Schoolgirl Secrets

Chapter Five: The Starling

Jenifer got miserably out of the car and stomped up to her room where she had been told to stay until dinner time. She tore off her filthy school uniform and changed into baggy jeans and an old sweatshirt. Miriam was downstairs being fussed over and pampered by Mary after feeding her parents a story that it had been Jenifer's fault entirely that the car had been destroyed. She had had good reason.

Jenifer kicked the wall hard in anger, and realised too late that she wasn't wearing any shoes. She rolled off the bed, clutching her smarting toe. She landed on the rug on the floor and felt something hard underneath it. Jenifer lifted up the rug curiously to see what it was. It was a little high-heel. Jenifer recognised it at once as Miriam's. However it did remind her of something. It reminded her of how she had seen Miss Brightlight's bright red heels getting into a car along with a known criminal. It was very suspicious she thought. Getting up from the floor; Jenifer picked up an old apple core and walked to the window to throw it out and see if she could break a neighbour's window again. Jenifer looked out of her own window. She saw a large starling sitting on the chimney opposite. It was large, much larger than any other starling Jenifer had ever seen, and it was holding something in one of its scaly feet. Jenifer pressed her face hard against the glass and stared at the bird. Tied to its leg with some string was a rolled up piece of paper. Not taking her eyes from the bird; Jenifer groped around down the back of the radiator and pulled out a shabby notebook. She flicked through it until she reached a page headed:

'The mystery of Miss Brightlight'

She looked down the list of ways Miss Brightlight may be communicating, taking her eyes of the bird for a second.

"Messenger birds," Jenifer muttered.

She dropped the book, opened the window and clambered up onto the window ledge. The bird had flown a little way away and was now settled on the aerial of Mr. and Mrs. Brown's house. Jenifer looked quickly behind her, her heart beating fast in her chest. She leaned out of the window, took a deep breath, and jumped.

The cold autumn air whipped her face and her hair fanned out behind her as she plummeted to the ground. Reaching out both hands; Jenifer just managed to grab onto the edge of a gutter and hang on with her fingertips. She kicked her legs around underneath her and eventually found a foothold; a piece of brick jutting out of the wall. She pushed herself up on the tips of her toes and scrambled up to stand on the gutter, wobbling precariously. She looked around. The big, black starling hadn't moved. Nor did it seem to have noticed her. Jenifer took another deep breath and started to crawl up the slippery wet tiles of the slanting roof. She vaulted over the ridge with her arms and slid in a sitting position down the other sloping side until she crashed into the gutter and steadied herself, crouched with her knees up to her chin. The starling seemed to have seen Jenifer and it had flown a few houses away. Jenifer lowered herself down from the gutter and leapt onto the neighbouring rooftop. She then climbed onto the chimney and jumped onto the next chimney. Then she slid down the roof, slid down another roof and fell. She flailed in the air and just grabbed onto a windowsill with one hand. She could feel her sweaty palm slipping on the polished wooden surface. She tried to pull herself up but her fingers gave way and she started to drop.

Down, down, down she fell, watching house after house whoosh past her. And, just as she started to see lower-storey windows, her back cracked into something stone and she stopped falling. Looking up in curiosity; Jenifer saw that the hood of her jumper had hooked onto a pipe sticking out of a wall, only ten or so feet from the ground. Knowing she had just escaped a certain death, Jenifer started to twist her body round and grasped onto the rest of the pipe. She unhooked her hood recklessly and stood up on top of the wobbling platform. The bird had started to fly away. Desperately, Jenifer slid down the pipe like a pole in the playground and landed cat-like on the cobbled ground. She sprinted out of the narrow passageways, through clouds of ash and petrol and smoke. Now she was in the dirtiest part of town with no idea how she had got there, or how to get back home.

The starling had landed on one of over a hundred windowsills on a large apartment building. It was tapping its beak on the window pane. Jenifer moved closer. She saw a man wearing black coming towards the window. He looked blurred and distorted through the misted, shaped glass and Jenifer guessed that this must be a bathroom window. The man had reached his window ledge and he was beginning to unlock the window. Jenifer saw him slip a key into a lock in the frame and undo the catch. The window swung open and the starling hopped inside the bathroom. Jenifer saw that it definitely was a bathroom. She could see a long shower curtain and a door with a dressing gown hanging from it. She could also see clearly now who the man untying the letter from the bird's leg was. Mr. Maple, her school headmaster! Jenifer gasped. If only she knew who the letter was from and what was written upon it. Whatever was written on it was obviously very good news. Jenifer heard Mr. Maple whoop with joy, the letter still in his hand, and begin to jump up and down and clap. Then he took a pencil from his chest pocket and started to scribble something on the other side of the letter. Jenifer inched closer, now so near to the apartment building that, if he looked down, Mr. Maple would be able to see her. But Mr. Maple didn't seem that interested in random schoolchildren passing by his house at the moment. He had finished his reply and was tying the letter back onto the starling's leg. It took off, glad to get away from all the noise, which had obviously scared it.

Jenifer suddenly had a spurt of inspiration. Mr. Maple had just written a letter to someone unknown. But Jenifer could find out who that person was if she could go, secretly, and follow the letter until it reached its destination! But what about her mother? Someone in the Carrick household had surely noticed by now that Jenifer was missing. Dinner had to have been cooked and ready ages ago. But the prospect of finding out what her headmaster was up to was much more inviting that the prospect of her mother's scolding when she returned home extremely late in the evening.

The sun had started to set, turning all the houses and trees black against the red and gold sky. Jenifer ran through them, not taking her eyes off the flying bird above her for longer than a nanosecond.

She skirted around stragglers in the fading light, she leapt over fences and signposts. She dodged around barking dogs and still, she followed the bird, flying effortlessly high in the dark night sky.

Eventually, when the sky was beginning to lighten a little, it started to circle. Jenifer stopped, panting hard. She looked around at her surroundings. A massive old building was in the foreground, with smoke coming from behind it and the sounds of a busy road on either side. The entire courtyard was made of concrete and litter was flying everywhere in the breeze. The building itself was a sorry sight. It's grey paper was peeling off the walls and most of the windows were chipped or broken. A few old, white vans were parked outside in a shabby little line, so covered in dust and mud that Jenifer could not see the company name written upon them. And hanging above the door was a tattered sign reading: Number 15 Kingdom Road Catalan. The starling had gone into a graceful dive. It settled upon a high railing next to a door. It pressed its beak to a small button and Jenifer heard the sound of a doorbell echoing through the dingy house. Even at a distance, Jenifer could sense how mouldy it must be inside. She could feel the decay, the wreckage, the neglect...

The door opened and the bird flew in. Jenifer followed absent-mindedly and, without thinking, she crossed the threshold and heard the doors bang shut behind her. They had obviously been on a kind of mechanical opening device because there was nobody in sight. Jenifer could smell dust and heaps of it lay on the corridors and on the shelves lining the dirty walls. Jenifer examined the shelves as she proceeded cautiously. There were bottles piled high in the gaps between heavy books and piles of crumpled paper. The starling was flying low down the corridor ahead of Jenifer. It led her through one set of double doors and then another. The dust seemed to be lessening the further they delved into the mysterious old house. She could see footprints on the floor. The house also seemed to be becoming cleaner and more modern. Metal was replacing wood and paint and a strong smell of medicine and chemicals filled Jenifer's nostrils.

She froze. She heard footsteps running behind her. Slowly, feeling terrified; Jenifer turned. Smash! A blur of long red hair, a muffled scream and Jenifer was knocked to the ground.