What Happened Next

Three: The Unwanted Guest

Becca let her bike clatter onto the grass in the backyard, then she followed her mother and brother up the steps to the side-door, which led through into their kitchen.

Jo put the grocery bags from her bike's basket on the counter and called, 'Dan, we're home!'

No reply from upstairs.

The smell of vomit still hung heavy in every room.

Becca ran up the stairs. When she reached the landing, something metallic clanged underfoot, and she almost fell backwards. She grabbed hold of the bannister to steady herself, and once she'd straightened up, she looked down to see what she'd tripped on.

It was a model of a van, made from pieces of scrap metal. Bolts stuck out of the sides crudely, and there were untidy gaps between some of the panels.

'Brody, don't leave your projects at the top of the stairs!' she shouted. 'I nearly broke my neck.'

She went into her room and slammed the door behind her.

Thick purple curtains blocked out the sunlight, but it was still uncomfortably warm in the room. A salt lamp in the corner painted everything inside in a dim, pink glow.

The walls were lined with posters of her favorite band, Courting Armageddon. She'd seen them live five times and had tickets to their concert in October, too. Her mom and dad had gotten them for her birthday last month.

Becca took her leather jacket off and hung it on the back of her door. Then she unhooked the choker around her neck and put it back in place on the hooks above her dressing table. She sat on the stool at the table and pulled her boots off. They were leather too, and her feet had been baking inside them. Her toes, painted in chipping, black polish, poked out through holes in her fishnets.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her black fringe was messy from the bike ride, so she quickly tugged it back into place.

At the back of her dressing table, beneath a dragon ornament, sat a stack of letters from Rex. They were all tucked back inside their original envelopes. There were over thirty now. At his most prolific point, she received three in one week. Sheriff Callow told her to throw them away, but she'd kept them anyway.

'What triggered it all?' the sheriff had asked while he sat in their lounge, sipping coffee.

Rex's obsession with Becca started the day the RV King came to Masterson High.

*

Becca sat at the back of Mrs. Sanderson's geography class. The old, tall, slim teacher, with the bob of silver hair, had just concluded a lesson on Mount Vesuvius. Up on the electronic board was a drawing of Pompeii covered in lava, the rooftops all ablaze.

The end-of-period bell rang, and all the students scooped their books and pens into their bags. They crowded by the door and started to filter slowly out into the corridor.

As Becca hoisted her bag up onto her shoulder, she heard some commotion outside.

'It's Rex,' someone whispered.

'Is that...? Is that the RV King? Off TV?' someone else asked, excitedly.

Becca pushed her way through and joined the crowd that had lined the corridor and had circled around Rex, who lay trembling on the floor, with his uncle towering above him.

'What's going on?' someone next to her whispered.

Then the belt started swinging. And while the kids all around her laughed and cheered, Becca stayed deadly quiet. She winced with each blow. And she stared glumly down at Rex as he writhed on the ground in agony.