Bit shorter than usual, but I had to end it with a cliff-hanger, sorry....
Two weeks until Easter...
Even Lillian sat up and took notice off me when I came home one day with a split lip, bruises of my arms and a decent amount of dried blood staining my upper lip.
"What happened to you?" she asked nonchalantly as I sank onto the couch.
"I got into a fight at school," I answered in the same tone. It was these words that caused Mum to turn around.
"Oh my God, Tristan!"
I sighed. So this was what it took to get my Mum to actually take some interest in me. I prepared for her to reprimand me and complain about having to go into school to sort things out. I fell headlong into a memory from six years ago.
I walked through the front door standing tall. Even as a seven-year-old I was proud of the big bruise on my face, because it was a souvenir of the fight I had gotten into that day.
"Tristan was fighting at school," Lillian said as soon as she walked into the house. For and nine-year-old that girl sure had a big mouth.
Dad came around the corner, his forehead creased with what I had initially thought to be worry lines.
"What happened to you, boy?" he asked.
"I got into a fight Daddy, because a boy insulted our family."
I waited, expecting Dad to shake his head, but ruffle my hair and say something nice about how I had stood up for my family.
"He lost the fight, though," Lillian chimed in.
"Of course he did."
Something pierced my heart at that moment, invisible to the naked eye and the pain was beyond imagination. I had to blink to hold back the tears.
"And now there'll be an enquiry. Ten to one I'll have to go see you headmistress and the God knows what will happen. I don't want to ever hear about you fighting again, Tristan. Do you understand?"
I thought of all the times in the future someone would insult me or my family. How could I possibly survive school if I didn't let the bullies know I wasn't going to just sit there and take it?
"But Dad –"
"NO BUTS! Do you understand me?"
The tears began flowing at that point. "Yes, Dad," I whispered.
And for a long time, I stuck true to my promise. I became an easy target for bullies, as not once did I retaliate. I would simply stand there and take whatever they threw at me. What friends I had slowly abandoned me as they didn't wish to be drawn into my pain.
I became a recluse, and probably would have remained one if a fiery girl hadn't come into my life and changed everything...
"Are you alright? Does anything hurt? What happened, who did this?" Mum asked, generally concerned.
That was completely unexpected. At the same time, it sent a warm feeling running through me, like after you take a bite of your favourite chocolate. Maybe Alex wasn't the only thing that had changed in my life.
"I'm fine Mum, really. I got into a fight with this jerk called Brandon."
Mum was already running a small cloth under warm water. With a gentle touch she carefully cleaned the blood off my face.
"Why? It's not like you to pick fights."
You've got that right, I thought. I couldn't even believe I started it in the first place, after going so long without even lifting a finger. But as I thought back to my tussle today, I remembered that just before I had thrown the first punch, I had seen a distinct image in my mind of a snarling goblin.
"Well, he's been at school a few months now, but whenever he gets bored he has this habit of trying to flirt with Alex. Today he attempted to corner her, so I hit him."
"Oh, I get it," said Lillian from the computer. "He was trying to get with your girl so you got jealous. Good job, bro'."
"I did not get jealous! I was just worried for Alex's safety. She hates Brandon."
"Uh-huh."
"No, really. See, it's Tanya who likes Brandon, which is quite pathetic actually. But Brandon goes between flirting with her and ignoring her, something that is quite funny to watch. Even I'll admit that guy knows how to have a good time. But then when he's bored he turns to Alex, who detests him."
"Tristan DeLazio will you stay still while I try and clean you up!"
"Sorry Mum," I said meekly and sunk back into the couch. As soon as she was done I had to assure her I was fine before she let me out to play. She still looked extremely worried about me, which set another burst of warmth through me.
Alex was sitting outside on the paddock fence, waiting for me. She had a cut down the side of her face and a large bruise forming on her right shoulder. What I'd subtly forgotten to tell Mum was that Alex wasn't the kind of girl who sat back and let someone fight her battle for her. After I'd thrown the first punch and Brandon had retaliated, Alex had jumped into the middle of our scuffle to help me out. That was the reason Brandon had ended up looking a lot worse off than we had.
We'd all been hauled to the headmaster's office, but unlike Tanya, Brandon wasn't quick to throw the blame at us. He simply shrugged and looked as though he couldn't get out of there fast enough.
"Did your Mum – Carly – freak out?" I asked Alex by way of greeting.
"Course she did. I had to down play everything."
"Did you tell her that you'd just tripped over?" I asked with bemusement.
"No, I told her there was a fight. I just glossed over a couple of details...she calmed down eventually. What about your Mum?"
"She freaked, which was actually a nice surprise. I thought she'd be angry as hell with me."
By this time we had set off and were already halfway to Terabithia. I noticed Alex eyed her rope longingly, but I led her straight past it. I had a bad feeling about that rope. It was tempting a fate that was too terrible to even think of. Once we crossed the bridge we headed for the castle stronghold. Soon we were snacking on biscuits and telling stories of other bullies we'd encountered throughout our childhood.
Alex had seen her fair share of bullies, but unlike me she had always been surrounded by good friends who helped her ignore them. This hadn't prevented her from getting in the odd fight anyway.
"I was always the freak, after all."
"What do you mean?"
"You know, the small girl with the weird hair cut and strange imagination."
"No way! Your imagination isn't strange it's amazing."
"Oh – and what about my hair," Alex asked cheekily.
"Yeah, well, I'm afraid I can't say anything good about that," I teased.
It was then I heard the first small noise from outside.
I instantly held up my hand, causing Alex to fall silent. "Quiet, my Queen. I believe I may hear something."
Alex switched herself into Queen mode instantly, placing her crown on her head. Even now the crown still shone and I allowed myself a brief moment of pride. "Friend or foe, sire?"
"I am not yet sure." There was another noise, this time the unmistakeable sound of a crunch of leaves. An idea struck me
"Perhaps it is an animal – I mean, a friendly and loyal Terabithian, come to pay his respects to the King and Queen."
It seemed feasible enough.
"No..." said Alex as we both heard a third rustle. "This is a soldier of the Evil Lord, sent to scout out our magnificent castle so that a full scale attack can be launched."
"A full scale attack?"
"Oh yes. The Evil Lord knows we are all that stands between him and complete control of Terabithia."
She passed me my sword – a long branch, while grabbing her own weapon. "For Terabithia," she whispered.
"For Terabithia."
We charged out of the castle stronghold as the warrior King and Queen of our country, ready to fight for it to the last breath. I already had put my imagination in the right frame of mind and was all ready to fight a monstrous evil foe. So imagine my shock when our adversary yelled out in shock when we appeared and fell backwards into the undergrowth.
I dropped my sword with equal surprise. This was the very last thing I had been expecting.
"Brandon?"
Tune in next week for another episode of... just kidding. But keep reading and enjoying guys and most importantly – review.
Every reader and reviewer deserves to go visit all the theme parks on the Gold Coast (that's in Australia, guys).
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