Madness

Chapter 4

Weeks past with no events. No relevance. Detention, trees, more detention. Chloe never did tell me what had happened and I didn't push her. Sometimes I swore at Benny, and still she tried to break me. But it didn't work. I couldn't be broken. Or so I thought.

Then I left my door open. Not open open, just unlocked.

That was my tipping point. Because when I returned to my room that night, Chloe at my heels, there were no trees. There was no moss, or soil, or grass. There was no forest. There was only a gleaming wooden floor, two beds, two sets of drawers, white walls, a white ceiling, and a matron standing with her back to me dusting the new bedside table.

That was when I pounced.

I attacked her, scratching and kicking and biting and snarling and hitting and yelling and sobbing and spitting. Pushing and shoving and yanking and jumping.

I didn't hear Chloe leave, but the next thing I knew, Mrs Deets, Mrs Curtis, Mrs Vord, Nora, Mr Brodey and Chloe herself were holding me back, getting me lying down on the floor and holding me there, trying to calm me down while I continued to snarl and growl. I struggled, wriggled and wormed my way out of their grip, then I was up and running, out of the door, down the stairs, out of the school and it's imprisoning grounds, all the way through the little town and straight into the forest that surrounded the whole thing. And up a tree.

Then I was home. Back in the trees, back where I belonged.

I found another tree to swing into that had a fork where I could hide. See but not be seen. Perfect, since they would probably be looking in the forest for me. I hated matron, truly hated her, for destroying my forest. What did it matter to her if I slept in a tree? Had a messy bedroom? Liked the moss and the grass and the mud?

As I thought through my anger, I became even more angry. Angry at myself. I hurt Mrs Deets, Mrs Vord, Mrs Curtis and Chloe. They are probably looking for me now. Out by torchlight.

But I can't let myself be found. Not when I was crying to myself. This was personal, and I now realised that I wouldn't have ever let Chloe up my tree when I felt this bad. I'd be to scared of hurting her.

There's a snap of a twig below. I look down to see Mrs Vord and Mrs Curtis.

"She's got to be around here somewhere. She can't have gone far and I'd rather we found her than Vicktoria."

"Miss," I half sobbed, the word escaping my lips before I could stop it.

A beam of torchlight flew into the tree, startling a bird that had been brave enough to approach me.

"Nessa, are you up there? Nessa?"

"Nessa, Vicktoria was out of order taking your forest away from you like that. You're not in trouble."

"I don't think she's up there."

They were about to move on. Three facts whipped across my mind:

Fact one: Mrs Curtis and Mrs Vord were on my side

Fact two: Mrs Curtis said Matron was looking for me too

Fact three: If matron finds me, she'll kill me.

So when I strung the facts together, and thought it over for a second, I knew exactly who it was that I was going to let find me.