AN ORDINARY GIRL

(impromptu)

by Rebecca

11/4/13

   There was once a little girl. A girl so ordinary you'll pass by her. She was 8 years old, big bright eyes and her hair in pigtails. She loved to wear pink and she loved ice-cream. Just.. an .. ordinary.. little.. girl. Her name was simply May.

   But upon closer look, May was really no ordinary girl. Nobody could really put a finger on it. Yet, there was something unusual about her as she sat on her primary school desk, day to day, writing her composition. She was extremely, quietly calm.

   It so happened one day that as she was writing, a boy came up behind her. The boy had just been transferred from the other class. Something about the teacher not being able to handle him. Somebody got hurt because of him. But nobody knew what to do with him so they simply changed him to her class. The boy looked at her hair. He reached his hand out slowly, deliberately. Without any warning, he then forcefully pulled her hair back. He laughed hysterically. Oh did you hear her scream? He said to his new mates, she sounded like a piglet.

   May remained seated. She had stopped writing. Her scalp stung. She looked back at her tormentor. He was skipping from foot to foot, making faces at her. There were no teachers in the classroom. How convenient. May placed a piece of blank paper before her, she gripped her pencil, closed her eyes and .. started drawing.

   The boy was shouting, “Piglet! Piglet! Piglet! Pig----”

All of a sudden he stopped, his hand clutched his throat. His lips turned blue. His eyes widened and his mouth opened but nothing came out. Falling to the floor, his legs started lashing the floor. He was writhing like a cockroach on fire.

   The other boys thought he was fooling around so they laughed louder. Until they saw red, trickles of blood dripping from his nose and eyes. They stopped, petrified. One ran to call the teacher. The teacher rushed to his side. By then, he had stopped thrashing. He was still. His eyes rolled to the back of his head.

   In the chaos that followed; the principal demanding to know what happened, the sirens of the ambulance, children crying.. only one person seemed untroubled.

When it was time, May packed her bag to go home. In the car, her mother asked her, “How was school?”

   “Fine.”

   “What did you do today?”

   “I drew a picture. Wanna see?”

   “Ok.”

   May handed her mother the picture. Her mother glanced at it while driving, then a second glance. She pulled over and stopped the car.... her face was pale. Her fingers started trembling and sweat formed on her forehead. It was a picture of a boy, tongue lolled out, blood trickling from his eyes and nose. Lifeless.

   Her voice came out in a whisper...

   “May ........ what …. have...... you done?”