Why we enrolled now, I don't know. The thing is, tomorrow is the last day of school. We've only been here a week yet the teachers already love me and (most) kids already hate me. Good thing we only have tomorrow left.
I'm standing outside my brother and sisters school. I see the boy who's brother went missing. Poor kid. I here the bell ring and wait for them to walk out. I wait. Two minutes...
Five...
Ten...
I decide to go see where they were. The last few kids were leaving and finally see them and sigh with relief. I go to hug them and I look down at their faces. My brother had a fat lip and my sister had bruises on her legs, like she had fallen. Or someone pushed her. Their faces were red and puffy from crying most likely.
I kneel down and ask my brother," What happened?".
"Those boys did it Angel! They were calling her names and th-they pushed her down. I tried to protect her. I'm sorry. Don't tell daddy!" he says and a tear falls from his eye. I wipe it off and kiss both their foreheads.
✏
I twist my keys in the lock. I hear the soft click of the door unlocking and push open the door. We drop our book bags by the door. They go upstairs to change. There's a note on the counter that says
Be home soon
Love,
Mom and Dad
Once they're changed, I let them in my room.
Since we know our parents hide baby monitors, we don't speak.
We each have our notepads and pencils.
I write: who were the boys that bullied you?
They both write: we don't know
Me: What did they look like?
I look around for the baby monitor and see it in the corner. I switch it off.
B: there was a fat one and he burped a lot
S: one had ugly hair and a knife
B: the other guy had white hair!
Both: and the crazy guy had a fire shooter!
I should've known. Of course it was them.
Everyone's favorite assholes.
Belch Huggins
Henry Bowers
Victor Criss
Patrick Hockstetter
Strike One.
Strike One.