Dark Days at TAC

by Richard Pinkerton

When Vanessa got off the phone to Holly, it was home time. She collected her gear from the locker and came to a halt outside the boys toilets when she heard raised voices inside.

  ‘I’m telling you, he can be trusted!’ It sounded to Vanessa like the voice of Ben Tamati. She didn’t recognise the other guy though.

  ‘You’re kidding, right? Cassidy’s like your big crusader. Out to bring down bullies and clean up the school.’

  ‘He’s changed, man. Ever since Rod knocked him over the head. They doped him up good, man and it worked. He’s on our side now. Even Rod’s convinced he’s with us.’

  Vanessa’s eyes widened. Rex was working with Rod? She felt faint, but remained where she was to hear more.

  ‘Are you sure about that, Tamati? I mean Rod’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. In fact he’s messed up on a number of occasions.’

  ‘Glenn, you should have seen him with Rod last night. They were laughing and having a grand old time. I don’t know how they did it, but they turned him.’

  Vanessa flinched. It was getting worse and worse. First, they were allies, now they were great mates? She rubbed her temples with her fingers. She closed her eyes and shook her head in despair.

  The voices lowered. ‘Alright,’ Glenn said. Vanessa had no idea who he was. ‘Bring him along tonight. Remember, 9pm sharp down at the domain by the pool. That’s where it’s gonna go down. Be discrete.’

  ‘Of course.’

  Vanessa knew it was not wise to stay where she was, so she slipped past the door and left the locker block feeling completely sick about what she had just overheard. It sounded too that whatever was going to happen at the domain could end up being illegal. ‘What the heck is Rex doing?’ she asked herself as she left the grounds. She hurried along the road her mind buzzing with questions. ‘Why is he mixed up with those guys? The guys who attack him?’ Then even more disturbing thoughts came to mind. ‘What if they hurt him still more?’

  She had no idea what to do. She could go to the police, but really what would that achieve? If there were nothing dodgy going on, she’d look foolish. And if there were, she’d drop Rex right into it. She couldn’t do that to him.

  She continued on to Holly’s house. She heard a shriek from inside. Without even thinking about her own safety, she swung the door open and rushed in. Holly struggled with Paul, trying to push him off her while he was trying to kiss her. ‘Get off you little creep!’

  ‘Get off of her!’ Vanessa shouted and rushed forward. When Paul saw here, his jaw dropped and he let go of Holly and stepped back.

  Vanessa grabbed him roughly. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

  ‘I’m sorry!’ yelped Paul. ‘I’m really sorry.’

  Holly stepped over and slapped him in the face hard. Paul let out a cry of pain. ‘He just came in here and scared the hell out of me. Little creep was trying to kiss me!’

  ‘I’m sorry!’ he said again. ‘I thought she liked me.’

  ‘You stupid little jerk!’ Vanessa growled. ‘She doesn’t like you. You can’t just come into people’s places without being invited!’

  ‘I’m sorry, goddess.’ His face paled and his eyes almost burst from his head. ‘I won’t do it again!’

  Vanessa paused for a moment as he stood there, his body quivering. It really looked to Vanessa as if he did see her as a goddess, a goddess whose wrath was something to be feared. He really was one messed up kid, but Vanessa saw an opportunity to exploit his fear in a way that would hopefully end his unhealthy obsession with Holly. ‘Listen to me Paul,’ Vanessa said in the sternest voice she could muster. ‘I am not happy with you. Already I am conjuring up some serious punishments for your sins.’

  Paul’s mouth opened and she could see he was taking her seriously.

  ‘You are never, EVER to bother Holly again. You will stay away from her and not even talk to her. Do you understand?’

  ‘Y…yes, goddess Vanessa!’

  ‘If you ever even as much as look at her funny you will suffer my wrath. Have you got that?’

  ‘Yes, goddess Vanessa!’

  ‘Right. Now get out of here and never come back!’

  He needed no further convincing. He hurried to the door and in seconds was half way down the street.

  Vanessa turned to her friend her sighed deeply. ‘I am so glad you showed up when you did.’

  ‘Did he hurt you?’

  ‘No, he was just trying to kiss me. Ugghh! What a psycho!’

  ‘Well hopefully he won’t bother you again, but just to be on the safe side we should go and report him to the police. He can’t be allowed to get away with this.’

  ‘Sweet,’ Holly said. ‘Oh gosh, what a horrible day. I find out one of my best friends is messing around with my boyfriend and now I have a stalker ambush me in my own home.’

  Vanessa put her arm around her shoulder. ‘It’s ok. I know this has been tough on you, but I’m here for you ok? I want to help.’

  ‘Well at least I know you’ll never try to steal my boyfriend.’

  Vanessa couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Oh, you can be assured of that.’

  Holly smiled. ‘You are always so strong.’

  ‘Oh no, believe me I’m not. I can appear that way, but there are some things that can really bring me down and at the moment, I’m really worried about Rex.’ She told her about the conversation she overheard in the locker bay. Holly’s face whitened as she listened.

  ‘We have to go and see what’s happening,’ Holly insisted. ‘Rex may be in danger. He may be about to do something crazy.’

  ‘I know. I can’t let this go either. I at least have to know what he’s doing. Let’s go to the domain tonight and hide there and see.’ Even the suggestion of it sent a surge of adrenalin through her body. The whole plan was silly and fraught with danger, but it just seemed like something they had to do and with Holly there alongside of her, it seemed it would be a lot easier.

  They agreed that they would meet, telling their parents they were going to each other’s houses. They’d take their cell phones with them in case they needed them and even put a speed dial in for 111 so it could be done at the single press of a button.

  When the time arrived to meet, Vanessa felt goose bumps and even anxiety. Nevertheless, her concern for Rex overruled any doubts she had and she headed out to meet with Holly at 8:15. She met her coming from the opposite direction and saying very little, due to nerves, set off for the domain. Once there, they took extra care to make sure that nobody was about and then they slipped into an area of trees and hid amongst some shrubs. There they waited, only whispering the occasional message to one another.

  Come 9pm all was still quiet, but then they heard some voices in the distance. Vanessa tensed up and she exchanged wide-eyed glances with Holly. Her friend grasped her arm as the voices grew louder and they recognised one of them as Ben.

  Then came the voice that Vanessa was waiting to hear; Rex’s. ‘Nah, drugs have been getting dealt in schools for years and they hardly ever track down the dealers. Sure Mr Luxton is doing his best, but I wouldn’t worry about it.’

  Vanessa stared at Holly, wondering if she was getting the same message she was. Rex was involved in the dealing of drugs at Te Arawa College... or at the very least was about to become involved.

  ‘Look,’ came the voice of Glenn, the one Vanessa didn’t know. ‘Well it seems Ben was right about you, Cassidy. You really have changed.’

  ‘Yeah, well that knock on the head seemed to knock some sense into me. I guess that deep down I was just sick of being the nice guy. I was wasting my time with losers.’

  ‘But I don’t get it,’ Glenn replied. He was just under the trees now and Vanessa was able to make him out in the moonlight. He had a bag slung over his shoulder and she recognised him as a year-thirteen guy from school. ‘Your family’s so rich. Why do you want to deal P?’

  ‘Think about it,’ Rex replied. ‘I can’t live off my parents forever. Sooner or later I’ve gotta earn my own mone
y. I don’t want to end up in some dead-end job earning crap.’

  ‘I’m hearing ya. Hey, here comes Rod and the others.’

  Vanessa felt she needed to hold her breath. Peaking out she saw him approach. He hobbled along and she felt a certain amount of satisfaction that her kneecap stomp was still causing him pain. With him was the baseball bat guy and another guy dressed in Wild Dog patches who held a package under his arm. So Rod was linked up with them too?

  ‘You got the stuff?’ Glenn asked.

  ‘Of course,’ said Rod. ‘That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?’

  ‘Awesome. I...’

  Suddenly Holly let out a yelp. She brushed something from her arm, but then realising what she had done, stared at Vanessa in horror. All talking stopped and next thing someone loomed over their hiding place. Rod Williams.

  ‘So, what do we have here? Get out from there!’

  Vanessa flinched. Holly whimpered. ‘A cockroach. I hate cockroaches.’

  ‘Get out now!’ Rod snarled.

  The two of them had no choice but to obey. Rex’s expression was one of shock. ‘What are you two doing here?’

  ‘We were just hanging out here,’ Vanessa said. ‘And we hid when we heard people coming.’ She did her best to remain staunch, but she could see that Holly was quivering and her face paled. ‘Rex, what’s going on? Why are you with these guys? They attacked you.’ She pointed to Rod and the baseball bat guy.

  ‘They overheard us,’ said the Wild Dog. ‘They know what we’re doing.’ He stepped up towards them. Vanessa poised herself ready to defend herself, although she didn’t know how she would cope against a guy like this. She turned her eyes towards Rex pleading with him with her eyes to help them out, but she wondered if she could rely on him at all.

  ‘Watch it, Lizard,’ Ben said. ‘She’ll cap you if you if she gets the chance.’

  ‘Yeah, she will!’ Rod snarled moving up beside the gang member. ‘Kind of cool that you’re here, because now I can get a little payback.’

  Lizard lunged for her and grabbed her arm. She screamed and tried to pull free, but couldn’t. Suddenly Rex lunged in, fury in his eyes, and slammed his elbow into the back of Lizard’s head. The gang member went flailing into a tree. Rod stepped back with a start, but before he could do anything, Rex’s fist connected with his head and he dropped like a bag of sand to the ground. Lizard attempted to regain his balance, but Rex attacked him again sending several stiff blows to his head bringing him to the ground.

  ‘Rex look out!’ Holly screamed as the baseball bat guy charged in at Rex.

  She didn’t need to warn him, as Rex was ready. He ducked under a wild blow and sent an uppercut to the guy’s jaw, which caused a crack and sent him crashing to the ground. Rex spun around and faced Glenn and Ben, his fists clenched, the psychotic look still on his face. ‘You want some, eejits?’

  Both of their faces paled.

  ‘Nah, she’s right, bro,’ Ben said.

  Glenn however wasn’t so forthcoming. ‘What’s going on, Cassidy? Is this a double cross? You’re supposed to be working for us!’

  Nobody touches her!’ Rex snarled. ‘Nobody.’

  Vanessa’s heart rejoiced. Had Rex suddenly regained his memory or had his protectiveness towards her kicked in automatically? It didn’t matter. She was just so thrilled that he had come to their aid with such force. The three men Rex had attacked lay on the ground, out cold. Vanessa marvelled at how easily he had dispatched them. It seemed when he was enraged his power increased dramatically.

  Rex simmered down. He bowled over to Rod, bent down and slapped him a few times in the face. Rod stirred. Rex hauled him to his feet where he stood groggily, blinked a few times, and squinted at Rex. ‘What...?’

  ‘You screwed up Williams. Your little plan didn’t work.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Glenn asked.

  ‘You thought you could dope me up and turn me into one of you. You pumped me so full of drugs I thought for a moment your little brainwashing techniques might just work, but you know, Williams, you’ve been watching too many movies like “A Clockwork Orange”. That sort of stuff doesn’t work. And it didn’t work on me.’

  Vanessa’s eyes lit up. Was he saying what she thought he was saying?

  Rod blinked again. ‘You mean... you mean you’ve been playing us? Making us believe you were on our side?’

  ‘Stout fellow.’

  Vanessa felt like letting out a whoop of joy, but she held back because she couldn’t wait to hear what they all had to say next.

  Rod’s eyes widened. So did his two conscious pals. ‘So you set us up! You wanted us to incriminate ourselves.’

  ‘Exactly. I needed to find out who was dealing at the school...’ he peered across at Glenn, ‘and who his supplier was.’ He glanced down at Lizard. He let go of Rod who reeled, but managed to stay on his feet. Rex ambled over and picked up a package from the ground. Vanessa had no doubt it was the drugs. ‘And now I have all the evidence I need.’

  ‘What are you going to do, Cassidy?’ Glenn asked.

  ‘I’m turning you all in. Just like I intended to.’

  ‘No! You can’t do that!’

  ‘I can and I will. Want to try to stop me?’

  All three said nothing and just gazed at him in despair.

  Rex scowled at Rod. ‘Williams, you assclown, you and your girlfriends made a big mistake. You talked too much before the drugs took full effect over me. Talking about your P business and how much money you were making at the school. I saw it as an opportunity to bring you douchebags down. At first, the drugs did screw with my memory and I didn’t know who I was, but after a couple of days, I regained my full memory. But I knew if I wanted to take you eejits down, I had to continue to pretend my memory was gone, so I played along with your little scheme.’ He turned his eyes to Vanessa and Holly. ‘And I had to hurt a few people in the process... make them think I was still suffering from memory loss. I just hope I haven’t done any irreparable damage.’

  Vanessa felt like the world had been lifted from her shoulders. ‘Is it true, Rex? Were you really acting?’

  ‘Not at first, but yes, later on.’ He walked over to her and touched her face. ‘And I am so sorry I made you suffer.’

  ‘Why didn’t you confide in me? You know I would have gone along with it.’

  ‘I couldn’t. I had to have you convinced I had lost my memory and that I had crossed over to the dark side, as it were. I had to convince everyone. I couldn’t afford to take any chances and I definitely couldn’t risk you trying to get involved in my little investigation. I’d never forgive myself if you got hurt.’

  She smiled warmly at him. She couldn’t help but admire him for what he’d done. Working undercover to bring down P dealers. Could he be any more wonderful?

  ‘This is bullshit,’ Glenn growled. ‘You can’t pin any of this on me. You haven’t seen me deal any drugs and you can’t prove I was going to accept that package.’

  ‘And I didn’t do anything!’ Ben said. ‘I’m not a dealer.’

  ‘But you’re an accomplice,’ Rex said. ‘Helping them. Making sure nobody else is around when a deal goes down. Acting as Glenn’s alibi when he needs one. And Glenn, if you think you’re just gonna walk away from this, well then you’re an eejit.’ Rex advanced towards him. Glenn shrunk back. Rex raised his fist to strike him, but Glenn shoved his bag out as a shield. Rex swiped the bag out of his hands. ‘Thank you. Now I wonder what I’ll find in this bag if I open it up.’

  Glenn’s eyes widened. ‘No!’

  Rex smirked, unzipped it and peered inside. ‘Just as I thought. All the evidence I need. I bet your fingerprints are all over this.’

  ‘Damn it Rex, please. You can leave me out of this. You got the suppliers. You don’t need me.’

  ‘Me too, Rex,’ Ben said. ‘I’ll be expelled for sure if this gets out. My dad will kill me.’

  ‘You’ll get more than an expulsion,’ Rex said. ‘You
two are low-life pieces of crap, making money off the misery of others. You both deserve what you’re gonna get and don’t even think about running, because if I have to come after you both, it’s gonna be even less pleasant, I can promise you that!’

  Both boys stood stock-still.

  ‘Got a cell phone with you, Nessie?’ Rex asked.

  ‘Right here,’ she said and held it up.

  ‘Call the cops. It’s time we brought them into this.’