Short Stories

Seeking Justice

Miss Bell's feet tap light over the floor, the sound small in the nearly silent room. "Miss Bell!" says a little girl, holding up her painting with a giggle.

"That's lovely, Lucy" Miss Bell muses. She'd been the art teacher at the school for over a decade, and yet, she still enjoyed the kids enthusiasm. "Do another one" she says kindly and points to the wonky stack of paper in the middle of the table.

"I'll paint you, Miss Bell" Lucy bounces in her seat, a grin sliding onto her paint stained face.

"Okay, I wont to see it when your done" the teacher promises before moving away from the young girl. She winds through the seats, looking from student to student. Bright paint was spattered over the paper and student's, smearing the table in red and blue. The mess will be hell to clean up, but Melinda Bell never minds.

Melinda pauses next to Cameron, the quite boy in the corner. Carefully she bends down to the boys height. What had originally draw her attention was his pointing, a small kid in blur crying and a big man painted red with horns and a frown on his grumpy face. But more horrifying than the boys imagination was a fading blur and green mark on the boys arm. Cameron's jumper sleeve had pulled up, leaving the faint mark revealed. "Cam" Miss Bell asks softly. The boy glances at her, but looks down. "Where'd you get that" The teacher asks.

Cameron fidgets, absently pulling is sleeve down. "I fell" he says robotically, not meeting her eyes.

"Cameron" Miss Bell says firmly, worried for the little boy. This wasn't the first time she'd seen bruises marking him.  One day she'd seen him with a bruised cheek. It was getting worse, but the boy was so quite and shy, he asked her not to say anything, for it was always a 'fall' or an 'accident on the play ground'. But the teacher new better. "Cam, can you stay after class? I think we need to talk"

The kid nods obediently.

"I've told you about this!" Miss Bell states, pausing as the bell rings through the room. Chairs scrap on the floor and kids shout as they hurry from the room. "I told you no throwing paint at each other" scolding she points to the mess the two kids had made. "Clean this up, you two can't go to lunch til it's clean" the two boys groan but set to work.

Miss Bell turns around, but Cameron was already gone. 'Tomorrow, I'll talk to him tomorrow'

However, the next day Cameron didn't show up. Nor the day after that. A whole week passes before Miss Bell realized something was very wrong. Kids don't miss a whole week of school. "Alice" Malinda turns to the grade 3 teacher. "Do you know why Cameron's not a school"

Alice turns to Malinda, looking shocked and worried. "You didn't hear? Cameron's not coming to school anymore. He passed away a few days a go" Alice touches Malinda's shoulder. "He was a good student..." she mumbles before taking her leave.

Malinda Bell stares at the wall, completely stunned. She lifts her head, face set. Cameron didn't just 'pass away', he was young and healthy. She was determined to talk to the child's father. Cameron was clearly abused, and she hadn't helped him fast enough, but she could at least get justice.