Authors: CJ Rutherford,Colin Rutherford
“Wait a minute…back up, who saved you?” Perri demanded.
Katheryne’s brows furrowed in concentration, as she struggled to remember as much detail as she could.
“I’m not sure. He was only there for a second,” Katheryne replied. “I was so surprised when he appeared that I pushed him away.” Perri looked at her in with a mixture of disbelief and disgust.
“I know, Perri, but I had, still have, no idea who he is, but when he’d gone, the island was different. I could still see the flames, still feel the heat, but the pain was gone. It was the same for the others. They couldn’t believe it. He’d saved us all.”
“So what happened to that beast thing?” asked Perri.
“It was still there, like a ghost. It couldn’t see us, but it looked like it was still torturing something. You could see it was enjoying itself. It disappeared after a while though, along with the flames.”
“Weird,” said Perri.
“You’re telling me. Next thing I knew I was surrounded by all these people, if you could call them that. We had a while to get to know each other.”
Perri knew something was happening, that somehow she too had become involved in a plan, and Katheryne was vital to the success of whatever it was.
When Perri looked at Katheryne now, she saw more than her best friend, but somehow she was still exactly the same person she’d spent years growing up with, and shared so many experiences with. Nothing had changed, but what was happening now was meant to happen, like a natural evolution.
“So aliens exist,” Perri exclaimed, totally nonplussed. She quite surprised herself by being this calm. Here she was discussing the dreams her friend had been having for months, which now looked like they weren’t dreams at all, but some sort of vision or astral projection. It was a lot to take in.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I believe you,” said Perri. “It’s just nothing else makes sense….Ha!” Perri gave a snort as she suppressed a giggling fit. “Here we are talking about astral projections, dreams, and aliens, and I’m wondering about making sense. If anyone heard us, we’d be opening the door to the guys in white coats. This whole thing is crazy, you know?”
“Tell me about it,” agreed Katheryne. “God, this is so screwed up I can hardly think straight. All along I thought I was just having bad dreams.” A thoughtful expression crossed her face as she struggled with a thought forming. “What changed?” she asked herself.
“You mean, what changed to make you see it wasn’t a dream?” Perri questioned, finishing her thought for her.
Katheryne knew what the answer was, unconsciously, before it surfaced, but as it hit her, she denied it. She was afraid if the feelings inside her were real, then she would expose a part of herself she’d kept hidden for years, only allowing Perri and her family a tentative entry.
Katheryne had only sensed the stranger for a second but felt a connection, a bond which went deeper than any conscious feeling. If this stranger turned out to be the boy from the club earlier–and Katheryne was certain they were one and the same–she knew he was more dangerous to her than anyone she’d ever met.
Dangerous. Maybe that was the wrong word, but Katheryne knew she’d be helpless against feeling the same bond as in the dream; vulnerable enough to do whatever this being requested of her.
“It was him,” she breathed. Katheryne verged on tears and her body quivered, so Perri reached over to comfort her. As her hand touched her friend’s arm, Katheryne recoiled. The barriers she’d built around her heart since her mother died had been blown away. Katheryne’s coping mechanism was to push away...hard!
Perri knew something was wrong. She felt uneasiness growing between her and her friend, which had never been there before.
“Kat, what’s wrong?” she asked, her voice shaking.
Katheryne looked at her with fear and rejection on her face, a look Perri remembered only too well.
7 – Victoria College – The Bullies
Five years earlier
They called themselves ‘The Group’, but all the girls knew they were a gang in all but name. They strutted around the grounds of Victoria like they owned it.
The group’s leader, Whitney, was the worst. Lovely, pretty, wicked Whitney, whose dad headed the board of governors, was naturally better than the other pupils. Her subjects, as she loved calling them.
Perri was granted ‘membership’ of the group on her first day, due to Whitney’s dad asking his daughter to take her under her wing, as a favour to his friend Chris. After all, his daughter was so popular and clever, and all the other kids looked up to her.
Perri was thrilled. Here she was, the new girl in school and already she had so many popular friends. She even called her mum to tell her the good news.
The first few weeks were great. Her new friends showed her around all the cool places to hang out, and the best ways to bunk off class. All the popular girls did it.
It was a few months before she noticed cracks in the facade of her ideal new world.
The look of fear on the kids’ faces as they passed them in the corridor, the bruises on a 2nd year’s back as they changed for PE, with Whitney and the others staring and laughing cruelly, as the little girl cried.
Perri decided to distance herself, try to maybe make a few friends outside the group. She became close to one of the girls in her dorm, whose name was Grace. They had loads in common and got along really well.
It took four days for the fledgling friendship to come to a crashing end. Perri came back from class early, and walked in on Grace packing her belongings. She had her back to Perri as she threw the contents of her drawers and wardrobe into her case. Perri came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. Easter holidays were only a week away so Grace was clearly getting away early.
“So, where are you going on hols, Grace?” Perri asked. The reaction to this simple question still gave her bad dreams, even to this day.
Grace sprang away from her, eyes wide in fright. Perri saw a bruise buried under a layer of concealer on her cheek.
“Get away from me!” Grace screamed. Perri recoiled, tears welling in her eyes.
The hand on her back caused her to gasp, as Whitney pushed her back into the room. She had a few of the others with her, and she smiled sweetly as she turned to Perri.
“Are you going to let this, thing, speak to you like that, Perri?” Her lips curled in disgust as Grace started to back away, crying and shaking her head from side to side, mouthing the word no, over and over.
At last Perri understood what these people were. These girls she’d thought were her friends were the worst sort of predators. Bullies, who exploited their parent’s positions to gain immunity from suspicion, while they abused the vulnerable lonely kids, who weren’t brave, or big enough to fight back.
Perri wanted more than anything to turn and stand in front of Grace and save her from any more injury. She was certain the hidden bruise had been carried out at Whitney’s order.
But she was terrified. The group had kept her separated from the rest of the school for months, so to the other kids, she was one of them. She had to be like them. Didn’t she go everywhere and do everything with them? She was obviously as bad as the rest, a bully to be feared and avoided.
She realised then there was no escape unless she became a victim like Grace, so she started to turn to confront them, about to act much braver than she had ever felt.
“Leave them alone!”
The voice was soft but determined, as its source appeared from the door of the bathroom at the bottom of the dorm.
Perri breathed a sigh as the attention shifted onto the newcomer.
The small girl, with shoulder-length blonde hair, stood watching them defiantly, and Perri wished she could be as brave; but the wish faded as Whitney laughed.
“Look girls, fresh meat,” she said, loudly, and the others joined in her laughter. The sound frightened Perri more than it should have, because she realised she’d heard it so many times before, directed at others. It was now close to being turned towards her, and she shivered.
Perri knew Whitney expected her to join in the merriment, but as she watched the blonde girl, she was stunned into silence by her total lack of fear.
The girl looked straight at her, daring her to stand her ground against the others, but Perri couldn’t, she was too scared. How could this little girl protect her? Her earlier courage deserted her, along with her tiny defiance at not laughing along with Whitney. She stepped back along with them.
Part of her knew she might pay a price for her brief rebellion, but she realised right at this moment she didn’t care. It was a small victory, and even though she felt ashamed at her cowardice, she watched as the girl acknowledged her sacrifice and smiled.
*
The memory skipped. A year passed; a year in which Whitney and her group repaid the blonde girl’s defiance a hundred times over. A year in which Perri even helped on occasion, too terrified to resist the pressure of her peers.
The girl, Katheryne, wouldn’t be beaten. Through it all she fought back, all the time daring Perri to do what she knew she so desperately needed to do. Every time something was thrown at her, physically or verbally, Katheryne glanced across at her, waiting for a reaction. Every time she ended up sprawled face down in the corridor, with her books strewn around her, she looked up, never begging, but her eyes always met Perri’s with a smile. Perri, however, was always too frightened; until the day of the fight.
Katheryne was on the ground, cut and bleeding with Whitney on top of her. Whitney’s own knuckles were bloody, having been provoked by Katheryne to do her own dirty work for once. Whitney was clever, clever enough to always punish her victims by proxy, using the puppets she surrounded herself with to carry out the beatings she decreed necessary.
Katheryne managed to break Whitney’s temper so completely, that for once she put aside all thoughts for her own safety in anonymity. She had kissed a boy Whitney had
claimed
as her own, one of a few Whitney had convinced she was a decent person. So Katheryne’s kiss was like a red rag to a bull, and as she watched Whitney pummel Katheryne’s face, Perri saw her chance at last.
As two of the others held Katheryne’s legs and arms, Perri struck. She’d grown over the last year, but Whitney always surrounded herself with big girls. They were on their knees, pinning Katheryne to the ground, so Perri ran, and kicked one of them sideways, producing a satisfying crack as her face hit the ground.
Whitney was still occupied with trying to break Katheryne’s face, but the girl holding her arms looked up in panic, just as Perri landed on her, hard. They rolled and Perri lashed out, hitting the girl a glancing blow on her arm before they separated. Perri waited for the larger girl to fight back, to return and use her size and weight advantage to screw her into the ground, but she was astounded, and relieved, when the girl stumbled up and ran off.
Whitney realised what was going on around her, and the colour drained from her face, as she found herself truly alone for the first time in years.
Katheryne watched as Perri grabbed Whitney’s hair and yanked her backwards off her, swinging the larger girl around so she sprawled across the ground, cutting her arms and face, before rising to confront Perri, her face a mask of fury.
“You bitch!” she spat. “You are so gone, you wee shit! You think you can do this to me and stay in this school? My Dad will have you expelled when he finds out what you’ve done!” She glanced at Katheryne. “Don’t bother looking at her. She’s a freak like you’re gonna be. She’s nothing; I mean look at her...I’ve just beaten the shit out of her and there’s nothing either of you can do about it! I can’t believe I gave you a chance.”
Perri stood her ground. “What chance did you ever give me, Whit? To be one of you, or like the other victims in the school?” She glanced at the bloody form on the ground. “Katheryne is the only girl who ever had the balls to stand up to you, but you lot couldn’t break her, could you?”
As Whitney lunged toward her, her face connected with Perri’s fist travelling in the opposite direction. Whitney’s nose exploded in a fountain of blood as she collapsed in a heap, redness pooling on the ground.
Perri looked across at Katheryne, grinning widely. “You have no idea how good that felt.”
Katheryne smiled back. “Well it certainly took you long enough, you silly cow!” She wiped blood from the corner of her mouth.
Perri walked over and took the hand of her new best friend, helping her up just as a teacher entered the room and rushed off in a panic to the school office.
The icing on the cake came when Whitney attempted to lay the blame on Katheryne and Perri. On the surface her claim that the two of them had started the fight was pretty plausible. After all, there were the injuries inflicted on Whitney and the other two girls, who, of course, backed up their leader’s claims.
Katheryne expected this; in fact she’d planned the whole encounter, as she explained to Perri later. Perri wondered what might have happened if she hadn’t intervened.
So, when the headmaster questioned them, Katheryne was able to point to the imprint of several heart shaped marks on her face, which matched the ring Whitney wore on her right hand. This in itself meant little, but when word of Whitney’s defeat got out, it spread like wildfire around the school; Katheryne had ensured this would happen. It provoked a small stampede of pupils to the headmaster’s office. Each story turned out to be spookily similar, and always involved Whitney, either directly or by association.
The investigation took two days, and at the end of it, Whitney and five others of the group were expelled from Victoria College, the incident marked on their permanent school records. Along with more than a dozen other suspensions, the halls almost overnight become a haven for intelligent, shy and brilliant girls. Exactly as it had been when Perri’s mother had been there.
Whitney’s father apologised to Perri, saying he let her and the school down. His offer of resignation from the board of governors was accepted.
*
Back in the present
Perri watched as her friend and champion looked at her with an expression of hostility. Her heart broke in half as she lost the closest thing to a sister she’d ever had. The memories of Grace in the school dormitory flooded back.
As quickly as this terrible moment materialised, Katheryne wilted, bending over to put her head in her hands and cry.
Perri had never seen her friend cry like this. Even at her mother’s memorial service, her tears had barely run down her face before drying. Perri had known she was putting a brave face on, unable to open up to her father who blamed himself, unwilling to add to his grief.
Perri and Katheryne were close friends at this stage, but the sisterly bond which would develop between them was still in its infancy, so Perri assumed Katheryne had done her crying in private. Now she was certain she hadn’t, that the sobs now shaking her violently were the first true outpouring of grief she’d allowed herself since her mother had died.
Perri held Katheryne gently in her arms, crying herself, as she tried to support her friend, but feeling useless. A part of her still wondered about the brief distance and hostility Katheryne had imposed a moment before. She thought now, even as Katheryne curled into a ball and pressed herself against her, that the moment had passed and she needn’t have worried.
“I’m so sorry Perri,” she heard Katheryne jerk out, in between the sobs.
What are you so sorry for?
Perri thought.
“I’m so, so sorry,” her friend repeated.
“Shh Kat, it’s OK honey,” Perri whispered, not wishing to cause her friend more pain.
“It’s not OK!!” shouted Katheryne as she sat up, tears flowing down her cheeks.
Perri was taken aback by the anger on Kat’s face, afraid for a split second after what had just happened, before realising her friend’s anger was directed inwards, at herself.
Perri sat, confused, as Katheryne got up and walked to the kitchen. She heard her fix two glasses with ice and bourbon, before returning to sit down on the couch. She handed a glass to Perri before taking a long sip on hers.
“I owe you an explanation,” she said.
Perri was about to go off on a “Feckin’ right you do” retort, but caught herself. There would be a time and a place for this later, but for now her friend was hurting and she wanted to help. She stayed silent.
Katheryne’s eyes were wet. “When my mum died the way she did...it destroyed me, Perri.” Katheryne let go, the tears flowing freely down her face. “I thought at the time that I had no one. My mother and father were my best friends. I know I was sent away to school, but that didn’t bother me. I know why it had to be like that, and we talked every single day, about absolutely everything.”
Perri wanted so much to gather her friend up in her arms right now, but she knew Katheryne needed to unload all this baggage she had been suppressing for years. So she sat back and listened as her friend continued.
“But then mum was gone, and every time I looked at dad all I could see was him looking back at me, seeing my mother and recoiling with guilt.