The next day, I woke up earlier than anyone in the house, mostly because it was my birthday but also because I was returning to school. I had my bath without any help, cleaned up and dressed up. I sat at my desk and took out Joe’s white pouch, the one he left in my room on the last day I saw him. I kissed it, smelt it and after staring at it for a while, returned it to its rightful place. Then I thought of what i can do to set my mood well for the day. I wanted to be in a good mood. I decided to send a message to someone faraway hoping for a reply . Remember that superstition I believed in? Yeah, that.
I designed a kite and affixed a message at the top. It was a letter to Joe. This is how it read:
“I hope you’re doing great up there, buddy.
I am returning to school today after weeks of mourning your death. I want to be strong, I want to make mom happy, she’s been worried about me. I want to live for both of us, and I promise you, Joe that I’ll avenge your death. I don’t know how to do that yet but hopefully I’ll have it all figured out in the future. Thank you for being good in your last days on earth. I promise you that I’ll find a way to end this cult. I know you told me that that was your plan: To put an end to the Blue Wolf and set young people held captive free. But sadly you lost your life in the process.
I know you also warned me not to be involved in anything relating to this cult like magic, time travel, for instance or deliberately confronting these werewolves but I assure you, I’d do whatever I can do to put an end to it, maybe not now but in the future.
I want to ask, what is that bag meant for? The pouch you left in my room. Please do let me know.
I feel optimistic today. It is my birthday.
My Wolf, i wish you well, and I miss you
(Clumsyline)
I rolled it like a burrito and plastered it with gum into a hole I made in the kite. Then I went outside the house quietly because Cameron and mom were still asleep. It was only 4am. When I was out of sight, I ran far into the woods, and stopped at the ocean there– where I waited for mom sometimes ago, when she was off to Granny’s. Then I rolled it with all my energy before I threw it away. It went far away and settled in the middle of the ocean.
When I was sure it was not coming back, I turned back towards home. On my way as I passed by some trees and tall plants, i saw the figure again. This time I could see how tall it was, and I saw that it moved. I was so scared that I started to run back home.
I was already out of breath when I got home. I had to hold a side of my stomach and cough really hard, to get some air in. Was that Joe? I asked myself. No, I screamed. That person was obviously trailing me. Joe was not scary; he wouldn’t appear to me only to scare my head off. I got back to my room and realized that mom was already awake. She didn’t suspect anything. She was only surprised I was dressed up for school.
Just when I thought she’d forgotten my birthday, she scooped me up in her arms, kissed me on my face and yelled, “Happy birthday darling!” I was so relieved. Just then the twins woke up and started to cry. Mom had to change their diapers and breastfeed them. Then she promised that she’d organize a small birthday party for me later in the afternoon, and that I could invite my friends at school to my party. It’d be done and dusted before Cameron arrived.
That day, at school, I was more anxious than ever. I felt all eyes were on me. It felt strange to be in school again. School was not all that bustling. It in fact didn’t help matters at all that my classmates greeted me with questions that opened healing wounds
“Do you know that Joe is dead? He was sick all this while!”
“We still haven’t found Anita but the proprietor said it’s not going to stop our Annual Summer Camp”
“Ariana, you were the one chosen to represent our school in the competition”
“We visited your house twice but we didn’t find you. Our aunty has been calling your mom severally too but it seemed she changed her cell”
“What happened to you? We thought you were gone too”
“I learnt your mom had twins. It’s all in the paper, did you know that?”
“Come here and tell us everything”
That’s how they surrounded me, asking me many questions all at once. I couldn’t breathe for some minutes; I felt choked. I had to run out to the bathroom to relax. I was panting and struggling to breathe.
None of my mates followed me to the bathroom, maybe they did but couldn’t reach me because I locked the door and went to the extreme of the bathroom, coughing and panting. After a while, I felt better, washed my face and returned to class.
“Guys I don’t want to talk about anything except good things. Please understand me. Can we not talk about the dead please?” I told them as soon as I got to my seat. I found that they that surrounded my seat had multiplied. It wasn’t as if they cared about me, they were only curious to know what’s been going on in my life in order to make me feel bad again. I don’t know what word to use it to classify it but it is a situation whereby someone acts like they care for you but they do that only to fetch information from you.
“You want to forget about Joe so quick?” One of my classmates said. “Is that how insensitive you are?” I gasped. “Insensitive?” What happened to trying to be fine despite that you feel this heavy weight of a loss in your heart? Was it wrong to try to forget the hurt of the past now? Others students from higher grades came to my classroom too, and joined in the taunts against me. It seemed teachers were having a collective staff and non-staff meeting, so no one would come to my rescue for sure.
“I know why she doesn’t care about Joe. Remember he used to call her a name that annoyed her, what’s it again? Errr…” That was Amanda, a girl from another classroom
“Yeah. Clumsyline” someone else said. A bigger boy than I was. Some other people behind me laughed out loud. Was this the school I’d continue in? I thought to myself. I was already getting angry, I could feel my fists shivering with terror underneath my seat. If it grew a bit more, I could hit anyone right then. I didn’t even care about being suspended from school– I didn’t want to return in the first place after all.
The laughter and jeers died down a bit and I was trying to relax my mind but then, all of a sudden, one of the other girls walked up to my seat, placed her hands on my locker and put her chin in between them, then slowly and annoyingly muttered, “You’re happy he’s dead now, aren’t you?”
Immediately, without thinking twice, I stood up and punched her hard on the face. Before she recovered from that, I kicked her on her legs and pushed her away to the floor, without stopping the kicks.
The rest of the students booed, surprised at my sudden self-defense or bouts of anger. Some withdrew from me while others dared me to beat them up too. Before I knew it, our noise had attracted a teacher or maybe someone summoned him, and he came hurriedly to the class. The girl I beat was lying on the floor, wincing in pain.
All the class suddenly fell silent and I turned back, wondering why. It was then I saw a teacher standing at the door, with a terrific look on his face, and he was not just a teacher– he was my deadliest nightmare–Mr Robinson!
He looked so angry and I quickly looked away.
After a while of uncomfortable silence, he commanded two bigger boys from another class to lift the victim from the floor where she was lamenting in pain, then he ordered with a very serious tone: “See me in the office now!” And then, he thumped off.
Immediately he left, the other students began to hurl curse words at me, some of them told me that I shouldn’t have returned to school, some said “Now you’re going to be a scapegoat , punished by Mr Robinson”, “Look how angry you got him! Such a calm teacher looking so upset!” “Shame on you!” I heard a lot of mean words.. if only they knew what Mr Robinson was.
It turned out that nobody in that school liked me, maybe a few teachers but really, I don’t even think the teachers liked me, they only gave me roles and recognition because my father was the famous Cameron Peyton, and because I was intelligent.
I went off after Mr Robinson even though his office was the last place I wanted to be. I already knew what he’d say–“You’ve been suspended for a week or two” , I didn’t care, at all. I wanted to be far away from that place. It reminded me of Joe and Anita and bad things.
When I got there, I waited for him to give the verdict and hand me the letter so I’d go pack my schoolbag and leave the school, for good. The other teachers were still in a meeting, but the students’ noises had died down a bit more, after what happened.
Through Mr Robinson’s window, I saw an ambulance come in to fetch the girl who I had injured– she was identified as Miranda. I watched the ambulance zoom off with the two boys and one other teacher. Mr Robinson actually promised them to handle my case. So none of the other teachers talked to me or about me. Did Miranda have to go to the hospital? Was it that bad? I thought. For some reason, I cared about her. That’s because I wasn’t a wicked or brutal person like Mr Robinson or like Cameron were, and I didn’t want to be identified with them. At least I did it because she said something wrong. Wicked people didn’t need you to do anything wrong before they hurt you.
“Sit” Mr Robinson or Uncle Robinson commanded. I hesitated before I sat, looking directly at the floor. He took off his glasses and placed it on the table, then he moved closer to me, by pressing his arms on the table.
“Why did that happen?” He asked scrutinizing my face. I looked at him with shock. You shouldn’t be asking me any questions, just hand me the damn letter, you monster, and let me get the hell out of here. I thought
“I know you aren’t deaf, but did you suddenly grow dumb?” He asked. I hadn’t realized I hadn’t replied him yet. He had a scowl on his face. I was still angry and I could yell back, “No I’m not dumb, you monster!” but I was wondering what he would to me if I was rude.
“She accused me wrongly and laughed about it” i mumbled, rubbing my fingers on my uniform.
“I see. What did she accuse you of?” He asked again. “This time, you answer me quickly or I punish you!” He barked, hitting his palm on the table.