Antumbra - A Lost Cause

Path to Ruination - Chapter Sixty Seven

Arva sat in silence, head down as her legs dangled from the plastic chair outside the Principal's office. Her eyes were raw from crying, and though she tried rubbing them it only seemed to make the hurting worse. She had been sitting for what felt like years, wallowing in guilt and shame, and scared of what would happen to her. She didn't mean to hit the boy so hard, and was terrified when she saw his nose bleed and heard him crying. It was almost as scary as the teacher taking her back inside to the office, sitting her in the chair, and leaving her to wait and fret. She was told to think about what she had done, but all she could think about was the consequences, a million nightmare scenarios playing on repeat in her mind, constantly threatening to bring her back to tears, until she heard the doorknob to the room she was in begin to turn. The door swung open, the teacher who brought her here entered, and right behind her was Gramma. Normally seeing Gramma made her happy, but seeing her under these circumstances, at school, she knew she was in trouble.

"You can head right in," the teacher said, "Principal Garret is waiting."

"Thank you very much," Gramma smiled at the teacher, a smile which did not persist when she looked at Arva. She didn't look angry, and her tone was soft, but her words were curt as she took her hand and walked her into the office. Arva couldn't even see the Principal behind his desk, which she didn't even come up to, but she knew he was there, and as she climbed into the chair opposite she caught a view of him. He was dark-skinned, and while not as old as Gramma, looked older than the teacher. He didn't have any hair, but did have crusty-looking bumps along his chin and jaw that looked like a beard. Like all children, Arva had a tentative respect and instinctual fear of the Principal, and meeting him only ever meant bad things.

"So Arva," he said, his deep voice was authoritative and commanding. It did nothing to ease her stress. "Do you know why you're here?"

"I dunno..." she muttered, lying.

"I can't quite hear you," he said.

"Speak up, darling," Gramma placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I hit that boy," Arva said guiltily.

"You know hitting is wrong, though," he said.

"Yeah," Arva's voice got higher pitched.

"And why did you hit him?" The Principal asked.

"We were at the top of the mountain," she said, referring to the hill the smaller children often scaled as a show of bravery due to its height, "and he pushed me, so I hit him in the face."

"Why did he push you?" he asked.

"Because he wanted to scare me," she began to tear up.

"Is that why you hit him, because you were scared?" The Principal didn't ask so much as he explained it to her.

"Yes," she admitted, "he was gonna push me off, and I screamed, and he laughed at me so I hit him."

"Ah," the Principal nodded, "so you weren't just scared, but he embarrassed you?"

"Is that true?" Gramma asked after she didn't answer. Arva began to choke up.

"Am I going to jail?" She looked at her Gramma tearfully, not understanding why her Grandmother was suddenly smiling.

"That boy shouldn't have shoved you," the Principal said, "but if someone hits you, you shouldn't hit back, that's how fights start. You go and find a teacher and tell them what happened, do you understand?" Arva nodded, wiping away more tears as the area around her eyes turned purple.

"I'm sorry," Arva said.

"I'm sure you are," the Principal smiled, "but you shouldn't apologize to me. Tell the boy you hit that you're sorry." Arva nodded, and took her Gramma's hand as she hopped off the chair and headed for the door.