Retribution

Retribution

R. A Holmes

Retribution

R.A Holmes

Smashwords edition

Copyright R.A Holmes 2013

SMASHWORDS EDITION LICENSE NOTES

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For Alissa Gabrielle. My beautiful blonde haired, blue-eyed cousin. You’ve grown into such an inspiring and amazing woman in these past seventeen years.

CHAPTER ONE

As she sits in the back of the classroom, she can hear her name in the murmurs of her classmates. She sighs and opens her notebook.

Her teacher, Mr. Jennings, has been lecturing about something she couldn’t care less about.

Something hits the back of her head. It doesn’t hurt however, she feels it. A small chunk of pink eraser bounces off her scalp and falls to the floor where it lies still. She looks down and kicks it with her foot.

The laughter from across the room makes her sink lower into the desk. Only a few more periods, she thinks to herself. She tries to ignore the talking about her. She stares straight ahead and re-reads the words on the board over and over again.

She coughs and flinches at the pain it brings to her ribs. She wraps her arms around herself. She bites down on her lip to keep from crying.

When the bell rings, she is the last to leave. She lingers behind, waiting for all of her other classmates to go.

She heads to her locker, fumbles with her combination and it finally opens. The small broken mirror still hangs. Shards of glass litter the bottom of her locker and floor at her feet.

They had thought it was funny to throw a baseball into her locker. Her Grandmother had gotten her that mirror.

Every beautiful young lady should hang a mirror in her locker when she becomes old enough to have one, she had said. It was one of the only things of her grandmother that she’d had left. Everything else is only a memory. She shakes her head and slams the locker door shut.

By the time she opens the glass doors to the cafeteria, everyone has already left the lunch line. The scent of pizza wafts through the air. She inhales the smell and smiles. Her stomach rumbles from hunger.

She carries her tray to the back corner of the large, well-lit room. She sits down and takes a large bite of pizza. As she takes a sip of her milk, an apple flies through the air and lands on the middle of the tray. The apple is half eaten and the inside has already started turning brown. An eruption of laughter and name-calling sounds throughout the cafeteria.

With tears in her eyes, she grabs the tray, and watches as her one and only meal of the day falls into the trash.

English is the last period of the day, her favorite. She’s not sure if it’s because she actually likes the subject, or the fact that the final bell is only an hour away.

She was supposed to write a paper on one of the books they had read in class and speak about it in front of the class. That assignment, to her, is torture. She had decided not to do it.

When her name is called, she just shakes her head and sinks down further into the seat again, becoming almost invisible.

The final bell rings and she pushes away from her desk in a hurry. She hasn’t noticed the foot in the middle of the aisle, until she was already losing her balance.

She falls hard to the floor, skinning her chin on the rough carpet as she does. Her classmates laugh in unison again, and the throbbing pain in her ribs returns.

She wipes the tears from her eyes as she shuffles past groups of people talking to one another in the hallways. They make jokes, talk gossip, and make plans for the upcoming weekend. Plans that she is never invited to.

The rain starts to fall just as she opens the door to the small bookstore. The familiar scent of dust and coffee greet her.

Trish, the storeowner’s daughter, stands behind the wooden counter impatiently tapping her long, fake fingernails. She chews a large wad of gum.

You’re late, she snaps.

I’m sorry, I got held up at school. It comes out a whisper.

Don’t make this a habit Jade, she huffs before walking through the door that sits on the wall behind them and disappearing from view.

Trish had taken over after her father had gotten sick. An obligation, and one in which, she hated. Trish was only a few years older than Jade. The last thing she’d wanted to do is put her life of parties and dorm rooms on hold.

Jade had gotten the job two years prior. It just happened that Henry needed a little help around the same time Jade began needing her own money.

She doesn’t get paid very well. Only forty a week which usually goes to pay for the electric and water that her parents so blatantly refuse to pay. The job mainly keeps her from home just a little bit longer.

Trish returns from behind the door, her purse in her hand.

These books need to be put up, she says pointing to a stack of paperbacks that sit on a cart. It’s been pretty slow today, so I’m pretty sure you can get some cleaning done. She flips a strand of dark hair behind her ear, turns on her heel, and walks out the door, slamming it behind her.

Jade stands behind the counter looking around the small building. The dark wooden walls like that of a cabin and the tiny windows that let just enough light in. She feels at home in this place. It’s calming and unusually homey. It’s warm during the winter and cool in the summer.

She walks to the cart and grabs a handful of books, walking them to their assigned spots; she sits them neatly in the rows.

The sky begins to turn dark and she can hear thunder in the distance when she’s finally finished with the books.

Trish was right; it has been a slow night. Only a few had stopped by, never buying anything. She wonders how the store is able to stay in business at all.

When the clock reaches nine, she begins to vacuum the carpet. The green has been almost worn down to the floorboards underneath. She hums a tune as she glides the vacuum over the carpet, catching anything anyone has drug in on their shoes.

She hears the chime of the bells on the door and turns the vacuum off. She walks back up to the counter and stands behind it patiently. She hadn’t seen who has entered. Only a silhouette reflects off the wall in the far corner of the store.

The feeling of dread hits her and she doesn’t understand why. Her finger hovers above the button that sits beneath the register, ready to push at a seconds notice.

Can, can I help you, she calls through her quivering lips. When no one answers, she walks from behind the counter slowly. She heads down the aisle toward the shadow. We’re closing soon, she calls again. Only silence responds.

The sound of shuffling books on the other side of the shelf from her makes her heart begin to beat faster. She’s not sure why, but she has a strange feeling she is being hunted.

She turns around to run and screams. A young man, about her age, stands right behind her. His green eyes stare at her in awe and confusion. His brown hair is disheveled. His pale, almost florescent skin is flawless.

Oh my God. You scared me, she says backing away in little steps. He looks away from her and shakes his head.

I’m sorry. It comes out deep, low and almost rugged. He says nothing more, just turns and disappears out the door, only leaving the lingering scent of his cologne behind.

The rain falls hard on the empty street when Jade is locking the door for the night. She can smell the sulfur from the nearby factories.

She shoves her hands in her jeans pockets and begins to walk. After a little while, she hears the sound of footsteps behind her. Pausing, she looks toward the sound and up and down the street. Seeing nothing, she continues to walk in the rainy darkness.

The outline of her old, nearly condemned apartment building comes into view. Only a single light shines from one window. Of the twelve available apartments, only one is in use, hers.

She climbs the stairs slowly, dragging her feet behind her. The rain has soaked her through, she shivers, her teeth chatter. She’s not sure if it’s because she’s actually cold, or she fears opening the door.

She can hear the television playing through it. Her hands begin to shake as she grabs the door handle. She slowly opens the door as she takes a deep, agonizing breath.

The living room is filled with cigarette smoke. An empty bottle of wine lies in the middle of the floor.

Jade, is that you? She hears her mother’s voice.

Yes, it’s me Mom, she replies quietly. Her father is asleep his time of night, if she’d wake him… She shakes the thought from her mind.

What are you doing? Why are you soaked? Look! You’re ruining my carpet you stupid Bitch. The words come out slurred and jumbled. Her mother is drunk, again.

I’m really sorry Mom, Jade whispers as she rushes away from her mother and down the hallway to her bedroom. When she turns on the light, she sighs.

A puddle of water lies in the middle of her floor. The brown stain on her ceiling is growing bigger.

Her dresser sits in one corner, her bed on the other. Its purple comforter invites her. She yawns, ripping off the wet clothes and tosses them in the corner.

She digs through her closet in search of her pajamas. When she finds them, she pulls them on. She enjoys the instant warmth they bring.

She crawls into bed, pulls the covers up to her neck and closes her eyes, hoping to dream the day away. Only to begin another just like it.

CHAPTER TWO

Jade! She wakes in a panic, it’s still dark outside so she rolls over to see the time on the clock. Three. Jade, she hears again as her mother calls from the living room.

She jumps out of bed, half-asleep, and walks to her mother.

Yeah, she asks rubbing her eyes.

Make me some damn breakfast, her mother says through hiccups. Jade only nods and walks into the kitchen where she opens the fridge. A sudden smell of something rotten hits her. Something black sits on a plate, whatever it was, now indistinguishable.

Only eggs and a few pieces of bacon remain in the empty fridge. She grabs them, slamming the door. Sleepily, she wanders through the kitchen digging for pans. She mixes the eggs, pours them in the pan, and starts the bacon.

When the food is finally done, she spoons it all onto a plate and walks it the few feet to her mother.

Here, she says dropping the plate on the coffee table.

Don’t give me an attitude, her mother says never looking away from the television.

Jade walks slowly back into her bedroom, her eyes feeling heavy. She hops into