Exile | Continuation of Personalities | Nygmakins

Chapter Ninety Three

"You what?!?" Leslie exclaims.

"Cast Dini in the lead," Edward answers. "What's the big deal?"

"Oh, my God. You DO NOT understand little girls, Edward. They're going to massacre her."

"Who?"

"The other girls - the ones that are already picking on her." Leslie runs her hands through her hair. "How could you do that to her? How can you not comprehend jealousy?"

"Dini more than EARNED the part, Leslie. She was the best by far. I'm not going to deny that to her because there's sharklet infested waters here. Instead, for now, I'm going to wait and cut bait - for the right fish."

Leslie snorts. "Man, you really have gone local. You sound like Miles. Well, I hope when you decide to go fishing, you catch the big one."

"Oh, I intend to."

Unfortunately, Leslie is right.

As Edward walks along the grounds of the orphanage one sunny afternoon, he spies Dini sitting in the shade under a tree, alone like she always is. It looks like she's drawing something. But before he can reach her, three girls come up to her.

"Hey, Edwardine." One of the girls - the one who has faint purple streaks in her hair - enunciates all the syllables of her full name just to rile her up and taps her leg with the tip of her shoe to get her attention when it doesn't work. "Your old man get a chance to rough you up last night?"

"I don't have an old man," Dini responds. "You're mixing me up with someone else."

The other two girls start to giggle.

"What?" demands the girl who had just been taunting Dini.

"You're mixing her up with yourself, Lizette," one of the girls says. "It's your old man who would beat you."

"Yeah, Lizette," the other one says. "I think you're projecting."

Then the two girls dissolve into cackles, holding their sides. They come up for air only to point at Lizette and call out "projecting" from time to time, as if that is a laughing matter.

"Stop it," Lizette says, clearly agitated.

They don't.

"I said, STOP IT!"

Now the tears come.

Involuntarily, Edward's heart beats a little faster. Don't let them see you cry!

Lizette stalks off, her purple tendrils trailing in the wind.

"Do you think we were too mean to her?" one of the remaining girls asks the other. "She did start crying."

The other girl looks like she has to ponder that for a bit. Then she shakes her head. "Nah. She's used to her old man beating her up - I'm sure she could handle that. It was nothing."

The other one smiles and a mean look comes over her face. "Good. Let's give her hell in class today."

The two girls walk off, happily discussing all the ways they can make Lizette's life miserable. It only solidifies what Edward knows to be true of human nature - that there's really no such thing as empathy. When you share the bad things, you just open yourself up to attack. It's one of the reasons he's reluctant to share his past with either adult inhabiting Lee's body, and it only reinforces his dad's sage advice not to show any weakness to predators.