Harper Brown✔ [ Sequel to Being McKenzie Prince]

Dear Diary

When McKenzie Prince first moved into town my sister and her became good friends. She told Christina that her mother was a realtor. According to McKenzie her mother would buy houses, renovate them and then sell them again for a profit. She started to date my best friend Brian. Overall she seemed to fit in well with everyone else in our circle. The longer they were friends the more inconsistent her lies became. Eventually Christina found out the truth. McKenzie was in fact not rich. She lived in the M&M Township, which was considered to be a trailer park by the locals.

I have been thinking a lot about the day that I helped my sister to intentionally expose McKenzie's secret to the whole school.

That morning I was busy drawing a picture of Katherine from my memory. I was sitting with my back against the sliding door which looks out onto the back yard patio. I was so focused on the picture that I did not hear my father come into the room.

He stormed towards me and I rushed to my feet.

A week prior to this incident my father and I had a conversation in which I mentioned to him that I wanted to be a graphic novelist. At the end of that conversation he had torn me down emotionally to such a low place that I promised him that the mere thought of it was eradicated from my mind. He made it clear that we would never discuss it again. According to him there was no room for such nonsense.

I tried to hide the sketchbook behind my back.

He asked me what I was busy doing and I told him;

"Nothing. I am just busy going through my Biology notes."

My father did not believe me and he yanked the sketchbook out of my hand. He looked at it and frowned. My father did not know Katherine so he probably had no idea how hard it was for me to draw that picture. He looked disappointed and started to tear the picture into small pieces.

I have no idea what came over me, but I ran towards him. He reacted and shoved me backwards aggressively with hatred in his eyes. I fell into the glass sliding door and it shattered around me.

Christina heard the sound of the glass breaking and ran into the Livingroom.

It was one of those few times where Christina actually looked worried. She looked at me as I was lying in between the shattered glass pieces. I groaned in pain as some of the pieces cut into my flesh. My father left and told me to clean up the mess I had made.

I remember clearly how I stayed in one place lying perfectly still. I wondered what the next lie would be that I had to tell my friends. I would have skipped school, but I had an exam that I could not miss. It is strange that my first thought was how I was going to cover up what happened and not whether or not I might have cut open artery.

I have to admit that my sister thought up a brilliant idea of how to make sure that no-one noticed a few cuts here and there. Some of which probably needed stitches. There are still a few scars on my back from that day.

She helped me to clean the wounds. She even helped me to pick up the glass and to throw it in the trash can. I was really lucky. I should not have tried to attack him.

It was my fault, right? I should not have agitated him.

She told me about how McKenzie had lied to everyone about her whole life. She told me how she planned to tell McKenzie's secret to the whole school. If everyone was busy talking about McKenzie's miserable life then no one would notice me. I went along with it willingly.

I do not know if Christina did it to help me or for her own selfish reasons, but her plan worked.

With everything surrounding McKenzie no one even noticed that I was there. I wrote the test and I stayed home for a few days afterwards.

I still clearly remember the horrible expression on McKenzie's face. I stood right there with Chrissie, Brian and Ashley along with all of my other so-called friends. I laughed the loudest out of everyone when the manure and trash fell on her.

I just stood there and watched as she broke. I had a moment where I regretted what we did, but it was too late. To make matters a lot worse I helped to throw both her and her brother in the trash cans in front of the school.

From that day on I was even ruder than before towards her and her brother. If all of the attention was on them and everyone always had something to gossip about regarding Skylar, then no one would notice every now and again when I showed up to school with a bruise or two.

A part of me always knew better.

I have been thinking a lot about what Edith said. She said that McKenzie and Skylar had a lot more in common with me than I thought. It made me think back to those times Skylar showed up at school with a busted lip or a bruised eye. All those times McKenzie showed up with blue or purple marks on her arms.

Was I really that stupid that I did not see what was happening or did I not want to see it?

It is too late now to take it back.

There is no real way that I can ask for forgiveness, because it will never take away the pain that I caused.

I was a monster, just like my father.