The Quadrants

Chapter 2

After school, Rohan rode to the edge of town, wearing a fresh bruise on his eye socket, and pushed his bike into the bushes at the base of Bakers Hill. Bakers Hill rose up from the farmers' fields and was unusually steep and narrow, with a flat top. The hill was the only distinguishing feature of Bakers Ridge which was a small, isolated place, wedged between two mountains—one to the north-west and one to the east.

Rohan followed a steep, rocky track that snaked through the shrubs and trees to the plateau. Puffing, and with his eye throbbing even more than before, he arrived at the boulder which perched atop the hill like an enormous marble. Without pause, he climbed the boulder and sat up on it in a huff, and from there, he stared out blankly over the town.

Rohan rested his elbows on his knees and thought back over the day, remembering his most recent encounter with Titus. He recalled how the arrogant boy—once he had untangled himself from the chair and scrambled to his feet—had flattened him with one punch to the face, in front of everyone, and not one person had stood up for him, except Eve, of course. And then there was the beating Titus had given him in the bike shelter. Rohan flared his nostrils and huffed out a breath.

With the confrontations playing over and over in his head, Rohan gritted his teeth and slid down from the boulder. He was fuming as he marched across and kicked at a nearby rock, sending it flying over the edge of the cliff. The sound of it crashing down, smashing against the side of the hill, was strangely satisfying. He lined up another rock then, a larger one this time, and he gave that a kick too, grunting with the effort. It soared way out into the air before beginning its downward descent. Rohan stood looking down after it, frowning. He was surprised at how far it had gone.

He was revved up now, this felt good, and picturing Titus's overgrown face on a third rock, Rohan took a run-up and launched it over the side of the hill, giving it all he had. It flew out in front of him, for a good forty or so yards, before curving towards the earth. He rushed across to the edge and watched as it fell away to become a small dot. The rock had travelled such a distance that when it finally did hit the ground, it had missed the side of the hill altogether and crashed directly into the flat earth of the field below. Rohan's heart was racing. He couldn't understand how he was doing this.

Leaning down, he picked up another of the many rocks scattered around the dusty terrain, to examine it. This one was as large as a football, and judging by the size of it, Rohan suspected he should have been struggling a lot more to lift the thing. He chucked the rock in the air a few times and caught it easily. Then with a bit of effort, he launched it as high as one of the nearby trees, and when it came down again, he managed to catch it in his arms without hurting himself, or even coming close. This was crazy... no, this was impossible!

The picture of Titus's grinning gob flashed through his mind yet again, making Rohan's blood boil afresh. He pulled back his arm and catapulted the rock he still held, out over the cliff. It sailed through the air at great speed, flying further than he had ever thrown even a tennis ball before—at least twice, or three times as far. His mouth dropped open in astonishment. This couldn't be real. He felt panicked, his heart hammering away in his chest. But Rohan didn't stop. He found an even bigger rock then, this one the size of a watermelon, and picking it up with ease, he turned to hurl the thing at the boulder he had just been sitting on. The rock struck its surface with great force, shattering into a dozen pieces.

Rohan was astounded.

His thoughts were all in a jumble. He had just come up there to kick or punch something, so his head wouldn't explode with the tension that had been building since the morning. He had never expected to discover this about himself. But Rohan had no idea what it was he had actually discovered. He threw countless more rocks at the boulder and over the side of the hill before he couldn't lift another thing, and he finally began to feel his anger from the day subside.