Radical

by Sijal Aziz

  CHAPTER 8

  “Why can’t you be normal like other girls and play with dolls? Why? What on earth happened?”, her mother was scolding her. She was standing near the kitchen sink, wetting a towel to clean Kate’s nose.

  Kate had come home with a bleeding nose and her mother was appalled.

  She walked back over to Kate and tipped Kate’s head back and started wiping her nose with the wet towel, “Now stay in this position so that the bleeding can stop. One of these days you can seriously injure yourself or someone else and end up in jail”

  Kate was afraid of ending up in jail. She had a long discussion with her friends a few days ago about jail and they had told her that the police did not send kids to jail. She wondered why her mother was lying to her.

  “Why do you have to do this Kate?”, her mother asked genuinely worried.

  Kate tried to explain in the best way she could, “Mom, you have to trust me. It was Jimmy’s fault! He was cheating at football again, I tried to talk to him nicely, but some people just wouldn’t listen to reason!”

  Her mother cut in, “So explain this to me, how is it reasonable to get into a fight and ending up getting hurt?”

  “You should have seen Jimmy, I punched him in the face. He then charged at me with both his fists clenched and I hit him in the legs. He went down like a sack of flour. I am sure he wouldn’t show his face in school for days”, Kate said with her eyes shining bright.

  Kate’s mother was appalled. Kate was not apologetic. She had actually enjoyed beating Jimmy.

  Kate’s mom opened her mouth to say something, when the phone rang. She knew who it was before she picked it up.

  “Hello”

  “Hello, Mrs. Hawkins this is Silvia, Jimmy’s mother. You know what your daughter did to Jimmy today?”

  “I am sorry, Silvia but Jimmy hit her first. I am talking to Kate and I assure you that this will not happen again”

  “Mrs. Hawkins, I have had it with your daughter. If she doesn’t stop this now…”

  Kate’s mom did not let her finish the sentence, “Silvia, I already said that this will not happen again, and Kate has come home with a bleeding nose too. I am talking to Kate about this, and you need to talk to Jimmy about this as well. Now I need to go and take care of Kate’s nose”, she hung up the phone without listening to what Silvia was saying at the other end.

  Kate’s mom looked at Kate long and hard and said, “Kate you have to stop with this. I don’t want to receive complaints from the neighbors and the school every week. This is not normal. You have to change your ways. Stop playing with the boys”

  “Girls and their play suck. All they want to do is play with those freaking dolls. I cannot understand them. The dolls freak me out”

  “What’s there to be freaked out about? Dolls are just toys, and everyone plays with them”

  “No, they are not. They are tiny and freaky stiffs. It’s like someone killed a small human and then froze them. How can you ask me to play with something so sick?”

  Kate’s mother had no idea how to respond to the child’s logic, so she changed the subject.

  “What about school? Why do I get a call from Principal Francis every week? Why do you have to fight everywhere you go?”

  Kate was indignant, “I don’t understand why the school people call you. They never do anything to help those innocent kids who get bullied all the time. All I do is help the kids when the bullies attack them and then the bullies go crying to the stupid principal and he calls you”

  “Watch your language Kate. You cannot call your principal stupid and it’s not your job to help those kids”, Kate’s mother looked at her long and hard and continued, “There is nothing that I can say to change your ways. Is there?”

  “But I did nothing wrong”

  “Ok, go to your room. I will talk to your father about you tonight”

  Kate stared at her mother with her big angry eyes and then stomped off to her room.

  Kate loved her father and she never wanted to look bad in his eyes. She could not understand her mother though. She knew that her mother loved her, and she loved her too, but Kate did not know why her mother didn’t understand her. Her father on the other hand understood Kate and was always smiling and loving towards her.

  She went in the toilet and looked at her face. She had a bit of blood over her nose and dirt in her hair. She cleaned her nose with cold water and went over what had happened today. She was glad the way she handled herself with Jimmy. She only had one regret. She didn’t hit him hard enough.

  Kate’s father usually came home from work at around 6. As 6 o clock approached Kate became worried.

  She went downstairs three times to check whether her father was home. When she couldn’t wait anymore, she sat at the top of the stairs to keep a look out for him.

  At around 6:15 her father came home and called out to her. She was about to run downstairs to him when she heard her mother say, “Jim, we need to talk”

  Her father went into the kitchen with her mother. Kate came down a few stairs to try to listen to what her mother was saying but she couldn’t.

  They stayed there in the kitchen for fifteen minutes. When she heard them coming out of the kitchen, Kate tiptoed to her room and closed the door lightly, careful not to make any sound. She then went over to the bed and covered her face with the quilt. Her father knocked on the door a few seconds later.

  “It’s open”, Kate said trying to hold back the tears in her eyes.

  When her father opened the door, Kate started sobbing.

  Her father sat down next to her, gently took off the quilt from her face and gently stroked her hair without saying anything.

  Kate sobbed for a few more seconds and then got up and hugged him and said, “It wasn’t my fault, Jimmy hit me first. I never start a fight. You know that”

  He hugged her back and kissed her on the top of her head, “I know. I know. But we need to be careful when we hit others baby. What if someone hits your father in the groin, how would you feel”?

  “I will kill them”, Kate replied angrily.

  Her father kissed her on the forehead and looked deep into her eyes and said, “You are a good girl Kate, good people don’t go around killing others. You need to control your anger just a little bit. Your mother is so worried about you”

  “Mom doesn’t understand me. She is mean to me. She wants me to play with Cindy, Megan and Elizabeth. They are stupid and all they want to do all day is play with dolls. Ooh I got a new doll. Ooh my doll is getting married. Ooh my doll is pregnant. Stupid. They are just plain stupid. All of them”

  Her father sighed and hugged her and said, “Yes, playing with them doesn’t make any sense. But you need to stop getting physical with other kids. I don’t want you to get hurt, darling. Your mother told me that you came home with a bleeding nose. How are you feeling now?

  “I am feeling fine dad. It was just a nosebleed”

  Her father nodded and hugged her lovingly. He never wanted Kate to get hurt and prayed that she would grow out of her phase soon.

  “Why don’t you take a quick shower and come downstairs for dinner and apologize to your mom? She loves you Kate and she doesn’t want you to get hurt”

  “Kay”, Kate said in a non-committal tone and added, “I will do it because you have asked me to and not because I am sorry about anything”

  Kate’s father sighed and said, “Thank you my darling.”

  Kate got up from the bed and went to the bath.

  She took a quick bath and went downstairs and apologized to her mom.

  “I am sorry mama”, Kate said looking down at the floor and then went to her father and sat down in his lap. They watched animal planet together, while her mom cooked food.

  On the screen Kate was excitedly watching a lion devouring a prey and her father was thinking when Kate will grow out of her tomboy phase.

  Kate did grow out of her phase in high school, when she fell in love with the captain of
the football team, Larry Ferras.

  In high school none of her class fellow knew that she existed except for the only friend, Benjamin Clarke. Benjamin was a nerdy kid who was too short for his age.

  Kate became friends with him because no one else talked with him and she felt sorry for him. No one else wanted to talk with Kate as well. She had long unkempt hair, she wore lose pants and a lose baggy shirt to school every day. She hadn’t looked in the mirror for ages and her only favorite pastime was computers.

  The first time Kate set her eyes on Larry, she found it difficult to breathe. He was six feet tall with a body of steel. There was this animal magnetism about him that made Kate want to straddle him. Girls were pulled to him like he was a magnet and he was with a different girl every week.

  That day Kate went home and analyzed herself in the mirror. She was looking a young woman with a beautiful face and nice firm breasts that were showing promise of further filling out.

  She wanted to change the way she looked. So, she decided that her face needed a good scrub or at least a wash.

  After she washed her face, she looked in the mirror again and nothing had changed except for the fact that her face looked cleaner.

  She went back to her bed and sat there thinking for some time. If she had listened to her mother over all the past years, things would have been different. She could have been wearing nice clothes and makeup and sleeping with Larry. Hell, she could have looked better than the ‘plastic squad’.

  Kate called a group of girls in her class the plastic squad, which consisted of four girls who were almost always impeccably dressed in full makeup, painted nails, high heels and complementing accessories. They were mean and tried to bully Kate initially and backed off completely when Kate threatened to scratch their faces with her nails.

  Kate had no choice but to go to the only other woman in her life, “Mom, I want to look beautiful. Can you help me?”

  Her mother looked at Kate with adoring eyes and said, “Yes, I have been waiting for you to say that since the day you started talking. Let’s go baby”

  Her mother took her to a beauty salon where the first thing they did was cut her hair and stylize it. Then they did her pedicure and manicure and for the first time in her life Kate had nail polish on her nails.

  Kate looked into the mirror and she looked absolutely stunning even in her awkward clothes.

  Her mother hugged her and said, “We are not done yet, young lady. Let’s go!”

  “Where?”, Kate asked.

  “Somewhere I had wanted to take you for as long as I can remember”

  They went shopping everywhere the young girls did their shopping from and came home with over a dozen dresses.

  Ten were for Kate and two for her mom. Her mother was over the moon, happy that Kate had finally come out of her phase. Kate’s mother and Kate really got close after that and Kate made it a habit of going out shopping with her at least once a week.

  The sudden change in her made everyone take notice. Not only the boys in her school fell over one another to take her out but one of her teachers asked her out too. Larry Farris followed suit and asked Kate out within five days of her transformation.

  Larry took Kate to a cheap local diner where they ordered burgers. Two minutes into their date, Kate found out that Larry was all looks and no brains, but she did not leave as she was thankful to him for transforming her into a normal teenage girl. Once they were done with the food Kate told Larry that she immediately needed to go home as there was an emergency. Larry was disappointed that he had just spent $5 on a girl, he could not take to bed but reluctantly agreed to drop Kate home. Kate never spoke to him again.

  “Jordan?”

  Kate brought her mind back to the present.

  “What?”

  “I said we are here. Are you feeling alright?”

  “Yes. Thanks for everything. I will just get off here”

  “Anytime, good luck!”

  Kate opened the truck’s door and got out.

  She went to the closest phone booth and placed a call to Alison. Alison answered on the 4th ring.

  “Hello”

  “Alison, this is Kate”

  There was a momentary silence and then Alison’s excited voice burst through the phone.

  “Kate, where are you? You are all over the news. Girl aren’t you in trouble!” Alison’s excitement reverberated through the phone.

  “The net and TV are constantly running news on how you cold bloodedly murdered Matt. I have been trying to get in touch with you for so long. Oh, I am sorry about Matt. I know you didn’t do it but why are they accusing you? Are you calling from the police station?”

  “No, I am somewhere else”

  “Where?”

  Kate breathed deep and continued, “Alison, the police were taking me to the police station for questioning because they think I murdered Matt. But something happened on our way to the police station and I was able to get away”

  Kate heard Alison gasp on the other side, Kate continued, “I cannot go to prison, Alison. I am innocent. If they catch me, they will put me in prison”

  “I know honey. I know you are innocent. Where are you? Do you need help?”

  “I will be coming to your apartment within half an hour. Is there any news of my escape?”

  “No, not yet. The media is just covering the murder at the moment”

  “Ok. Alison, I forgot, are there any security cameras in your apartment building?”

  “Yes, there are. Just don’t look up and you will be fine just like Jason Bourne”

  “Jason Bourne?” Kate asked confused.

  “You know Jason Bourne from Bourne Identity, the movie”

  “Oh yeah, I will be careful, bye”

  “Bye”

  Alison hung up the phone. She was very excited. Finally, God had decided to make her dull life a little more interesting. She knew Kate could have never hurt anyone leave alone murder the love of her life and if the police were accusing her of murder, they were wrong.

  She wanted to help Kate. She also knew from her movie and TV experience that she could be indicted for aiding and abetting a fugitive if she was caught. But that made it all the more exciting. She decided that the best course of action for her to take in a situation like this was not to get caught.

  As she was walking to Alison’s apartment Kate wondered whether detective Derek Markus was alright.

  CHAPTER 9

  The paramedics who arrived at the scene of the accident, checked Derek’s vital signs and strapped him to the stretcher and took him to the hospital. His head and neck were aching badly.

  At the hospital, he was taken to the emergency ward straight away.

  The emergency doctor on call was Carla White. Carla White was in her early 30s and had been on call for the past 24 hours, she was hungry and she was sleepy. Her shift was supposed to end in half an hour and now another patient was brought to her.

  She was hoping that the patient brought to her was not suffering from any major injuries. Major injuries would mean she would have to stay there until the patient was prepped for emergency surgery. Minor injuries would mean the next doctor on call will be able to deal with the patient. She ordered a neck, spine, head CT scan and blood CP, for the detective.

  She anxiously waited for the results. Her wish came true, detective Derek was only suffering from a minor concussion and a whiplash injury to the neck that had resulted in tearing of some soft tissues and tendons. No surgeries were needed. She could go home and sleep.

  She signed off her shift, went to detective Derek and said, “It seems like you are doing fine Mr., umm”, she took his wrist in her hand and read the name on it, “Derek Markus.

  I will have you admitted to your room for a day or two only to check up on you further and then you are clear to go home.

  I need to put this neck brace on you. You have to wear it for a couple of weeks. Some of the tendons in your neck have been torn.

  Do no
t make any sudden movements. Your doctor will be here to check up on you in a few hours. Should you require anything please ring this bell”, she said pointing to a switch on the righthand side of his bed.

  She then walked over to detective Derek, “You need to sit down so that I can put the neck brace on you”

  Derek sat up in bed slowly. He did not feel any pain in his neck or head.

  “Are you sure my tendons are torn, doctor? I don’t feel any pain”

  “It’s because of the pain killers we are pumping in you”, Dr. White said pointing to the intravenous fluid bag that was on the stand next to detective’s bed.

  She put the neck brace on the detective.

  “As I said before, please do not make any sudden movements. You can use the neck brace for the next week or so but then take it off. I do not recommend long term usage of the neck brace. Otherwise the healing process will take longer than usual”

  “Ok. I won’t.”

  “That’s it from me. Someone will move you from here to your room”, she said and left.

  Once the doctor left, Derek started thinking about Ryan and how his death would affect his wife and kids.

  A nurse came with a wheelchair to take Derek to his room. Derek refused to sit on the wheelchair and walked to his room.

  There were two beds in the room where they shifted Derek. But the other bed was unoccupied.

  It was standard practice at the hospitals to put members of the police force alone in a room.

  After the news spread at the station about what had happened, a stream of detectives came to check up on him. They condoled the death of detective Ryan with him.

  Detective Derek hadn’t talked to some of them in months but still they came. Derek knew that he would have done the same. It felt good to know that no matter what happened, he would be looked after by his own. Captain Todd was the last one to check up on detective Derek by phone.

  “Hello, detective Markus. I hope you are feeling alright?”

  “Yes, captain, I will be released from the hospital within a couple of days”