I LOVE PEOPLE!
(September 2025,
Sabie – 6 years old)
1.1 Prologue
Sabie frowned. She wasn't actually fond of the perspective to go to school, even though her mommy bought her a new bright bag and two big rosy bows that now were in her rich ponytails on the either side of her head. They were nice, along with the rosy dress and sandals.
"Mommy, do I hafta go to school?…" she purred as her mom was combing her hair one final time.
Rebecca nodded. "Yes, sure. You'll like it there."
Sabie doubted she would. She got to know that other kids didn't like her. She even knew why. She had claws. Her eyes involuntary slid to her hands. What's wrong with her claws? They were neat, with no dirt on them, carefully polished over their flat side. They were okay. Maybe it was that other kids didn't have claws.
"Mommy, why do others don't have claws? And why do their eyes have those weird black things inside?" she asked once.
"You mean pupils?" she questioned. Sabie nodded. If they were called pupils, then let it be. Her mom thought for a moment, then said. "You know people are with different color of the skin?"
"Like Negroes?"
"Yes, Like Black people, like Indians or Japan people."
"Those with slitty eyes?" Sabie giggled.
Her mother shook her head. "See? You're laughing at them because they're not like you. Then why do you ask me why the other kids laugh at you?"
Sabie thought for a moment. "I'm not like you. Why am I not like you?" she questioned. Mommy signed for some reason and pulled Sabie up to sit on her knees. "Why do I have no daddy?"
"Your daddy died." Mommy said, and Sabie felt she was hurting. Her voice was calm, but her scent was the one of a hurt being. Sabie decided not to ask about her daddy again, if that made mommy unhappy.
"Come on, Sabie, we'll be late" her mom said, and she shook the memory off and put her small clawed hand into mommy's.
1.1.1 Part1
As they came to school, it was crowded and noisy, and Sabie had to cover her ears not to go deaf. The kids were around: some of them standing quietly by their parents, others running around like madmen. Sabie took a deep breath and dived into the swirl of the humans around.
As she was passing the group of kids, she suddenly ran into a small girl, a whole head shorter than Sabie, in a blue skirt and white top. The girl smiled broadly, as she always did, then suddenly asked. "And why do ya have those strange eyes?" she titled her head to the side and looked at Sabie.
"To see more" Sabie replied with a grin. The girl giggled and ran away. Sabie smiled. Definitely, the school wasn't all that bad.
Soon the kids were tiled into groups that she knew were going to form classes. She noticed the girl whom she banged into among the other children. Unfortunately she was in another group.
As she was going up the stairs, the boy passed her and kicked her in the side accidentally. Sabie moved to the side slightly and held her arms bent and pressed to her sides to protect herself from any other possible hits in this mess.
It took some minutes for the group to reach the class, another minute or two to settle in. A platinum blond girl was ready to sit near Sabie, but as she raised her head to greet her, the girl made a face and paced to another seat. By the end there were some places left free, one of them next to Sabie. She just shrugged and switched her attention to the teacher.
The overweight woman in green blouse stood at the blackboard. "Dear kids!" she announced, "I'm glad to greet you at school. Here you'd be taught to read and write and count and you'll learn many other important sciences that will help you to find the right way in your future life."
As she was going on with her proclamation, Sabie looked around. There were around twenty people in the class, boys more than girls, and sure as hell humans more than mutants. There was one boy with pointed ears sitting by the side, and another one with tendrils coming out of her wrists. They were sitting together.
There was also another boy who sat alone, and Sabie couldn't comprehend what was wrong with him till another boy poked him in the back with a pen, and he turned around. Sabie gagged. He was almost like human, if not the pale skin; it was the features of his face that scared people off. Still proportional, they were just slightly disfigured: too outstanding cheekbones, too hollow cheeks, a bit slant eyes with golden irises. He had a look of an elf: almost human, but human no more. That was what people feared of: a parody of a man, at least that's what he was in their eyes.
Other kids were just humans, there was just some of them outstanding: two boys, a compact though kinda massive boy in blue jeans and another one, tall and bony, in white shirt and black trousers. They both had a scent of power in them. So did the heavily suntanned girl with raven-black hair, muscular and slim.
By this time the teacher ended up the speech and was replaced by another one, old and serious, dressed in a long skirt and fair blouse, buttoned up in spite if the hot day.
"Today we'll have the first lesson." She squeaked, and Sabie pressed her hands to her ears immediately. "What's wrong, girl?" she asked, and Sabie made a face.
"Your voice is like metal scratching the glass." She said honestly.
The lady chuckled dryly. "Can do nothing about it." She retorted. The class giggled.
The first lesson was English. ~Nothing interesting in revising alphabet~, Sabie thought and her thought again drifted away. She noticed the boy in the first row was eager to answer every question stated. She made a face of disgust – such people seemed boring.
Soon the lesson was over, mommy came and took her home. That was the first day of school for Sabie.
###
Next day she came to school alone already, as it wasn't far from home. At least not for her.
As she entered the class, she was deafened for a moment with the noise. She crossed the class and took a free seat and waited for the class to start, when she saw a group of girls nearby. With a broad smile, she came to them. They gave her strange glances. "Hi, I'm Sabie" she said, still smiling.
The black haired girl, the one she saw before, gave her a disgusted look and said "Go away".
Sabie frowned, then rose her eyebrows. "Me?"
"Yeah you. We don't want muties here." The girl said.
Sabie signed. "Do you think you're better than me?"
"Sure I am" the girl smirked, then spun around on her heels and paced to another table. Other girls joined. Sabie stood there for a moment, then muttered "bitch" and paced back to her seat.
There was someone's red bag beside her seat, and soon it appeared to belong to the girl who came to the desk and sat down. She turned to Sabie and smiled. "May I sit here?"
"Sure" Sabie responded with a toothy smile. The girl's smile got a bit nervous, still it stayed on her face.
"I'm Christi." she said in a quite voice.
"Sabie" the other girl replied.
The brown girl shifter slightly, then asked. "Do you like it here?"
Sabie shook her head. "Boring." Was her answer.
Christi shrugged. "Maybe so. As for me, I like it here. Funny." She smiled. "The teacher is funny."
Sabie arched an eyebrow. "Teacher looks like a cucumber."
The girl laughed at this. "Ow sure she is." She went on laughing. Sabie grinned and looked around.
The guy with tendrils was chatting with some other boy, the raven-black haired girl was standing with her group discussing something. Sabie listened – her heightened hearing allowed her to hear every word the people were saying in the room.
"I thought there'd be only freaks here, and here's a frail" the girl said.
"Oh, yeah. Now no one will come to our class because of that frail."
Another one added. "Gotta get her outta here. I don't want her here."
"She's ugly."
"But she has claws" the raven-black haired girl said.
"Ya'r right, Syntia. What shall we do?"
"I'll ask my brother and he'll break her leg. She'll stick into the hospital fer life!" the girl said, but another one interrupted.
"Bullshit! No one sticks in a hospital for life with a broken leg, we shall break her neck"
"And what if we kill her this way?"
"Will we? I heard muties never die"
"And what if she will?"
"Then will have only three troubles left in the class."
Sabie blinked as she was touched slightly. "What?" she questioned. It was the brown-haired girl near her.
"What's wrong?"
Sabie frowned. "Your face was… hmm… weird." The girl said. Sabie gave her another grin and laid her chin on her arms folded over the desk.
"It's okay. It's just those girls who want me dead." She smiled. The girl also smiled, a bit unsurely though.
It was when the teacher finally entered the class.
###
Sabie was walking home when she heard some movement in front of her. She frowned, then saw a boy stepping from around the tree where he must have been hiding. Sabie stopped and looked at him.
"You need something, mister?" she asked, scenting the anger and hesitation off him. He stepped to her, and she heard two other boys joining him behind her back. Whatever was gonna happen, she didn't like it at all.
"You're that mutie from Syntia's class?" he demanded.
"Yeah, so what?" she challenged. The boy was one head taller than her, she could say nothing about the other two. Still, she decided to risk it.
"You're disturbing her, bitch." he said.
"You said a bad word." She said, making innocent eyes. "Didn't your mommy ever say you shall not say bad words?"
That put him on the edge. "Bitch!" with that he lunged at her, hitting her in the stomach. A flash of pain sparkled in her guts, still she managed to jump to the side to avoid being hit in the back. Now all three guys were in front of her, and she could get a good look on them. No one was older than twelve, no one higher than the first one. However all were enraged and ready to fight.
They started moving around her, slowly but steadily getting her into the circle. Then at the same moment they jumped at her again. She dodged from one of the blows, another one hit her in the spine, and she collapsed on the ground, sobbing slightly, trying to cover her head as someone's boot hit her skull.
Then she was pulled up roughly, someone's hand around her wrist, nearly jerking her arm out. In pure instincts she sank her teeth into the flesh, earning a sharp cry from one of the boys. "Damn! She's biting!" he yelled, letting her go. She fell back into the dirt and pulled her feet under herself, getting up as fast as possible at the moment while boys were startled looking at the blood running down their comrade's fingers.
A moment later she was on the ground again, kicked by someone's hard blow. This time they gave her no chance to get up, just went on beating her with their boots. The girl hugged into the tight ball, trying to protect herself from the blows, when something sparkled in the back of her mind. Growing in moments, soon it filled her entirely, coloring the surrounding in red. Then there was nothing.
###
As she came to senses, she was standing where she remembered guys beating her. There were no guys around though, just something sticky and crimson on her hands. Blood. She swallowed and retracted her claws. What had just happened here? She let out a confused sob and paced to the deep pool nearby. The water was cold and dirty, but at least it washed the blood away. Sobbing silently, she got up and paced to her home.
###
"What happened?!" mommy sounded angry. It wasn't the first time Sabie was coming home dirty.
"I was playing on the playground and… here it is." The girl said.
Rebecca signed. "Well, can't you just try and play like all kids play, without rooting in the sand and dirt like a li'l piggy." Sabie sobbed, and Rebecca rubbed her head calmingly, then looked at her hand. "Get into the shower now." She said.
1.1.2 Part2
Sabie paced through the corridor, when she felt something hit her in the back. She frowned and turned around. There was a balled piece if paper on the floor near her, and a group of girls and boys in a distance. "Who did it?" Sabie demanded. No one said a word, they just stared at her, grinning like madmen. She signed and paced along the corridor into the classroom.
At the Math lesson:
"Take the rulers and draw a line." The teacher said. Sabie reached into her bag searching for the ruler, but there was no one inside.
"Damn" she cussed. She remembered she had put the ruler there in the morning. She searched again.
"What's wrong, Sabie?" the teacher asked.
"Can't find the ruler" she responded, still rooting in her bag.
"Here, take this one." The teacher said, giving her an old red ruler she had on her desk.
"Thanks" Sabie muttered, taking the gift. She didn't like this one, she wanted her bright yellow one. ~Must have forgotten it~ she thought.
At the English lesson:
"Open your copybooks and show me the task you should have done for today." The teacher went along the rows looking through the homework. Sabie took out her exercise book and opened the page. Her heart stopped. The page where she had made the homework was blank. She remembered herself spending over an hour yesterday writing the verbs, and now there wasn't even a word left there. Sudden idea hit her. She looked closer and saw small pieces of paper around the staples. Her palms curled into fists. Someone had torn the page out as she was in a corridor. Well enough. By this moment the teacher was at her desk. "Where's your homework, Sabie?" she questioned.
"I did it. But someone tore the page out." The teacher signed.
"The homework couldn't have disappeared just like this. It either is written or not. Here I see no homework, girl. Sorry, but you get a "D" mark for that."
"But it's unfair!" Sabie exclaimed, but the teacher was already moving to the next desk. Sabie looked around the class. Again the same grinning faces. She felt her claws dug into her palms. ~you'll regret you've done that~ she thought.
At the Geography lesson:
Sabie sat down onto her chair and started taking out her books when she felt something uncomfortable on her seat. Other time she'd stand up and look what it is, but she was late to the lesson and the teacher was really way too strict. Still, the feeling of wetness grew, and soon she signed and shifted slightly on her chair to have a look. A growl escaped her throat and startled the brown girl next to her.
"What happened, Sabie?" she asked quietly. Sabie growled a bit louder. The seat of her chair was covered with still wet glue.
"Fuck" she muttered, then burst out. "You did it!" the class turned and stared at her. Christi shook her head, her eyes full of fear.
"I… I didn't know… I haven't even seen this till you growled… sorry… I'm very sorry it happened…"
"Now what?" the teacher asked.
"Nothing special, but the glue on my seat" Sabie growled, then suddenly turned to the class. "WHO DID IT?!" she yelled. There were only eyes staring at her and the same grins on their faces.
"She's crazy." The familiar dark-haired girl said quietly. The girl next to her circled her finger near her temple in well known gesture. "All muties are."
Sabie was ready to gut this girl, both these girls here and now, but then she remembered about her glued jeans and paced out of the classroom, slamming the door shut behind her back.
In the ladies room she took her jeans off and tried to get the glue off them. However, it was drying already, and soon it was clear the jeans were forever spoiled. She sat at the wall and took a deep breath. ~no, I won't cry over those jeans, and over that glue, and over…~ tears ran down her face. ~it's unfair, UNFAIR!~ she was almost whispered, when she heard the door opening. "Go away!" she almost said, when she realized where she was sitting. No way she could prohibit someone to enter the school WC.
The brown haired head pocked inside. "Ya'r okay?" Christi asked, then paced inside and sat beside Sabie. "I brought you this" she took out the yellow skirt. Sabie smiled unwillingly at the sight of it, though her favourite color was rosy, the skirt was too bright not to look great.
"My mommy gives it to me so I'd have something to wear if I get dirty." She said. "Do you live far?"
"Not very" Sabie said. "Jason Street 8"
"Oh, that's wide. I'm living here nearby, right near the school. Wanna come with me?" Sabie smiled and got up.
"We'll get the jeans into norm by me." Sabie smiled, then frowned. "And what about our bags?" By all means she didn't feel like going inside that room again. Christi smiled and pointed at two bags on the floor near them.
"These ones?" Sabie got up and put on the skirt. ~Damn, but it's so pretty!~ "Let's go then!"
###
"Why won't you tell your mom?" Christi asked as they were drinking Nesquick out of big ceramic cups. Sabie shook her head.
"I can't."
"Why? Is your mother all that strict?" the girl questioned.
She shook her head. "No. It's just… It's the problem I hafta choose myself. If I mix my mom in that…" Sabie thought for a moment. It was possible just to say it all to mom and stop it once and for all, but for some reason it just didn't fill right. The right way was to solve it by herself. "I don't want my mom in this." She finally said.
The girl thought for a moment, drinking her Nesquick, then said quietly. "Do you hear voices?" Sabie frowned and looked at her.
"What voices?"
"Different voices." The girl paused a bit, then moved closer. "Those that tell you different things about other people." Sabie shook her head.
"Nope. Do you?" The girl gave her a short glance.
"I do. Just don't say anyone, okay?"
"Sure." Sabie said. "And what do you hear?"
"They say different things about other people. Like one of them said the sister of our English teacher got a baby."
"Ow, yeah?" Sabie sneered. "I can imagine. They also tell you our math teacher is a bitch? I'd agree with them then."
"No, I ain't joking!" Christi said. "They also told me about you."
"And what did they tell?" Sabie questioned, still grinning.
"They said you can hear what others can't hear." Sabie's smile faded and the looked at the girl.
"Really?"
"Really-really" she girl responded. "Wow" Sabie said, sipping her drink from the cup.
###
Several days later
She no longer felt like going to school. Even Christi was sick today, so she was gonna be alone. She felt like one more drop of the humiliation she got there will overfull the cup of her patience and she'll break down or… there was the other thing she was afraid of. Loosing control. She knew what will follow – the red haze, the one that had claimed her vision the time those boys attacked her. Hesitantly she paced to school, a heavy stone on her soul, though she tried to push it away. ~Come on. It's way more worse for other mutants, some of them live on the streets in hunger. You aren't the poorest being on the earth.~ Still it didn't help much. She was tired of their jokes, stupid and violent. Every time they did their next hint, she was ready to explode, once she even was close to going and telling everything to her mom, but something stopped her.
Sabie was walking along the street when she raven-black haired girl. Unwillingly her pace slowed down. It was the last thing she wanted to get into Syntia's view. That was the girl who always initiated those jokes, she knew. She just scented like this, and there was nothing Sabie could do about it. The last several days her classmates realized she wasn't gonna gut them with her claws any time soon, and their pokes got more and more obvious in days.
As Syntia walked to the other side of the street, she suddenly turned around and saw Sabie. ~Damn~ was all she could think of, as cold gray eyes met her green ones. "Mutie-tuttie's going to school" the girl laughed.
"Shuddup" Sabie muttered.
"Oh, come on, tell me how do you tie your shoes with the claws like yours" Sabie kept silence and went to the other side of the street. The girl followed.
"Hey, why would you run so fast? Hurrying to school? Don't worry, you won't be late." She paused. "By the way, who was your mommy? Must be a slut if she spawned someone like you."
It was the last drop. No one even was let to drop her mom's name into dirt. Spinning swiftly, Sabie pushed Syntia to the wall of the house. "You better Shuddup about my mom" she whispered threatening. A moment later Syntia's fist connected with her jaw nearly sending her to the ground. Sabie blinked; she could barely believe the girl like Syntia could do something like this. However, Sabie wasn't the one to let it be.
The fight started: the typical woman fight, full of scratching, hitting and beating, clothes tearing and shouting. At some moment Sabie's claws went over the sleeve of Syntia's blouse and tore it open along with leaving a scratch on her skin. A sharp pain surged through Sabie's claw, and she yelled out loud.
As she rose her eyes, her brows flew up. There was a glimpse of metal seen through the gap in the silk, before Syntia managed to cover it, staring angrily at Sabie. "What was it?" Sabie questioned. The girl pulled the torn sleeve even tighter together and muttered
"Nothing", frightened look on her face. Her eyes suddenly got so pleading and helpless Sabie couldn't resist their look.
"It's okay, whatever you have there." She said calmly.
"You… you saw that?…" the girl asked quietly.
Sabie nodded. "Yes, I did. But I'd like to see closer."
"You won't believe." The girl said and sat down on the border of the roar. Sabie reached to her sleeve and pulled the sided of the torn silk aside. What she was made her gasp quietly.
There was a metal plate of irregular form on girl's arm, it's edges hiding under the skin. Another, larger one, appeared to be on the forearm, this one over three inches long and an inch wide. "What is this?" Sabie questioned. Syntia's face got blank.
"I have this one for a year already." She pointed on the upper one. "Another one appeared some days ago. I'm afraid… my mom… if she sees it…" suddenly she began to cry. Sabie blinked helplessly and stroked her hair, then pulled the girl closer.
"No one ever dies from this. Sure it's not very comfy to live as a mutant, but come on, I can't believe you won't handle it." Syntia rose her head and looked at Sabie.
"She'll throw me outside if she gets to know."
"Why do you think so?"
"It's the way she talks about the mutants…" she sobbed. "I'll… I'll be homeless if she gets to know that…" Suddenly she looked at Sabie and whispered. "Forgive me, please. Forgive me fer what I was doing, I just thought if I'll shout against mutants, no one will ever think I am… please, forgive me…" with that she went on crying again.
Sabie blinked, then frowned. Then it was like a rock fell off her shoulders. It wasn't her who caused all this madness, it was just the girl's fear of being discovered, nothing wrong with Sabie herself. And it was all over.
Sabie thought for a moment, then signed and nodded. "You won't be homeless." The girl blinked.
"Why do you think so? Why the hell won't my mom get me into one of those boarding schools or just out on the streets, huh?!"
"My mom will take you to us." Sabie stated. Syntia thought for a moment.
"Really?…"
"Really-really" Sabie smiled. The girl looked at her, and her smile was so pure and apologizing that Sabie smiled too.
"But what about the school now? I told everyone… all that… what shall I do now?…" Sabie smiled.
"I think I've got an idea."
Epilogue
They both were late for the lesson. The first desk in the left row was empty, waiting for Syntia. Both girls went into the class, apologized and sat down by the empty desk.
The whisper spread all around immediately, and it wasn't all dedicated to Syntia sitting with a mutie-girl, but more to the large piece or metal replacing the part of the skin on Syntia's now partially uncovered arm.
As the lesson was over, they sat alone for some minutes, other girls and boys watching them but not daring to get closer. Then Andrew finally stepped to them and questioned, pointing in the metal piece. "An'… what's that?" he looked at Syntia. She shrugged.
"Just a piece of metal. Dunno where it came from, but I like how it looks."
He was waiting for anything but not her saying she liked that piece. He swallowed and was ready to say something else when a dark-haired girl with pig-tales ran into the classroom and direct to Syntia. "I got new comics of Sailor Moon!" she exclaimed, then looked at the metal piece. "Wow, is it natural?" Syntia nodded. The girl touched it and exclaimed "How can it stay cold when it's attached to the warm body?" She shrugged.
"We may ask it on the biology lesson", another boy said with a smile.
Syntia looked around cautiously. Looked like no one was gonna rip her to shreds for her being a mutant. Soon the girl brought "Sailor Moon" comics, and her usual group sat around her to look through them.
In the mess of the crowd she found Sabie's clawed hand and grasped it in "thank-you" way. Sabie smiled back.
If someone wants something from me or tries to get me,
He'd better think about his health, maybe it's the last day his eyes will see,
I don't care who he thinks he is and that he's trying to scare my pants off
There're only three words for him I've got. "Hey, you, fuck off!"
Someone thinks he's better then others, and he's damn clever - what can I do?
I just wonder what he'll do when alone, how will he keep his damn abuse.
Fuck, I hate those like him, whose best time spending is playing chess,
And who talks only about himself. "Fuck! You know – you're an ass!"
And look, this one, big like a runt, too much strength and no brains in his head,
It's obvious he was born by a cow, just for presence and for his beard,
And if some shit happens, he'd say just three letters "moo",
But I've got three words for this motherfucker "Hey, runt, fuck you!"
I love people!
I love people!
"Freeze! Hands up and over your head!" the captain of the world shouts at me.
It must be the might that hit into his head; he got infected with syndrome of chief.
It's dangerous to go along with that guy; he can take you head off,
So you better save your own body and say under your breath "Fuck off"
I love people!
I love people!
("I love people", Dolphin, translated from Russian by Sabie)
1.1.2.1.1 The End
(September 2025,
Sabie – 6 years old)
1.1 Prologue
Sabie frowned. She wasn't actually fond of the perspective to go to school, even though her mommy bought her a new bright bag and two big rosy bows that now were in her rich ponytails on the either side of her head. They were nice, along with the rosy dress and sandals.
"Mommy, do I hafta go to school?…" she purred as her mom was combing her hair one final time.
Rebecca nodded. "Yes, sure. You'll like it there."
Sabie doubted she would. She got to know that other kids didn't like her. She even knew why. She had claws. Her eyes involuntary slid to her hands. What's wrong with her claws? They were neat, with no dirt on them, carefully polished over their flat side. They were okay. Maybe it was that other kids didn't have claws.
"Mommy, why do others don't have claws? And why do their eyes have those weird black things inside?" she asked once.
"You mean pupils?" she questioned. Sabie nodded. If they were called pupils, then let it be. Her mom thought for a moment, then said. "You know people are with different color of the skin?"
"Like Negroes?"
"Yes, Like Black people, like Indians or Japan people."
"Those with slitty eyes?" Sabie giggled.
Her mother shook her head. "See? You're laughing at them because they're not like you. Then why do you ask me why the other kids laugh at you?"
Sabie thought for a moment. "I'm not like you. Why am I not like you?" she questioned. Mommy signed for some reason and pulled Sabie up to sit on her knees. "Why do I have no daddy?"
"Your daddy died." Mommy said, and Sabie felt she was hurting. Her voice was calm, but her scent was the one of a hurt being. Sabie decided not to ask about her daddy again, if that made mommy unhappy.
"Come on, Sabie, we'll be late" her mom said, and she shook the memory off and put her small clawed hand into mommy's.
1.1.1 Part1
As they came to school, it was crowded and noisy, and Sabie had to cover her ears not to go deaf. The kids were around: some of them standing quietly by their parents, others running around like madmen. Sabie took a deep breath and dived into the swirl of the humans around.
As she was passing the group of kids, she suddenly ran into a small girl, a whole head shorter than Sabie, in a blue skirt and white top. The girl smiled broadly, as she always did, then suddenly asked. "And why do ya have those strange eyes?" she titled her head to the side and looked at Sabie.
"To see more" Sabie replied with a grin. The girl giggled and ran away. Sabie smiled. Definitely, the school wasn't all that bad.
Soon the kids were tiled into groups that she knew were going to form classes. She noticed the girl whom she banged into among the other children. Unfortunately she was in another group.
As she was going up the stairs, the boy passed her and kicked her in the side accidentally. Sabie moved to the side slightly and held her arms bent and pressed to her sides to protect herself from any other possible hits in this mess.
It took some minutes for the group to reach the class, another minute or two to settle in. A platinum blond girl was ready to sit near Sabie, but as she raised her head to greet her, the girl made a face and paced to another seat. By the end there were some places left free, one of them next to Sabie. She just shrugged and switched her attention to the teacher.
The overweight woman in green blouse stood at the blackboard. "Dear kids!" she announced, "I'm glad to greet you at school. Here you'd be taught to read and write and count and you'll learn many other important sciences that will help you to find the right way in your future life."
As she was going on with her proclamation, Sabie looked around. There were around twenty people in the class, boys more than girls, and sure as hell humans more than mutants. There was one boy with pointed ears sitting by the side, and another one with tendrils coming out of her wrists. They were sitting together.
There was also another boy who sat alone, and Sabie couldn't comprehend what was wrong with him till another boy poked him in the back with a pen, and he turned around. Sabie gagged. He was almost like human, if not the pale skin; it was the features of his face that scared people off. Still proportional, they were just slightly disfigured: too outstanding cheekbones, too hollow cheeks, a bit slant eyes with golden irises. He had a look of an elf: almost human, but human no more. That was what people feared of: a parody of a man, at least that's what he was in their eyes.
Other kids were just humans, there was just some of them outstanding: two boys, a compact though kinda massive boy in blue jeans and another one, tall and bony, in white shirt and black trousers. They both had a scent of power in them. So did the heavily suntanned girl with raven-black hair, muscular and slim.
By this time the teacher ended up the speech and was replaced by another one, old and serious, dressed in a long skirt and fair blouse, buttoned up in spite if the hot day.
"Today we'll have the first lesson." She squeaked, and Sabie pressed her hands to her ears immediately. "What's wrong, girl?" she asked, and Sabie made a face.
"Your voice is like metal scratching the glass." She said honestly.
The lady chuckled dryly. "Can do nothing about it." She retorted. The class giggled.
The first lesson was English. ~Nothing interesting in revising alphabet~, Sabie thought and her thought again drifted away. She noticed the boy in the first row was eager to answer every question stated. She made a face of disgust – such people seemed boring.
Soon the lesson was over, mommy came and took her home. That was the first day of school for Sabie.
###
Next day she came to school alone already, as it wasn't far from home. At least not for her.
As she entered the class, she was deafened for a moment with the noise. She crossed the class and took a free seat and waited for the class to start, when she saw a group of girls nearby. With a broad smile, she came to them. They gave her strange glances. "Hi, I'm Sabie" she said, still smiling.
The black haired girl, the one she saw before, gave her a disgusted look and said "Go away".
Sabie frowned, then rose her eyebrows. "Me?"
"Yeah you. We don't want muties here." The girl said.
Sabie signed. "Do you think you're better than me?"
"Sure I am" the girl smirked, then spun around on her heels and paced to another table. Other girls joined. Sabie stood there for a moment, then muttered "bitch" and paced back to her seat.
There was someone's red bag beside her seat, and soon it appeared to belong to the girl who came to the desk and sat down. She turned to Sabie and smiled. "May I sit here?"
"Sure" Sabie responded with a toothy smile. The girl's smile got a bit nervous, still it stayed on her face.
"I'm Christi." she said in a quite voice.
"Sabie" the other girl replied.
The brown girl shifter slightly, then asked. "Do you like it here?"
Sabie shook her head. "Boring." Was her answer.
Christi shrugged. "Maybe so. As for me, I like it here. Funny." She smiled. "The teacher is funny."
Sabie arched an eyebrow. "Teacher looks like a cucumber."
The girl laughed at this. "Ow sure she is." She went on laughing. Sabie grinned and looked around.
The guy with tendrils was chatting with some other boy, the raven-black haired girl was standing with her group discussing something. Sabie listened – her heightened hearing allowed her to hear every word the people were saying in the room.
"I thought there'd be only freaks here, and here's a frail" the girl said.
"Oh, yeah. Now no one will come to our class because of that frail."
Another one added. "Gotta get her outta here. I don't want her here."
"She's ugly."
"But she has claws" the raven-black haired girl said.
"Ya'r right, Syntia. What shall we do?"
"I'll ask my brother and he'll break her leg. She'll stick into the hospital fer life!" the girl said, but another one interrupted.
"Bullshit! No one sticks in a hospital for life with a broken leg, we shall break her neck"
"And what if we kill her this way?"
"Will we? I heard muties never die"
"And what if she will?"
"Then will have only three troubles left in the class."
Sabie blinked as she was touched slightly. "What?" she questioned. It was the brown-haired girl near her.
"What's wrong?"
Sabie frowned. "Your face was… hmm… weird." The girl said. Sabie gave her another grin and laid her chin on her arms folded over the desk.
"It's okay. It's just those girls who want me dead." She smiled. The girl also smiled, a bit unsurely though.
It was when the teacher finally entered the class.
###
Sabie was walking home when she heard some movement in front of her. She frowned, then saw a boy stepping from around the tree where he must have been hiding. Sabie stopped and looked at him.
"You need something, mister?" she asked, scenting the anger and hesitation off him. He stepped to her, and she heard two other boys joining him behind her back. Whatever was gonna happen, she didn't like it at all.
"You're that mutie from Syntia's class?" he demanded.
"Yeah, so what?" she challenged. The boy was one head taller than her, she could say nothing about the other two. Still, she decided to risk it.
"You're disturbing her, bitch." he said.
"You said a bad word." She said, making innocent eyes. "Didn't your mommy ever say you shall not say bad words?"
That put him on the edge. "Bitch!" with that he lunged at her, hitting her in the stomach. A flash of pain sparkled in her guts, still she managed to jump to the side to avoid being hit in the back. Now all three guys were in front of her, and she could get a good look on them. No one was older than twelve, no one higher than the first one. However all were enraged and ready to fight.
They started moving around her, slowly but steadily getting her into the circle. Then at the same moment they jumped at her again. She dodged from one of the blows, another one hit her in the spine, and she collapsed on the ground, sobbing slightly, trying to cover her head as someone's boot hit her skull.
Then she was pulled up roughly, someone's hand around her wrist, nearly jerking her arm out. In pure instincts she sank her teeth into the flesh, earning a sharp cry from one of the boys. "Damn! She's biting!" he yelled, letting her go. She fell back into the dirt and pulled her feet under herself, getting up as fast as possible at the moment while boys were startled looking at the blood running down their comrade's fingers.
A moment later she was on the ground again, kicked by someone's hard blow. This time they gave her no chance to get up, just went on beating her with their boots. The girl hugged into the tight ball, trying to protect herself from the blows, when something sparkled in the back of her mind. Growing in moments, soon it filled her entirely, coloring the surrounding in red. Then there was nothing.
###
As she came to senses, she was standing where she remembered guys beating her. There were no guys around though, just something sticky and crimson on her hands. Blood. She swallowed and retracted her claws. What had just happened here? She let out a confused sob and paced to the deep pool nearby. The water was cold and dirty, but at least it washed the blood away. Sobbing silently, she got up and paced to her home.
###
"What happened?!" mommy sounded angry. It wasn't the first time Sabie was coming home dirty.
"I was playing on the playground and… here it is." The girl said.
Rebecca signed. "Well, can't you just try and play like all kids play, without rooting in the sand and dirt like a li'l piggy." Sabie sobbed, and Rebecca rubbed her head calmingly, then looked at her hand. "Get into the shower now." She said.
1.1.2 Part2
Sabie paced through the corridor, when she felt something hit her in the back. She frowned and turned around. There was a balled piece if paper on the floor near her, and a group of girls and boys in a distance. "Who did it?" Sabie demanded. No one said a word, they just stared at her, grinning like madmen. She signed and paced along the corridor into the classroom.
At the Math lesson:
"Take the rulers and draw a line." The teacher said. Sabie reached into her bag searching for the ruler, but there was no one inside.
"Damn" she cussed. She remembered she had put the ruler there in the morning. She searched again.
"What's wrong, Sabie?" the teacher asked.
"Can't find the ruler" she responded, still rooting in her bag.
"Here, take this one." The teacher said, giving her an old red ruler she had on her desk.
"Thanks" Sabie muttered, taking the gift. She didn't like this one, she wanted her bright yellow one. ~Must have forgotten it~ she thought.
At the English lesson:
"Open your copybooks and show me the task you should have done for today." The teacher went along the rows looking through the homework. Sabie took out her exercise book and opened the page. Her heart stopped. The page where she had made the homework was blank. She remembered herself spending over an hour yesterday writing the verbs, and now there wasn't even a word left there. Sudden idea hit her. She looked closer and saw small pieces of paper around the staples. Her palms curled into fists. Someone had torn the page out as she was in a corridor. Well enough. By this moment the teacher was at her desk. "Where's your homework, Sabie?" she questioned.
"I did it. But someone tore the page out." The teacher signed.
"The homework couldn't have disappeared just like this. It either is written or not. Here I see no homework, girl. Sorry, but you get a "D" mark for that."
"But it's unfair!" Sabie exclaimed, but the teacher was already moving to the next desk. Sabie looked around the class. Again the same grinning faces. She felt her claws dug into her palms. ~you'll regret you've done that~ she thought.
At the Geography lesson:
Sabie sat down onto her chair and started taking out her books when she felt something uncomfortable on her seat. Other time she'd stand up and look what it is, but she was late to the lesson and the teacher was really way too strict. Still, the feeling of wetness grew, and soon she signed and shifted slightly on her chair to have a look. A growl escaped her throat and startled the brown girl next to her.
"What happened, Sabie?" she asked quietly. Sabie growled a bit louder. The seat of her chair was covered with still wet glue.
"Fuck" she muttered, then burst out. "You did it!" the class turned and stared at her. Christi shook her head, her eyes full of fear.
"I… I didn't know… I haven't even seen this till you growled… sorry… I'm very sorry it happened…"
"Now what?" the teacher asked.
"Nothing special, but the glue on my seat" Sabie growled, then suddenly turned to the class. "WHO DID IT?!" she yelled. There were only eyes staring at her and the same grins on their faces.
"She's crazy." The familiar dark-haired girl said quietly. The girl next to her circled her finger near her temple in well known gesture. "All muties are."
Sabie was ready to gut this girl, both these girls here and now, but then she remembered about her glued jeans and paced out of the classroom, slamming the door shut behind her back.
In the ladies room she took her jeans off and tried to get the glue off them. However, it was drying already, and soon it was clear the jeans were forever spoiled. She sat at the wall and took a deep breath. ~no, I won't cry over those jeans, and over that glue, and over…~ tears ran down her face. ~it's unfair, UNFAIR!~ she was almost whispered, when she heard the door opening. "Go away!" she almost said, when she realized where she was sitting. No way she could prohibit someone to enter the school WC.
The brown haired head pocked inside. "Ya'r okay?" Christi asked, then paced inside and sat beside Sabie. "I brought you this" she took out the yellow skirt. Sabie smiled unwillingly at the sight of it, though her favourite color was rosy, the skirt was too bright not to look great.
"My mommy gives it to me so I'd have something to wear if I get dirty." She said. "Do you live far?"
"Not very" Sabie said. "Jason Street 8"
"Oh, that's wide. I'm living here nearby, right near the school. Wanna come with me?" Sabie smiled and got up.
"We'll get the jeans into norm by me." Sabie smiled, then frowned. "And what about our bags?" By all means she didn't feel like going inside that room again. Christi smiled and pointed at two bags on the floor near them.
"These ones?" Sabie got up and put on the skirt. ~Damn, but it's so pretty!~ "Let's go then!"
###
"Why won't you tell your mom?" Christi asked as they were drinking Nesquick out of big ceramic cups. Sabie shook her head.
"I can't."
"Why? Is your mother all that strict?" the girl questioned.
She shook her head. "No. It's just… It's the problem I hafta choose myself. If I mix my mom in that…" Sabie thought for a moment. It was possible just to say it all to mom and stop it once and for all, but for some reason it just didn't fill right. The right way was to solve it by herself. "I don't want my mom in this." She finally said.
The girl thought for a moment, drinking her Nesquick, then said quietly. "Do you hear voices?" Sabie frowned and looked at her.
"What voices?"
"Different voices." The girl paused a bit, then moved closer. "Those that tell you different things about other people." Sabie shook her head.
"Nope. Do you?" The girl gave her a short glance.
"I do. Just don't say anyone, okay?"
"Sure." Sabie said. "And what do you hear?"
"They say different things about other people. Like one of them said the sister of our English teacher got a baby."
"Ow, yeah?" Sabie sneered. "I can imagine. They also tell you our math teacher is a bitch? I'd agree with them then."
"No, I ain't joking!" Christi said. "They also told me about you."
"And what did they tell?" Sabie questioned, still grinning.
"They said you can hear what others can't hear." Sabie's smile faded and the looked at the girl.
"Really?"
"Really-really" she girl responded. "Wow" Sabie said, sipping her drink from the cup.
###
Several days later
She no longer felt like going to school. Even Christi was sick today, so she was gonna be alone. She felt like one more drop of the humiliation she got there will overfull the cup of her patience and she'll break down or… there was the other thing she was afraid of. Loosing control. She knew what will follow – the red haze, the one that had claimed her vision the time those boys attacked her. Hesitantly she paced to school, a heavy stone on her soul, though she tried to push it away. ~Come on. It's way more worse for other mutants, some of them live on the streets in hunger. You aren't the poorest being on the earth.~ Still it didn't help much. She was tired of their jokes, stupid and violent. Every time they did their next hint, she was ready to explode, once she even was close to going and telling everything to her mom, but something stopped her.
Sabie was walking along the street when she raven-black haired girl. Unwillingly her pace slowed down. It was the last thing she wanted to get into Syntia's view. That was the girl who always initiated those jokes, she knew. She just scented like this, and there was nothing Sabie could do about it. The last several days her classmates realized she wasn't gonna gut them with her claws any time soon, and their pokes got more and more obvious in days.
As Syntia walked to the other side of the street, she suddenly turned around and saw Sabie. ~Damn~ was all she could think of, as cold gray eyes met her green ones. "Mutie-tuttie's going to school" the girl laughed.
"Shuddup" Sabie muttered.
"Oh, come on, tell me how do you tie your shoes with the claws like yours" Sabie kept silence and went to the other side of the street. The girl followed.
"Hey, why would you run so fast? Hurrying to school? Don't worry, you won't be late." She paused. "By the way, who was your mommy? Must be a slut if she spawned someone like you."
It was the last drop. No one even was let to drop her mom's name into dirt. Spinning swiftly, Sabie pushed Syntia to the wall of the house. "You better Shuddup about my mom" she whispered threatening. A moment later Syntia's fist connected with her jaw nearly sending her to the ground. Sabie blinked; she could barely believe the girl like Syntia could do something like this. However, Sabie wasn't the one to let it be.
The fight started: the typical woman fight, full of scratching, hitting and beating, clothes tearing and shouting. At some moment Sabie's claws went over the sleeve of Syntia's blouse and tore it open along with leaving a scratch on her skin. A sharp pain surged through Sabie's claw, and she yelled out loud.
As she rose her eyes, her brows flew up. There was a glimpse of metal seen through the gap in the silk, before Syntia managed to cover it, staring angrily at Sabie. "What was it?" Sabie questioned. The girl pulled the torn sleeve even tighter together and muttered
"Nothing", frightened look on her face. Her eyes suddenly got so pleading and helpless Sabie couldn't resist their look.
"It's okay, whatever you have there." She said calmly.
"You… you saw that?…" the girl asked quietly.
Sabie nodded. "Yes, I did. But I'd like to see closer."
"You won't believe." The girl said and sat down on the border of the roar. Sabie reached to her sleeve and pulled the sided of the torn silk aside. What she was made her gasp quietly.
There was a metal plate of irregular form on girl's arm, it's edges hiding under the skin. Another, larger one, appeared to be on the forearm, this one over three inches long and an inch wide. "What is this?" Sabie questioned. Syntia's face got blank.
"I have this one for a year already." She pointed on the upper one. "Another one appeared some days ago. I'm afraid… my mom… if she sees it…" suddenly she began to cry. Sabie blinked helplessly and stroked her hair, then pulled the girl closer.
"No one ever dies from this. Sure it's not very comfy to live as a mutant, but come on, I can't believe you won't handle it." Syntia rose her head and looked at Sabie.
"She'll throw me outside if she gets to know."
"Why do you think so?"
"It's the way she talks about the mutants…" she sobbed. "I'll… I'll be homeless if she gets to know that…" Suddenly she looked at Sabie and whispered. "Forgive me, please. Forgive me fer what I was doing, I just thought if I'll shout against mutants, no one will ever think I am… please, forgive me…" with that she went on crying again.
Sabie blinked, then frowned. Then it was like a rock fell off her shoulders. It wasn't her who caused all this madness, it was just the girl's fear of being discovered, nothing wrong with Sabie herself. And it was all over.
Sabie thought for a moment, then signed and nodded. "You won't be homeless." The girl blinked.
"Why do you think so? Why the hell won't my mom get me into one of those boarding schools or just out on the streets, huh?!"
"My mom will take you to us." Sabie stated. Syntia thought for a moment.
"Really?…"
"Really-really" Sabie smiled. The girl looked at her, and her smile was so pure and apologizing that Sabie smiled too.
"But what about the school now? I told everyone… all that… what shall I do now?…" Sabie smiled.
"I think I've got an idea."
Epilogue
They both were late for the lesson. The first desk in the left row was empty, waiting for Syntia. Both girls went into the class, apologized and sat down by the empty desk.
The whisper spread all around immediately, and it wasn't all dedicated to Syntia sitting with a mutie-girl, but more to the large piece or metal replacing the part of the skin on Syntia's now partially uncovered arm.
As the lesson was over, they sat alone for some minutes, other girls and boys watching them but not daring to get closer. Then Andrew finally stepped to them and questioned, pointing in the metal piece. "An'… what's that?" he looked at Syntia. She shrugged.
"Just a piece of metal. Dunno where it came from, but I like how it looks."
He was waiting for anything but not her saying she liked that piece. He swallowed and was ready to say something else when a dark-haired girl with pig-tales ran into the classroom and direct to Syntia. "I got new comics of Sailor Moon!" she exclaimed, then looked at the metal piece. "Wow, is it natural?" Syntia nodded. The girl touched it and exclaimed "How can it stay cold when it's attached to the warm body?" She shrugged.
"We may ask it on the biology lesson", another boy said with a smile.
Syntia looked around cautiously. Looked like no one was gonna rip her to shreds for her being a mutant. Soon the girl brought "Sailor Moon" comics, and her usual group sat around her to look through them.
In the mess of the crowd she found Sabie's clawed hand and grasped it in "thank-you" way. Sabie smiled back.
If someone wants something from me or tries to get me,
He'd better think about his health, maybe it's the last day his eyes will see,
I don't care who he thinks he is and that he's trying to scare my pants off
There're only three words for him I've got. "Hey, you, fuck off!"
Someone thinks he's better then others, and he's damn clever - what can I do?
I just wonder what he'll do when alone, how will he keep his damn abuse.
Fuck, I hate those like him, whose best time spending is playing chess,
And who talks only about himself. "Fuck! You know – you're an ass!"
And look, this one, big like a runt, too much strength and no brains in his head,
It's obvious he was born by a cow, just for presence and for his beard,
And if some shit happens, he'd say just three letters "moo",
But I've got three words for this motherfucker "Hey, runt, fuck you!"
I love people!
I love people!
"Freeze! Hands up and over your head!" the captain of the world shouts at me.
It must be the might that hit into his head; he got infected with syndrome of chief.
It's dangerous to go along with that guy; he can take you head off,
So you better save your own body and say under your breath "Fuck off"
I love people!
I love people!
("I love people", Dolphin, translated from Russian by Sabie)
1.1.2.1.1 The End
