Divided.

Divided. Part 21

Once the door closed swiftly behind Daisy and Mickey, Jack stood in his same position as still as a scarecrow in the height of a windless summer. His fingers were spread out like two giant and threatened stiff spiders and a section of his scruffy long hair sat out of place on his forehead falling in to his right eye, and although it was irritating he didn't brush it away. He couldn't move.

The head teacher was old. Older than old. Daisy gave him the once over as he poured them both a glass of ice cold water from a glass jug he had sat on his dark oak desk. Daisy had never been this close to the head before. Un-advanced orders came from the deputy Head teacher; an un-advanced man with the authority to speak with the Advanced head in order to run the school smoothly and lawfully. The rules were so diverse It was hard to pin point exactly who could talk to who and when. Of course everybody was told about the law on communication but there seemed to be loop-holes. Loop-holes that Daisy couldn't get her little head around.

As the head poured the water (so slowly the sound was unbearable) Daisy tired to wipe away her tears with the stretched sleeve of her jumper. She was past the point of feeling terrified now. Whatever would be would be; she took a deep semi-comforting breath in and held it. The fact that he was pouring her water was enough to lighten a flicker of hope. She tried to push the feeling away but she couldn't; it had imbedded itself in her tormented heart and now all she could do was let out her breath, and wait.

"Daisy Woods," the head teacher was now standing directly in front of her, his large eyes staring down at her with purpose. What purpose Daisy didn't know. How he knew her name was a mystery in itself ... a bad one she believed because he couldn't possibly know each and every pupil by first and last name. As he continued staring Daisy couldn't help but look directly at his bushy great eyebrows, they were so grey they looked as if they'd gone rusty with age. It was hard to pin-point the exact age of an advanced adult because the aging process was publicly known to slow down once they reached a certain point in life. It wasn't just his eyebrows that made him look old either for he had skin the colour of a pair of used shoes, so sun cooked it looked like he had bathed for years in a tub of dark coffee beans. Behind the dark skin on his face he had the deepest lines Daisy had ever seen. She wondered if these lines were like the lines in cut down oak trees. Did these lines have a way of revealing his age?

"Daisy Woods is what Mr Trinket saying of any fact?"

Daisy couldn't talk. Other than to Jack (and on the odd occasion a dim-witted child) she'd never muttered a single word in the direction of an Advanced.

"I give you permission to speak child ..." he sounded amenable and looked her straight in the eye as if she weren't invisible after all; how many an advanced would have her feel.

"No sir." She whispered truthfully.

"No sir?" He said looking towards Mickey for a reaction. Mickey had explained the story from an idea he planted in his head. He sounded believable, as if her were reiterating the subplot of a film he'd seen hours ago. At one point Daisy allowed herself to get lost in his nonsense but with a shake of her head she was back in reality and reality meant that this tale could ruin her.

Mickey looks as if he too were going to cry, "She's lying. She pushed me! And then she shouted horrible things about me ... and you!" he added at the end to support his argument. Mickey was afraid, afraid of the trouble he'd caused and so he was going to shift the blame over to Daisy, even if it meant adding more lies to an already fallacious lie.

The head teacher excused Mickey shortly after that last statement. He was sent back to his class and told not to speak a word of his involvement in the office. He was warned with caution that he should never allow anybody to know about what happened to Daisy and that if he were found to have disobeyed this instruction then he too would be sent away. And that his fate would fall pity to the government working in the farms.

"What about me?" Daisy asked. She wanted to run full speed out of the door but her legs felt like jelly. A whip across the legs would be well received now if it meant she could leave her school the same way she came in at home time.

"Unfortunately Daisy you breeched the law. I have no choice but to send you away for questioning. I'm sorry Daisy ... I have no choice. The order comes from a greater source. You will be dealt with as they see necessary." He gave her a sympathetic look, "You may sit here with this water until it's time."

And with that Daisy threw up in her own hands. She couldn't help it because her reflexes had given her no warning. Her empty stomach had flipped upside down just like that; like being punched in the stomach.