Dark Waters (Warriors S1B5)

Chapter 9

Earth date: 11/03/2010, 14:04

As soon as I left Mrs. Niamh's house, loud music assaulted my ears.

The last time Uncle Ryan visited, he said that something annoying in America was how often people driving would play rap music so loud you could hear it from a kilometer away.  It wasn't rap music that was playing so loud, but it was playing at the kind of volume Uncle Ryan described. 

Deep in my gut, a cold pit opened. Was this the start of one of Mother's moods? My cheeks throbbed at the thought.

My feet turned into chunks of lead as I approached our flat. When I went inside the building, the music went from loud to unbearably loud. It was definitely coming from our flat. It was only two flights of stairs up to our flat, but the sense of foreboding in my gut made it like I was walking up the stairs of a gallows.

I took my key from my jacket pocket and let myself in. When I opened the door, I was greeted with the sight of Mother hustling towards me. The door opening made the worship music go from unbearably loud to the kind of loud I'd imagine standing next to the speakers at a concert. 

"Sit down, Jean!" Mother commanded, bouncing on her heels as if she was eager for something. The cold in my gut got colder and burrowed deeper into my belly.

"Y-yes Mother," I said. I took a seat on the couch. Gooseflesh broke out on my skin. Mother liked to scream about demons, how they would possess people through horror films or Harry Potter books or ungodly music. But when she was like this, jumping around like she was trying to burst out of her skin, her eyes wild and her hands twitching in a way that made me want to cover my face, I wondered if she spoke from experience.

"Sister Kelly called me. She told me about Malachy. How she saw you being a whore."

Malachy Dylan was a boy in my youth group. I knew he fancied me, but I did my best to avoid him. He was a loud boy who would do anything for attention. Some of the boys in my youth group liked to play video games on Pastor Fynn's Xbox. The previous Tuesday, I'd been in a corner, engulfed in The Silver Chair, when Malachy snatched it from my hands.

"Hey! Give that back!"

Malachy, who was a head taller than me, held the book over his hands. "I'm about to 1v1 Cian," he said with a big grin on my face.

"Give it back!" I wasn't going to bother to try and jump for my book. I'd miss, and Malachy's sinister grin would only get bigger at my efforts.

"Only if I get a snog when I beat Cian."

"What? No!"

"Only on the cheek, Jeannie."

"Fine! Now give it back!"

Malachy had tossed my book back to me and run off to play his game with Cian. I retreated to another corner and tried to get back to Jill, Eustace and Puddleglum, but it was only a few minutes before Malachy thundered back to me. "I won, Jeannie! You know what that means!"

I didn't want to give Malachy a kiss. He was one of those sixth class boys who hadn't yet discovered deodorant. But he loomed over me with that serpentine grin, so I leaned close, doing my best not to breathe.

He turned his head at the very last second so I kissed his mouth instead of his cheek. He held the back of my head so I couldn't pull away until I finally yanked my head and ran away from him. I retreated into the girls' bathroom and threw myself into a stall, hot tears running down my cheeks.