Oddball

Chapter Eleven

HELENA

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I panicked when I heard Peta screaming. From inside the house, I could not hear her words, the abuse she was shrieking. But after my boy, my Sam, had died, I had now become extremely sensitive to the emotional 'signals' of children. I worried about Micah.

I rushed to the door to the garage where they were all gathered; my son Micah, the twins Max and Nate, Zach and Peta, and the Oddball Rhea. I didn't enter though, I listened to them, my head resting gently against the cool white wood door. I hated it, and he knew it, that's why he kept at it. It went on for two months before he finally finished it. Two months. Do you what that's like?  I could here Peta still shrieking in there, I debated going in and finding out properly what was wrong. But, like the fearful person I now am, I found that I didn't want to know. And yet, I was frozen in place, eyes wide as I listened to Peta's story.

I found myself beginning to understand. Rhea, Peta, Sam, all three of them were linked and I found that I myself could fill in some of the blanks. Maybe not with my own little boy, but his was a different case. That day Rhea had come into my home, the day I had requested that she and Micah look after Toby and I went out... I had wondered at the time why her face was streaked with tears, her eyes bloodshot. I hadn't thought much of the blood and bruises on her body; she was always getting beaten up, I thought it was normal. I had wondered why she was wearing my son's clothes, but I never... I never would have thought she'd been raped.

And Peta. Sweet little Peta, she had been Micah's friend since Primary school. She had always reminded me of a fairy; with her short curly yellow hair and sparkly light blue eyes, her tiny, delicate frame. I hurt for her. How could someone, another student no less, do that to one of their peers? How could they do that to someone who seemed so innocent? I knew she had become a girl just as outgoing as most others, but she still seemed so young, so small.

And now Micah was getting involved in all this mess. Why, why had Rhea come to him that day? Micah had never had anything to do with her as far as I knew. It was dangerous to be associated with such an odd creature. This was the proof, right here in my house; Rhea and Peta claiming to have been assaulted by Peter Gizmo. And they were dragging my son, my boy, into the drama. It shouldn't be happening, it couldn't be happening. It was too much, too soon after Sam.

I was scared, really truly scared for Micah. But there was nothing I could do that wouldn't drive him away from me completely. Strict parents turn their children into the best liars.

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RUBY

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It was four in the morning on Saturday when Peter left me. He had climbed into my bedroom through the window earlier and I smile at how easy it was to manipulate him. Boys, men; they're all the same. We had sex, yes. It was nothing special; he was - is - nothing special. We both knew that this wasn't the first time for both of us. I'd handed over my virginity long ago to a boy I scarcely remembered. It didn't matter, nothing mattered in the grand scheme of things.

I was never special in my household. As the youngest of five, I was the baby of the family. I had expectations thrust upon me from birth, but at the same time, no one believed I was all that remarkable. I am significantly younger than my brothers and sister, as such they wanted little or nothing to do with me. I made my own way. I became a master at manipulation and blackmail, something I learnt from my oldest brother before he was sent to gaol for manslaughter. He got off lucky though; I know he was the one who killed that 'innocent' victim. But I say nothing because when he gets out I'll have major dirt on him, you know? It's almost too easy.

Practically taking over the school, that was easy too. I was the one who first isolated Rhea, came up with the name Oddball for her. She could have otherwise been rather popular, with her strange looks she was at first considered exotic rather than the freakshow that she is. I got a lot of attention, not all of which was positive, after I publicly shamed her when we were six. I don't even remember exactly went down that day - again, the details aren't important. But it boosted my own status through the roof. For the first time, people didn't look through me, like I wasn't there. I was regarded by students and adults alike with awe and fear. It was empowering. It was easy.

Manipulating Peter was old news, I'd been doing that for years. I stepped it up a level this year by going out with him. I manipulated him into asking me, the bonehead didn't know what the hell was going on. It was hilarious and kinda sad. I grin when I remember that I am the sole reason he's so powerful in and out of school. But things have been getting so boring lately, I had to do something. I suggested Peter target Sam Noir because he was my neighbour and I had a view of his bedroom from the main upstairs room of my house. I watched, day by day, as depression and fear slowly consumed him, how no one in his family picked up on his potentially life saving hints. So much more fun than watching TV. I even got to see him write his suicide note and slit his wrists. I watched him crawl from the middle of his carpet into his wardrobe of all places. It was so funny! All my work paying off in that little performance.

That night at my place,it was a test for Peter. Of course I'd noticed him watching Rhea, the way a cat watches a mouse. I knew the difference between wanting to play with you 'food' and wanting to eat it. Peter wanted to play with Rhea. I was going to test how far he would go, how far he'd cross me. And I have to say, I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or impressed by how far he went. I sat on the window seat and watched Peter cross the road to Oddball's house. I watched her come out and walked down the street, Peter a few meters behind. I'm disappointed by Rhea. You'd think she would be more careful, with her getting beat up all the time and what not. I sat and waited for them, I knew they'd return. Both of them. 

And I was right, like always. About half an hour later they returned, Rhea hanging unconscious in a fireman's lift over Peter's shoulder. Whatever he did to knock her out, I hope it seriously hurt. It generates more fear that way; I taught Peter that. Call me twisted, but that's how I get my kicks. 

I told Peter I didn't like to share. It's true, I really don't. As the youngest child, all my things have been handed down to me, they still half belonged to my siblings. I hate that, like God you have no idea. So whilst I was enjoyed the little show Peter put on with Rhea, I was furious with him and Rhea. She's a freak, what the fuck did Peter want with her? I absolutely cannot wait to show him what I'm capable of. He's going to wish he'd never crossed me, regret that he even thought of crossing me. And Rhea?

Well, Oddball's as good as dead.