12. The Stranger

‘Say what you like but Justin’s right, Claire,’ Sabrina joined in from nowhere. Doreen was standing right next to her, arms folded and wearing a vile scowl on her face. ‘I thought you could do better,’ Sabrina continued. ‘We all did. Now you’re picking this kid over your own friends?’ There was a sign of grief in her voice.

Sineas could only stare into the nothingness of the table. He was twiddling his thumbs under it.

Clarissa shot to her feet and her nose almost touched Sabrina’s. ‘So you think I’m just going to sit tight and watch all you bullies make fun of Sineas like that?’ she hissed. They had finally drawn the attention of the entire school.

‘You even know his name?’ Justin laughed scornfully as he pulled the girl deeper under his arm. She smiled. She seemed to be enjoying it. Justin rubbed his boxlike jaw. He walked to Sineas’ side, pulling the girl with him. She had an enormous grin on her face.

Sineas was still twiddling his thumbs under the table. He wasn’t present.

Justin placed his huge, heavy hand on Sineas’ shoulder with such a sudden quickness and force. Sineas’ entire body buckled; he flinched and the audience erupted into a craze of laughter. Grinning, Justin waved his hand at them, quietening them. He lowered his lips to Sineas’ ear. ‘Sineas, is it?’ He smirked. ‘Which side of the family do you get your weird from?’

Sineas remained silent.

Justin straightened himself up. With the swiftness of a cobra, he grabbed Sineas by the back of his neck. He raised him up from his seat with one hand then released. He fell back in his seat with a thud. Justin grabbed the empty lunchbox from the table and rammed it on Sineas' head.

‘That’s enough!’ Clarissa immediately sprang into action. She tried to push him back but because of his size, she only managed to push him back one or two inches. ‘Seriously, what is wrong with you, Justin!’ she yelled again into his face with a look of deep disgust and disbelief.

His crew laughed with him. He shook his head then said, ‘You disappoint me, Claire. You honestly gonna defend this fool?’ He began poking Sineas at the back of his head.

Sineas had returned to twiddling his thumbs under the table. His expression was neutral.

Clarrissa smacked Justin’s hand out of the way and advanced even further into Justin’s face. ‘Get away from here, Justin. Leave!’ She tried to push him again. Same results.

He smacked her hand out of the way when she tried to push him again. ‘Don’t touch me, woman! I have no intentions of staying here any longer anyway, Jezebel.’ He signalled his crew with his hand and they followed closely behind their leader. Moments later, they had vanished into the school building.

Clarissa sat back down beside Sineas. Not even anger could explain the look on her face. ‘That oversized wrench. Who does he think he is? And…’ she turned her frightful gaze at Sineas, ‘…and you just sat there, taking all that…’

‘Can we not talk about it?’ Sineas whispered. He was still looking into the table, his thumbs twiddling away beneath it. A lot slower now.

Clarissa looked up. She looked around. Everyone was watching Sineas. They were laughing amongst each other, giggling at each extra stare they got. They had enjoyed the show. She relaxed her wrinkles and sighed apologetically. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘When I dated Justin, he seemed like a nice guy.’

‘Dated?’ He did not look away from the table.

‘Two months,’ she answered him. ‘He can be a bit hard…hasty…violent.’

Sineas shifted in his seat. Finally, he stared at her. ‘He…beat you?’

‘Let’s change the subject.’ She grinned, ‘So, what did you think of the Math presentations this morning?’ she asked.

He smiled too. His mind had gone somewhere else. ’It was fine.’

Malrich was your typical neighbourhood. The kind of neighbourhood where everyone knows everyone. Like all good neighbourhoods, the only noise it had was either from the children playing hopscotch or jump-ropes on weekends and school holidays. Take a three-four minute drive out of Malrich and you would find yourself in a neighbourhood called WindleDrive. There was a bar in WindleDrive called “The Ocean’s Tavern”. A favourite of the worn out construction workers and the weary lawyers who just wanted some time to themselves away from their wives. Usually one or two hookers would loiter around, subtly seducing the rich into bed with them. Bottom-line; The Ocean’s Tavern provided an escape for both the working class and the elites. In here, everyone was equal.

It was 11 P.M and a loud scuffling could be heard inside. A bottle broke, then a chair. There was a short moment of silence then the arguments continued. Justin Foyer staggered out of The Ocean’s Tavern with a bottle of Heaven’s Delight whiskey. He was still in his sports jacket. He looked back at the entrance and yelled, ‘You too! Your mother’s a sanitary whore!’ He took several gulps of his drink then made his way down the road. He was mumbling insults to himself. ‘Bleeh! Where’s the friggin’ taxi! Where’s the damn taxis?’ He made a loud hiccup. He continued his unstable walk, made it past a small water fountain to his left.

An idea crossed his mind whilst looking at the fountain. He changed his mind and continued walking. He could make out a bench in the distance just under a streetlight. He fell into the bench. It was the bus stop. He took the last gulp from his bottle. ‘Damn,’ he cursed as he peeked through the nozzle of the bottle. He had cleaned it dry. He threw it over his shoulder then leaned back on the bench. There was no sound from even a mile away. The streets were deserted. He suddenly heard a familiar sound. It was the sound of steel being dragged on concrete. He rubbed his eyes and looked to his left. Nothing. He turned to his right. Nothing. He rubbed his eyes vigorously. He looked under the bench but still, there was nothing there. The sound kept getting louder and louder. 

'Who’s out there?!’ Justin shouted into the vast pitch-black of the night. He looked to his right again. Still, nothing. To his left. Someone was sitting beside him. The metal on concrete sound had stopped. Justin rubbed his left eye. ‘Who are you?’ He could only see the shape of a person, about his size, dressed in black. Even under the generosity of the streetlight, he could still not make out the face. ‘I said, who are you?’ he asked again. He looked down at the stranger’s feet. There seemed to be something long in their hand or hands all the way down to the ground. Justin was not quite positive.

‘What is your name, young one?’ the stranger finally spoke.