At the End of the Garden

Chapter Thirteen

Friday evening I'd got to the car before Eden, not that it was unusual. Sometimes Eden liked to talk to teachers or go to the library and take out a book before going home. After years of this, my patience with it was pretty good. Today, however, it had been more than ten minutes and I was starting to get bored. Sat alone in the car while saying very few words to the driver was somewhat awkward too and the whole wait was just uncomfortable. I gave it five more minutes before I told the driver I was going to look for Eden and got out the car to go back into the building.
Not many people were willing to stay late after school on a Friday night. While I saw a few people around, the empty greyness from the sky outside had begun to take the place of the children in the corridors. The white lights inside were battling to keep the dark grey out but we're failing miserably. It looked like it would start raining any second. And it was November, that rain would feel like ice so I wanted to be safe at Eden's house before that started.
I went to the places I assumed Eden would be. I failed to find him in the library, he wasn't at our form room either, or in any of the teachers offices. It didn't take long for me to give up. I hoped that I'd missed Eden, and that he had gone to the car while I'd been looking for him. I turned around and headed back.
Usually, the corridor that Victor Quinn's office was on wasn't used as a path, but I figured I could get away with it. The stream of students trying to get from one lesson to the next were banned from cutting through this long stretch of corridor. One reason was to stop students from knocking the certificates and trophy cases that clung to the wall. Impressive student art hung lightly onto the nails and plants in ceramic pots sat either side of the office door. Victor Quinn most likely wanted to eliminate the risk of any of those things getting broken or trampled on. Neither did he want them to kick any of the white chairs that were placed opposite the only door in the entire corridor. Those seats were usually being used by parents or teachers or whatever business Victor Quinn had. Today, only one seat was occupied.
I remember hearing their name being said in my voice, but I don't remember saying it. My first instinct was to think 'what has he done this time?'. But the way he sat with his head down made me nervous. When I imagined Sidney Mathews sat opposite the Headteacher's office, it wouldn't be like that. When he was in trouble, he would smirk and be cocky about whatever chaos or inconveniences he'd cause. He would have already called me over to tell me what he'd done. The way he thrived off the attention wasn't one of his charming attributes, but it was preferable to how he looked right now. He didn't even look up when I said his name.
"Why are you..." I began.
At this distance I could see his face. At first, I thought it was a shadow covering his eye, but when he finally looked up at me it was clearer. The life from his right eyes had been drained by a huge red mark just beneath it. He wasn't grinning about it either.
"Oh my God! Are you okay?"
The urge to close the gap between us became impossible to ignore. I didn't stop myself from sitting next to him and raising my hand to touch his cheek. Without a word, he watched out of the corner of his eyes until my thumb accidentally brushed the bruise. I pulled my hand back as he involuntarily winced in pain.
"Don't... just don't be mad at him. It's not his fault."
I heard a voice raised behind me in Victor Quinn's office. A shouting teacher was scary enough without it being Victor Quinn himself. I instinctively jumped. A voice shouted back but dwindled down quickly, perhaps realising who they were arguing with. But despite the anger that seemed to be manifested in that room, the office door opened a few moments later passively. The child who was let out did not seem as composed as the man in front of him. Although, you could never really tell with Eden and his father.
"Inside." Victor Quinn locked eyes with Sidney while paying no attention to me.
"Shouldn't someone see to his face first?" I said rather bravely, the words fell out my mouth before I realised who I was saying them to. And Victor Quinn couldn't be in a good mood, even if he looked normal.
He batted an eyelash in my direction before restoring his gaze to Sidney, who ignored me as well. He got up sharply and strolled into the office with his hands in his pockets. Victor Quinn shut the door behind him and I was left to stare at the nameplate on the wood.
A thump dragged me out of my daze. Eden collapsed into one of the chair next to the door as if he no longer hand the energy to stand. Like Sidney, he dropped his head to keep any light off his face but used his hands to hold it and stop it dropping on to his knees.
"What happened?"
"I'm sorry. This was my fault."
Sidney had said the same thing.
"What is?"
Eden didn't want to answer, he just lowered his head even further, not letting me see his face. I put a hand on his arm.
"Eden."
I managed to get him to look up. Unlike Sidney his skin was clean of any bruises.
"I'm sorry. Sidney did nothing wrong." He began, his words were shaky but he seemed to be trying hard to act normal. "We were talking, I ended up getting mad and I hit him."
He dipped his head again, and gripped his hair like all his emotion was seeping out through a fissure there.
"I started it, honest. But Sidney pushed me away and I fell onto the floor. That's when a teacher caught us."
With no other evidence, I had to believe Eden was telling the truth.
"What did he say to you?" I asked, finding it hard to believe Sidney could do anything to break Eden's composure. I'd been testing my luck for years and he'd never hit me, he barely even lost his temper.
Eden just shook his head. I couldn't tell if it was unimportant or he didn't want me to know.
I moved closer to the door to see if I could hear what was going on inside, but no-one was shouting like they were earlier.
"What's going to happen?" I said, sitting next to Eden.
The amount of times Eden raised his head and dropped it again was starting to make me dizzy. Eventually, with his head low, he answered. "He said he'd ground me, like a normal parent. I don't know what's going to happen to Sidney, I tried to tell him I started it, not him."
Was Eden programmed to look ashamed on demand, or was I not used to him looking so defeated? He glanced up to the light on the ceiling and as if it was too bright he quickly looked back down. Maybe moving the muscles in his neck was some sort of coping mechanism. If he screamed he might have accomplished something more.
A few minutes later, the door reopened.
Victor Quinn came out first, followed by Sidney who still had his hands in his pockets. Only at this point was I paid any notice to.
"Marie, go home."
I couldn't find any words to stumble out my mouth. What I wanted to say was 'no', but I doubted that was a word Victor Quinn often heard.
"She's fine." Eden spoke in my place harshly, before hiding away behind his hair again.
His father narrowed his eyes, but he must have decided that however he was going to respond wasn't worth it.
"Can I go now?" Sidney said from behind his head teacher. He seemed to be looking everywhere but at the people around, and he kicked the floor with the heel of his foot impatiently.
"I want all of you out my sight." Victor Quinn said. "But Eden I still want to discuss your punishment."
"Great." Sidney started walking away as soon as he heard the words. I thought Mr Quinn might have commented on his attitude like any other teacher would, but he just let him go. I followed.
"So?" I whispered, aware Victor Quinn and Eden were still behind us.
"So what?"
"Well, what did he say?"
"I've got two weeks exclusion, I guess." Sidney shrugged.
"That seems... harsh."
"Yeah." Sidney agreed. "Apparently 'cos I'm already a disruptive student."
I looked behind me, Eden and his father were watching us walk away. When we were finished speaking to each other, and were far enough down the corridor, I heard Victor say:
"A week."
"You said this." Eden told him.
"Exclusion." Victor Quinn added.
"What?!" I spoke involuntarily and covered my mouth immediately.
Sidney gave me a concerned glance.
"I mean..." I responded to his look in a loud whisper. "Why should your punishment be worse than his."
I looked over my shoulder. Victor and Eden were staring at us again. I became fully aware of the amount of blood my heart was pumping, I could feel it in my veins. Did they hear me?
"She's right." Eden said. "I'm the one who hit him."
All the blood rushed to my cheeks when I realised they had heard me.
"And Sidney's got a history of poor behaviour." Victor dismissed it, as calm as ever. "And you were provoked."
"It's my fault, though." Eden argued.
This seemed to annoy Victor Quinn, but you could only tell by how his eyes narrowed. I stopped walking and turned around.
"Does what your son says mean nothing?"
"It's unprofessional to take matters personally just because Eden's my son, if that's what you are implying."
That seemed to be exactly what he was doing. Sidney wasn't that poorly behaved to earn an extra week exclusion. And he'd been the one who'd been hurt by this!
"Would you say something - " I turned around to look back to Sidney, but he had gone. When had he left? I hadn't even heard him walk away.
I watched Eden drop his head back down to the floor.
I wanted to express how I didn't understand, but I couldn't speak anymore. It had just hit me about how brave I'd been just now by speaking back to Victor Quinn. All that bravery was gone, it walked away with Sidney.
"Go home now, Marie." Victor Quinn had officially put end to the discussion. He gestured to Eden to get up, and began walking in the other direction down the corridor.
Before following his father, Eden lifted his head one last time. "I'm sorry." He repeated, before leaving me to stand in the corridor alone.

PART ONE END