Talendia: The Lost Boy

The Bookseller's Cube

London, 2015

The small figure of a young girl with chestnut-brown eyes and black hair was sitting on the only chair in the long, empty corridor of Eden Park School. It was five o'clock and most of the students and teachers were gone. There were only a few doors embedded in the plain green wall of the corridor. The rooms behind the glass were wrapped in darkness, except one of them, which was next to the chair where the young girl sat. Yellow light shone through its glass. It opened and a middle-aged woman with a friendly but tired face appeared in the doorway.

'Frida? Come in, please,' she said.

The girl got up from the chair, picked up her bag, which was lying at her feet, and walked into the room.

The room was not big and its furnishing was simple, including a desk, two chairs and a bookshelf, all of which had the same ugly brown colour. There was a plant in a big pot at the corner of the room, which, with its drooping and dust-covered leaves, looked as tired as the woman herself.

'Please sit down,' the woman asked her and then continued, 'I heard from Ms Girkin that you had a problem with Lucy Evans and Clara Bolton again.'

The girl, Frida, did not reply immediately. There was a minute of silence before she said quietly, 'They bullied Katie.'

'Katie Nichols?' asked the woman, reading the name from a piece of paper that was lying in front of her on the desk.

Frida nodded.

'What did they do?'

'They took her sandwich and threw it in the bin.'

'Did they say anything to her?'

Frida nodded.

'What did they say?'

The girl hesitated but finally said, 'They called her "piggy". Which was very cruel of them!'

'And what happened then?'

'I think you know. It's written on your paper,' Frida pointed at the white sheet.

The woman sighed. 'You are right, but it's important that I hear it from you as well. Did you have a fight with Lucy and Clara?'

Frida nodded.

'And who started it?'

'They did when they took Katie's lunch!' cried Frida passionately. 'They shouldn't do things like that!'

The teacher noticed there were some tears in Frida's eyes and she was shivering.

'Frida, I know you wanted to protect your friend, but a fight is not the right way to do that. You should have told Ms Girkin what happened instead. Please do that next time and leave it for her to do... ' She did not know what exactly Ms Girkin would do, so she quickly added, 'What she needs to do.'

'She's hopeless,' murmured Frida.

'What did you say?' asked the teacher, frowning.

'Yes, Mrs Adams,' said Frida more loudly and even tried to smile. She could not wait to be out of the school.

'Very well,' said Mrs Adams, relieved and pleased with herself that she could end the meeting so quickly and successfully. 'Now go, your mother must be waiting for you.'

Frida left the room and ran through the empty corridor towards the school's exit. It was Friday afternoon and light rain was drizzling from the grey sky. She pushed the heavy door handle and crossed the school garden to the gate. Walking among the bushes of yellow and white roses, Frida Doyle looked like most eleven-year-old girls. Her mother, Shanti, was indeed waiting for her at the gate. Her face looked worried as she looked at her daughter, and her fingers touched the tiny scratches on Frida's face.