Paintshark

by Kingsley Pilgrim

  Elias turned a handle and gently pushed on his daughter’s bedroom door and entered.

  As he did he was greeted by a cheerful voice that had seemed to have just left dreamland, but acting was Gemma’s speciality.

  “Hi Daddy.”

  A girl with big brown tired eyes blinked and rubbed them as her father bent over and kissed her on the forehead, she looked around nine years old, but her father treated her as if she was younger.

  “Did I wake you up?”

  She shook her little head, which was the only visible part of her body poking from the cover. “No, someone at the front door woke me up.”

  Elias changed the subject quickly to ease his misplaced guilt. “So how are you feeling? Any better?”

  His daughter nodded and eased herself above the covers revealing her slender arms.

  “A little better, Auntie Kay made me some soup and then she read me a story, has she left yet?”

  Elias bit softly into his lip. “Read you a story? She does know how old you are, doesn’t she?”

  Gemma smiled.

  “She’s going travelling around the world; I guess it’s her way of saying goodbye.”

  He scrunched his eyes shut as he shook his head and sighed.

  “Maybe she was adopted. “Is she still here?” Gemma asked with inquisitive brows raised.

  He nodded. “Remember to thank her for looking after you today.”

  The young girl seemed hurt by her father’s words. “I always say please and thank you.”

  Elias smiled. “I know you do, sweetheart, I’m sorry.”

  With her father well and truly put in his place, the girl continued.

  “Buckby wants to say goodbye to her too, is he asleep?”

  Her dad played with what little hair he had under his chin and turned around to face a glass box sat just below the window, in it were some leaves, a few sticks and a big grey spider sitting in the middle of them.

  It was the size of a man’s hand and lay very still, a little too still for Elias who craned his neck over to see if the eight-legged shape had some life left in it.

  “It’s hard to tell if he’s alive or dead.” Elias tapped on the side hoping that the spider wouldn’t move. “Maybe we should leave him, I think he’s asleep.”

  Gemma held out both hands with the bedclothes covering her body and beckoned with them frantically, but her voice was calm.

  “Come baby.”

  The spider sprung to life, it leapt on to the plastic and quickly made its way to the top trying desperately to get out.

  Elias gave a scream which sounded more like one his daughter would have done. Gemma giggled and then let out a sigh. “Daddy, lift the lid please?”

  Her father nervously did what he was told and slid the plastic cover off the spider’s home, Buckby jumped from the side and landed on Gemma’s arm crawling all around her arms, back and neck.

  She giggled again and Elias could see that she was feeling much better.

  “Buckby, you’re tickling me.”

  She turned to her dad who was standing as far away from the tank as the room would allow.

  Gemma played with her pet for a few seconds more and then said with authority, “Back baby.”

  As fast as the spider had left its tank it had scuttled across the room to get back in on the sound of its master’s voice.

  “Do you think I can go on that school camping trip tomorrow? I’m feeling so much better.”

  Elias shook his head with tied eyes.

  “I don’t know if you’re well enough, sweetheart, besides I spoke to your school and said you wouldn’t be able to make it.”

  Gemma clasped her hands together. “Please Daddy, I’m much better now.”

  “Well, we’ll see how you feel later tonight, ok?

  The girl nodded eagerly. “Well then, can I go to Echo’s house later? She’s having a sleepover and she’s going too tomorrow and I could leave from her house in the morning.”

  Elias laughed. “I said we’ll see how it goes.”

  “Ok.”

  Gemma knew how her dad’s mind worked, when he said, ‘We’ll see how it goes’ it usually meant yes, and in her mind she had already started packing.

  “Are you going downstairs to see Auntie Kay, Daddy?”

  Elias nodded. But now he was more concerned about the grey spider sitting motionless in his tank, his daughter’s voice apparently had supreme control over the spider. Elias slowly walked over and tapped his finger against the spider’s home.

  “Come baby,” he said with buoyant optimism. The spider didn’t move. Elias tried again tapping the glass slightly harder. “Come baby.” Buckby failed to stir from Elias’s attempts at motivation; the man nervously held his gaze against the tank but the big spider just lay in a heap of small leaves.

  Elias stood up and rubbed his left eye deeply, it was starting to itch and he really hoped that he wasn’t allergic to his daughter’s spider; much as he hated it, Gemma had really taken to the spider since he bought it for her as a child.

  The year when his wife had walked out and left them, he had no idea why he bought the spider to calm his daughter’s nights of crying. But it had worked and Buckby was the security blanket his daughter needed so much.

  Elias tried again and tapped on the tank. “Come baby.” No movement at all from the spider. Elias frowned. “Suit yourself.”

  He left the room, slamming the door as he went; this shook the shelf where the spider’s container stood, fell to the floor and made the arachnid stir.

  Gemma waited for her dad to reach the bottom of the stairs before jumping out of bed and heading straight for the wardrobe, selecting the more suitable gear for camping, behind her back. The spider rustled in the leaves, maybe thinking that he was going to get some more exercise today, it crawled hesitantly up the glass cage; there was a gap at the top which normally wasn’t there.

  Gemma for the first time had been careless and didn’t properly shut back the lid and now he had the chance to escape, Buckby tried to ease himself between the crack and found it easy on his grey hairy legs.

  Crawling out of the glass container, Buckby scuttled towards the window left open by what was looking likely to be his former owner; the Spider was going to get more exercise today after all.

  Aphrodite stormed through the school’s main gates with Sabrina quickly following her.

  “Aphrodite, slow down, my feet are killing me.”

  The beautiful girl in front turned around, with a scowl plastered on her face. “Then get some new shoes then, God that was embarrassing, being turned away from that bar, I thought you said those fake I.Ds would work?”

  Sabrina shrugged. “My cousin got them for me; she swears by them, they work for her.”

  “But not for us, that was a complete waste of time and now we’re back at this dreadful dump.”

  Sabrina tried to reassure her. “It was your idea to go for an afternoon drink, besides we need to turn up at some stage today; we skipped school this morning to go sunbathing and if we don’t show this afternoon then we’ll miss out on attendance credits.”

  Aphrodite looked like she couldn’t care less and let her friend know. “Do I look like I care about some stupid credits? Look around, babes, this whole school is closing down.” She pointed out to the crowds of people with banners and placards.

  It was Sabrina’s turn not to particularly care now. “Whatever.”

  Aphrodite rummaged through her bag and took out a small make-up mirror, flicking it open she looked up and down at her beautiful face, touching up on her foundation, satisfied she snapped the lid back and turned back to Sabrina. “So what’s so special about this afternoon then?”

  “According to Cassandra we have gym class and Mr Glaucas is covering, if he can keep the school open until then, you know what a Geek he is. It’ll be fun and then after school we can go to the city and buy those shoes you wanted.”

  Aphrodite’s eyes sparkled.

  “God
yeah, I want those shoes so much it’s scary. I have to have them tonight, they’re a one off and very expensive, God help anyone who stops me from getting those shoes.”

  Sabrina cocked an eyebrow.

  “I mean it,” glared Aphrodite. “Nothing will get in my way.” She breathed out and relaxed a little. “Gym class eh? I think I have a note for that.” She reached for Sabrina’s hand. “Come along then, let’s take a little look.”

  The two girls made their way through the school gates, pushing past all the other students protesting to keep the school open, Aphrodite scowled.

  “God look at all these freaks.”

  “They’re only trying to keep the school open, Aphrodite,” Sabrina replied.

  “Don’t care, stupid idiots, just hope they don’t step on my shoes or I swear to god–”

  “I get it.”

  As Aphrodite and Sabrina moved closer to the crowd they recognised some other students up front, four others. Watching the protest whilst embraced were Kimberley and Denton, whilst Cassandra roared her intent to keep the school open with the protesters, and behind her skulked Felcey.

  Aphrodite clapped her hands slowly in mock applause.

  “Well this is a ringing endorsement to keep the school open, a bloke, his joke, a skank and a nerd are here to save the day.”

  Surprisingly, Felcey piped up first to defend himself. “I’m not a nerd.”

  Aphrodite cut in with her voice primed for insults. “Sorry Felcey, no you’re not a nerd…you’re too much of a retard to be a nerd.”

  Felcey stepped in front and pointed to Aphrodite’s chest. “They are so fake.”

  Kimberley giggled and chastised him in jest. “FELCEY!”

  “I meant her eyebrows, what did you think I was talking about?”

  Aphrodite’s voice spoke in pure detest. “Gee, it’s almost the weekend, Felcey, are you going to do what you normally do when everyone’s getting ready to go out for the night? Have a shower, get dressed up… and then go to bed?”

  Cassandra stopped protesting to defend her apparently geeky friend.

  “You’d better put a muzzle on that bitch of yours Sabrina or I’ll put that dog down myself.”

  Aphrodite grinned with her perfect set of white teeth, everything about her was perfect, perfect legs perfect skin, she had a small button nose, her hair was silky blond and her eyes as blue as an untouched ocean – but they were piercing and right now they bored down on Cassandra.

  “Is it any wonder they’re closing down this school if that’s the sort of student that rolls off the conveyer belt, goodness me.”

  Aphrodite reached into her oversized bag and pulled out an apple, brushing it down she took a bite.

  “Is that breakfast, lunch and dinner?” Cassandra quipped.

  The stunning blond ignored her. Denton broke from his embrace with Kimberley to speak. “Aphrodite…it’s the middle of the afternoon and you’re not on your back? I am surprised.”

  She took another bite from her apple and waited patiently until she had swallowed every piece before answering with a smile.

  “If anybody should know, Denton…”

  Kimberley pushed Denton aside and went for Aphrodite. “YOU BITCH!” she yelled.

  Aphrodite neatly sidestepped away and hid behind Sabrina. “Better control your own dog, Cassandra,” giggled Aphrodite.

  A voice tried its hardest to make itself heard from within the crowd, a voice the squabbling kids all recognised.

  “Now that’s the fighting sprit that could keep this school open, let’s just make sure you hone it in another direction.”

  The voice was from their headmaster and now form tutor Elias Glaucas who had made a dash back from visiting his sick daughter to return to back to school and re-join the demonstration to keep it open from the Networks.

  “Aphrodite, could you please stop teasing Kimberley and put your differences aside for one moment?”

  “Yes sir,” she replied still munching away on her apple.

  “Aphrodite, you do know we have gym class after this demo? Will you be attending?”

  “Sorry sir, I have a note.”

  She slipped into her bag and handed her teacher a neatly folded piece of paper which he read out loud.

  “Dear Mr Glaucas, could you please excuse Aphrodite from games for obvious reasons?

  Obvious reasons?” Elias seemed confused until Aphrodite flashed her newly painted black fingernails to him.

  “Oh I see, ok well Denton could you put down your girlfriend for two minutes and help put some banners up on the front gates.”

  “Yes sir, but what’s the point? Everyone knows that this school is going to close down soon, all the others have around here, you can’t take on the Networks and win, sir.”

  Elias hesitated watched by his students, and then answered. “But we can try.”

  Amid all the shouting from the rest of the student body a huge black car rolled into the schoolyard, it was long and extremely sleek and had all the car enthusiasts whispering and pointing. The big car drove right up to the main entrance as the students peered in trying to get a glimpse of it’s passengers through blacked out windows, it came to a stop and the driver’s door opened.

  A stocky man with short blond hair and dark glasses got out and didn’t hide his contempt for the school children as he just walked through them to open the back door to let someone else out.

  Another man in shades got out with a superb taste in suits and a unique smooth skin, he had a voice which didn’t really command respect, but there was something else in the tone which meant you should at least listen.

  “I’m looking for Elias Glaucas, is he here?”

  For the first time that afternoon the protesters fell quiet, the well-dressed man repeated his question.

  “I say I’m looking for Elias Glaucas, could someone get him for me, tell him that ‘Big Man’ is here to see him.”

  As soon as the name was mentioned the crowd erupted. For the people wanting to keep the school open, the name was met with a chorus of ‘boo’s, but for the others who wanted the network to take over, his name created cheers of support.

  Sabrina clapped and giggled. “It’s him, it’s really him.” Aphrodite huffed. “Whatever, besides, I thought you wanted to keep the school open?”

  Sabrina mustered a little glance to her friend whilst still clapping. “Never said that and besides who cares when there’s a bona fide celebrity in the house.”

  Aphrodite finished her apple and threw it to the floor, unimpressed by the newcomer. As he walked through the crowds he acknowledged Aphrodite and Sabrina. “Ladies.” Sabrina screamed and threw her hands up into the air in delight, as Aphrodite just gave a polite head nod to ‘Big Man’.

  As Sabrina clapped the itching she had felt first thing this morning had come back, she scratched her wrist vigorously and felt her arm, it was hard, harder then normal and curiously looked a different colour, she scratched again and stopped clapping to keep her hands by her side.

  Aphrodite noticed this too but kept quiet as she herself had been trying to hide her own red scratches on her arm, as she watched ‘Big Man’ scan the crowd, her lip twisted as she felt an urge to scratch behind her ear, she did so frantically like a dog, this was watched by Cassandra and Kimberley. Cassandra yelled, “WHO’S THE DOG NOW, BITCH? ROLL OVER, YOU TRAMP!” The two girls hi-fived with glee to Aphrodite’s annoyance.

  “Can someone tell me where I can find Elias Glaucas, please?” Big Man shouted.

  Elias pretended not to hear him, but his other students grew restless and looked to him for support, so he gave a worried smile to his fellow protesters and stepped forward.

  “That would be me.”

  Big Man turned and clapped his hands in appreciation. “Bravo, Bravo…this is quite a demonstration you have here, I’m slightly impressed.”

  “I usually like to keep a low profile,” murmured Elias.

  “What do you want Big Man?”

 
Big Man’s cheek twitched.

  “You know what I want, Mr Glaucas, all I want is for you to close your school for me, I need it shut for my Network…you haven’t returned my phone calls or e-mails, that’s rather rude of you, don’t you think?”

  Frowning, Elias answered, “Because there’s no way I’m letting a corporate tyrant like you close down this great school.”

  “I admit it is a great school but a lot of people, myself included want to get hold of you–”

  “Debt collectors and child support agencies I bet,” Elias said, looking suspiciously at Big Man.

  Big Man smiled cheerfully. “You have a good sense of humour, I like that in a man, believe me you’ll need it if you don’t give me your school. My Network have offered you a king’s ransom to shut this school down and yet you refuse on every occasion, why is that?”

  Elias gently pushed past his students to get closer to Big Man. “I’ll tell you why I won’t give into you or any other network, why should I let you take my school just to have you close it down so the kids are free to watch and vote on your stupid game shows, look around you, what do you see? There are kids here who want to learn, make a difference to their lives, they want to grow up and be somebody and I can help them, they want to dance, act, read music, go to the theatre, paint… this school can help them make a decent start to their lives, they can make a stand and do what they feel is right with the best education behind them and my staff and I will be behind them every step of the way.”

  The students supporting their young headmaster cheered and whooped and Big Man waited for the enthusiastic kids to stop.

  “Nice speech but Mr Glaucas, don’t try and provoke me too far – judging from the way you speak, the way you move, you are a loser, a nobody…a nerd if you like and the losers in life will only inherit the planet when the winners are done with it, now I shan’t ask again, nobody wants to go to school any more, none of these kids want to learn from books, they want to learn from television, that’s the greatest teacher, parents who have a troublesome kid, what do they do? They turn on the TV and let that keep him quiet for a few hours, kids struggling with exams, what do they do? Ask the teacher or ask the TV? Kids don’t fear TV, they embrace it because we can give them everything they need, Elias Glaucas, and they don’t fear teachers anymore either because you’re a joke, all teachers are; primary school, secondary school, …especially primary schools, they’re the worst ones, now I’m growing quite tired of this insurrection so do me a favour for the sake of the future and GIVE ME YOUR SCHOOL… I promise it will be quick and painless.”