Chapter 2

I found her! I’ve finally found her! After 18 years I finally found her again. My heart leap
in joy as I saw the brown curls and the heart shaped face. She even has the single dimple
on her right cheek! It must be her. She’s back! She was on the swings with a blonde girl
her age with her big smile and joyous laughter that brought a warmth into my heart.
Warmth that had long been forgotten. My fists clench when my eyes set on her blonde
friend. ‘They are all the same. Blondes will bully her, shame her, and more.’ The voices in
my head says.‘You must protect her. You must protect ‘her’. Don’t disappoint her again.’ I
started planning, observing her routine, food she loves eating, books she likes reading,
finding out everything I could about her. Her name was Skye Taylor. Ever since I saw her
in the park, I knew I needed to protect her. I must. That night was the first time I dreamed
of ‘her’.

I had a friend when I was in middle school, even though I was in an all boys school, I
actually met her on my way home. She was in tears as blonde girls pulled at her hair and
her empty sleeve. One girl, the leader of the group stuck her leg out and tripped her.
When she fell, she skinned her knee and her palm. None of the girls helped her, they all
stood there laughing at her while she sat there crying. I immediately ran over and
screamed at the group of girls and they ran off laughing. I offered her my hand but she
wouldn’t take it. ‘Go away, you shouldn’t be seen with me otherwise they will bully you
too.’ Her voice, so tiny and so vulnerable.

‘They can’t do anything to me. I am the Senator’s son. So don’t worry.’ I slowly helped
her up and saw her winced in pain.

‘Here, I’ll carry you to the hospital.’ She hesitated for a while but slowly climbed onto
my back. ‘Ready? Off we go then!’

We walked to the hospital in silence. She didn’t make a sound when the nurses treated her
wound and bandaged her. While she was getting treated, I called my dad to get a ride and
told him about what had happened. The car arrived not long after.

‘So, where do you live? I’ll drop you off.’ She lived in the same direction of my home so
I offered to drive her to school and back but she turned it down. We sat in silence and I
took the opportunity to look at her. She had a head full of unruly, curly brown hair that
framed her beautiful heart shaped face.

‘Why are you so nice to me?’ She asked quietly.

‘How could I not? You were a damsel in distress. As a gentleman, I should come to your
rescue.’ I replied with a sheepish grin. That got a small laughter from her lips.

‘You’re teasing me.’ As her face flush, so did mine.

‘Can I ask you something?’

‘Sure. Go ahead.’ Nodding her head.

‘What happened to your arm?’ I asked curiously.

‘I was born this way.’ She turned her head away as she answered.

‘Oh..’ I wanted to slap myself as I hung my head low. Looking at my feet.

The silence that followed was terrible. I felt terrible for asking.

“Right, I forgot to introduce myself.’ I started, trying to change the subject and put an end
the awkward silence. ‘My name is Robert. What’s yours?’

‘My name is Elaine. Elaine Whitefield.’

I woke up with a knot in my heart but I couldn’t get up so I laid in bed and stare at the
ceiling. Elaine. How many years has it been since I’ve mention her name. She would have
been 30 this year.... How time has passed. I must have been really tired. I soon fell back
asleep and the dream continued.

After dropping her off at her house, I kept thinking of her. I couldn’t get my mind off her.
The next day, the moment school ended, I ran to her school and waited her her at the gate.
She was walking with her head down and when she lifted her head and saw me, a smile
spread across her face and she dashed towards me.

‘Hello!’ I said with a smile on my face.

‘Hello..’ she replied, a little out of breath.

I immediately noticed that her hair looked sticky and there was some white liquid on the
uniform.
 ‘What happened? Did they bully you again?’ My fist clench as I saw her face drop.

‘Let’s not talk about that. I am fine. Don’t worry.’ She lifted her head and gave me her
biggest smile.

As we walked home, I told her about my day. All about what I did in Science class and
she told me about her art class. She made a sculpture of the cat near her home. She
laughed and told me that the sculpture looked nothing like the cat, it looked like a clump
of clay with ears. We both laughed and continued to chat all the way home. I realised that
she treats me like a normal person and not the Senator’s son like everyone at school does.
This continued on for months. I would always wait for her at the school gate and we
would walk home together. I later found out the girls in her school knew that she was
friends with me, the Senator’s son and were jealous of her and the bullying got worse.

Whenever they saw me, they would be so nice to her and to me. They would always try to
link arms with me and tell me about their day but I would always pull my arm away and
hold Elaine’s hand. The next day came and I waited for her as usual after school but I
didn’t see her. I waited until everyone had left the school before heading home myself.
On the way home, I bumped into the blondes and they told me that she wasn’t feeling
well earlier in the day and had gone home early. I believed them so I decided to stopped
by her house. I knocked on her door and call out for her but there was no answer. I only
wanted to check if she was alright. After waiting for awhile, I figured that she must be
sleeping since she wasn’t feeling well and headed home.

That night, I was abruptly woken up by my mother. She told me that she got a call from
Elaine’s mother. We had gotten really close over the months and I have met both her
parents as she has met both of mine. We would even have sleepovers at each other’s place.
Elaine’s mother called my mother because Elaine had gone missing. She said that she
went into Elaine’s room to check on her and realised that the room had been tossed and
ransacked. Everything was torn and thrown onto the floor. At first, Elaine’s mother
thought Elaine had been taken before seeing the piece of paper laid neatly on her bed.
There was nothing on the piece of paper. Only two sentences.

Goodbye mother, father, I love you.

Robert, thank you for being my friend.

I jumped from the bed and quickly got dressed. I almost trip as I was wearing my pants
and running at the same time. I dashed out of the house and started searching in places we
 usually hang out at but there was no sign of her. Where is she? Not knowing the reason
behind her letter, I ran like a headless chicken. When I ran like hell, past a bridge about a
couple miles away from my school when I stopped. Out of the corner of my eye, I
thought I saw a shadow moved and I headed in that direction. As I got closer, I could see
the white nightdress Elaine always wears to sleep whenever we had sleepovers.

‘Nooo!!!!!!’ I yelled.
Elaine heard my scream and turned her head to face me. What I saw that day, her hair that
was crudely shaved, tears in her eyes and her smile as she mouthed Thank you Robert
before jumping off the bridge into the river. I ran towards her and tried to grab onto her
but I was a step too late. All I saw was the remaining strands curly hair left, her white
dress fluttering in the wind and the splash she made as she hit the water. I climb onto the
rails and was going to jump in to save her but I was grabbed by many pairs of hands. All
holding me back as I clawed, screamed and struggled.

“No! I can save her! I can swim! Let me go!’ I yelled over and over again.

When I woke up, I was in the hospital. I tried to get up but my hands and legs were tied
with leather straps. I pulled and tugged at the straps and screaming my lungs out until
nurses and doctors rushed in and inject a liquid and my body just went limp but my mind
was still reeling. Where is Elaine? Where is she? Is she okay?!

It was days later when they found Elaine’s body down stream. Her body was so beaten,
bloodied and bruised that she couldn’t be recognised and they had to use something
called DNA to confirm her identity. Because I was locked up in the hospital, I couldn’t
even go to her funeral to say my last goodbye. When I was finally released, I went to her
home to pay my respects even though the funeral was long over. They cried and hugged
me. Thanking me for being Elaine’s friend all those times. I didn’t shed a tear. Not since
the night Elaine jumped off. I was angry. Angry at everything. I was angry at Elaine for
leaving so soon. I was angry at her for not asking me for help. Angry at her parents for
not protecting her better.

I found out what had happened to Elaine in school, on the day of her suicide much later.
Her mother found Elaine’s diary and passed it to me to read. She couldn’t stop crying
because she didn’t know what Elaine went through at school. She blamed herself as I
blame myself for Elaine’s suicide. As I read through the pages of her diary, I was filled
with rage. Every page, you could feel her pain. I don’t want to go to school anymore. The
bullying is getting worse. They would purposely trip me when I walk past them. I fell and
hit my head but luckily it didn’t bleed. I don’t know how to explain it to mum. During
 lunch, they would flip my tray and all my food is gone. Luckily, I get to see Robert after
school. He treats me like a normal person, not an invalid and I get to hear his stories of
his day.

The next page wrote; We had PE today. I was shocked when they picked me for their team
to play soccer. I didn’t know why. They asked me to be the goal keeper. I tried my best to
defend the goal but I missed a lot of balls and our team lost. They said as I didn’t defend
the goal. I must be punished. They made me kneel on the sand and poured soda and milk
on me. They even pulled my hair. It hurt and made me cry. But they didn’t stop. They
laughed at me. Robert saw me and asked but I didn’t tell him about it. Luckily I quickly
wash before mum came home and they didn’t noticed. I don’t want to tell my parents.
They would worry. And I don’t want to disappoint them by quitting school.

As I read page after page of her diary, my whole body was shaking in anger and guilt. It
was my fault. I didn’t protect her. I should have asked her and made her tell me. The last
entry, she wrote; Maybe its because Robert is so nice to me that they don’t like. It was
because of me. Its my fault, I thought. In the same entry, she wrote that the blondes have
taken their bullying to a whole other level. Its the day when I didn’t see her at school.
They had managed to sneak a shaver to school. They shaved my hair. I am really ugly now.
They used the shaver and shaved off a part of her hair. They all laugh at me. I must look
like a freak. While Elaine struggled to get free, the other classmates just stood there and
laughed. They pull my hair. It hurts so much. They took video of me with nothing on. They
dragged Elaine by her remaining hair to the girl’s toilet and stripped her down to her
birthday suit. They even recorded their dirty act. She was naked. Totally naked. They
stuck something in me. It hurt. It hurt so much. I am bleeding. I was bleeding down there.
While three girls held her down, the leader took a phallus like object and insert into her
vagina. I tried to fight. But they stronger. They held me down. She keep pushing it in and
pulling it out. Over and over again. While she struggled, they sat there, laughed and
teased her with the foreign object. Teachers came. But they were late. I am bleeding down
there. It hurts. I can’t stop crying. I don’t want Robert to see me so I ran home. I am ugly.
When the teachers finally arrived, she broke out of their grasp and quickly gathered her
clothes, got dressed and ran all the way home. So that was why when I got to the school
gate, she was nowhere to be seen, I thought to myself.

The last page was covered in tear stains. I could see that as she wrote, she cried. hey
shaved my hair. I am really ugly now. They all laugh at me. I must look like a freak. They
pull my hair. It hurts so much. They took video of me with nothing on. They stuck
something in me. It hurt. It hurt so much. I am bleeding. I was bleeding down there. I
tried to fight. But they stronger. They held me down. She keep pushing it in and pulling it
out. Over and over again. Teachers came. But they were late. I am bleeding down there. It
hurts. I can’t stop crying. I don’t want Robert to see me so I ran home. I am ugly.

After finish reading her diary, I return it to her mother. In my mind, I had decided that the
blondes must pay for what they did to Elaine. I started to plan every little detail. But there
were times where I would question God. How could god be unkind to her. She was so
sweet and innocent and tried to make the best out of life even though she was only born
with one arm. She didn’t deserved to be bullied to that extent. I know that she wasn’t the
prettiest of flowers but she had the most beautiful heart. She treated me like a person and
not the Senator’s son. She kept all the bad stuff bottled up and only shared the beautiful
things she experienced with me. How can people be so cold? As the sentences formed in
my head, my resolve on vengeance got stronger.

They. Will. Pay.

D-Day came and I put my plans into motion. It was a week long school holiday and I
invited the blondes before hand. The first day of school holiday, I invited them to meet
me at a cafe near my house and they happily agreed but only two of them arrived. The
other two got held up by their parents and couldn’t leave. ‘Its fine. Just the three of us
then.’ I said with a smile.

‘Let’s sneak through the back. I didn’t tell my parents I was having so many ladies
coming over.’ I whispered to them and they giggled. They must like the thrill of secretly
doing things. I teased them. ‘Why don’t we call Britany and Felicia to tease them. That
we are having so much fun.’

‘Let’s do that!’ Halie giggled. She made the call and the other two were jealous so they
decided to try and sneak out to meet me at my house. I told them the secret pathway so
that no one would notice them coming in.

The three of us made it to my room without anyone knowing and when the door opened,
what they saw left them stunned. ‘R-r-robert, w-what is thi--’ Before they manage to say
anything else, I cover their mouth the cloth coated in chloroform. They try to struggle but
I was much stronger than them combined. Within seconds, their body laid limp on my
bedroom floor. Action! As I drag Halie’s and dump her on the four poster bed. I walk over
to the drawer and took out a restraint kit, a gag and a blindfold. Surprisingly easy to get
all these equipment online. No questions asked too! Bonus!