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Chapter 8
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What do you do when a long time bully who tortures you, insults you, and sexually harass you from the time you met at seven years of age till your sixteenth year cries in front of you?
Answer.
As what I've said for the last seven chapters, I have no idea.
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God its dark!
Where am I?
I can't see.
Dark! Too Dark!
Run! Run!
I started to make myself run at a leap, but turned into something hard. I fell, landing with a thud on the floor.
“Ouch! That hurt!” What did I bump into?
I sat up and reached my hand into the dark.
I touched a smooth surface. It was cool. Is this a wall?
I followed the wall with my right hand still sitting; trying to see if I could figure out where I was now. The cold wall was a comfort. I liked it when it was cool, not freezing, just the right amount of cold. I flinched when I touched something.
Bang! Thump, thump, thump...
I jumped when I heard something fall right next to me and my heart tried to break out of my ribs.
What was it?
I reached out next to me for a while until I felt it underneath my fingers. It was rough, slim, felt like wood.
A stick?
I tried to pick it up, but something was weighing down on the other end of a stick.
My eyes adjusted enough to see that it wasn't a stick, but a mop. I was in a closed space. A closet maybe. The janitor's closet?
I got to find out where the door is. I jumped up now standing and felt through the wall again. I touched a corner and felt through some supplies on chrome shelves. I kept up following the walls in a clockwise motion until I felt a different kind of wall. This wall felt smooth but not like the cool cement that made the other walls. It felt like wood. It must have been the door. I frantically searched for the door knob gliding hands to the wooden surface of the door. The cold feeling of steel bumped my left hand and reached for it knowing it was the door knob. Grasping it with both of my hands I turned the knob and found it unlocked. That cheered my up. I could get out of here. I pushed the door open and...
Huh?
I pushed the door harder, but to no avail.
The door was locked. On the outside. It could have been pad locked.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
"Help! Somebody please help me! Get me out of here!" I shouted while banging the door. "Help!"
And when shouting and banging didn't work, I backed up a little, ran through the short distance, and tried to bust the door with my shoulder. Though it felt like I busted my shoulder instead.
When that didn't work, the idea of finding and turning on the light switch came to me. As I found the light switch to my right, I flicked it easily. I squinted my eyes trying to adjust my sight as the closet filled with light. I didn't really need to as the light bulb wasn't even in a condition to surround the room with light. Good thing that the closet was small. At least I wouldn't have to worry about being surrounded by the dark. Inside the closet were supplies for the janitor in shelves, a plunger and other things to clean a toilet, and a bucket with its mop lying on the floor. The walls were grey, bordering on gloomy. If the light was much better it could have made the room much better, but surely the janitor thought that it didn't need to as it was only for supplies and stuff. He should have thought of the poor bullied people instead of just conserving electricity for the school.
I leaned my back on the door and slumped to the floor with a sigh. I was tired of thinking about some lowly janitor. It was time to think of something else. I crossed my arms on top of my raised knees and laid my head there.
How did this happen to me?
Who pushed me in here?
Who would be so cruel enough to do this to me?
Why would they do this?
Why am I even asking?
I knew the only person who could do this and she was grinning earlier today as our new teacher arrived at the classroom.
How did I even end up in this situation?
Oh, I know how. It's because of what happened after Miss Brendan called after me that day.
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"Good job, Clair." Miss Brendan said as a pat on my head finished the compliment.
I blushed, not used to these kinds of praises. Miss Brendan’s opinion of me seems to have changed since my black out. Now she just praises me then, pats my head - that one is weird, but I like it when someone pats my head so *shrug* - when I get a high score on her quizzes and exams. She still asks me some questions in class, but not near the amount she used to. That was fine with me as long as I get the pats on the head. I wondered what made her like this. Maybe it’s because the faint that let me embarrass myself in front of my teacher. Or it was because of my mother. That confrontation with my mother and teacher in front of me made my face a bright red apple.
It seems that my mother was called by Miss Brendan about my situation and when she arrived at school, informed of what had happened. That, being the over protective and proud mother that she was, made my mother angry and defensive. She’d gone on and on about how much of a baby I still was and incapable of such acts like cheating. She described me in the most innocent ways calling me names that just gave me a nose bleed from embarrassment. After embarrassing me enough, she’d gone and talked to my teacher and made her embarrassed, but not enough to cause her a nose bleed. Lucky her.
Now Miss Brendan is as sweet as a saint to me, although I don’t think that was a good thing.
I wasn’t the only one that noticed the change in Miss Brendan. A lot of my classmates appear to have been most charitable with their stares. Especially Serenity. She looked like she just lives to stare at me. And more than once I saw her normally angelic face crack into an expression that I was sure was jealousy.
Was she really jealous of me? There was nothing to be jealous about. It’s not like I was the only one who gets praises in class. Serenity’s the top one in class and she even gets the most praises from Miss Brendan. She was better than me at school and sports. She was pretty with her southern belle look. Now she was wearing a white dress with sunflowers and a little jewelry fit for a lady; even if she was still a kid. Minus the sneakers which she still wears, she would have looked great with her height. I don’t know the reason why she wears those anyway.
So why would she be jealous of me?
Other than my eyes, I looked boyish with my short hair and baggy clothes. From what Miss Brendan told me I was only bordering between second and third in class and I suck at sports. Except for track; I like to run. For the other things I just didn’t have the coordination or the interest.
I couldn’t figure out what she would be jealous about.
“Clair.”
Was it because it was me Miss Brendan was praising and not her?
“Clair.”
Was it the patting? That was the last thing I could think of. Nobody got a pat on the head except me. Was she jealous of that? It was rather rewarding when you got a pat on the head. It makes you want to purr for pleasure. Nyaw! Yeah, that was it, I thought as I closed my eyes and nodded my head in confirmation. With all this thoughts it makes me think like I was a cat in another life. Though I do like cats. Maybe I could ask mom for a pet cat.
“Clair!” someone shouted enough to get me away from my thoughts.
“Nyeah?” I said with my eyes still closed.
Wait, did I just say that? Now I’m sounding like a cat.
“Clair, have you been listening to a single word I have said?” said Miss Brendan in a calm and cool voice.
I quickly opened my eyes to the sight of my teacher, now in front of me. She looked miffed, but not bull like angry like last time, just miffed with a slight blush. It made her look cute that I slightly blushed too.
“Clair, didn’t I tell you what happens to students who disregard their education?”
I looked around; most of my classmates had a smirk on their face. It was obvious that they were getting pleasure from this. I looked beside me and even Serenity had a smirk. I looked at Miss Brendan again and sighed.
“Yes, Miss Brendan.” I said with wide eyes. Maybe if I tried my puppy dog eyes trick she’d soften on me and what my mother said to her about me being a smoochy coochy little dependent that needs a lot of tender love and care might even help a bit.
Her eyes put on an ‘Aw, that’s so cute look in them’ and her whole demeanor relaxed enough for me to confirm that I was safe from another lecturing. Mission complete.
“Okay Clair, just make sure that you remember what I said. Don’t space out on my class.” She patted my head again a little longer this time.
I looked around the classroom again and judging from the looks I was given by my classmates, let’s just say that I won’t be as invisible as I wished to be anymore. I scrunched up my nose. I like my pats very much so they just have to deal with it. I didn’t know that I could like something like that. Its one of the things that doesn’t really make me annoyed or irritated so I’d get as much as I can.
When Miss Brendan turned to go in front of the classroom to continue her lessons, I had another brief glimpse at one of Serenity’s unusual jealousy over me. Maybe she really did get jealous about those pats in the head as I snickered and put on a smug smile my face. Serenity, seeing the smile, made one of her rare expressions rise through her angelic façade and this one made my smile disappear.
From the blush she had on coupled with a scowl gave me the impression that she was angry; specifically me who she is looking at right now. Her eyes, which were as black as midnight, stared at me with such fury that you would think I killed her pet cat or something on purpose; which I didn’t!
Not wanting to see anymore, I faced the front of the classroom while letting Serenity give me heated glances. Was being pet by your teacher that much to be desired? It wasn’t that important, was it? I watched Serenity from the corner of my eyes and from the look on her face; it was a big deal to her. Throughout the whole class, it seemed that Serenity couldn’t keep her temper in tact as she kept casting a scowl or a fiery glance at me. Miss Brendan didn’t appear to notice since she kept talking about assignments and homework for the week. I sighed, trying not to think about what got into Serenity today.
The bell rang, telling us that school was over for the day. As expected, Serenity was gone like the wind. Her anger at me didn’t seem to affect her schedule of leaving early.
I packed up my bag with books and notes and left with the other students. There was something weird when I got out from class. Several kids from different grades and classes were gathered in a small crowd outside. I didn’t have that much of a cat’s curiosity in me to find out what’s happening. As I walked out the gate though, I was not really certain, I thought I saw sunflowers and sneakers; ones Serenity wore today, in the middle of that group. It was only a brief glance, so I just put it off as one of my imaginations. She usually goes home early, I reasoned. And I let that one reason get the better of me.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
“Oops, sorry.” A kid took one glance at me on the floor and hurried off to a classroom without even helping me get up.
Today was weird. Wait, scratch that, if yesterday was weird, today was really weird. I was ‘again’ tripped by somebody and lying now, face down on the floor. Take note of the comma on ‘again’. This wasn’t the first time I was tripped this morning. While walking from my house to the school, I was stepped on eleven times, tripped eight times, bumped to nearly falling five times, bumped and fell four times, and double tripped – which I didn’t really know existed until today – one time, all in this exact same morning before I even get even a single step in our classroom.
At first I thought that all of those were accidents and I was just really unlucky. Well, until I realized all of the ones that had tripped, bumped, and stepped on me were exactly kids. The number of the ‘accidents’ that happened this morning even helped a little. I didn’t know the reason why a bunch of kids would want to hurt me so it seemed as if it were accidents. What if maybe that crowd yesterday with the person with the sneakers…
I sighed and left it at that. She couldn’t have, although she could be the one I’d most suspect, I wasn’t really sure that it was her. There could have been a lot of kids with the dress and sneakers. Not wanting to dwell on it longer, I rose up from the floor and gathered up my scattered things. I made my way to my classroom again, trying to be wary of people’s feet.
At the classroom, however, I was surprised to see Serenity already there. I was usually the first one to arrive at the classroom and she’d always be the one to arrive after me. I didn’t think it was that much of a big deal, but as I looked at the expression she gave me now, it looked like she was insanely happy. Her face had that crazy grin of her’s again and I felt like scrunching up my face, although I didn’t.
She followed me with her eyes as I walked to my desk. I tried to ignore her and seated myself. Even if I did try to ignore her stares, I still fidgeted in my seat. It was a little hard when you know you’re being stared at. It was harder when you know you’re being stared at by someone with an insanely grin. It was uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable.
The first bell rang and most of our classmates poured in. Some of them sat in their seats and desks, and some of them wandered about to chat with others while waiting for the second bell to ring. The last of the students entered the room on the second bell which they should have been joined by Miss Brendan; she wasn’t with them though.
After a few more minutes of waiting for Miss Brendan, the door opened.
The students hurried to their seats, but the one who appeared wasn’t what we expected to be. It was the vice principal.
“Hello, children. As you all know, I am this schools vice principal, Mr. John Trace. I am sorry to say that Miss Brendan, one of our third grade teacher which had been teaching you all, is transferring to another school out of state.” The vice principal stated.
There were murmurs and whispers throughout the class. I stayed frozen in my seat. Miss Brendan was leaving. Is it just me or is this quite familiar? I turned my face to look at Serenity. She still had the grin which was now growing by the seconds as I stared at her. She grinned like she’s the one who was responsible for Miss Brendan’s transfer. I faced the vice principal again as the murmurs died down.
“Now, children. Let me introduce you to your new teacher, Mr. Cole Reeves. He’ll be teaching you until the end of your third grade, so be nice and study well.” The vice principal walked out as our new teacher Mr. Reeves came in.
I glanced one last time at Serenity to see the crazy grin turn back into her angelic façade and we both faced our new teacher.
He was a balding guy with a beer belly. I didn’t think he was a good teacher like Miss Brendan. I didn’t even think he was fit to be a teacher. He had this habit of first explaining something to us, then gets to complaining about his lousy job and ratty life. I would really miss my pats on the head and I’d surely even miss Ms. Brendan’s cute angry blushes compared to this balding guy. I sighed, it was going to happen sooner or later. I was going to be a fourth grader in three weeks anyway, but I still couldn’t wait for the day to end.
I thought that the so called accidents would still continue after the bell rang for lunch and, surprisingly, it didn’t. I went about my lunch, taking my cheese, jam, and mayonnaise sandwich from my bag and sat on one of the tables in the cafeteria. No one bothered me. There wasn’t anything spilled on me. There wasn’t any peanut butter on my sandwich. I didn’t even see Serenity in the cafeteria. With no threat in sight, I continued my lunch and went back to the classroom as the bell rang.
There were more hours of bearing through Mr. Reeves’s ramblings, but soon the bell rang again indicating that the classes were over. Serenity was nowhere to be seen, although Mr. Reeves still rambled on about some assignments to the already leaving students.
I sat there as Mr. Reeves too left the room in a rush. For about thirty minutes I stayed there on my seat. I was sure that most of the people in the school were out of here at this time. I didn’t know what made me stay here this long, but I just wanted to sit there and think about nothing. This wasn’t the most greatest of my days. It wasn’t the worst either. I sighed as I got my bag and walked slowly out of the classroom.
As soon as I got one step out of the classroom, someone yanked the front of my shirt forward and let me fall to the floor. It winded me and someone took the chance to blindfold me from behind. It grabbed at my hair and pulled hard. I yelped, but was cut off by a hand. A soft hand. I tried to take off my blindfold, but the person pulled at my hair again and stepped on the one of my hands. I struggled to get my hand free and trying to get the blindfold off. The person stepped harder on my hand instead and the effort to move my other hand to the blindfold made me think it would lead to more pain. I tried to scream, but the hand didn’t make me get out so much as a whimper.
Once I stopped struggling and trying to get the blindfold off, the person loosened her hold on my hair and lighten her step on my hand. I thought about tackling the person in front of me, but then her hand left my head and she twisted my arm up from behind. Her other hand muffled my scream and I cried a bit from behind my blindfolds. The person holding me tried to make me get up by pulling at my arm again. I don’t want anymore pain, so I complied easily.
I stood up sniffling a little and the person began leading me. She had a tight grip on my mouth, but not as tight as the hand holding up my arm. We walked for a few minutes until she stopped, let go of my mouth, took the blindfold off, let go of my other hand and kicked me from behind. I fell to the floor and let my arms soften the blow by putting them in front of me. It still hurt. I was covered in darkness as I heard a squeak, bang, thunk, and a click.
I didn’t know what happened next, I think I fell asleep from the stress.
Then I found myself, here.
On this janitor’s closet.
Slumped beside the door.
I sighed, no one would find me if I stayed slumped here. I turned and started to kick the door; wishing someone would hear me already. Doesn’t the janitor clean the school after classes? Why isn’t he here yet getting his mop and bucket? After an hour of kicking the door, I got tired and stopped, thinking that nobody would find me. I sighed again as I hefted one last mighty kick to the door. It was then that I noticed it. A piece of paper. I grabbed it and started to read, trying to figure out what Satan has said.
“Dear Clair,
Don’t even try tiring yourself with getting out ‘coz nobody would find you there until tomorrow. The janitor took a vacation.
Good thing it isn’t Friday.”
Yeah, good thing it isn’t Friday. Right. I don’t need a janitor to get me out. Being a nurse, my mom took a night shift at work, but our neighbor Mrs. Julie Harolds is surely worrying and as of right now calling the police. How ‘bout that huh?
I sat back and waited again, but after another hour of waiting, I began to fidget. It must have been dark by now, was nobody still looking for me? I looked at the note again and saw that there was more to it for me to read.
“P.S.
I heard your mother took a night shift today at the hospital. And I took care of your babysitter, Mrs. Harolds, saying you’re gonna sleep over. Have a nice stay!”
“What the fuck?!”
That was the first time I screamed a curse. How would she even know that my mother has a night shift at a hospital? How would she know who Mrs. Harolds is? And how the fuck can a janitor even get a vacation?
Filled with rage, I got up and kicked the door until I was wiped out. I knew I wasn't that strong, but I clearly thought that with the added rage, the lock might even budge a bit. It didn't. I sighed as I was wrong again. Defeated, I lay on the floor, trying not to think about anything else, and sleep through tomorrow.