Through Their Eyes

Part 14

Ella approached the boy. He was short, but muscular. His curly brown hair tumbled messily around his fair face. Ella knew he would be entertaining. She walked up to him, telling him that his hair was a mess. He consciously reached up and smoothed it down, but it helped nothing. Ella pointed out his height to him, but he only shrugged it off. She pointed out his fair skin, and it seemed that she had managed to hit home here. The boy shifted uncomfortably. Ella continued to tease him until she grew bored. She then walked to her class. Her first victim.

Ella saw the young mother at the mall. The girl was maybe fifteen years old, younger than Ella. She approached the girl, who was soothing her child. Ella asked if the baby was the girl's, to which she received a positive response. Ella asked her how she had met the father, how she had fallen for him, how she had wound up in bed with him, each question making the girl more upset. When Ella asked how someone could be so foolish, the girl broke down in tears, stood up, and fled to the bathroom. Ella did not follow. Her third victim.

Ella knew by now how to decide whom to pick on. The ones whose eyes darted around walking in the halls or whose shoulders sagged. This girl sat alone, reading a book. She continuously glanced up, as if anticipating an attack. An attack she would receive, as Ella had noticed this pattern. The girl knew Ella's intentions and fled the library after only making eye contact with Ella three times. Ella had a reputation. Her sixth victim.

Ella spotted him sitting on a bench outside the school. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt with tight white pants and blue high-tops. He was pulling a blue and black snapback out of his bag and perching it carefully on his long swishy hair as Ella saw him. Cute, but alone, and therefore vulnerable. Ella sat down next to him and began to chat with him. She found out he was a ninth grader, just a year younger than she was. She then let her intentions shine through and began to ridicule him for his "cool dude" look. He calmly got up and left, not taking care to hide his tear-streaked face. Her ninth victim.

Ella saw her park her pink Beetle outside the school and exit it, wearing a neon pink sweatshirt and tiny white short shorts. Ella knew she was insecure by the way she clutched her oversized purse before inhaling and putting it over her shoulder and tossing her blonde locks. She walked up to the girl. The topic of the weekend came up, and Ella saw her mark. She began asking the girl personal questions detailing her love- or rather, lust- life. The girl let it get to her and hurt her feelings. She scampered away, leaving a trail of mascara down her cheeks and hurt behind her. Ella had teased a girl older than she was for the first time. Her eleventh victim.

Ella passed the boy in the hall. He was a scrawny redhead and wore a red wool sweater with khakis and brown dress shoes. He wore thick rimmed glasses and carried a lot of books, the epitome of nerdiness. Ella teased him about his freckles and his shoes and everything in between. The seventh grader was so frightened, he almost wet himself. Her fifteenth victim, the one who started it all.

Ella watched as the eighth grade girl exited the art classroom. She was more than pudgy with dark hair and glasses. She seemed insecure as she searched the hallway for her friends. Ella approached her. She looked like Lindsey, that lady from the store. Ella picked on her, pointing out her glasses and the bruise on her upper arm. The girl's friends approached Ella, trying to fend off the monster who was attacking their friend, but Ella made them go away. The girl ran when she had her back turned. Her last victim.