Control of the Supernaturals_ On Hold

4) The strange symbol

"Kathleen dear! Wake up! It's time for your gym class."

"Just five more minutes, Mom," she groaned.

"I don't want you to be late on your first day."

"Okay!" she rubbed her eyes sleepily.

Kathleen's Mother always got worked up where her weight was concerned. But Kathleen did not care whether her weight increased from 65 kg. to 70 kg. or dropped to 60 kg. in the next two months. She got out of bed and pulled on her sweat suit, tied her short curly hair and jogged all the way to the gym.

Kathleen was short and fat (but she preferred chubby), about 16 years old. She wore glasses and had a tiny nose in spite of all the fatness. She was only interested in her studies and eating junk food. She seldom had any exercise, which added to her problem of gaining weight at an alarmingly fast pace.

She entered the gym and saw three teenagers chatting together. They saw her enter nervously and moved towards her.

"Look Helen you were as fat as her three months ago. Mr. Tony made you as thin as a stick," said one of the girls, with the blonde hair.

"I sure was tortured by that brute. I would run away if I were you," said Helen to Kathleen.

"Yes, before it's too late," added a girl with red hair.

"Mr. Tony never lets anyone leave without the completion of the three months course. He does not let us rest for even a single second during the three hours class. And he forbids us to eat any junk food," explained Helen.

"He even gives exercise for homework," said the red haired girl. "He has this strange machine with a dial. We have to tie it around our waists and then the next day he checks to see how many miles we ran. He usually gives us eight miles to run every day."

"Or five miles when he is in a good mood," added the girl with blonde hair.

"And if we do not complete our homework, he whips us and punches us with his big fists. That's why blondie here has a flat nose." Helen pointed to the blonde girl.

Kathleen was so shocked that she could not utter a single word. She glanced at the clock, it was half an hour before the class began. All kinds of thoughts raced her mind. "Why was no one else there? Maybe, the trainer was so ruthless that no one signed up for his classes?"

Suddenly, she heard the sound of the door being opened and heavy footsteps behind her. She gulped and turned around. She was terrified beyond reasoning. Her face lost color and her knees began to shake.

Mr. Tony was worse than she had imagined. The girls were not exaggerating. He, indeed, looked like he could use some of his strength on his class. With a trainer like that, she could practically get thin only by the fright of his appearance.

"You must be the new girl. Kathleen, right? Your mother called me. She is very worried about your health. Well, no need to fret any longer. I'll make you slim and smart in no time," he said in a booming voice.

Kathleen could only croak out, "Yes, sir."

"You girls!" he turned to the three girls. Quit messing with my stuff and run home to your aunt. She has baked a scrumptious chocolate cake for you. I helped to decorate it. Hope you like it."

"Yes, Uncle," said the three girls in unison.

They giggled at the look of amazement at Kathleen's face. Helen winked at her and her younger sister, with the red hair, stuck out her tongue before she turned to go.

"So, you have already made friends with my nieces. They are here on vacation. Helen's your age, Jessica is a year older and little Anna's just thirteen. Don't you just love her red hair?" said Mr. Tony.

Kathleen growled in her throat. The only thing she wanted to do with her hair was to pull it out.

"They are really very friendly and innocent. Finest girls you ever saw, don't you think?" said Mr. Tony.

"Innocent? Yeah right!" Thought Kathleen, disgusted. They had scared her to death. Just wait till she gets back on them.

"You can explore the gym if you like, before the other girls arrive," said the trainer.

In order to escape his company, she started peeping in the other rooms. Every room had the name of the trainer on its door. Some rooms were vacant while classes were going on in the others. She turned a corridor without any lights and saw a blocked staircase. Her curiosity made her do 'it'.

She glanced around to make sure that no one was watching her. Then she closed her eyes and started to fade, until she became invisible. She passed through the blocked path easily, and started to climb the stairs. On this floor there was only one door, with a strange symbol carved into it.

It was a star with five pointed ends; a diamond was placed between each of the two arms, like the pieces of a puzzle. The sight of it made her heart skip a beat. She recognized it at once. It was the same symbol that was present on the nail of her right hand's thumb.

She raised her hand and saw the symbol on her invisible thumb glow fiery red.