Vicky Genocidal: In Depth

Chapter Six: Anna

"Hey, Victoria!" The girl called, waving her hand at the brunette. She was tall, with orange freckles dotting her nose, cheeks and shoulders. Her fawn brown eyes seemed to glimmer as she smiled at Victoria, slowing to match her pace as she walked. "It is Victoria, right?"

The girl's name was Anna Hugh, a classmate of Victoria's. Ironically, before today, Anna had never spoken to Victoria. She was fairly popular, with a large friend group, and was on good terms with almost all of their teachers. Anna was also the only one who hadn't once said a thing to her about the incident, which Victoria had kind of respected her for. However, today it seemed that their no talking streak was about to come to an end.

"Uh, yeah that's me. Your name's Anna, right?" Victoria stumbled over her words, apparently deciding in the moment to feign ignorance about the girl's name. The ginger only giggled, replying quickly.

"Yes ma'am!" She did a little salute, giggling again. Her expression softened, looking back at the shorter girl beside her. "Um, sorry if this is random, which it probably is, nah, it most definitely is, sorry, but um..."

Victoria stared at the girl, waiting patiently for her next words.

"Okay, here goes." She said, chuckling lightly. "So, I'm really sorry for not talking to you that much."

"Oh, that's okay, I'm really not big on-" Victoria began, but Anna held up a hand to stop her.

"No, no. It's totally rude of me. You seem like a really cool person, to be honest. I just wasn't sure how to approach you." Victoria found that doubtful, given Anna's social standing. She continued. "Anyways, I'm having a party next Saturday, and I'd really love it if you came."

She passed Victoria a small slip of paper, which, upon further inspection, was an invitation with information about the "party" scribbled over it.

"Oh, that's cool of you, Anna." Victoria fibbed, unnerved by the sketchiness of the situation. Anna only smiled, gently patting her shoulder.

"Of course! Come if you're able. We'd love to have you." With those parting words, Anna ran back to her group of friends, who were shooting death glares at Victoria.

Resisting the urge to throw the paper in the nearest trash can, Victoria crumpled the page up, stuffing it into her school bag. A party. Sure. It totally wasn't a trick. She wasn't stupid. Either Anna wanted to get in on her trauma, or this was a set up for some kind of fucked up prank. No matter what it was, Victoria knew one thing. She was not going.

"I need a smoke." She grunted to no one in particular. Pulling out her phone, she checked the date.

Wednesday. Perfect.

To keep Marge from forcing her to socialize, Victoria claimed that she had signed up for a book club that met every Wednesday. A lie, of course, but it gave her an excuse to rent odd books from the library, and smoke in her playground while reading them. In its own way, it was a one-person book club. A book club that was kind of illegal. She didn't care, though.

Victoria stayed in the playground, reading her newest book, a gritty horror book about zombies and the apocalypse, while smoking her beloved cigarettes. By the time she had grown bored, the sun was setting. She would have to make some excuse about the club's meeting running late. It wouldn't bother Marge if it meant her niece could be making friends.

Stuffing her hands in her pockets, Victoria began to march down the sidewalk towards her home, but quickly froze when she saw the figure sitting on a bench, only a few feet away from her.

They slumped over, hiding their face from her under an eerily familiar white hoodie.