September 1984 marks the day Hermione started middle school. It's a little further away from home than primary school. While her brothers can go straight to school, Hermione is forced to drop off her younger sister Maria at primary school, making the way even longer for her. she enjoys spending time alone with her sister. Maria looks up to her and compliments her a lot – the only person who does that.
Maria is two years younger than her, the two of them being best friends. See, I don't even know what she looks like. I never met her, for obvious reasons, but my mother added a picture of the two of them in a journal entry from October 1984.
Hermione enjoys spending time with Maria so much that she even picks her up after school as well. Maria complains about how far the walk is but only to her older sister. She'd never mention a word of that to her parents.
MONDAY [Jan 14 / 1985] – age 10
I murdered someone else today.
Despite staying home all day. I'm having a lung infection. I've had it for almost a week now. Maria is doing a good job walking to school and back home by herself. I am proud of her. she usually strolls around quite a bit and takes her time, but she always comes home – except today, she didn't.
Now I'm sure I'll go to hell.
I'm not going to write any more today, I an barely hold my pencil while crying.
Hermione W.
A tragic day. Hermione is slowly recovering from her lung infection and isn't allowed to leave her room. She can't open her window either as the cold air feels like a knife to her throat.
No one's allowed to go near her. her mother places a tray with her meals in front of her door and knocks before going downstairs again. No one knows that Maria keeps sneaking into her room every afternoon.
This particular day, she doesn't show up.
Hermione wonders if her parents noticed that she'd visit her sister, but she didn't even come home from school that day.
It took her parents and brothers two hours to look for her, then they called the police. They calm the family down and get to work only to call them again a few hours later and tell them she was hit by a car. Her body was found in a ditch. The driver must have pulled her off the road to get rid of his trails and escaped. Despite having nothing to do with it and being completely unable to help, Hermione feels guilty for the death of her little sister. It was her job to make sure she got to and from school safely.
No one said anything. Her brothers didn't bother her, neither did her parents. School was hell when she returned. But she felt like she deserved it.
[Jan 23 / 1985] – age 10
Someone called me a murderer today. I can't even complain. They're right. I am in fact a murderer. Marias death is my fault, no one else's.
Claudia locked me in the girls' bathroom today. I don't even know where she got the key from, but no one even noticed I was gone. I was so hungry I thought about climbing out the window but it was on the first floor so I could have hurt myself. They only let me go after school because they knew they'd get in trouble if anyone found out they did it. So they alarmed a teacher and told them some dumb girl locked herself in the bathroom and couldn't get out.
My dad got really weird last weekend. I think he is very sad about Maria being gone. Mum says it's normal for dads to have a few beers at night, but I wonder why he started that now? I never saw him drinking beer before. I, for my part, hate the smell of beer. sadly it's what my dad smells like now.
YOU ARE READING
Hermione
General Fiction(Sequel/Prequel to 'Wailing Wall') This is the story of Hermione WHitaker written by her behated daughter in collaboration with the journals she used to write from the age of nine to the day she died.
