CHAPTER 1- BLOCK MUCH
That loser you heard about? That used to be me. Hard to believe I know. But yeah, I was fragile once. Not so long ago I was innocent and troubled and a short while before that I was a normal shy teenage girl. Times have changed. Now I’m different. Besides being under almost twenty four hour supervision by the police, I am different. I am no longer that girl in the small town who no one really knows. Now? I am the girl everyone knows, or thinks they do anyway. My name is Aoife Maloney. I know, my parents never gave me a chance to be popular did they? You would think Ava would suffice, but my parents were Irish, and proud of it. That aside I am now the girl people avoid. For instance, on my first day to Phoenix Grove High school the queen bee and her simple minded bitches were striding through the corridors, thinking they owned the place as those girls in high school always do. They told me to move out of the way. I told her nothing in reply, but she ended up with a broken nose and well, let’s just say she wasn’t in my way anymore. Nor was anyone else after that.
I was known as the psycho here too, and there were countless rumors about what I did. One even says that I ate my own liver. Another that I set a secret military base on fire killing over a thousand people in one day. My personal favorite however is that I sold my own soul on eBay for fifty bucks. Some of them frustrated me at first, but no one could tell when I was angry or just being myself nowadays. Well here I am, three years on. Not a day went by I didn’t think about the killings, but when I did I smiled inside, because I had stopped them, despite what others thought. Would anyone believe me if I told them what really happened? Of course they wouldn’t. The whole world is a skeptic. Hell I was too, until I saw the truth for myself.
So this was me now. Dressing in black jeans, ripped t shirts and black boots, just to ad to ferocity of my appearance. I never would’ve dreamt of this before, but when the killings started I suppose I got a little… rough around the edges. There was always a policeman on standby in the station, and one stayed on the grounds of the school every day and drove me to the home. At least that’s what they called it. It was a secure environment for the mentally troubled teens of Phoenix. Most were just recovering crack heads, but there were others that you simply didn’t ask about. I wasn’t the toughest in there, and that is saying something. I heard that there were people in Oregon who were scared of me. Probably another rumor, but the fact that it exists tells you something about my reputation.
Biology made me mad. So generally I just stared out the window, tapped my fingers on the desk or listened to something loud and badass to block out the sound of Mr. Wailer’s undeniably annoying voice. Yes he is aptly named, I assure you, for wail is all he does. His voice is much too high, but it stays at a consistent pitch and never wavers, ever. He is one of the few teachers who I don’t have a nickname for, as his name already suits him, and is easy to remember. As soon as he speaks you are reminded.
Class went by quickly enough. Well, compared to what it would have been like if I was listening. In fact the whole school day was a blur now. The only time that dragged was lunch. I had to sit at a table with my policeman, Luke. He was scared of me too when he found out this was to be his job for the next year, but it wasn’t long before we became… something close to friends. But it was the fact that it lasted 45 minutes that dragged. And kids were now free to roam, and piss me off.
“Hey Aoife,” He looked tired today.
“Luke. Rough day?”
“Rough night, think I’m getting Mono.” Come to mention it, he did look rather ill. His skin was patchy and sticky looking, and his eyes were red.
“Sucks. Well don’t be getting too sick on me, I don’t wanna be guarded by some up tight ‘nam veteran that I have to ask permission from to take a piss.”
“Well… we’ll see. I’ll try Aoife.” He laughed weakly. “How was class?”
“The vocal stylings of The Hives were very good, thank you.” He sighed and dropped a chip he had been picking at.
“Blocking out again?”
“Would I ever?” I shrugged and smiled exaggeratedly.
“You can’t keep this up. You’re lucky to be here you know. They’re giving you a chance to get some qualifications. So you can get a job. You can’t pass that up.”
“Who is going to employ a homicidal maniac? College degree or not.”
“So you have accepted that you’ll be trapped like this your whole life?”
“Bingo.”
“But what you did in the past…” I stood up.
“I have done nothing.” I went over to get some food. The cafeteria used to be a place to hang out. Now it was like a jungle. Do you eat the gunk they feed you? Or bring a pack lunch? And if you do bring a pack lunch how should you bring it? Brown paper bag: classic testament to suburbia or ultimate geek gear? Then there is the Tupperware: an eco-friendly way to save the planet, or the sign of an overinvolved mother? After taking a tray of crap I sat back down with Luke and ignored his worried looks.
“Aoife…”
“Don’t you dare. Just don’t, Luke.” He looked down at his unfinished chips again and pushed them away sitting back in his chair. I nibbled on some of the slop and then threw the rest out. I plugged in my iPod and sat there looking in a totally different direction to Luke who spent his time either staring at the floor or staring at me. When the bell rang I got up without hesitation and stormed past Luke to English class.
English wasn’t just as bad. Meaning I at least turned my iPod off for it, but I still didn’t listen. Hell I didn’t listen to anything anywhere. My English teacher was in her forties with a giant ball of tumbleweed for hair. Her dark splinters of hair hung around her face crowning a pair of her large black framed spectacles. She was just as crazy as me, although no one was afraid of her. She mumbled and stammered and jittered her way through class every single day. I called her hair woman. She handed out journals like she did every day in case we had any sparks of inspiration in the middle of class. People mostly just drew funny pictures of her instead of listening. By people I mean me.
I scribbled a sketch of her being attacked by her own hair which had turned into a nest of snakes with enormous pointy teeth, kind of like medusa. I sat on my own, as usual. It was just easier that way. I didn’t get along with people anymore and they were all terrified at me. Once in biology a new kid sat beside me and spent the entire period shaking and staring at me as I sat with my back to him. He sat at the farthest edge of his chair and once when I set my bag on the table he fell off his chair whilst squealing like a 5 year old girl, I pictured pig tails and a pink gingham dress, how sweet.
The day just dribbled along, passing me by like the birds outside the window which were the subjects of most of my attention. It wasn’t long before I had to meet Luke again so he could drive me home. He was waiting in the car. I got into the passenger seat and put my feet on the dash.
“Must you?”
“Sorry,” I put my feet down. “So you doing anything good tonight?”
“Takeaway.”
“Fun times. Oh well, beats hanging with the crazies.” By that I meant with me. He knew this of course and laughed.
“You know Aoife I think I’d still rather hang out with you. And you’re not crazy.”
“Well if you say so.”
“A little eccentric and scary, but beyond that nothing.” I laughed.
“Why thank you Luke, you sure no how to compliment a girl.”
“Don’t I just?” he pulled up outside the home and opened the doors. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”
“Yeah, unless I die or end up in crazy town again I’ll see you tomorrow.” He knew I joked, but he hated it. Every time I joked about myself like that he looked away and grimaced as if I had just stabbed myself. He cared too much, that was his problem. I got out of the car and headed up the steps to the torture chamber. It was a terrace building that needed knocked down 4 centuries ago. The red brick work was falling to pieces and the windows were almost nonexistent. The door was one of those big red ones that to some people said ‘welcome to our warm inviting home’. To me it said ‘stay away, danger’. Either way I went in and ran upstairs to drop of my stuff before heading down to the kitchen to tell Harry I was home and grab a bottle of water from the fridge before heading back upstairs and plugging in to my iPod. Yes, I did need to charge it every day.
sometimes when I'm typing I get ahead of myself and just want to get it down, so I miss some things, and don't notice them when reading over. Also, I live in Ireland too!!! hehe, but it is set in America and living in the north of Ireland it's not as common a name, no one I know has ever heard it before. To explain the school thing. She's isn't insane anymore, theres a full explanation in the following chapters, at this stage it's supposed to be a little frustrating. Also there was very little evidence in the case and she wasn't charged with it, just suspected heavily. I'll be sure to fix the speech a bit, i kind of skipped over that when I was writing it haha. With reference to the sudden scene change, I kind of intentionally did that to show that she is a little 'rough around the edges', I'll maybe try leaving a space between the paragraphs to try to emphasise this but I did that for a reason hehe. Thank so much for all your advice!!! I always find it hard to pin down all those little errors hehe, thanks, ttyl ;P x
Gender:
Points: 1144
Reviews: 4