don’t even know what it is…”“And you can’t be sure I will be until you’ve told me and given me a chance to react.”We sat at a silent stalemate as several minutes trickled by. I knew he was patiently waiting for whatever bad news I would spring, and I knew it would hurt him. The fear I harboured had nothing to do with ending the new fairytale I’d taken on and everything to do with the hesitation I felt following everything he’d done for me and now my brother.He didn’t deserve what I’d done, and it had been all for naught. I never got pregnant and didn’t h
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 37 (i)
Three weeks later, my brother and I dutifully attended our mother’s funeral. There were only a handful of people in attendance and even then, they were mostly family. The genuine friends my mother had made were no more than a handful and only one of them shed any tears.Aunt Rebecca was the only immediate family member to cry with even Nana maintaining a wall of stoicism while the pastor carried on with his final sermon. I didn’t hear most of his words. My eyes locked on the casket waiting to be lowered with a detached sense of disbelief. At any moment, it would open, and my mother would come out barking her laughter at all the fools who’d thought a single bullet would be enough to keep her from her children. She would hug Matt and promise she would never leave him then offer me a plastic smile as she assured me we would talk about it all when we got home.I’d spent the better part of the earlier service with my eyes fixed on the woman while the
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 36 (v)
It was another seven minutes before the paramedics arrived and when they did, there was a race against time to get me stable. I’d already lost too much blood and kept slipping in and out of consciousness. I learned later that the police had also been called but in the haze I’d fallen into, I couldn’t say when they arrived on our usually quiet street.I was loaded into the ambulance with my brother and an officer accompanying us. It was Detective Charles, the man who’d promised my mother he would find out the truth about her ex-husband’s sudden, tragic death. He didn’t know what to make of the scene he’d come onto but knew there was a deep well that buried secrets so dark that two children had no business holding onto them.Conversations carried on around me, but they were too muffled by my fading consciousness for me to hear. The next time I awoke, I was on a hospital bed with my brother asleep on the chair that sat in the corn
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 36 (iv)
“No!” I answered quickly. I hurried to hold the note I’d written up for her to see but she gave it only the shortest of cursory glances before pulling back then throwing her entire weight into the smack she landed on my cheek. The force sent me toppling to the ground faster than I could right myself and by then, she’d begun kicking.“I bet you think you’ve found something, huh? HUH? Think you’ve got the upper hand now; that you can blackmail me because of what you’ve seen? Do you know who I am, little girl? Don’t you know that I will kill you?”I shook my head frantically as I curled into a protective ball. “I didn’t—I didn’t see anything, I swear!”“Don’t fucking lie to me!” Her next kick landed in my face, causing blood to gush from my nose.“I won’t say anything; I won’t, I promise!”“I shoul
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 36 (iii)
I set to decline Adam's offer but, in a flash, he was on his feet pulling on his own pants. “The bus might be a while. I don’t want you standing out by the bus stop waiting for however long.” He pulled for his shirt and slipped it on. “You hungry? We can hit up a drive-thru on the way.”The rumbling of my stomach betrayed any answer I could’ve given. Adam nodded his understanding then led the way from the house. He got me my usual off the menu then dropped me off in front of my house.Adam had tried to fill the ride with small talk, in what appeared on the surface to be a sincere interest in catching up, but I’d already begun to shut down. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to feel, to see, to be.“Hey,” he said as I set to walk away from his car. “Remember what I said, alright? I’m here for you.”I nodded, seeing no need to argue and not wanting to prolong the conversat
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 36 (ii)
I swallowed my pride, understanding the role I would have to play. It wasn’t an unfamiliar one and would require no great effort for me to slip into. I dropped the pitch of my voice, forcing it into a sultry invitation I knew he wouldn’t refuse.“Your pay’s built into this favour.” I hated myself.Adam pulled away to look at me, his eyes glistening hungrily. “I’m listening.”I took a deep breath to steady myself. “Emily’s…dead.”“Who?”A surge of hot anger rose in me at his ignorance, but I was forced to swallow it. Adam’s lack of knowledge was in large part my fault. I’d never allowed him to meet her, nor had I ever told him anything about her. She may as well had been a stranger to him—as she truly was—and in that moment, I realised the small stake he had in the decision I’d made…how…insignificant my plight was been for
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 36 (i)
“Hey, Kai.” Madelyn stopped me on my way down the hall. “Wait up.”Reluctantly, I brought my feet to a halt then offered her a forced smile. “Hey.”She began rummaging through her bag as she drew closer before pulling out a pastel pink toddler shirt with a crown printed on the front. Madelyn extended it to me with a sheepish smile. “I saw this when my mom took me shopping and I thought…you know…it’d look really cute on your daughter. It’s probably a little big; we didn’t know her size, but she’ll grow into it, right?”I didn’t think I had any heart left until I felt another piece of it break off. She wasn’t wrong, Emily would have looked amazing in it, but she would never have a chance to grow into it, nor would she ever wear it.The strained smile I’d been forcing dissolved. A lump lodged itself into the back of my throat requiring me to take several m
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 35 (iii)
I considered writing him a note asking that he take care of them, but much like everything else, it didn’t matter. What would I care if he ripped through my room like the Tasmanian Devil after I was gone?The air inside my mother’s room was still. It was the first I’d been in there—the first I’d been in any of her rooms since my father left. Matt was welcome to cuddle and watch movies from time to time, but never me. There was an air of reverence that came with the subtle warning I shouldn’t have been there. I was walking on holy ground as a tainted sinner. Such a transgression would normally fill me with fear but that particular feeling couldn’t have been further away.I took the time to sweep my eyes across my mother’s room. How foreign it seemed, as if I’d been transported to another world. Nothing was out of place and the bed had been well-made. The blinds were half open, allowing light into the room while blott
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 35 (ii)
Uncomfortable and uncertain, the nurse returned to her desk. Seeing her whisper about me with her colleagues brought the laughter to the next level. My insides hurt from how hard I laughed, and I could feel a pressure building inside my head, but even then…I couldn’t stop laughing.Those around me grew unsettled by the persistent nature of my unprovoked laughter. One by one, they rose from the chairs closest to me and made their way to stand at the wall at the opposite end of the waiting room or by the nurse’s desk.Their evasion tickled my insides until they screamed. Those people had nothing to fear; I wasn’t the murderer.By the time I was allowed to see Jayden, the laughter had died. It was replaced by a subdued silence that stood in stark contrast to the boisterous half-cackle half-wail I’d carried on with earlier.I didn’t have the energy for it…didn’t have the energy for anything. I’d been dra
