Origin (ON HOLD)

CHAPTER 1

                                                      CHAPTER 2

The  story  begins  in  a  girls’  toilet  block.

As  all  great  stories  do.

Carmen  Blakely  was  huddled  on  the  toilet  seat,  eating  her  lunch  in  silence.  Well,  silence to  us. In  Carmen's  head,  a  cacophony  of  echoed  taunts  filled  the  room,  spinning  round   and round  in  a  never-ending  cycle.  Dark  hair  was  plastered  to  her  face  from  all  the  tears  running  down  her  ivory  cheeks.

Our  Carmen  was  by  name  means  average:  unlike  Stanley.  Sorry,  Stanley.

It  was  clear  the  shadows  loved  her-  rippling  playfully  across  her  wickedly  sharp  face  and  darkening  her  hair  to  the  deepest  shade  of  pitch.  The  only  warmth  about  her  were  her  chesnut  eyes,  roasting  delicately  inside  her  slim face.  If  eyes  really  are  the  windows  to  the  soul,  you’d  know  that  Carmen  was  nothing but  a  sweet  girl.  Easy  pickings  for  the  bullies.

Carmen  had  been  bullied  all  of  her  life.  In  year  R  Kelly  Hope  and  Samantha  Thorn  cut all  of  her  hair  off.  All  of  the  other  years  up  until  year  9  were  just  name  calling  and  the  occasional  shove.  ‘Just’,  however,  is  a  huge  understatement.  The  understatement  of the  century,  even. 

Dragging  yourself  out  of  bed  to  just  be  called  ugly,  a  nerd,  or  retard  is  not  the  way anybody  should  live  their  life.

To  start  with  Carmen  thought  it  was  fine.  She  wasn’t  put  on  this  earth  to  merely impress  them,  after  all.  She  learnt  not  to  point  this  out  to  them  though;  it  would  just result  in  a  further  onslaught  of  vile  words.  But  after  a  while  it  began  to  get  to  her.  A lot.

And  now-  year  9-  it  had  got  worse.  The  bullies  were  old  enough  to  somehow  get  their grubby  fingers  on  cigarettes  and  weed.  They  thought  it  was  funny  to  catch  her  by  surprise  and  shove  the  drug  in  her  mouth. They  thought  it  was  hilarious  when  her  stomach  churned  and  she  heaved  up  her  insides.

Also  they  liked  to  chuck  her  books  around.  They  had  recently  stolen  Carmen’s  planner, so  she  had  taken  to  writing  notes  and  homework  on  her  hands  or  arms.  Although  why  she  even  bothered  was  a  mystery;  the  bullies  would  always  find  some way  to  ruin  it.

In  conclusion: Carmen’s  life  sucked.

The  bell  signaling  the  end  of  lunch  rang.  Carmen  hated  that  bell-  hated  with  a  passion. Doesn’t  one  hear  a  bell  toll  when  their  time  has  come?  Maybe,  one  of  these  days,  it would.  Sighing,  she  slung  her  bag  carelessly  onto  bony  back  and  unlocked  the  door.

Small,  grey  buildings  squatted  like  over-sized  toads  underneath  the  skeletal  ash  and  silver birches.  The  windows  were  streaked  with  rain  and  looked  dismally  out  at  the  gloomy landscape.  Crows  scavenged  for  worms  in  the  boggy  wasteland  that  was  otherwise  named a  ‘field’.  Larchwood  school  was  a  heinous  crime  against  architecture. 

Carmen  tiptoed  out  of  the  toilet.  Packs  of  boys  prowled  around  the  busy  school,  sighting  their  prey  of  year  7s  and pouncing.  Gaggles  of  girls  waddled  around  honking  about  ‘One  Direction’  or  ‘this  guy’.