Science Fiction Multi-Feature Picture Show

Infliction Part 1: Slits

It was a domino effect. First the unseen foot tripping her up. Then the hand that knocked her books from her arms. Her papers went flying, scattered through the hallway like bleached leaves in an autumn breeze. Her math midterm fluttered to the floor first, the circled red 98% score trampled underfoot. She reached for it as Joey Morton shoved her into the lockers.

Of course it was him, it was always Joey. There were the multiple incidents of gum in her hair until she hit puberty and started wearing her hijab. The lunch time incidents of mashed potatoes or other unpleasant bits of food hurled at her back. The 'kick me' signs that escalated to 'stone me'. The pinches, trips, and other little physical torments Joey and his buddies delighted in because she was different.

The lone Muslim at Rafton High School, she was a bit of a stand out in this white-bread town, but her father's work brought them here.

"Only two more years of this bullshit," she muttered, starting to rise when Joey stepped into her and jammed his forearm into her windpipe. "Hey!" She yelped. The other kids stopped, drawn to the possibility of a fight like sharks to blood in the water. They closed in a circle around them as Joey pressed harder.

"Heard your daddy is up for a promotion, Shaz," Joey sneered in her face. For a second she didn't see what the hell her father had to do with anything concerning this punk until she remember Joey's father worked in the same division of the lab. It baffled her such a brilliant man had such a little puke for a son.

She shoved him back. "What you want? A cookie? Get the hell out of my face."

His smirk was cruel. "How much cock did that towel-head have to suck?

The collective circle of students flinched at the slap, the air full of chuckles and "oooohs" A bright red outline of her hand stood out on Joey's pale face. Jerk deserved it, she thought even as her stomach bottomed out. He was going to hurt her so bad now. She braced herself for the impact of his fist. Last time he nearly broke her jaw. With her eyes shut she felt the barest kiss of skin along her cheek and the over the bridge of her nose.

There was a beat of silence. Joey screamed in pain.

Her eyes snapped open. Joey Morton was on the ground, cradling his shattered bloody nose. She wondered who the hell intervened. The other kids stared at her, mouths open in shocked silence.

"What?"

Did you see that...

Not a scratch on her...

What kind of freak is she...

Freak...

She backed up, skittish under the weight of their stares, their judgment. Whatever the hell just happened, she didn't want to be here. Screw this. She ran, shoving through the circle of whispering students, through the double doors of the school. She ran without direction or thought, dashing into the intersection at the school entrance. She didn't look. She should have.

A car horn blazed. She felt the jolt to her body as fast moving metal slammed into her. She went airborne, landing face-down on the road. Momentum pushed her forward, flesh on pavement, but the sensations were descent, like a cool trickle over her skin.

At last, her body slid to a stop. For a moment, she lay there, trying to process what happened to her. I've been hit by a car. She waited for the pain, but there was nothing. Tentatively she rose to her hands and knees, carefully picking herself off the ground in case shock fooled her brain. There was no blood or bits of skin beneath her, nothing to suggest she'd just face planted the road at thirty miles an hour. The only evidence was the state of her clothes, shredded by the drag. She looked up.