Mysterious Notebook

beginning of the end

Annie didnt know that the three hooded figures were lurking near the corridors at night, picking at her locker when she wasnt around, or keeping a close vigil on her from a distance.

She wouldnt know it until they had already carried out their plan on her. They would anonymously go on a revenge spree, sticking vulgar posters about her on the important notice boards, circulating dirty rumors and no matter how much the school authorities would try for weeks, they wouldnt be able to find out who were the culprits. They would be like the invisible bacteria or virus that grows rapidly and spreads beyond control.

And when she would know it was them, she would have been drowned under a multitude of crushing waves of hate and disgust screeching through the silent stares of her classmates, piece by piece she would be ripped apart. Her bullies would wrench her soul and fighting spirit out of her body. They would eat at her psyche. Leaving aside only a shell of the girl she used to be.

And it would be happening in a month from now. According to those three hooded figures.

But right now, Annie was unaware of all this, humming a tune softly she was riding her bike to school.

Suddenly a stone whizzed past, missing her face by just a few inches and it hit the wheel of her bike and she started losing her balance. Someone must have thrown it. But she didnt have the time to think. She was busy screaming in fear. She would have fallen down, exposed to the cars rushing on the road beside her if... if at that very moment Brown had not come running out of somewhere.

When Annie would write her diary that evening, she would put it this way itself, that he came out from 'somewhere'; because inspite of thinking for hours she wouldnt understand how and from where exactly did Brown come!
But that would be for a later time.

So, when he managed to pull her towards the edge of the green belt instead of the car track, they tumbled together on the ground with the bike on top of them. It would have been a funny scene otherwise, if Annie hadnt grazed her knees that had started bleeding and if she wasnt fuming like she was then. She looked furious even to our harmless intruder Brown.

When they finally got a cab and settled inside it, he tried making small conversation with her but he was met with this twelve feet wall of iron that wasnt going to bend easily.

"You can say thanks." He had mumbled. Though it sounded more like a whine.

"Thanks? My ass! Why did you throw that stone?! I saw it whizz past my ears! So dont lie." She asked, eyes blazing red. Face flushed with barely restrained anger.

Brown was inspecting her wounded knee and when he looked up and saw her enraged face, he did what he could do best. He stayed quiet.

And there is nothing more annoying than silence when a person wants answers. No... not wants but needs answers!

Annie got out of the cab trying to stomp away but then grunted as she had to lean back on the car again. She couldnt stand, her legs felt weak and it pained too bad. When he offered to help her into her house, she grudgingly allowed him.

Without speaking a word, he brought the first-aid box from inside her room and rummaged in it, searching for medicine and bandages. She watched him from the sofa and felt confused as her mind wandered.

Who was he?
Why did he keep turning up in her life suddenly?
Why was he helping her if he had actually wanted her to fall?
Does that mean he hadnt thrown the stone?
Then who did?!

She kept frowning while he cleaned her wound, put the medicine and then wrapped it with bandage. Brown felt disappointed with her expression. He would have loved to explain everything to her but he had been forewarned that it would do her harm if he was to speak even a word of what he knew. So he kept his mouth shut.

He went outside to throw away the soiled and bloodied tissues. Annie sat in the living room waiting for him to return, but he didnt. She got up to close the door and went upstairs to her room.

She took out her diary and to her delight that day's entry page was blank. She started penning down the events. Something poked under the sheet, she turned it over and found a small wooden button, like an old shirt button.

Where did this come from?