Chapter six

Chapter Six:

 

 

 

 

The Thing That Was Not Human stole around the corner of 25^th street, flitting through the huge lot of bushes and creepers on 26^th and 27^th, only to jump over the fence in someone’s yard to get to 29^th. There, it decided, would be the place of which damage would be done. It didn’t have a particular explanation as to why; it just knew that that was the place. So, damage The Thing did, setting fire to fire hydrants, forcibly pushing poor puppies out of the way with one foot, and quite a lot of other things, too. Soon the entire street was a wreck: Trees were cut down, kittens were sliced clean through the middle and left out in the open to bleed, and so on and so forth. But unfortunately, everyone was too busy slumbering in their houses to see what was being done. The Thing That Was Not Human easily got away. It ambled along the street, looking at all its hard work with a sort of pride and a superior feeling, crept back all the way to 25^th street, and slinked back into its personal hell, the place in which it called home.

 

   ~  

 

 

Veronica was not happy.

 

She had no friends; no one to color or play tag with. No one to laugh giddily with and climb trees to pick apples.  The adults did nothing to help. If anything, they acted as if she weren’t there, as if she were of unmentionable context. Her own mother seemed to find her nothing more than an annoying little twit lost in a crowd of higher standard and elegance.  Her grandmother�"she tolerated her for some unknown reason. They were all the same, Veronica would think; frustrated at the entire world, but then she would remember that her father was not. And that was enough for her to get a full feeling in the pit of her stomach, bringing her into a somewhat decent mood.

 

Yet, the longing for someone�"someone her age�"to play with grew stronger each day. It was so that she was afraid that one day she would have had enough and combust in a fit of flames and exasperation. The thought of that happening seemed to scare her more than anything nowadays.

 

But what idiot would want to play with me? She wondered, and answered her own question: Not one idiot on this entire planet. Lucky for her, though, she knew how to play this game. It was a game like every other she’d played throughout the years. It was simple: Trick and you shall receive. If she could just trick a stupid little trollop into being her friend then she could have the substitute feeling of truly experiencing the great impact of a friendship.  Contradictory, it was, but it didn’t matter to her.

 

Like always, when she wanted something she would make sure that she got it.

***

 

 

The heavily accented British boy named Lenny Meridew was a bore, with his fat stomach, double chins, tiny feet, and surprisingly round spectacles for such a young man of his stature.  He was of no use to Veronica; she didn’t like him, and she made it no secret, either.

 

Lenny liked to talk. A lot. There was nothing more annoying than a talking, fat, pumpkin, in Veronica’s eyes. One of the things he liked to talk about most was his asthma. My asthma this, my asthma that, she mimicked him in her head. More than anything at the moment, she wanted to bash his face in with a brick.  

 

“…Mum says I’m not to run,” Lenny was saying presently, his glasses glinting, his two chins jiggling as the words escaped. “Says it does no good to my asthma”. He was grinning from ear to ear, but for what�"Veronica did not know. She was having a hard time trying to fathom what an dumpling of an ugly trollop like him would have to smile about.

 

When she didn’t respond, he went on. “But I’ve gotten so used to it; I don’t think I ever want to get rid of it!” His grin had grown, so that Veronica began to get red in the face with building anger.

 

She screamed at him. “Sucks to your a*s-mar!”

 

Lenny frowned, not sensing her anger, or the insult, but noticing the mere mistake in her aggressive choice of dialogue. “Dear,” he said politely, as if he were asking about the weather. “It’s pronounced asthma, not�"” but Veronica did not care about any unimportant pronunciation, she got up and began to storm away, mutter unintelligible words.

 

“No!” Lenny cried, horror stricken. “Come back! Please! I promise I’ll behave!” He got up to follow her, only to stumble and fall down in the tall grass and scrape his knee. The Sun glared down at him like an angry eye and a bit of violent wind started to blow, whipping his hair into his face and crowding his vision. Stressed, he let out loud wails of desperation and exhaustion.

 

Veronica heard this and stopped. It was no doubt that Lenny was a crybaby, a sissy, a screw-up. It was no doubt that he couldn’t help himself. So, here was her chance, she thought. She would take control of the situation and take him under her wing and show him her way. She would get her way by making him help her with every devious scheme she did, no matter how much he protested.

 

With this in mind, she walked back over to the part in the clearing where the swings and the seesaws were in the park, where Lenny sat, his thumb in his mouth and he whimpered softly and rocked in the fetal position.

 

She stood over him; a jaguar over its prey, gave him her sweetest smile. He stopped whimpering to look up at her. They stared at each other.

“Lenny,” she said in a velvety voice.

 

He said nothing.

 

She went on. “What do you say we play a bit of tag?”

 

There was a pregnant pause before a smile slowly start to spread on the fat boys face and he sat up. He put out a hand and when she didn’t react right away he grabbed hers, shook quickly.

 

And that was that. She was overjoyed. The prey had fallen into its trap.

 

 

 

Reviews

[Jocelin]

oooh i luv the ending! very interesting! NEEW CHAAPTER????

[Bridget Mcmaken]

I feel sorry for the boy, falling in her trap like that. I can't wait to see the next chapter!

[Coyote Poetry]

A very good chapter. Kids have the wildest minds. In this chapter I like the new boy and the twist at the end. The chapter was very interesting. What will happen next? Thank you for sharing your writing.
Coyote

[Kesha]

Such a wonderful chapter, the poor boy doesn't know what he's getting himself into. I await the next chapter

[Andrew Wright]

And the jaws shut. Poor Lenny... poor, poor Veronica. I await the next installment with bated breath.