Division Forty One

One - The Beech Tree

Belle Ashley had been expelled from school six times - and none of those times were actually things she could control. For reasons not even she knew, strange things always happened around her when she felt anger. Moving across the country to get to all her new schools was becoming hard for her family, and Belle constantly had to make new friends wherever she went, only to leave them behind when she had another one of her 'incidents'. At least that's what Mr Humphreys called them.

Mr Humphreys was a therapist. Every Wednesday evening, for Belle, it was always the same beige walls and uncomfortable sofa. The exact same lectures about Belle's condition, and how she had to 'manage her anger'. What was even worse was he was trying to be kind to her all the time. He always made her feel like she was mentally ill and he thought he could control her temper in the click of a finger, when whatever was wrong with her was something she couldn't control at all even if she wanted to. Something she didn't decide to have in the first place. Mr Humphreys was not improving Belle's issues at all but merely making them worse.

"LISTEN!"

It was a Wednesday again. The sky was full of dark grey clouds, which seemed like they would rain at any moment.

"Belle! This is what I've been trying to tell you about, sweetheart. Sit down-"

"Don't call me that. Why do I have to control myself? It's always been like this. With me having to constantly listen to all that uselessness you say." she shouted in his face.

"Wait. We can talk this over." He faked a smile at her but she was not fazed at all. Instead she was focusing intently on the chandelier above her. Seconds later, when she was at her optimum focus, it unhinged and crashed onto the glass table below, smashing it into pieces and making the shards fall onto the burgundy coloured carpet below.

Mr Humphreys immediately crouched down and picked the shards up. It was known by many people that he always liked to keep his front room clean. "Belle Ashley!" he screamed.

Before he could catch her she'd already run out of the door, pulling her dark hair into a tight ponytail and running across the street, a smile plastered across her face.

It had started raining by then, but the rain was something she'd always liked. Everyone near her on the street had an umbrella up and a raincoat on. But she just had her hoodie and nothing for shelter except her own hands. But that was fine. She ran across the tiled streets until she was out of eyesight. She turned a corner, and crossed a road, making her way to the abandoned children's playground just a little way up. It was a place where she knew she could be totally alone, and totally free. From Mr Humphreys, her nagging parents, the people experimenting on her from prestigious universities and labs, and the press who always wanted her on their front page. "Belle Ashley, the 13 year old telekinetic medical mystery." That would be all over the papers, and she'd surely be the talk of the town. With cameras around her all the time and people talking about her. Sure, some people would love getting all this attention. They'd love to be in the same situation. But it's when you are the one who has powers. When you're the one getting attention, that is when you want to run away the most.

She hated all this happening to her, and she also hated the fame she'd somehow gained over the course of a few months. A few days previously, one of the girls at school had deliberately angered her. On her second or third day there, she was sitting under the beech tree in the grounds.

"New girl, isn't it. Belle Ashley. How nice it is to have a celebrity in our school."

Belle had always known from her parents to "ignore" the bullies. As a matter of fact that may have been one of the only useful things that they had ever told her. So that's what she did. She stayed where she sat, not focusing on them. She was only thinking about one person. Alex. Out of all of the goodbyes she'd had to say across the years, her one to Alex had been the most painful. They had spent so much time together, and Alex had always supported Belle about the struggles of having her abilities. Now, Belle reckoned, he was already making new friends and he'd slowly forget Belle over time.