The Pain Thief

Chapter 8

WANDERING THOUGHTS

As it turned out, Jack had gotten in quite a bit of trouble for running out without saying anything. Zoe could hear him pleading with him mom on his cellphone, trying to convince her that he needed to leave because it was an emergency. 

Then he was silent, and Zoe guessed it was because him mom had asked what had happened. 

Jack stared off into space for a moment before Mr. Z came over and motioned for Jack to give him the phone. Jack obliged and Mr. Z came up with this story of how he had fallen and Zoe needed some help to get him up. He came up with the lie so easily that Zoe wondered how much he'd managed to get away with when he was young. 

Jack just looked surprised when he was told to come home without any more yelling. 

Mr. Z chuckled. "I may not look it, but I'm quite an accomplished people person."

"If you want to call it that," murmured Jack. Zoe smiled. 

Jack left, agreeing to come back to bring Zoe her backpack. 

Zoe and Mr. Z sat for a while, chatting pleasantly to pass some time. Neither of them liked the idea that the hazes were getting stronger, but they both knew there was nothing they could do about it. 

Until a time when they got more information, all they could do was wait. 

***

Days passed in a similar manner to that one, until the weekend was over and Monday started the school week all over again. 

Strangely, there had been a distinct absence of hazes as well, meaning that the weekend was exceedingly quiet. Coupled with the fact that Jack was grounded for the weekend, Zoe found it odd that nothing was happening. 

Jack must've gotten up late or something since he wasn't there to meet her when she walked to school. Zoe sighed, feeling lonely for some reason. She was so used to having Jack with her that it was odd to be alone. She was angry with herself for being so attached to him, but it was she couldn't help it; they had been friends since they were eight. 

The time spent alone always made Zoe's mind wander, and today she started thinking about her parents. She often thought about them when she was alone no matter how much she didn't want to. It wasn't that she didn't want to remember them, it was that thoughts like that always brought her to a place she didn't want to be. 

Today she couldn't help it, going back to a time when she was just a little girl of only six years old. She was sitting in the living room with her cousins, Matt and Cat, or Matthew and Catherine. The two of them were her aunt's children on her mother's side, and were three years older than Zoe and twins. Then there was Jerry, Matt and Cat's brother, who was two years older than Zoe. 

Zoe hated spending time with her cousins because they were always so mean to her, calling her rude names and pushing her around. It had always been that way though, with her white hair, so she was somewhat used to it. That didn't mean it didn't hurt though. 

She wanted to get out of there, so she walked over to the kitchen where her parents were sitting with her aunt and uncle. It sounded like they were arguing about something. 

"Your girl needs to get that hair of hers fixed Kate," said her aunt. "White hair?"

Her mother, Kate, sighed. It appeared that they had this conversation before. "Steph, my daughter is fine the way she is. Besides, don't you think we've tried to dye her hair? It doesn't work. And it doesn't matter anyway as long as she's healthy."

Zoe smiled as her mother said that, the white curtain of hair obscuring one of her eyes. She was about to go in, when her aunt said, "It's whatever you want Kate, but you know that poor girl's going to get beat up in school. There has to be something you can do."