Looking for Heaven

Chapter Eleven

They were sitting at the kitchen table, speaking in hushed tones. He could barely hear what they were saying. They were oblivious to his presence, so he cleared his throat. They went quiet and looked at him like he was Lazarus. Hazel was the first to speak.

"How are you feeling?"

"Never mind how I'm feeling, what happened at the meeting?" he asked anxiously.

Monty pulled out a chair. "Sit down. There's a lot to tell."

He sat down slowly. They didn't look exactly overjoyed. Could the meeting have gone that badly? He waited for them to talk.

"George wasn't there," began Hazel. Justin wasn't surprised. He never thought that George would ever waste a moment on something like that. Not when there were others to torment.

"His parents showed up."

"How were they?"

"Well the dad looked like a potato and the mom looked like a pig in a dress," said Hazel to Justin's surprise.

"How did they react?" he specified.

"Oh," she uttered, looking embarrassed.

"Well they were shocked, of course," said Monty. "But they didn't really believe it."

"She said her little 'angel' wouldn't hurt a fly," Hazel said with distain in her voice. Mrs King obviously hadn't made much of an impression. "He was 'too busy' anyway, what with football and exercise... pity he wouldn't crack open a book every now and again."

She looked fuming and her cheeks were red, so Justin quickly moved on. "What happened then?"

Monty took over now. "Mrs Hannifin read out your statement and showed them the pictures." Officer Reilly had requested photo evidence of the abuse, so Hazel had taken pictures of the bruises, cuts and the word carved in Justin and emailed them to Officer Reilly. "They looked at them and though they said it was horrible, just kept saying that he couldn't have done it. That's when you mom started yelling."

Justin looked at her in disbelief. She seldom lost her temper. "I wouldn't call it call it yelling."

"What would you call it then?"

"Arguing loudly."

"Loudly isn't the word for it. You were screaming at them."

"I would have stopped if she hadn't started screaming at me."

Justin imagined the two women standing on either side of the desk, screaming bloody murder at each other while Mrs Hannifin was helpless to stop them.

"Mrs Hannifin had to bang the table for a full minute before they had settled down."

"So it didn't go well," muttered Justin. Had he honestly expected anything else?

"Not as well as we had hoped, no," replied Hazel. "But, Mrs Hannifin jumped in at several points to support us. I think they kind of came around to the thought that their "angel" isn't as perfect as they think."

"They agreed to talk to him about it, and if they found out he had done it, he would be grounded. Mrs Hannifin suggested he be suspended not only from school but from any sporting activities for two months. They got a bit annoyed then. Started saying how he couldn't go that long without sport – it was his life. Her exact response was," Hazel cleared her throat and straightened her back in a fairly close imitation. "'What about the life of this boy? He has suffered and good knows how long he will need to get over something like this. I personally think that the punishment I've suggested is, frankly, too gentle.' I've never had so much respect for that woman."

"So, they're going to talk to him?"

"Yeah," said Monty. "Isn't it great? It's over."

Justin nodded his head, but he was feeling faint again. He excused himself and, refusing their help, made his way upstairs. He collapsed on the bed and started staring at the now very familiar spot on the ceiling. They were going to talk to George and possibly ground him, as well as ban him from sport. This was better than he had hoped. Then why did he feel so anxious?

He knew why. That ape wasn't the kind of person to just give up on something that he enjoyed, whether it be football or bullying. And, being denied one of those things, he would focus on the other. Things could get better – but Justin seriously doubted it. He could already sense the anger that would unleash itself from the bogeyman known as George King.