Chapter Thirteen

My Sister, My Heroine

Callum glared as he stared at the wall and he took a deep breath.

"When Mona vanished, my whole world came crashing down." he said "It was all red mist, a black fog! I was always so close to Mona...and she was taken away."

He clenched his talons.

"I always used to come to Mona when I needed help." Callum said "I never really talked to mum and dad if I had trouble with bullies."

"Why?" asked Sephie leaning close.

Callum kept his eyes on the wall.

"I don't know." he answered "I guess I believed they wouldn't have taken it seriously, as I used to go to the teachers, and they never did anything about it, they never saw it, so why would they do anything about it?"

Sephie felt her blood boil, she remembered her own time at High School and how cruel bullies could be, whether they were alone, or in a gang, they would torment their chosen victim, then when said victim would go to the teachers, but over Fifty per cent of the time, it was never dealt with properly, and the bullies got away with it.

That was one of the reasons why she wanted to be a psychiatrist so she could help victims and also help them get advice to get justice and feel safe again.

"I remember one incident like yesterday." Callum said as tears filled his eyes "I was 8 years old in the third Grade, Jake was in Fifth Grade and Mona was in her freshman year at High School, and I got targeted by some older boys who would threaten me into giving them my pocket money..."

Sephie licked her lips in interest as she listened to Callum's story.

Flashback

Callum held his left side as he limped home, his clothes were dirty and bloodstained in places and his whole body ached, and he held his rucksack next to him like a heavy sack of potatoes.

He had been unlucky enough to be cornered by some older kids at school and they had pushed him up against the wall and demanded he give them his pocket money.

Normally he would have Jake with him after he finished his classes, but his older brother was at an after school activity and he had to walk home alone.

At first Callum claimed he didn't have anything, but then the bullies had started to beat him up and emptied his bag throwing his homework, books and pens all over the wet ground since it had been raining and they soon found his wallet where he kept his allowance.

Luckily he had spent most of it on lunch and he had some savings in a piggy bank back in his room, but whatever few cents he had left, they took it and beat him up for lying to them.

They then warned him he had to bring them more cash or risk being beaten up, then after giving him a final kick in the ribs, they left him in a heap next to the emptied contents of his bag.

His belongs were a mess, his school books were wet and had dirt on them and his homework was ripped making it difficult to read.

He wondered if he would be able to salvage what he had so e could complete the assignment given to him.

After what seemed like forever, Callum finally made it back to his house.

He opened the door and quickly took off his coat and shoes, hoping his mum and dad wouldn't see the mess he was in.

"Callum?" he almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a voice from the kitchen "Are you home?"

At first he thought it was his mum and he got ready to babble out excuses when he saw his teenage sister Monalisa appear from the kitchen door.

She was wearing a pink top and blue jeans as well as white sneakers and her hair was in a ponytail, tied with a pink scrunchie.

"Sis!" Callum said in shock "Where's mum and dad?"

"Gone to see Arlene next door." said Mona, then she saw the mess Callum was in and her eyes widened.

"Holy Cow, what happened to you?" she asked.

Callum looked down and tried to stop the tears that were forming in his eyes, yet they fell much to his frustration.

"Little brother?" Mona asked as she walked over and Callum looked up before running into her arms.

"Callum what is it?" Mona demanded in shock.

"Some kids beat me up!" Callum wept "They cornered me as I was leaving school, snatched and emptied my bag, stole my pocket money and hit and kicked me!"

Mona pulled away from the sobbing Callum and glared.
"They what?" she asked, her voice a slight snarl "Who are these kids?"

"Some kids in the 5th Grade." Callum answered.

Mona frowned.

"Come on," she said "Let's get you cleaned up before mum and dad get back, then we'll have a talk with some juice and snacks."

Callum nodded tearfully then followed Mona upstairs.

After about half and hour, Callum was in some clean clothes after Mona helped him bathe his bruises as well as clean his cuts.

They sat at the kitchen table sharing some mini crackers and Orange Juice. Mona had been doing her homework when Callum came in, but she pushed it to the side for a bit so she could talk to her baby brother.

"How many were there?" asked Mona, her voice venomous.

Callum felt a little scared hearing Mona's tone, he could tell she was furious and he only hoped not to get into her serious bad books.

He and Jake had played pranks on her or teased her, since they were siblings and it came with the territory, but they never went so far as to hurt her and often they knew when to stop if Mona had enough.

"Three." Callum answered.

"Three against one hmmm?" Mona questioned "How brave(!) Not!" she snapped as she took a sip of juice.

"Please don't tell mum and dad." Callum begged making Mona look at him questionly.

"Why?" she asked.

"I don't want trouble." he said "And anyway, they won't take it seriously, they'll think I started something, and the teachers won't believe me, they'll think I'm telling tales."

"They'd never say that! Mum and Dad wouldn't! And the Teachers will accuse you of Telling Tales?" asked Mona.

"If they don't see any bullying happening, they won't do anything!" Callum insisted.

"Bollocks!" Mona growled "I can't believe that."

"Please!" Callum begged "Please don't tell mum and dad!"

Mona looked at her younger brother and she could see the desperation in his eyes.

"I came to you because you're by big sister!" Callum pleaded "You can protect me! With your martial arts! And you listen to me! Unlike mum and dad who just lecture!"

Mona looked at her brother in slight shock.

"Huh?" she asked.

"You can!" Callum started to weep "I know you'll listen to me! The teachers won't listen! Dad will just say I need to toughen up because I'm meant to be a man, and mum will just get angry."

"Not at you baby brother!" Mona said "I promise! They won't be angry at you! You did nothing wrong!"

"I still don't want to talk to them." Callum said "Please sis! Can this just be between us and Jake?"

Mona sighed. She wanted to tell mum and dad, but she didn't want to betray Callum's trust, especially since he looked up to her and they were close.

"Okay." she said "I won't, but if things do get really bad, will you promise me you'll speak to them?"

Callum looked down.

"I don't know." he said "I'm too scared."

Mona placed her hand on Callum's.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, shall Jake and I walk home with you when we finish classes? I'm sorry I wasn't there to walk with you since I had a free period this afternoon."

"It's okay." Callum said.

Mona gave Callum a small smile.

"Remember what I said about bullies before?" she asked.

"They're cowards." Callum replied.

"Exactly." said Mona "They have no honour and they'll pick on someone weaker than them, as well as hang in a group so they feel stronger, that's all bullies are! And they do it and believe they'll get away with it, but they won't! I can promise you that!"

Callum smiled at his sister feeling a little confident after speaking to her.

End Flashback

"Since that day, Jake and Mona walked home with me so the bullies couldn't get me afterwards" Callum said.

Sephie smiled within as she listened to the Raven speak of how Mona and Jake looked after him back then.

"Things worked for a while and the bullies laid low when they realised I wasn't alone." Callum went on, "But soon they realised where we hung out after school or on weekends, and they started to chase me outside of school, and one day, they got me at the local park...

Flashback

Callum hung down from the monkey bars at the local park trying to see how long he could hold himself up as he was hoping to try and get strong muscles whilst Jake was timing him on his watch.

Monalisa was sitting on a bench nearby doing some reading for revision since she had a test on Monday.

"Good job little brother!" he said "20 seconds remaining and you'll have reached your target time of two minutes and thirty seconds!"

"Sweet!" Callum said as he kept holding on.

"Keep holding! Keep holding!" Jake said.

Callum clenched his fists around the monkey bar as he tried to hold on, his flesh was starting to sting but he ignored it.

"Okay, almost there now!" he heard Jake say but he then he heard a thump, then his big brother grunted, and he looked over to see that Jake's glasses had been knocked off and he was looking around for not only them but the reason they got knocked off his face in the first place.

Callum let go and looked around then he heard laughing.

"Whose there?" he asked then he almost jumped of his skin as he saw the three boys who had been picking on him at school! At the same time, he saw Jake's glasses and quickly handed them to him to which his older brother thanked him gratefully and put them on to which he was able to see Callum's tormentors.

"Looks like the dork has a bodyguard!" one of the bullies jeered as he saw Jake.

"And you're my little brother's tormentors." Jake growled as he glowered through his glasses.

"Ohhh!" the bullies jeered "Quite the brave one aren't you?"

"And you think you are?" asked Jake as he stood before Callum to protect him "Three of you against one? That's not what I'd call bravery!"

The leader of the bullies glared and turned to one of the duo on either side of him who was holding a tennis ball.

"Hit the nerd again!" he ordered to which the second bully threw the tennis ball before Jake or Callum could move and it knocked off Jake's glasses again making him yelp!

"Jake!" Callum cried in worry and the bullies laughed.

"Not so tough without your bodyguard huh?" asked the Ringleader, "We're gonna pound you so hard, you're grand-kids will feel it!"

Callum was scared as he saw the bullies step towards him, but before they could lay a finger on him or Jake, the Ringleader was knocked back slightly as a tennis ball was thrown at him and bounced off his shoulder.

"Hey!" he cried "What the hell?"

Callum was also confused then he looked behind him to see Mona walking over with a face like thunder.

"Get away from them you bullies!" she hissed clenching her fists.

The bullies saw Mona and glared.

"Hey! Stay out of this bitch!" the Ringleader said then the two other bullies began to throw tennis balls at her.

As they did, Mona instantly began to evade and dodge them, even though some did catch her arms, shoulders and legs, she wasn't bothered and kept stepping towards them.

Seeing Mona wasn't going down, the bullies started to get nervous and the Ring leader threw the last tennis ball at her aiming it for her face, but that proved pointless as Mona caught the ball with ease and squeezed it tightly.

The two followers stepped back in fear yet the Ringleader stood firm.

"Now." Mona said in a calm voice "I'm going to ask you nicely," she then frowned as she spoke behind gritted teeth and stood next to Jake and Callum "Stay away from my brothers! Or you'll have me to answer to!"

The Ringleader still glared but the followers nodded and kept stepping away.

Mona then lifted the ball to throw it at the ringleader who then realised how serious she was and turned around and fled!

As he ran off, Mona threw the ball and it hit the leader on the back of the head making him stumble and fall flat on his face making Jake and Callum laugh.

He then scrambled to his feet and followed his fleeing friends, but whilst he was still in ear shot he heard Callum yell at him.

"Pathetic huh? You got owned by a girl! You'll never live that one down!"

He laughed harder and watched as the bullies ran out of the park and out of sight.

Mona smirked as she watched the bullies disappear and she looked at Jake and Callum who grinned.

Jake had recovered his glasses for the second time and had seen Mona show the bullies who was boss.

"Thanks so much sis!" Callum grinned as he hugged Mona tightly "I love you so much!"

Mona hugged her brothers again tightly.

"I love you too!" she said.

Jake smiled proudly at Mona.

"We're lucky to have you big sis!" Jake said "Promise you'll always be there for us!"

"I will!" Mona said fervently "Cross my heart! Hope to die!"

"Pinkie swear!" Callum said holding up his finger.

"Pinkie swear!" Mona said holding up her own pinkie and Jake joined in "Siblings stay together!" and the boys agreed with a smile.

End Flashback

"...Yet she didn't keep her promise." Callum growled "And she never came home! She should never have left us! She was my rock when I was at my lowest! And when she disappeared, all my happiness did too! She was my heroine, and I lost her!"

Sephie looked down sadly.

"Cal..." she said "You do realise it wasn't Mona's fault, she never wanted this to happen."

"She shouldn't have gone down that path!" Callum growled, his voice starting to get louder the angrier he became "She never should have taken that short cut! The Purple Dragons would never had taken her from me! From us! All this shit we fell into never would have happened!"

"Callum," Sephie spoke softly "I can understand you're mad, and there's nothing wrong with being mad, but being angry at Mona and blaming her isn't the answer, she never wanted this to happen, we all make mistakes, even if they do have tragic consequences."

Callum glared at Sephie and looked at the wall.

He was angry at Mona, for many things, and even though deep down, he knew it was wrong, and Mona wasn't at fault, he still couldn't help but feel angry at her, even hate her especially since now he was a mutant.

After a while of silence, Sephie decided to ask Callum again about his home life in Wisconsin.

"Tell me more about your family, Callum." she said "I would love to hear more."

Callum exhaled as he thought about his parents, and tears of sadness stung his eyes as he thought of his mother, yet angry ones came as he thought of his father.

So Callum has spoken about how he trusted his sister with everything when he was younger, but now, things have changed so much!

For those of you who have been bullied in the past, as I have, it's horrible, and I remember feeling alone at school when I felt I couldn't talk to the teachers as some would just think if they ignored it, then it never happened, or it would go away, but nope! Didn't work that way! And then there's the whole 'Stop Telling Tales!' thing!

If you're being bullied, whether you're in school, college, in the workplace or even outside, talk to someone you know and trust. Bullies can't be allowed to get away with their cowardly behaviour.

See you next chapter! xxx