H.I.C.C.

Chapter 6: Alone

Mark stares at Jen. He takes two steps closer. "No answer?" Jen stares at L. "W-w...w-what did y-you do to h-her?"She whispers just loud enough for him to hear it. He laughs and swings the bat up and down. "Three guesses, Jen." He takes another step closer. Jen instinctively takes a step back. "Come on Jen, don't be such a buzzkill. GUESS!" He makes a small jump towards her as a threat. This makes Jen jump as well, however she trips and falls to the floor. Mark laughs again. "You are so funny. You know, when I first joined the group of bullies I wondered why they bullied you. I was just curious for their reasons. At first I somehow even liked you. I didn't find you creepy or disgusting like them. But the longer I stayed with them, the more I realised it." Jen looks at him in terror, starting to shiver. He walks up to her, squats down and holds her chin between his thumb and index finger to force her to look at him. "F.U.N. It's just FUN. JEN LOOK AT ME!" She winces at his loud voice and shuts her eyes. He pulls her face closer. She can feel his breath on her face. It makes her whimper. He chuckles. "You are so fucking cute, do you know that?" "...go." Mark turns around to see L slowly get up. "What was that?" She pushes herself up. "LET. HER. GO!" In a flash she stands up. Mark grins and pushes Jen to the floor, then gets up. "Looks like I'm not done with you after all."

L is walking out of her room, rubbing her eyes. Nina is just exiting the bathroom. "Oh, morning sis. How was your night?" L stalks past her sister into the bathroom. "Slept like a stone..." She murmurs. Nina gives her sister a knowing look. "So four hours again? That's not enough for your age L, you shou-" L slams the bathroom door. She doesn't want to deal with her sister right now. She takes a quick shower and goes back to her room to get dressed. Then she goes to the dining room. "Mornin'.." She says. Her father looks up from his book. "You look like a wreck." "JONATHAN!" L's mother is shocked. "That's no way to say good morning!" Her husband sighs. "I wouldn't have to say it if she slept longer. What kept you up this night?" He turns to his daughter again. "A documentation on wildlife." L plainly answers as she gets out some milk from the fridge. Her mother raises a brow. "Cereal again? Why don't you eat properly for breakfast?" L sighs. "The amount of sport I do compensates for that, mother." She takes a bowl and pours milk and cereal in, then joins her family at the table. She reads the newspaper thoroughly. She looks at the time. School starts in half in hour. She smirks. 'Piece of cake' She thinks to herself. She quickly gets up and walks to the front door. "Headin' out." She yells into the house. "Safe trip." She hears her father shout back. "Be careful when you're out, honey." Mother. "CHARGE AT 'EM SIS!" L has to smile. She puts on her shoes and walks to the door. She hesitates. She wanted to try it without them today. She grabs the doorknob. 'Fuck...' She walks back to the drawer. "Not again, L..." L avoids the gaze of her mother. "I can't, mother. I just can't." Her mum sighs. "They'll just laugh at you again." L's father yells from the dining room: "Margaret! Let her do what she wants. If she likes them, she can wear them." L puts on her gloves. She sighs. "I'll see you this afternoon, mother." In 27 minutes she's at the school.

L storms into the class room. "You're almost late again, Elisabeth." L sits down. "I am sorry Mr. Falk." He raises a brow. "Are you really?" L nods. "Of course." Suddenly another person in the rooms speaks up. "Don't worry about her Mr. Falk, she had to do some freak-chores." A few laughs circle around the class. L ignores them. "Enough, David. Or I'll send you out." L looks outside the window out of boredom. "Elisabeth, please take off your gloves." She gets out her stuff."Can't I leave them on?" Mr. Falk sighs. He opens his book. "Dress code, Elisabeth. Look up what that means. But fine. Open your books on page 57 please." They do as instructed. "Now Elisabeth, since you're in such a good mood today, start reading please." L stands up. "Hans, der Hase, sprang uber denn Zaun, als der Hund ihn angriff..." Suddenly a shrill alarm interrupts. The class cheers. Fire drill. Mr. Falk sighs. "Alright class, you know what to do." Everyone lines up in rows of two. Only L is left alone. Again. Not that it'd matter to her though. She couldn't stand any of the kids here anyway.

Mark slowly walks to L. "So that hit on your head was not enough?" Only now I spot the open wound on her head. It bleeds terribly. I want to call out to her, but my throat is sealed. "Takes more than that to take me down you PUNK." Mark chuckles. "Uuuu, sassy! A little more and I might fall in love with you!" L spits on the ground. "No one would want that." Mark now angrily makes a move on her. He jumps and swings the bat. The jump was too predictive for the combat experienced L though, and she manages to land a kick. But after it she starts staggering. It wouldn't surprise me if her vision was blurry. I want to help her, but my legs are frozen. Mark turns to L again. "You sure are a feisty little bitch." He growls. I have to get up. "She ignored one of her biggest fears for you." I know... Mark suddenly screams. I stare at him. He is running towards L. She will dodge it for sure. Wait... He stops?? L DON'T!............. The sound echoes in my ears. The sound of broken bone. L falls to her knees and holds her rib cage. She coughs. "She ignored one of her biggest fears for you." DAD I KNOW. Mark strikes a triumphant pose. "Alas! He is victorious! Before him kneels his foe! Ready to be utterly destroyed!" "She ignored one of her biggest fears for you." DAD PLEASE! "She ignored one of her biggest fears for you." DAD! "She ignored one of her biggest fears for you." DAD SHUT UP! "She ignored one of her biggest fears for you." DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! "She ignored one of her biggest fears for you." "GET AWAY FROM HER!" Mark freezes in surprise. As do I. "Excuse me?" "Get. Away. From her." I repeat. Slowly but steadily my legs move on their own and push me up. I gulp. Mark chuckles. "Ok Jen, I see. Let's see you stop me then." I take a shaky step towards him. He raises a brow. I take another one. And..... I drop to my knees. I start crying. "I'm sorry L. I'm so sorry." I only look at L once, and what I see makes me want to kill myself. She's smiling at me...

Jen doesn't want to look but can't take her eyes of it. Mark is raising the bat again. He hits L hard in the stomach again. Jen gasps as if she felt the pain herself. She covers her hears, eyes wide open and looks to the floor. An ear-piercing scream fills the street. Mark turns to Jen. "HEY, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" She doesn't hear him. She keeps screaming. He starts walking to her. "I SAID SHUT UP!" He's about to raise his bat when finally a door to a house in the neighbourhood opens. A young adult steps outside. "HEY! You! What are you doing??!" He comes outside and starts jogging towards the scene. Mark realises the situation that's about to develop and sprints off as fast as he can. The man makes no attempt to follow but instead gets out his phone. He walks to Jen first. "Hey, hey! Are you alright?" Her fear of men prevents her to answer, she simply falls to her side and curls up. The man makes an emergency call as he runs to L. It takes a while for the ambulance to arrive. Luckily a female paramedic is part of the crew. Jen manages to address her. "I want to come with you." The female paramedic checks her for wounds. "Your friend?" She asks while looking deep into Jen's eyes. She just manages to nod. "Ok. Come." She takes Jen's hand and quickly but carefully escorts her to the ambulance, where L is lying in. Still unconscious. "Ok, let's get the hell outtah here, we have to get her to the hospital quickly." She turns to Jen again. "Do you have the phone number of her parents?" Jen shakes her head. "I-I c-can call my mum. S-she can t-tell them." The paramedic nods. "Alright. We'll fix her up, don't worry." Jen nods. She stares at L. The sudden urge to hold her hand arises within her, but she refrains from doing it. She doesn't know if she's allowed to. And something prevents her from asking. She was just sure of one thing.

It was going to be a long day.