by Jack Dey
“Tourist...? Crazy…?! What do you mean?” his voice reverberated around the chamber again.
“You’ll find out soon enough. The real fun hasn’t begun yet and you’re trespassing! So now, freckle, it’s time for you to get your nosey beak out of here and re-enter the fish bowl.”
The room began to stretch into focus as Jaimon’s senses registered strong pain in his neck and shoulder. The image of the bulbous eyes of the snake contorted and quivered into the gaze of his mother standing over him.
“He’s coming around,” she announced.
“I hardly touched him! He cowered like a little girl and wet himself. I only gave him one lash and then he collapsed,” the disgusted voice of his father tapered off and exited the room, leaving Jaimon’s mother to clean up.
“Go and have a shower, Jaimon. If you flaunt the rules of this house, my boy, you have to expect swift consequences. Pulling a stunt like this, reverting back to a two year old, will only make your father–and I for that matter–despise you. What of your family? You haven’t even considered the shame you are bringing on us with your selfishness, Jaimon. Think of the family pride!”
Jaimon just stared up at the woman, his head and neck throbbing and he could feel an angry reverberation shudder deep within his tangled psyche.
What about me! he thought, trembling, wringing his hands into tight fists and clenching his teeth together, only just managing to keep the lid on his stretched emotions. The strength of his passion scared him and he forbade the tiny tear droplets trying to fill the corners of his eyes to form.
Jaimon pushed himself unsteadily from the floor, unaided by any outside help and wobbled into a standing position. Gathering his balance, he dodged around his mother and limped down to the shower, using the passage walls to steady himself. Closing the door, he removed the soiled clothes, reached in and set the shower jet to run slowly. A dark, angry bruise leading from the base of his neck, across his shoulder and down his arm testified to the force of his father’s blow. He cautiously stepped into the shower, being careful not to let the debilitating water fall directly onto the injury site. Washing away his shame, he then dabbed the wounds with a fraying towel and dressed the lesions on his shoulder and his buttock. With the towel wrapped around his skinny form, he painfully limped back up the passage and returned to his bedroom, quietly closing the door after him.
Behind the closed door, tears of frustration fell in streams. He was trapped in a mind-numbing prison, powerless to defend himself, his captors given right over his every move solely because he was unfortunate enough to have been gestated by this woman he called mother.
A sick feeling settled over him. The road into the future strung forever before him in an endless, tormented maze of loneliness and abuse. His mouth went dry and his trapped, tortured mind looked for a way out, but found nothing.
*~*~*~*
No words were spoken over breakfast, just a continual clattering of plates and a constant, frenzied movement coming from behind Jaimon as he sat uncomfortably at the table. His mother was still upset at him and was making a point of letting him know in a sullen and silent standoff. She was punishing him by withdrawing any verbal contact.
Jaimon felt a knot forming in his stomach while he reached for his school bag, exchanging his domestic torment for another. He flicked his eyes at the woman trying desperately to avoid him, and then turned and walked out the door to begin another day hiding among his peers.
The broken handle of his school bag and the pain radiating from his shoulder made it difficult to carry his nemesis. He considered dragging it behind him, but reconsidered when he mentally measured the consequences. By the time he’d mounted the top of the sandy hill overlooking the school grounds, his anxiety had shifted into overdrive. He scoured the surrounds, looking for either Rositer or his followers. Just below him was the scene of yesterday’s terrors that led to his dramas at home. He pulled in a deep breath and began to descend the slope nervously, ever vigilant for sudden, disturbing changes to the landscape around him.
“Hey, champ.”
A squeaky voice beside him made him jump. Jaimon’s head snapped around, searching for its owner. As he turned in a complete 360 degree circle, he almost walked into it and had to stand on the balls of his feet to stop from running it over. A small, unattractive, redheaded girl stared straight into his eyes, defiantly holding his gaze. The dark pupils bored into him only millimetres from his face, making Jaimon turn away in eerie discomfort. Her deep orange hair was tied at the sides in pigtails, hanging like spaghetti over her ears. Her face was heavily freckled and she carried a school bag similar to his, while her uniform hung like a bag over her small frame.
“Who are you?” Jaimon panicked.
“Well, that’s original,” the girl shot back. “You ain’t so bright, are you?”
“Look, I’ve got enough people dumping on me. If you won’t tell me who you are, then I’m going.”
Jaimon pushed around her and started walking into the school grounds.
“Steady on, precious!” she called after him. “I was just trying to be friendly. It’s my first day at this... place.” She scanned the vast school grounds and walked towards him at the same time. “I don’t know anyone here and I was hoping you might show me around.”
“Look...!” Jaimon stumbled for her name.
“Salena,” she filled in the gap.
“Salena...! I am not the most popular kid in school, so if you don’t want to be branded a freak and be picked on mercilessly, you had better find another tour guide.” Jaimon nervously peered around the school perimeter, looking for signs of trouble.
“Sounds like fun, Bob.” Salena searched his frightened eyes, a twisted smile exposing her gappy, decaying teeth.
Jaimon turned from his nervous searching and rested his gaze on Salena. “Bob...?! My name is Jaimon!”
“Bob...Jaimon, it’s all the same to me.”
“Hey, freak, what are you doing in my way?” an angry voice called down from the top of the hill.
Jaimon spun around to face the owner of the voice. “Well, Salena, you are about to find out firsthand how popular I am.”
He grabbed her arm and began to run for the school grounds.
A loud guffaw followed.
*~*~*~*
Shayden Glenn buzzed around her grandfather, making sure he was comfortable before she made the journey to the bus and her first day at her new school. Her grandfather was her last relative still alive and she had moved with him from across the country so he could attend the University Hospital. Shayden had been a popular girl at her previous school, but Pa needed specialised care, care that her hometown medics just couldn’t provide. Conscious of the sacrifice she had had to make for her ailing grandparent, she did it without a second thought. Homecare nurses were due any minute; they would stay with her Pa until she came home at 4pm.
Nerves played with her stomach as she pulled the front door to the apartment closed and walked to the end of the street to catch the 8:45 bus to school. Entering a new school wasn’t easy any time, let alone midterm, even if she was Pa’s brave thirteen year old.
She didn’t have long to wait at the bus stop. Soon the lumbering giant squealed to a halt in front of her and a rowdy chorus of school kids met her gaze as she boarded and paid her fare. She sauntered toward the back of the bus, looking for a seat. An older student had her bag on the only vacant chair, blocking anyone from joining her. Shayden smiled at the girl and in a moment of acceptance, the girl moved her bag to the floor and Shayden took the seat.
“Thank you,” Shayden offered, but the girl went back to her iPod, lost in a private world of heavy rock music.
The bus drew alongside other vehicles busily dropping kids off to their daily fate. Shayden waited for the unruly mob to disembark, searching the vast school property and then drew in a breath. A heavy feeling of nerves flooded her body as she grasped the seat in front of her and hoisted herself into the aisle. A momentar
y dizzy spell hit her and she flopped down into a close by seat, hoping her tilting world would settle again.
“Not now...! Please, not now!”
The bus driver eyed the girl in the rearview mirror; she was sitting with her head in her hands. “Are you okay?!” he called out to her, his voice echoing in the empty bus.
“I… I just need a moment. It’s my first day and I’m feeling a bit nervous, that’s all.”
Shayden glanced up at the impatient face framed in the rearview mirror. His look was urging her to get off so he could keep an already tight schedule. Her knees felt weak as she willed herself to stand, then she reached for her bag and somehow managed to exit the bus and slowly walked into the foreboding unknown.
The bus impatiently roared off just inches from her struggling form, the exhaust pipe pointing directly at her as it passed, covering her in a cloud of thick, black diesel smoke and making her feel even more miserable.
*~*~*~*
Chapter 14
Salena pulled her skinny arm from Jaimon’s grip. The heavy school bag and her oversized uniform made it hard for her to run without great discomfort.
“Hey, Bob, you really are a spooky dude!” Salena barked, forcing Jaimon to halt his escape and then she straightened her uniform. “Just what I needed: a workout before entering the halls of horror,” she quipped sarcastically.
“Well, I did warn you I’m not the most popular kid in school,” Jaimon defended.
Jaimon and Salena walked sedately down into the crowded grassed quadrangle, the area the student body gathered every morning to meet their friends before they were called to classes by the Nazi war siren. Strange stares followed Salena and Jaimon as they passed crowds of students gathered close by. Salena didn’t seem to be fazed by the quirky glares, but Jaimon was looking for a place to hide.
“That the House of Commons?!” Salena suddenly interrupted Jaimon’s rising fear, pointing towards the office.
“What...?!” Jaimon retorted, glancing around at the faces staring and pointing at them.
“The office, dude, you know, the office! I gotta book in and pay my fees!” Salena was getting annoyed at Jaimon’s preoccupation with the staring crowd. “Look, dude, I’ll catch ya later! Thanks for the exercise!” Salena hoisted her bag over her small, unattractive shoulders and walked towards the office.
*~*~*~*
Shayden still felt shaky, though she had managed to find the office and pay her school fees. Using the map the office lady had drawn her, she found the left wing. Entering a long echoing corridor that abounded with a solid wall of students noisily mingling around and aimlessly dawdling to their first classes for the day, Shayden had a few minutes to locate the locker that had been allocated to her, drop off her unneeded books and find her first class, some distance away. As she made her way through the mass of humanity, she was bumped and jolted by students, seemingly not seeing her and walking straight into her without even an apology for their misdemeanours.
Eventually she came to an alcove about halfway along the corridor with lockers set around the curved wall in a semicircle. Excusing herself, she pushed her way through a barrier of students parked in front of the lockers, loitering and challenging anyone to defy their territory. Finding locker 2030, she slipped the key into the lock and the door gave way under her hand. She dropped the heavy bag to the polished floor and bent down to unload it while trying to find the book she needed for her first class.
As she stood, she could feel the room tilting again and panic gripped at her mind. She held onto the open locker door and waited for the room to settle, but a bilious feeling rose in her throat instead and she had to work hard convincing herself to force it back down and not make a scene on her first morning.
The loud wailing of a war siren drifted through the halls and students responded with a collective groan while the sea of stationary teenagers began to slowly dissipate in all directions. Shayden’s nerves were tattered as she tried to regain control of her body. She forced herself to finish emptying her bag into the locker and then checked the map again to find her class. She turned to join the tide of bodies and as she did, she collapsed to the floor and sprawled across the path of the moving mass.
As she lay there, teenagers stared at her as they stepped over her body and continued on to their classes, occasionally staring back at her unmoving form and seemingly unconcerned at her predicament.
Shayden’s eyes momentarily flicked open, watching the legs of passing students walking by and stepping over her. Her body seemed like a ton weight and her head ached. It felt as though her body’s vital organs were shutting down. She tried to move and call out to the crowd, but her body just wouldn’t cooperate and her lips wouldn’t move while her mind kept begging, Help me, please!
But they just kept walking and gawking back at her, watching, unconcerned, as her life slowly ebbed away.
As the busy hallway emptied of students and quiet descended on the building, Shayden remained where she fell, teetering on the brink of unconsciousness, the mass of humanity cruelly unconcerned.
*~*~*~*
The door swung open at the end of the hall and a tiny figure ran towards his first class–late, as usual. He had been hiding, waiting for the bullies to enter their classes before making his move. As he ran down the hall, his eyes settled on a little body lying in the middle of the locker alcove. He checked the clock hanging in the hall and conceded he was seriously late. Simons had warned him about his tardiness, viciously aware of the fear Jaimon held for his father, and Simons used it like a weapon.
Next time he was late to his class, a note would be sent home to his parents.
Jaimon stooped to examine Shayden’s unmoving form, still panting from his panicked run. He shook her and called, “Hey, are you all right?!”
Her eyes flickered and settled on Jaimon for a moment, then flickered closed again. He glanced up at the clock, imagined the lash stinging his flesh and ran as fast as he could towards the office and help.
*~*~*~*
The ambulance pulled away from the school grounds, its siren bellowing. The speeding vehicle was watched by thousands of gawking teenage eyes through large classroom windows, until their attention was diverted back to their studies again by the classroom authority.
Jaimon’s heroic actions were praised by the office staff and he asked if they would keep him informed of the girl’s situation.
*~*~*~*
Jaimon nervously peered around the doorway to Simons’ class and tried to catch his attention before entering. There wasn’t much left of the period and he wondered whether he should just wag the remaining time but before he could make a clean getaway, his gaze fell on Salena sitting next to his empty desk and smiling at him. She beckoned him to join her, but Jaimon had already made his plan and a furious mimed argument developed between them from his position at the door.
Before long, the eyes of the class were distracted by Jaimon’s mime and diverted to his animated play, stamping his foot in frustrated defiance to the redhead girl. A sudden ripple of laughter erupted over the classroom and Simons turned at the disturbance, following their gaze to the door and soon, Jaimon was trapped.
“Reece, you are in big trouble, boy! We will see how funny you are when your parents get my note.”
Jaimon flinched at the threat, his eyes full of fire. He mimed, Thanks a lot, Salena.
She giggled and mimed back, You’re welcome, Bob!
*~*~*~*
It took Salena a good portion of the lunchbreak to find Jaimon. He’d found a deserted hiding spot behind the manual arts building, a place where the student body weren’t allowed to go.
“You still sulking, Bob?!” Salena’s voice made him jump.
“How did you find me and no I’m not sulking?!”
“Don’t half sound like it, dude. That Simons is a bit of blast, ain’t he!” Salena began to laugh.
“Yeah, real blast! And that’s what I’m going to get when my father gets
his note, thanks to you!” Jaimon was still fuming.
“C’mon, Bob, is it really that bad?” Salena tried to jolly Jaimon along.
Jaimon jumped up, nearly knocking Salena off her feet, pulled the shirt tail out of his school trousers and started unbuttoning his shirt.
“Whoa! Now you’re talking,” Salena teased. “I’ve heard about people like you!”
Salena’s teasing soon stopped when Jaimon showed her the angry bruise running down his lower neck, along his shoulder and the top of his arm.
“This was for getting beaten up on my way home from school a couple of days ago and for damaging my school uniform.” A frustrated tear formed in the corner of Jaimon’s eye.
Salena was unperturbed. “Well, look at the bright side of it, Bob. You won’t have to pay for a tattoo and I bet all the girls would love to see it. Got any more?!” Salena eyes were sparkling and she coughed, stifling a laugh.
Jaimon’s mouth hung open at the ludicrous, unexpected comment and it took him off guard. Before long, they were both laughing so hard the tears began to flow. Once their laughing subsided, Jaimon sheepishly answered her question.
“As a matter of fact, I do have another bruise but you’re not seeing that one.”
Jaimon explained the welt from a towel whip in the boys’ change rooms that had almost crippled him and left an even blacker mark.
The sudden appearance of a teacher’s head leaning out of the manual arts room window stopped the conversation dead. Hurriedly, Jaimon threw his shirt back on.
“Jaimon, what are you doing out here?! And why did you have your shirt off?!” the teacher demanded an explanation, concerned something untoward was happening.
Jaimon turned to Salena, buttoning up his shirt and looking for support.
“Awk-ward!” Salena whispered. “Don’t pull me into this, toots; you were the one with your shirt off.”
*~*~*~*