Chapter 4
Breaking the glass
Aileen felt her knees weaken as she kneeled on the ground, her face washed in mud and the empty apple basket next to her. "I, I...Miss Hornell,"
"Shut up you miserable, lazy, ungrateful scum!" Hornell shouted, taking her by an arm and jerking her up. Aileen winced in pain.
"Don't you twitch your face at me! What were you planning by throwing those apples! Now you'll have to work the double! No complains Miss, it's about time you understand life is here, not in your stupid fantasy world. Got it? Wake up Aileen! You don't even know your real name, you have no family. You have to learn to live on your own, no one will be there to help you out when you're stuck! Got it? NO ONE! You only have yourself, get that into your thick skull before its too late!!," Hornell shouted in Aileen's left ear.
Aileen's blood boiled in fury. How dared she? What did she know about her family, and did she care? But Aileen knew better than argue. "Go get stuffed Hornell," she thought, her bright green eyes sparkling with furious tears behind the curtain of black hair.
As Aileen followed Miss Hornell to Mrs. Inglet's office, she kept telling herself that if she behaved calmly and bit her tongue, nothing would go wrong. Mrs. Inglet would surely keep a cool and civilised temper toward her (very unlike Miss Hornell,)and she was only to expect a little scolding. To hell with the apples! They were just fruits!
Miss Hornell knocked on a beautifully carved door with a brass plate that read "Mrs. Inglet, Principal," with Aileen glaring behind her. The woman went inside, leaving Aileen to stand on the doorway. A moment later, a hoarse woman's voice called her inside. Aileen took a deep breath and walked into the office, telling herself that it couldn't be that bad.
* * * *
It was worse than she had ever expected. Both Miss Hornell and Miss Inglet glared at her as though she had just set fire to the school.
For a warm up, Mrs. Inglet yelled at her, the words barely distinguishable in the shower of spit. Between the few words Aileen understood was: never, ashamed, orphan, apples and madness. Then Miss Hornell, who had never been fond of Aileen, went off the topic.
She began telling Mrs. Inglet (ignoring Aileen completely,) how abandoned kids like Aileen usually showed certain inclination for illegal acts, and that according to the statistics (which Aileen was sure Miss Hornell had just invented them,) 85% of the criminals now had been abandoned by their parents as a child or had had a very violent childhood.
She then talked about Aileen as if she was the cause of all the evil in the world. How she had always caused trouble, never said thank you for the sacrifices the school and its teachers were doing to try inculcate some manners on her vicious self, and that surely that had been the reason her parents had dumped her, they knew she had no future. Not to mention her guardian, who couldn't be bothered to free the school once in a while of her presence.
Aileen had reached a point beyond anger. With every word they said, she could feel fire eating her insides, burning to be let out, and when Miss Hornell began talking about couples that bred like rats without thinking about the disastrous consequences, the girl felt her heart pumping madly. All of her blood seemed to have concentrated in her face, which was a furious red, and her arms and fingertips were tickling with some strange and powerful energy.
All the things she had been blamed for during her whole life suddenly seemed to roll up in a big snowball size hatred ball that Aileen directed to the large glass window behind Mrs. Inglet. Aileen clenched her fists in anger and concentrated on the window. She didn't know what she was doing, but suddenly, everything around her turned black, leaving only the window. Even the voices of the two women vanished, leaving a furious, gushing sound like that of a waterfall. "Explode...blow apart...in pieces...NOW!"
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this biological disaster in front of us is of no good for the... AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!," Miss Hornell and Mrs. Inglet shouted at the same time as the window behind them suddenly exploded, sending a shower of glass shards all around the room.
Aileen's green eyes opened widely in surprise, but she ducked instinctively, taking refuge under the large mahogany desk as broken pieces of glass flew in every direction
Breaking the glass
Aileen felt her knees weaken as she kneeled on the ground, her face washed in mud and the empty apple basket next to her. "I, I...Miss Hornell,"
"Shut up you miserable, lazy, ungrateful scum!" Hornell shouted, taking her by an arm and jerking her up. Aileen winced in pain.
"Don't you twitch your face at me! What were you planning by throwing those apples! Now you'll have to work the double! No complains Miss, it's about time you understand life is here, not in your stupid fantasy world. Got it? Wake up Aileen! You don't even know your real name, you have no family. You have to learn to live on your own, no one will be there to help you out when you're stuck! Got it? NO ONE! You only have yourself, get that into your thick skull before its too late!!," Hornell shouted in Aileen's left ear.
Aileen's blood boiled in fury. How dared she? What did she know about her family, and did she care? But Aileen knew better than argue. "Go get stuffed Hornell," she thought, her bright green eyes sparkling with furious tears behind the curtain of black hair.
As Aileen followed Miss Hornell to Mrs. Inglet's office, she kept telling herself that if she behaved calmly and bit her tongue, nothing would go wrong. Mrs. Inglet would surely keep a cool and civilised temper toward her (very unlike Miss Hornell,)and she was only to expect a little scolding. To hell with the apples! They were just fruits!
Miss Hornell knocked on a beautifully carved door with a brass plate that read "Mrs. Inglet, Principal," with Aileen glaring behind her. The woman went inside, leaving Aileen to stand on the doorway. A moment later, a hoarse woman's voice called her inside. Aileen took a deep breath and walked into the office, telling herself that it couldn't be that bad.
* * * *
It was worse than she had ever expected. Both Miss Hornell and Miss Inglet glared at her as though she had just set fire to the school.
For a warm up, Mrs. Inglet yelled at her, the words barely distinguishable in the shower of spit. Between the few words Aileen understood was: never, ashamed, orphan, apples and madness. Then Miss Hornell, who had never been fond of Aileen, went off the topic.
She began telling Mrs. Inglet (ignoring Aileen completely,) how abandoned kids like Aileen usually showed certain inclination for illegal acts, and that according to the statistics (which Aileen was sure Miss Hornell had just invented them,) 85% of the criminals now had been abandoned by their parents as a child or had had a very violent childhood.
She then talked about Aileen as if she was the cause of all the evil in the world. How she had always caused trouble, never said thank you for the sacrifices the school and its teachers were doing to try inculcate some manners on her vicious self, and that surely that had been the reason her parents had dumped her, they knew she had no future. Not to mention her guardian, who couldn't be bothered to free the school once in a while of her presence.
Aileen had reached a point beyond anger. With every word they said, she could feel fire eating her insides, burning to be let out, and when Miss Hornell began talking about couples that bred like rats without thinking about the disastrous consequences, the girl felt her heart pumping madly. All of her blood seemed to have concentrated in her face, which was a furious red, and her arms and fingertips were tickling with some strange and powerful energy.
All the things she had been blamed for during her whole life suddenly seemed to roll up in a big snowball size hatred ball that Aileen directed to the large glass window behind Mrs. Inglet. Aileen clenched her fists in anger and concentrated on the window. She didn't know what she was doing, but suddenly, everything around her turned black, leaving only the window. Even the voices of the two women vanished, leaving a furious, gushing sound like that of a waterfall. "Explode...blow apart...in pieces...NOW!"
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this biological disaster in front of us is of no good for the... AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!," Miss Hornell and Mrs. Inglet shouted at the same time as the window behind them suddenly exploded, sending a shower of glass shards all around the room.
Aileen's green eyes opened widely in surprise, but she ducked instinctively, taking refuge under the large mahogany desk as broken pieces of glass flew in every direction