Harriet Roswell and the School of Witchcraft

Chapter 5

Their graves were next to each other. They tended to visit three times a year. For their birthdays, in April and September, and once around xmas time. It wasn't a sad moment, mostly they'd just trim any grass that had grown too close to the gravestone, and set down fresh flowers, and occasionally food. A little cookie, or some fresh berries. They had to stop that recently, some mardy bitch had started complaining.

Alex stood up removing the grass he had cut, and dead flowers, and Harriet set to carefully putting out new the flowers they'd found grown in a nearby field. She didn't remember much about her parents. Sometimes she thought she remembered what they sounded like, although not any words specifically, and sometimes, when she'd walk by a smell, she thought she could smell them. She wasn't sure what it was that set of that thought, but occasionally it hit her. Like a home she didn't know she had forgotten.

Her parents were dead by the time she was three. Alex had been babysitting for them the night they'd been walking home from a pub, when some other pubs asshole had decided to drive home and hit them. In a way, being Harriet's godfather, Alex had been babysitting ever since. When Harriet had decided that her old name no longer fit with her she chose something close to it, she didn't have much from her parents but a few photos of them, they had been minimalist and what jewellery they did have was buried with them.

"Cain, Natalie I have come here to tell you my sins" Alex said standing soberly at the botAlex of the grave. Harriet got up and walked next to Alex.

"I think your religion is a bit rusty, I'm pretty sure thats something your supposed to tell the pope."

"The pope is it?" Alex grinned "I want to admit it to the spirits of your parents. Guys, you entrusted me with Harriet, and I'm throwing her away."

"Thanks."

"She's a terrible daughter. She spends ages in the bathroom, my showers always clogged with hair. She doesn't clean up her clothes. She leaves like, a millimetre of milk in the fridge incase I have a recipe I need to cook using a millimetre of milk."

"Dad."

"She's terrible at making friends, even though I'm gay! I'm full of friendly energy and she has refused to take it on."

"I've seen people sticking kids heads down toilets, who are more friendly than you."

"Those kids were at least trying to make friends with their bullies."

"No, I'm saying you're the bully."

"Oh," Alex shrugged "why have been you watching kids getting flushed down toilets anyway? You should help when you see that."

"I have been helping I'm one doing the flushing." Harriet said, Alex laughed.

"Then I guess you really have taken on my energy." Alex said still smiling. Harriet turned to the gravestones as though something might change. Someone may appear. One time a large crow landed on her mothers gravestone and cried out 'gal' and flew away. Today no animals were landing that she could pretend were a sign from them, or mishear them and pretend they said something human.

"Are you throwing me away?" Harriet asked.

"No. No of course not, I love you. The boarding school is unusual but I think you deserve the best. When I was at school, coming out as gay was impossible and even secretly asking my crush out was too dangerous, but I have felt that time changing. It's still the same in some communities who have managed to stick their heads up their arses but mostly its different, I like to think, though perhaps just for my sanity. But I still think its tough for trans people. They've been here protesting alongside us and they've been here for just as long, but I still feel it's very early days. Maybe another ten years huh?"

"I'm not in any danger" Harriet smiled "I feel safe."

"I don't want to get you down. And if you feel safe I'm not going to say anything about it. But I want you to feel free, and comfortable, where you don't even have to pretend you didn't hear snide marks from someone around you. And I want you to have a group of friends and to have the opportunity to attempt a normal high-school social life if ever, that is a whim that takes you."

"I'm going to go to this school full of gay people and still not make any friends." Harriet said, something inside her dying "just so you know. I'm actually just a loser it has nothing to do with my gender."

"What? Not even one or two punky side-kicks?"

"Probably not."

Alex shrugged "just do what Lukas does."

"The chocolate things a bit weird, and I'm not walking around with icepacks."

"With haribo then."

"Haribo is for babies."

"They want them secretly. You ever offered haribo to an adult? First it's all - 'aren't these for babies?' The next second they've cleared you out of a packet."

"Great. I'll be the weird haribo kid."

"Least you won't be Becky's math pencil buddy, and you'll be bullied for being generally weird, instead of just you."

"Is this supposed to be uplifting?"

"You're making it real hard kid I already tried the heart to heart. Honestly I don't want you gone, but I see this as the best way for you to grow up with some confidence, and maybe have at least a couple of conversations this year. Besides what am I suppose to do this year without you? I'm just going to sit around missing you."

"You can go out on dates with Lukas."

"Theres only so many dates a fella can go on. Like seriously, anything I could do, I do with you in the house anyway. What am I suppose to do? Find more hobbies? Work more?"

"Phone me?"