CHLORIS

3. CAPRICIOUS

Bolton, Northwest UK. 1944 – It was after midnight. A woman in a ragged dress was carrying a large suitcase filled with a few clothes, food and money. On her other hand, she was holding firmly her 10-year old daughter. An innocent little girl with midnight black hair waving in the night winds.

From a small suburban farmhouse, the mother and daughter escaped through the backdoor. Blind in the dark, they ran into the forests, leaving a trail behind. Not long after, the backdoor was slammed open by a middle aged man.

His plaid farmer shirt was filthy. His hair was white from all his anger and it shows on his face, contorted in boiling fury. He carried a hunting riffle in his hands and fired in the air while yelling, "Get back here, you ungrateful bitch!"

He followed the invisible trail in the grass ground – years of being a farmer taught him well. His raging footsteps were heavy and it was heard by the escapees. He called his wife out loud, "You're gonna get what's coming to you, Carla!" He laughed sinisterly.

The woman froze in terror when he heard him coming. Her normally peach-toned skin changed into a lifeless pale color. She dropped everything and stopped to hold her daughter.

"Colleen, remember what mommy said? You can use your powers here, honey." Her cheeks damp with tears and her eyes swollen from years of abuse. She said with her thick accent, "Listen, it's going to be okay–" Suddenly, she was grabbed from Colleen by a couple of powerful arms.

It was the white haired man. Little Colleen cried and yelled for her mother, "Daddy, let Mommy go!" Her tiny feet ran to catch up with her struggling mother. The man pressed his defendless wife in his arms violently and smothered her until she couldn't breathe. Her muffled screams began to grow faint after putting up a fight.

Brisk wind, grazing leaves, towering trees waving in a smooth motion – Colleen can tell by sensing them that they have been here for decades. Everything that surrounded her somehow spoke to her and guided her to protect.

Like a river without obstacles, she allowed her rage to flow. All her focus went to her vision and it's visible from the way she squinted her eyes. At her will, the thick roots of the trees began to grow and strengthen. It moves slowly towards her cruel father, creeping like evil creatures on the damp forest floor.

The man screamed at the sight of this unnatural phenomenon. He pushed his wife to the ground and attempted to escape but the roots stopped him and tripped him to the ground. He fell and panicked when the tree roots began to wrap itself around his legs. It began to crawl upwards towards his torso. The rough texture of the roots grazed against his skin, scratching them as razors would.

Colleen pushed and pushed the trees to their limits, until it couldn't expand its size any further. She realized she earned enough time for them to flee the scene. She rushed to her mother's side and helped her catch up with her breath. "Are you alright?" Carla asked. Little Colleen nodded without a word.

The two picked each other up and ran as far as they could, leaving the white haired man stuck while screaming in pain for help. With her powers, the wild bushes closed up and covered their tracks behind.

Bromley, London. Eight years later. – The school bell rang for the last time and it won't rang again until the end of autumn. Within seconds, students began to scramble out of the doors filled with excitement that school is finally over. For eighteen years old Colleen MacLeod, high school is truly over.

The hallway was like a busy stream that headed towards the wide-opened exit door. The noise of a thousand feet against the hard tiles echoed throughout the walls.

In the middle of the crowd, Colleen struggled to make her way. Everyone she knew was jabbering about university enrollments, college life, and everything that made the future seem so bright. She hugged tightly in her arms, a few cheap notebooks and raggedy copy of textbooks.

She was fixing her thick spectacles when a snob girl decided to push her and knock her over. Colleen received some taunts from the people she stumbled upon as she fell. "Watch it, you ugly bitch!"

Her books scattered everywhere and no one even bothered to lend a hand. They walked over her, some even bothered to kick her belongings without guilt.

The girl watched and laughed with her cool friends. She flicked her fiery red hair that was styled up to the trend. Before leaving, she sneered at Colleen, "See you never, loser."

The hallway began to clear up. Only then, Colleen finally found her spectacles. She gathered her books and dusted off her flare skirt from the dirt. She picked herself up and made a left turn before the exit.

She knocked twice on the door of Mr. Hannigan's classroom before entering to see he was packing. Colleen's favorite Biology teacher has decided to retire this year. His wrinkled fingers placed his final items inside a cardboard box, that's when he saw her standing in the doorway.

"Colleen," the old man called in a friendly tone. "Here to say a few last words?"

"I was hoping this wouldn't be last." She stepped inside in her old-fashioned Mary Jane shoes. She observed patiently as he continued to pack.

Mr. Hannigan has been the father Colleen never had all four years in East Bromley High. To show gratitude, she would help him and his wife complete the chores around their house. The Hannigan couple were thankful for this. She was almost like the daughter they lost a long time ago. In return, they would offer Colleen some money to support her and her mother.

She said again, "I would gladly help Mrs. Hannigan mow the lawn or clean the house."

"You would still do that?" Mr. Hannigan chuckled. All of his teeth and cavities showed when he laughed. He continued, "Dear, we're moving to Leeds and it's five hours away."

"Well, I need to help my mother somehow." Colleen sat on top of one of the desks in the classroom, "She's working sixteen hours a day, four different jobs every day. I can't just sit and do nothing."

Mr. Hannigan turned to Colleen, "Is that what you call it?" His head bobbed up and down as he spoke. "First rank in all subjects straight for four years and you call it 'nothing'."

Colleen shrugged calmly, "I did my best."

This time his laugh was louder. He shook his head in awe at his favorite student, one of the most remarkable he met in twenty-five years of teaching. "I don't think you'll have time to work four jobs. Especially, if you're going to university." He remarked casually.

She stood from the desk and pushed her spectacles to its place. "University?" She scoffed awkwardly. "No, sir... I... I won't be able to afford such thing."

"What if you don't have to?" Mr. Hannigan pulled out a clear white envelope from his empty, cleared out drawer. "Now, I may have been forward, but I have something for you. My daughter would've wanted you to have it." He handed her the letter and told her to open it with her mother before she asked what it was.

So, Colleen rushed home and anxiously waited for her mother to return from work. That night, she ran from the dining room to the front door as soon as she heard her mother enter their tiny rented apartment.

"I'm home!" Weary from her lack of energy, Carla coughed. She hung her old coat on the hanger and placed aside her worn out boots.

"Mother? Mr. Hannigan gave me this," Colleen handed her mother a piece of envelope with a return address from Worthington Industries, New York. "He said to open it with you." Her naturally pink-tinted lips pulled to her rosy cheeks.

For a second, Carla forgot how to breathe. Her voice became shaky, "New York?" Colleen shook her head up and down nervously. Carla's wrinkly fingers began to tear the envelope open to reveal the letter inside.

They read the first line of the first paragraph that changed their lives forever. "Dear Colleen MacLeod, with the generous support of Worthington Industries and Research, we would like to welcome you to the Advanced Biology Program at the University of Oxford."