by Merritt N Shaw
It was the first day of school. Megan dreaded going back after having been away for so long. This was her last chance to move forward in life. She had to be strong and try to make this year the one that would make up for all the bad years in high school.
A rush of kids were laughing and yelling as they entered the school building. Megan slowly walked in behind them. All of her memories came flooding back. The long hallways trying to get to class on time knowing the teachers didn’t like her and would reprimand her for being late, the knock-down-drag-out fights at the lockers with everyone in a circle watching and no one helping, having to change out for P.E. and the jocks taking her clothes, and the incident in the library. Megan had complained to the administration about what was going on, but no one seemed to believe her because she liked to, let’s just say, walk to her own rhythm and her unique sense of style didn’t help her rapport with the teachers.
“Excuse me! Miss Lane!” The Assistant Principal, Ms. Shaffron yelled at her from down the hallway.
Here we go!
“What is this?” Ms. Shaffron tapped a piercing that was still puffy and red on Megan’s eyebrow.
“Oww!” Megan said,
“You know you’re not supposed to have that thing on in school.” Ms. Saffron said. “I haven’t read anything that says I can’t have a piercing. Other girls have piercings in
their ear lobes. What’s the difference?” Megan protested.
Ms. Shaffron didn’t have an answer. She snorted like a bull, grabbed Megan by the arm and pulled her toward the principal’s office.
Megan pulled her arm away from Ms. Shaffron. She looked her in the eye and said, “I’m perfectly capable of walking without any assistance.”
Megan had a defiant grin on her face. She liked to push some teachers to the edge of civility, especially faculty that she felt had no business dealing with kids. Ms. Shaffron was the P.E. teacher for years and she was new to her position this year. She was like a loaded gun with a hair trigger. She had gone through a messy divorce the year before and seemed to fix her shoulder length blonde hair in a way that wasn’t appropriate for a woman her age. She liked to wear “young” clothes that were a bit too tight. Megan could tell she had a crush on the single Principal, Mr. Gibbs. He was a former military man and she seemed to think that hassling students was a way to get into his good graces.
Ms. Shaffron burst into Principal Gibbs office with Megan slowly trailing behind which irritated Ms. Shaffron even more. She was almost hyperventilating by the time they reached the room. The art teacher, Mrs. Brown, was sitting in the chair across from Mr. Gibb’s desk. She seemed very put out that Ms. Shaffron had interrupted their meeting.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Brown, for the interruption,” Ms. Shaffron said as she looked surprised and seemed a bit panicked when she realized she had burst in on a meeting. She searched for a good reason for her uncontrolled emotional response, “…ah…but this student was being disruptive.”
Mrs. Brown said sarcastically, “Oh, little ole Megan? Being disruptive? That’s hard to
believe.” Mrs. Brown winked at Megan. Megan grinned and looked down at her feet. Megan was one of Mrs. Brown’s favorite students. She had been in her art class before and Mrs. Brown saw some raw talent in her drawings and storytelling.
Mr. Gibbs said, “Ms. Shaffron, if you could find out what class Megan will be in right before lunch, we can meet then, if that is agreeable for you?” Ms. Shaffron said, “Yes. Uh. Sure. Ok. Pardon the interruption.”
Ms. Shaffron held Mr. Gibbs’ office door open and motioned to Megan to exit the office. As they exited Mr. Gibbs office, Ms. Shaffron closed his door. She stepped up close to Megan and said in a low voice, “We’ll deal with you later. Now get to class.You’re late!”
Megan said, “No note?” Ms. Shaffron just glared at her with her arms crossed. Megan walked a few steps backward to keep her gaze on Ms. Shaffron then turned and meandered down the hallway toward her classroom.
****
By the end of the first week of school, the kids were ready for the weekend. It was a warm Saturday night and Megan walked up to the door of a party house dressed to kill. She stopped at the top of the stairs to prepare. She could hear rhw music of Green Day blasting inside. She wore her favorite tight blue jeans that were torn in both knees and had a rip under the back pocket, just big enough to show the skin of her butt so everyone would know she wasn’t wearing any underwear.
She pulled her black, tattered Grateful Dead shirt, halfway off her shoulder which showed
a little bit of cleavage and adjusted her swing-down belt that accentuated her hips. She was stuck between the 80’s style her mom influenced, but was hoping her newly arranged EMO look of spiked black hair with purple highlights, a spike necklace, matching bracelets, converse sneakers and the heavy, black eyeliner that made her blue eyes pop, would help her blend in with this crowd.
A tiny black electronic box with a wire attached in her pants was digging into her stomach. She quickly readjusted the box right before the front door opened and a couple came out of the house to smoke on the front porch. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. She was here for a reason and she couldn’t let anything stop her.
The house was full of people drinking beer or drinking from solo cups and there was the strong scent of skunk weed in the air. She recognized a few party kids from school, but she didn’t recognize anyone else there. She looked underage, but she knew that all she would have to do is lean in to show some cleavage and the right party boy would be stumbling over himself to bring her all the beers she wanted.
Five kids were sitting on the couch watching two stoned sophomores dancing frantically, in front of them, with their hair bouncing in their faces. As she walked further into the house, she saw two men in their 30’s playing pool in the back. This seemed unusual to her to see guys, who were a little older, at a high school party. She caught herself staring at them as she walked by. When they looked up at her, she looked down toward the floor. When she looked back up they had their eyes on the eight ball, playing pool.
That was weird
A group of guys in the corner were glancing her way, talking with each other, laughing
and looking back at her again.
Hi, boys. Easy target.
She walked into the kitchen as a couple of kids walked out with cans of beer. There were overflowing trash cans full of empty beer cans, several bottles of liquor and a few, two liter bottles of soft drinks on the counter, bags of ice in two coolers, a stack of solo cups, weed scattered on a tray, joint papers and a bag of weed beside the tray.
She went out to the living room. She walked close to the three guys who were looking at her earlier.
“Hey guys. What’s up?” Megan asked.
One of the boys stood up from leaning on the wall. “Hi! Hey! Aren’t you Tom Lane’s little sister?
“Uh!” Megan said, confused.
Shit! He’s going to out me!
“Yeah. How did you know that?” Megan said suspiciously.
“Tom and I were friends in high school. I’ve been to your house before,” he said. He looked back at the two guys he was with to see their reactions.
“I remember when you were just a little kid with pigtails and a runny nose,.” he laughed. “But you’re all grown up now.”
Megan said, “Wow! Okay.” She grinned as she swayed back and forth, put her head down and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. “I don’t remember you. What’s your name?” “Kenneth. Ken.Talley.” He put out his hand to shake hers. She paused for a second, to make him feel uncomfortable, looked him up and down and slowly put her hand out and shook
his hand. He went to pull back and she wouldn’t let go. Ken grinned. He pulled her closer. She grinned and stared into his eyes.
“Hey. Sorry to hear what happened to Tom,” Ken said.
Megan released his hand and looked down. “Yeah.” She pulled away and put her hands in her pockets and looked around the room, uncomfortably.
“Thanks,” Megan said sheepishly.
Ken felt guilty for changing the mood. “Hey! Can I get you a beer?”
“Sure.” Megan flashed a quick, superficial smile.
Ken said, “I’ll be right back.”
The two guys that were standing beside Ken, looked at each other and saw what might be going on.
“Do you know where the little girl’s room is?” One of the guys pointed behind her. “It’s right down that hallway.”
“Thanks.” She quickly swung around and walked away with an over-emphasized swing in her step. She looked back and saw they were watching her walk away.
Bingo
She made her way to the other side of the room and down a dark hallway made of wood veneer paneling with cheap, thrift store prints that hung on the walls. The flooring was a mix of beige, brown and black shag carpet.
As she walked down the hallway, she felt an urgency to pee. She pushed a door open that was slightly ajar and found herself in an empty, dark bedroom. She saw the light on in the attached bathroom, rushed to the toilet and pushed her pants down. The electronic box that was
in her pants, fell out and bounced on the floor.
Shit! No! No!
She picked it up and examined it. It didn’t appear to be broken. She breathed a sigh of relief, sat on the toilet, closed her eyes and peed.
As she finished peeing, she heard a slight breathing sound. She opened her eyes and held her breath, so she could listen.
The bathroom had a big garden tub situated underneath the window at the far side of the bathroom and there was a framed-in, stand alone shower beside it, with the shower curtain covering the opening. It sounded as if the breathing was coming from behind the shower curtain, but she didn’t see a shadow or movement behind the curtain.
I must be hearing things.
She quietly wiped herself, pulled up her pants, reconnected the wire to the electronic box and secured the box back in her pants. She could still hear the breathing, but was hoping it was just because she was hypersensitive to sound now.
“Hello?” Megan said softly.
No one answered. She held her breath and listened again.
She slowly crept toward the shower curtain. She could feel her heart beating in her ears. She raised her arm, moved the curtain back and saw what looked like a pile of clothes, that had been soaked in mud and dried, lying in the corner of the tiled floor. She looked at the bottom of the pile and slowly worked her way up the pile trying to make out what kind of clothes were in the pile.
What is that? Shirts? Scarves?
Her gaze slowly landed, at the top of the pile of clothing. It took her a second, but she realized there were two human eyes staring back at her.
Whoever it was in there, lie motionless, but the eyes had a look of desperation. “Are you okay? Do you need help?” Megan asked.
The person under the pile of clothes did not answer. The eyes kept staring at Megan. It almost looked as if they were stoned or so afraid they couldn’t move and wanting to cry out for help.
Megan heard steps and male voices coming from the bedroom. A frantic whimper came from under the pile of dirty clothes, as if wanting to run, but were unable to. Megan quickly hid in the linen closet in the bathroom and looked through the slats in the door. She saw it was the two older men she saw earlier at the pool table. They came in quietly, without a word. One of the men reached in and pulled a teenage girl out of the pile of clothes. She was completely naked with long blonde hair that was matted and caked in dirt. She had bruises all over her body and looked as if she had not had a shower in weeks. He threw her limp body over his shoulder and they quickly exited the bathroom.
Megan leaned back in the closet, her heart racing.
What the hell is going on?
