Chapter 2: Research
The first few weeks after Harleen's grandfather's death were the hardest for the girl. This was due to her not wanting to deal with her family's grief. Unlike them she was not in the least bit sad, in fact she was celebrating.
By the third day Harleen could not contain herself to the point that she was shutting herself in her room regularly. Her parents assumed it had to do with her need to process everything. This could not be farther from the truth though as she was actually trying not to burst out laughing at everyone's grief over such a sick and depraved man's death. Harleen still did not see the point in telling her family what had happened to her at her grandfathers' hands, since it would serve no purpose at this point.
To the rest of Harleen's family he may have been a great man but she was just glad to be rid of him. They had never suspected a thing and for that she knew just how easy it would be to deceive them if she took her time and planned things out.
Now Harleen was truly free, free from her attacker and free in her own mind. The girl never thought that she would meet someone who thought like her. Who knew human life was disposable and how truly dirty humans were. After all it was everywhere in the newspaper, on the television, there was almost constant violence and no one was really doing anything to fully stop it.
Harleen knew she was just as stained as everyone else, not because of what her grandfather had done to her but cause of the sensation she felt when she heard that man laugh. She also knew that the thoughts that had raced through her mind at the site of him weren't something any normal person would have experienced. Anyone else would have been terrified, the girl on the other hand was thrilled by it. Not only had his actions excited the girl, they made him enticing in her eyes.
Harleen wanted to know more about him, to study him, to be with him. She knew it would take time and careful planning though. She had to be careful, no one could know about her plan or her research. Harleen also knew she would have to show her parents the intelligence she had been hiding all along.
In order to pull this off without seeming to uncaring Harleen planned everything out. She knew she would have to take her time and allow her family the time they needed to grieve or they would not put enough effort into her.
There was also the matter of dealing with the police as they were still intent on questioning her. At first Harleen's parents had insisted on coming in with her as she needed a guardian present when being questioned.
They called Harleen in a total of three times but each time she would purposely make herself dissolve into tears when ever they came to the part questioning about how he threatened her. Harleen wanted to make it seem like she was to ashamed to speak openly in front of her parents.
It was at the beginning of the third session that the suggestion Harleen was waiting for came up. It had been almost two months since the incident occurred and her grandfather had already been buried for a month.
"Now I know we can't take her statements without you present but I wanted to bring up an idea. Since she still seems to distressed to speak in front of you," the officer explained as he took his seat.
"What would that be?" Harleen's mother questioned sounding both curious and concerned.
"I was wondering if it would be alright if we could at least hear the one part with you not present. You would just stand outside the door and she could at least tell us what happened, though we won't be able to use it in court. We're trying to get a complete forensic profile and we believe your daughters testimony will help with this," The officer put forward as he looked at the mother, daughter pair rather seriously.
"Well, I don't really see," Harleen's mother began but then stopped short as she noticed her daughter's raised hand.
Harleen slowly lowered her arm then looked down at her lap as she chose her words carefully. "I want to tell them, but I just can't in front of you and dad yet mom," Harleen admitted as she looked up at her mother with tears in her eyes and her lip trembling.
"Oh darling," Harleen's mother responded and then hugged her daughter tightly much to Harleen's discomfort. The woman released her daughter then looked at her while till holding her arms. "You know you don't have to do this right?" Harleen's mother questioned as the girl pretended to tremble in shame.
"I-I know, it's just that," Harleen began as she dissolved into sobs. Once she appeared to regain her composure, she looked back up at the two of them. "Someone like that man needs to be kept behind bars. If my testimony will help at all, I want them to have it," the girl explained rather clearly as she wiped the tears from her eyes and gave her mother a firm look.
Harleen's mother sighed a little but seemed somewhat proud of her daughters resolve. "Alright," she agreed then hugged Harleen again. "Just don't push yourself," the woman instructed as she released the girl and gave her an encouraging smile.
As Harleen's mother stood up the officer reassured her she'd be called back in immediately after.
When Harleen was sure her mother was outside she immediately turned to face the officer but continued to stare at her lap. The girl had been reading up on how children behave in these situations and she was determined to play her part to a tea.
The officer sighed a little as he resumed his seat and pulled a large pad of paper as well as a pen towards himself. "So little lady, what can you tell me?" He asked Harleen politely as he looked towards her with an encouraging expression. The officer always felt terrible having to do this sort of thing but he knew it was necessary if they were going to put this guy away for a long time.
This is when Harleen began to tell the officer her acceptable version of events. Even going so far as to somewhat recite a made-up dialogue between her and that man. The girl ensured it related to what she had told them before about him threatening her.
Upon finishing Harleen had one final thing to inquire about herself. "Umm, before you send my mom in can I make a request?" Harleen asked the officer as she wiped her eyes with a tissue.
"Sure, what might that be?" The officer questioned, sure it must be something easy like writing a letter or maybe hearing about his verdict as soon as it was handed down. These requests were quite common and could usually be carried out soon after things settled down. Though the question the girl was about to ask would certainly throw the officer for a loop.
This was the start of Harleen's journey to find out as much as she could about that man. "It's umm. You see my therapist recommended I come up with different ways to deal with my grief. The thing is though I don't even fully know what went on in that room. I just couldn't maintain eye contact like he wanted me to," she began, she had made it seem like he forced her to watch for the sake of his entertainment. "I just keep replaying it in my head, like if I could have kept looking, maybe he'd, maybe he'd," she tried to explain but once again dissolved into fake tears.
"I'm not sure what you're trying to ask," the officer told Harleen as he reached across the table to offer her more tissues. He appeared both reassuring and a little exasperated as he settled back in his seat with his arms crossed.
Harleen took a few deep breaths then gathered herself up once again. "It's just, I wanted to ask if there was any footage. So, I can actually see what happened that day in full. I think and my therapist agreed it would probably help me deal with my guilt and grief," she stated even though it was a blatant lie.
Harleen was quite glad that she could exploit her own confidentiality agreement like this, after all the cop could not obtain her psychological report without her parents' permission and after this, she planned to make it clear she did not want to come back.
This is where Harleen first revealed her talent to the psychiatrist she was seeing. She also told him about her interest in the human psyche and why people did the things they do. She made it sound as though she wanted to help people with their issues but this was really her continuing with her plans.
"I'm not really so sure about that," the officer answered in a skeptical tone.
"But I just, he could still," Harleen stated incessantly as her voice began to become more high pitched as she tried to appear very distressed.
"Look, I know you're dealing with a lot. But stuff like that isn't for someone your age, believe me," the officer explained in a stern manner as he leaned towards Harleen.
"I appreciate your concern officer," Harleen replied as she wiped her eyes and gave him a small smile. "But if there are tapes, I need to see them. I can't fully deal with all this without seeing them. Besides I'd rather not suffer PTSD or god only knows what else because of this," the girl noticed to her intrigue the officer looked rather uncomfortable at the mention of this.
"Those are some grim topics coming from someone your age," the officer responded in an irritated manner.
"It's true though, this is a textbook example of something that could cause that. I just want to spare myself if I can," Harleen admitted sounding sheepish.
"And how exactly will it spare you?" He questioned Harleen with a confused look on his face.
"It's a good way for me not to keep replaying the trauma in my mind because I'll be able to really see, that, I couldn't, save him," Harleen explained as her eyes began to swim with tears and she pulled in her lips in attempt to hold in her sobs.
The officer slouched back in his chair and sighed in a defeated sort of way. "Do your parents also approve of the idea?" He questioned still sounding very disbelieving.
"Honestly, they weren't even sure if you guys are allowed to do that sort of thing for adults. I thought I should ask though. After all I need to watch my mental health after what I witnessed," Harleen explained as her voice became lower and lower and she mumbled out that last part.
"If you're parents are alright with it, I can find out. Though you would have to come here to watch them," the officer told Harleen with a reluctant expression.
"Okay, thank you officer," Harleen answered politely as she looked at the officer apologetically.
Harleen had anticipated this and as such had been weaving a very elaborate web of lies to get what she wanted.
The conversation between Harleen's mother and the officer was rather short but seemed in favour of her request. Just in case though Harleen planned to start phoning the station every week after one month had passed.
Once they arrived home Harleen told her mother, "Umm, mom, I don't want to go back to the police station for questioning."
"Why is that sweetheart?" Harleen's mother inquired sounding highly concerned at her daughter's sudden change of attitude.
"It's just, I don't think I can talk about it till I've worked out my grief through those tapes," Harleen explained as her voice trembled slightly.
"Well tell ya what kiddo, your dad and I won't make you go back unless you want to," Harleen's mother reassured her with an empathetic smile.
"Thank you for understanding mom," Harleen replied then gave her mother a hug. As she did this Harleen realized she was almost as tall as the middle-aged woman.
Harleen's plan worked perfectly and she was not made to go back until she finally chose to.
Before that though Harleen would have to start phase two of her plans and that was to show off her intelligence.
Harleen accomplished this easily by showing her parents she could solve all the equations in her brother's university math textbook effortlessly. To say her family was shocked was more than a little obvious.
Harleen's brother walked out of the living room at hearing what Harleen had done. As for her sister the girl completely stopped paying attention to the television and was now starring at Harleen incredulously. Both siblings did not know how to take their youngest sibling revealing such a talent so suddenly.
As for Harleen's parents they both just starred down at the two papers Harleen had handed them. One was the math work and the other was an essay about a book involving some kind of dark otherworldly force.
Harleen's mother finally broke the awkward silence with a question, "Why didn't you tell us before?"
"Well you were always so busy so I never knew when to tell you," Harleen admitted in an embarrassed tone. She had practiced for this and hoped that she had managed to turn red like she planned.
"Harleen honey we're sorry," her mother apologized as she reached out to her daughter and drew her into a hug.
Harleen held the hug as long as she could bare as she knew her mother needed it. After she backed away from her mother she stated, "it's alright, I understand you and dad are just trying to support us. And that's exactly what you should be doing. I just decided to wait till I could find an easy way to show you. I figured if I showed you, I could do University level work it would convince you."
Harleen's dad let out a long sigh as he ran his free hand through his short light brown hair. "Well I can tell you this much kiddo. Your mom and I will do everything we can to support you in this," her father reassured the girl as he looked up at her with a slightly proud smile.
"Thanks mom, thanks dad," Harleen replied then hugged them both.
It had been almost four months since Harleen's grandfather had passed away and she wanted to show that this was her motivation for finally revealing her gift to them.
Harleen had begun both a journal and a scrapbook. The first was to document her strategy's and experiments; the second was to keep track of her obsession. No one knew it but she had begun to kill animals for fun.
After witnessing her grandfather's murder first hand Harleen wanted to feel the sensation herself. The sensation that something had died due to her actions, that its suffering was something she could enjoy. She would plan in advance before deciding which animal and how to kill it. She kept detailed notes on each kill. The size and rough weight of the animal, how old she thought it was as well as its gender.
Harleen's tools of choice were several small knives, a shovel, a rain poncho, and a hammer. It was surprisingly easy to shoplift while out with her parents. That's how Harleen procured her first items to use for her experiments. Her notes were neat and meticulous; there was always a scientific look to them.
The first animal Harleen killed was an injured blue jay she found in the forest. The girl could tell it would never fly again as a whole part of its wing was missing. She decided to dissect it after killing it as she was not sure how loud it could be, although she was quite far from any trail.
Once Harleen arrived at her small site which she had picked out weeks before she first killed the bird after getting on some protective gear. She then proceeded to slowly take the bird apart bit by bit.
This took less time then Harleen thought it would though she was glad she had brought the gear as the operation was slightly messier then she thought it would be.
Harleen meticulously planned out each kill so she would sometimes take several months in between. This worked to her advantage though in more ways than one.
The scrapbook Harleen had started began when she was finally able to watch the surveillance tapes. It had taken only three weeks worth of phone calls on her behalf to get what she wanted.
Now Harleen sat in a small room with a single chair and an old television with a built in VHS player. Harleen decided to take her time with the cassettes, after all she did not want to appear to eager. Plus, this would give her plenty of time to document everything as accurately as possible.
Harleen had written his name across two pages in the center of her scrapbook. The shade of purple and green she had used were garish and bright. She had also outlined the pages in red and black as these colours seemed to be quickly becoming her favourite. The red reminded her of her experiments with the animals and she thought black suited how she wanted to look.
Harleen thought his name rather suited him and had laughed hysterically when she first read it. The girl wondered vaguely whether she should think up a name for herself but no ideas had come to her mind as of yet.
Harleen knew she had to put all these things aside for a while though while she threw herself into her studies. She would still go out and kill things sometimes as well as set the occasional fire whenever the urge became too great, but she knew her parents were watching her more closely now as they wanted her to succeed.
Harleen's parents sent her to specialized training courses so she could skip high school and go straight to University. There she met two boys who were just a bit older than her, one would become her first friend the other a constant headache.
The teacher introduced Harleen to her five classmates that shared the large facility with her. Three of them were scheduled to stay at the place for the next six months because their parents lived in other states. Harleen was lucky because this place was only an hour away from the city where she lived.
Two of the girls as well as one of the boys were about four years younger than Harleen. The other two looked to be slightly older than her and she sat in the same row as them. The teacher passed out the material then left the room saying she would be back in a little bit and to save any questions till then. It was a book full of literary tests.
Harleen had just finished reading the first page when the smaller of the two older boys looked over at her.
"Looks like the estrogen in the room just evened out with us ay boys," He said as he leaned on the desk and looked down towards were Harleen was sitting.
Harleen decided to ignore this obvious ploy to offend her. Instead she turned the page of her book and continued reading. Her sister had told her to read every test through before beginning to answer it. It was one of the few pieces of good advice her sister had ever given her the rest had been mostly drivel to her and was mainly about dating.
Instead of reading his own booklet the boy continued with his discriminatory diatribe. It took Harleen all of ten minutes to read the whole booklet through and another ten minutes to answer the questions. She closed her book which seemed to annoy the boy even more then her ignoring him.
"You can't seriously lead us to believe that you're already done that whole thing are you. Why those three back there," He stated as he gestured to the three younger children who were sitting in the middle of the classroom. "Are only half way through by the look of it, and they always finish first," he finished sounding as though he dared Harleen to prove him otherwise.
Harleen stood up looked directly at him and retorted, "maybe if you actually bothered with the work your parents are wasting their money on, rather than sitting their throwing misogynistic insults at every person with different hormones in their body then you, you'd finish in an acceptable amount of time." Before he could do anything other than sit there looking stunned she picked up her booklet and left the room.
Harleen ran into the teacher just outside of the classroom. The teacher was slightly surprised at the site of the girl bringing her booklet with her. "You're not supposed to bring those booklets out of the room," she said as she approached Harleen.
Harleen thought quickly about what had just occurred in the classroom and decided to tell her teacher the truth. "I'm sorry Miss. Williams, but one of the boys in my row was trying to provoke me," the girl explained as she hugged her booklet to her chest and pretended to look upset.
Miss. Williams sighed as she put her right hand up to her forehead. She lowered her hand again and looked at Harleen before asking, "Was it John or Edward?"
"I don't know his name but he's the smaller of the two and was sitting near the wall when you left the room earlier," Harleen answered still sounding upset as she lowered her arms and looked at the floor.
"I'll have a word with him," Miss. Williams said as she held out her right hand for Harleen to hand her the folder. She handed her teacher the folder quickly. "You can go to the library for now until lunch time," She told her sounding tired.
Harleen nodded quickly then began the walk towards the large library housed there. She spent the rest of the morning reading specialized psychology books, most of them were on criminal psychology.
On her way to the cafeteria to get lunch Harleen heard someone mumbling to themselves down one of the side hallways.
"Damn bitch," the voiced muttered as Harleen got closer. "Thinks she's so smart, the queen of literary prose, the teachers new praised princess," he continued as she realized it was the boy from earlier talking and she stopped just short of the hallway so she wouldn't be seen. "Well just like the raven and the writing desk riddle I'll unmask her for the Neanderthal she is," he stated then began to walk towards Harleen.
Harleen remained still against the wall as he approached her. Harleen hoped he wouldn't notice her but unfortunately, he saw her just as he was about to turn down the hallway opposite her. "How long have you been there?" He asked Harleen trying to hide the alarm that was showing on his face.
Harleen decided to avoid the question slightly. "It doesn't matter," she answered quickly as she tried to step around him.
He blocked Harleen then said sounding angry, "it certainly does matter." He was looking madder by the minute. "Now answer my question," he demanded as he practically yelled at her.
Just then the other boy who had been sitting in the same row as them walked out of one of the nearby classrooms. "That's enough Edward, leave her alone," he said in a calm tone as he stopped beside Harleen and stared down at the shorter boy.
Edward gave the other boy a scathing look before turning and quickly walking away.
He sighed and looked over at Harleen. "Sorry about that. Edward is always trying to pick a fight," he explained to her in that same calm tone.
Harleen looked up at him before replying, "Thanks for that." The girl wondered at his motivation in helping but then she also knew some people were just genuinely nice.
He shrugged slightly then turned to face Harleen. "No problem, someone's got to keep that egoist in check," he stated as he glanced down the hallway Edward had gone. "The name's John by the way, John Irons," he told Harleen, extending his hand so she could shake it.
"Harleen Quinzel," she replied as she shook John's hand quickly.
"Well Harleen let's go get some food shall we," John suggested as he began to walk towards the cafeteria.
The two became friends, or at least as close to a friend as Harleen had ever had. They didn't have any mutual interest and John was two years older than her but they managed to get along all the same.
Now that Harleen had experience with other kids she knew not to expose any of her interests to people. This made it very hard for her to find any common ground with people other than in books.
As the days passed at her new school Harleen ensured she was going at least once a week to the police station to watch the surveillance tapes. She had only just finished the second tape showing his and her conversation on the main floor of the bank. Though there was no audio as the cameras in the bank could only record video at this time.
Even so Harleen's notes from the footage were extensive and already spanned a good twelve pages.
Due to Harleen's covert work she had to sneakily dig out the top of her box spring so she could hide her scrapbooks and journals inside it. She was glad she had thought of this as she knew her parents would probably never move from here. So, barring anything catastrophic her stuff would be safe. She was even devising plans for if her bed had to be moved.
To this end Harleen had started an extensive stuffed animal collection. It was mostly made of large teddy bears and an almost human sized dark red unicorn. Many of the bears and other stuffed animals were also either red or black.
Edward did not bother Harleen again for quite some time. It had been almost a month since she had started at the center.
This particular morning, Harleen walked in to find a booklet already on her desk. She looked through it quickly as she was early and no one else appeared to be there yet. It was filled with a number of different puzzle games. She worked the first few out quickly, the second last page was slightly more challenging but still only took her about twenty minutes to complete. She was about to turn to the last page when one of the younger children opened the door.
Harleen quickly put the booklet aside and took out her math set as they were now moving into the mathematical skills tests.
After finishing up the booklet the teacher gave to them Harleen handed it in then sat back down and once again turned to the page she had been about to turn to earlier in the previous booklet. As she read through the last page the question was actually a riddle rather than a puzzle as the rest had been.
As Harleen worked out the answer which did not take her long she came to two possible answers. The first just seemed silly and the other more than a little obscene for a book meant for children's testing. For the first time Harleen brought the booklet up to the desk and showed it to the teacher.
"What's this?" Miss. Williams asked her sounding a little confused.
"It's one of the booklets. It was on my desk this morning when I came in," Harleen explained as she handed the booklet to Miss. Williams. It looked exactly like the other workbooks that had been given to them, right down to the copyright notice.
Miss. Williams looked skeptical as she examined it closely. As she came to the last page she noticed Harleen had written down the words, "O or P." The teacher looked at this notation in confusion then glanced up at her student who was standing beside her and waiting patiently.
Harleen took Miss. Williams's pen then wrote under her note the two answers she had come up with for the riddle. The teacher stared at it for a moment before exclaiming in annoyance, "Oh what the heck is this."
Needless to say, Harleen was more than a little surprised by this. As she stared at her teacher's angry profile Miss. Williams looked over at Edward who was apparently working for once and questioned in an agitated tone, "Edward, is this your doing?" The woman was so stiff she seemed to be affixed to the floor rather than her chair.
Edward looked over at Miss. Williams with a puzzled expression on his face. "Is what my doing?" He inquired sounding genuinely clueless.
Miss. Williams suddenly stood up with a sigh. "Come with me," she said to Edward as she tried to hide her anger.
"But Miss. Williams I'm not done my work yet," Edward informed her with a worried expression.
Miss. Williams was already headed for the door. "Don't make me repeat myself," she stated loudly as she opened the door. The teacher then walked right through without looking back as the door slowly began to close.
Edward got up from his chair looking annoyed as he approached the door the teacher had just walked through. As he passed in front of Harleen he made an obscene hand gesture towards her whilst glaring at her. The teacher was already waiting in the hallway so she did not notice this.
After the door slammed shut Harleen went back to her seat feeling more than a little confused. The girl took the newspaper which she had been reading on the way to class that morning out of her bag and returned to the page she was on before.
There was a small article in there about That Man that Harleen was intending to cut out later for her collection. She was going to need a new scrapbook soon as the one she had was almost full and she was already on her third journal.
John looked over to Harleen as she finished up with the paper. She always read the whole thing and pretended to cut out several articles that could be relevant to her studies just to throw people off. "What was all that about?" John asked her nodding towards the door and sounding more than a little curious.
Harleen folded up the newspaper before looking over at John. "Not too sure myself," the girl answered as she folded her arms on her desk and laid her head down on them.
"Well what was that booklet you handed the teacher," John questioned as he turned around in his chair to face Harleen better.
"Don't know. I found it on my desk when I got here this morning," Harleen explained as she closed her eyes as though she were falling asleep. "It looked just like our other booklets so I decided to work on it. The answer for the last page though seemed a little odd to me though which is why I brought it up to the teacher to ask about it," she continued as she moved back into a normal sitting position. "Looks like it wasn't though," Harleen finished with a small sigh.
John shook his head a little as he glanced at the door again. "That guy's always causing trouble it seems," he said to Harleen sounding a little disappointed.
"Why's he even here?" Harleen asked as she glanced over at John.
"Don't know any more than you do I'm afraid. I don't try to pry into these things," John told Harleen as he reached for his bag.
Harleen shrugged a little as John looked over at her again. "Sorry just thought you may know more since you've been here longer," Harleen explained as she rested her chin in her hand.
John had opened his bag and was rummaging in it. "Nope and I don't care to," he answered as he pulled a banana out of his bag. "Want one?" he asked Harleen as he pulled out two more along with a water bottle full of juice.
"Sure," Harleen said as John handed one to her.
The next day Edward confronted Harleen before anyone else had arrived to the classroom. He was there when she entered the room. As the girl sat down he looked over at her and said, "Well looks like you're not as clever as you appear to be."
Harleen chose to ignore Edward as she pulled a book from her bag. She was rereading IT for the third time. Instead of backing down the boy continued, "You couldn't solve it, could you?" He smirked as he looked over at her. "Little miss knows everything actually had to get the teacher to clarify," he teased in a superior tone. "I on the other hand would have finished that book in no time," he stared up at the ceiling as he said this.
Harleen continued to read which just made Edward angry. The boy's sense of superiority really did get on her nerves sometimes but she knew being indifferent was the best way to deal with these things. After all, showing interest only makes the monster hungrier.
"The silent treatment again I see, or are you just feigning ignorance?" Edward inquired as he turned his body around in his seat to face Harleen. Again, the girl ignored Edward and continued to read on. "Fine, be silent mime girl," he continued as he glared at her slightly.
While Harleen did not know what he meant by this statement she still kept quiet knowing that Edward's ego would get the better of him and he would explain the statement if she showed no interest.
Sure, enough Edward said to Harleen sounding mildly surprised, "surely you know what that statement meant, I mean it's a direct reference to that name of yours." He leaned forward and continued to stare at her.
Part of Harleen was a little curious now but she still chose to ignore him.
"That name of yours, Harleen Quinzel, if you know anything about good comedy you would realize how closely it resembles the word Harlequin," he explained in a matter of fact tone. "And do you know what a Harlequin is?" He asked the girl expectantly as she read on. "It means a clown, a mime, a jester, don't you see your name is nothing more than a joke and your placement here looks that way to," Edward told her in that superior tone.
Just then John opened the door to the classroom and said as he walked in, "then your being here Edward is nothing more than a mistake."
Edward glared angrily over John due to his remark. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean rich boy?" the boy inquired in a challenging voice.
John took his seat next to Harleen before answering, "Well you're always the last to finish your work if you even do it at all."
Edward turned in his seat to face forward and scoffed. "That's because something as easy as this is below me," he explained sounding smug.
"If you think that Edward, why not trying to beat Harleen and myself at the most complex mathematics testing they offer here," John suggested calmly as he leaned back in his chair.
"Hmmm, tempting, but I unlike you don't fall for obvious baiting," Edward retorted as he picked his bag up off the floor.
John merely shrugged at this comment then grabbed his own bag. Harleen was glad John had defused the situation. He seemed to have that effect on Edward, though Harleen suspected it was only due to John being rather tall and broad for his age.
The weeks passed as they slowly worked through the testing until one day; Miss. Williams stood in front on them and announced, "In three week's time the center will be moving to a new location in the city."
The children all looked surprised at this news as it was the first they were hearing about it. "I apologize for the short notice but we only just got the approval last Friday and the director wants everything moved before the cold weather hits," Ms. Williams explained as the kids all looked at her intently. "As such the center will be closed during the moving process," she continued as the kids began to look worried. "Now don't fret, it will only be for two week and for those of you who are staying here due to distance your parents are being contacted today so that you may be able to go home during this time," the teacher explained to them as she sat down at her desk. "Now there will be no work during this time so consider it a bit of a vacation for the lot of you," Ms. Williams finished as she pulled her briefcase up onto the desk.
It had been two days since the announcement of the short closure of the center. Harleen's parents were fine with it and even said she was old enough to be left alone in the house so they weren't too worried.
John was the early one to the class for once. Harleen sat down beside him and pulled out her newspaper as always. "Hey Harleen," he said looking over at her.
"What is it John?" Harleen asked as she glanced over at him.
"I was just wondering, if you want to come over for a visit to my place during the break?" John inquired as Harleen continued to read.
Harleen was a little surprised by the question as she had never been asked over to anyone's house before. John took her silence as skepticism and continued, "I just thought you'd be interested in seeing some of that robotics stuff I was talking about. We could also watch some movies."
Harleen knew John was just trying to be kind and didn't mean anything weird by inviting her over to his house. After all they were too young for any of the stuff that usually went on between males and females.
"Since you live in the city, I'll ask my parents about it and see," Harleen answered just as one of the younger children opened the door.
Harleen had mentioned John to her parents several times before. So, when she asked about going there for a day during the break they first agreed to it on the condition that they meet his parents first and make sure it was okay with them as well.
Harleen told John this and they arranged for both sets of parents to be there to pick them up at the same time just three days before the school was due to close.
"Hello there," John's father said as he approached Harleen and her parents. He waved at them and smiled cheerily as though greeting an old friend.
He shook Harleen's father's hand and nodded towards her mother with a friendly smile. "It's nice to meet you and this young one to," he continued as he also shook the girl's hand very firmly.
Harleen shook his hand quickly but also noticed that her father's profile was becoming more rigid by the second. She wondered about this as John inched over to her and handed her a small piece of paper.
"I hear your daughter is quite the talent, outdoes everyone in the class by the sounds of it," John's father stated in a flattering tone.
Harleen felt herself blushing a little at these words and she threw John an annoyed look behind their parent's backs. He tried and failed to look innocent as he strode a short way away from them.
Harleen went over to John as their parents continued their chat in the front lobby. She unfurled the paper and read it quickly, it had Johns phone number on it. She stopped in front of him as she slipped the paper into her pocket.
"Thought you might need that just in case we can't figure out a date today," John explained as Harleen looked up at him.
"Don't see why we can't. My dad drives me into the city every morning and you live only ten minutes from the center," Harleen stated with a small shrug.
"Eh, you never know right," John said in response as their parents walked over to them.
"Come on Harleen, we're going," her father said as he gestured for her to follow.
Harleen didn't ask her parents about the visit till the day after the center had closed. She figured they'd tell her that weekend when they had more free time.
"So dad, what day am I going to John's?" Harleen inquired as she looked over at him as he sat reading the paper and sipping his coffee.
"About that, I'm afraid works given me a bit tighter of a schedule then I first thought so I won't be able to take you, sorry," he explained then turned the page of the newspaper.
"Can mom drive me then?" Harleen asked hopefully.
"You know how your mother is about driving in the city," he stated simply, Harleen's mother did not like driving in the city if she could avoid it.
"Well what if his parents came to pick me up?" Harleen suggested as she remembered the number John had given her which she had written down in a small address book she had received as an early birthday present from her grandmother who was now staying in an old folks home upstate.
"They seem like pretty busy people, so I don't think that would be an option," he explained as though this ended the discussion.
"I can phone and ask. I'm sure between the four of you we could work something out," Harleen continued as she stood up from the table.
"I'm sorry Harleen, but it's just too much right now," her father began as he took another sip of his coffee
"But you said I could go, you said if you met them," Harleen countered beginning to hear that high-pitched tone in her voice. She couldn't understand why her dad was being so stubborn about this. After all John and his parents were perfectly nice people and while the drive was a bit much they made it almost every day anyway.
"I said it's too much and that's final young lady," he said rather louder than Harleen was used to him speaking.
Harleen left in a huff and was determined to figure out something by herself. When her parents left for work and both her sibling were out of the house on the following Monday she phoned John. She explained to him about her parents' schedules and he said it should be fine. They arranged for the visit to happen on Thursday as that was his father's day off.
So just shortly after nine o'clock Thursday morning Harleen got into the back of a car and was greeted by John and his father in the front seat. She had decided to leave a note as it really did seem as though her parents left really early the last few days.
"Hello there," John's dad said to Harleen as she put her seatbelt on.
"Hi," Harleen answered back quickly as she straightened up.
"I'm sorry to hear that your parents were to busy to bring you themselves," he stated as they began to drive off
"It's alright, they've always worked a lot," Harleen explained as John played with the radio.
John's father sighed a little as he turned the first corner. "Yes, we adults do seem to need to do a lot of that," he stated sounding a little disappointed.
The rest of the drive was spent mostly in silence as John cranked up the music and sang along.
When they arrived at John's house just over an hour later Harleen was very surprised. The house was more of an estate and it looked as though his house was about five times the size of hers.
"You live here?" Harleen asked as she stepped out of the car.
"Yep," was all John said as he headed towards the front door.
"I'll see you kids later," John's dad said as he walked across the lawn towards a large garage instead of towards the house.
"Bye dad," John responded as he gave his dad a quick wave.
"Thanks for the ride," Harleen told the man politely as she waved as well.
"You're welcome," John's dad answered with a warm smile.
Harleen followed quickly behind John up the front steps and into the main foyer.
After an older gentleman in a suit took their jackets and shoes the boy motioned for Harleen to follow him. "You have butlers?" she inquired trying to hide her amazement.
John merely shrugged in response as he led Harleen to the back of the large mansion. "My workshop's this way," he said as he continued through several hallways to the rear of the manor.
The workshop was brighter than Harleen expected and packed with half made things. "Wow, there's a lot more here than I expected," the girl told John as she bent over to examine a large metallic pair of gloves that were missing several digits.
"I'm still working on those," John stated as he walked back over to where Harleen stood.
"What's wrong with them?" Harleen asked as she looked behind her at several small oddly colored cubes in a glass container behind her.
"The joints are still to stiff," John explained picking one up and examining the palm of it.
Harleen went over to the box and reached her hand in to pick up the bright red one. She held it up close to her face but could discern nothing.
John looked up and over at Harleen then said quickly, "careful with those." He set the glove down and joined her next to the container.
Harleen moved it away from her face and looked up at John. "What are they?" She asked as she lowered it from her face.
"They contain highly reactive chemical agents," John explained as he held out his hand to take the block.
"Why would you have something like that?" Harleen questioned sounding slightly alarmed as she handed it back to John.
"I use them in certain energy experiments," John explained as he placed the block back in its original place and put the lid back on the container.
"Energy experiments?" Harleen inquired with a curious look on her face.
"Here I'll show you," John said eagerly as he gestured for Harleen to follow him to another section of the workshop.
John spent the next two hours demonstrating several of his experiments. As Harleen watched him she wondered vaguely about what he would think about her version of experiments.
Harleen's mind was wandering more than a little as she watched one of John's energy rays, as he called them zap a small pile of the chemicals completely out of existence; there wasn't even any ash.
John looked over at Harleen and noticed her unfocused expression. "Sorry if I'm boring you," he stated as he straightened up and walked over to her. The boy had been so focused on his demonstration he had not really been paying attention to his friend.
Harleen shook her head quickly and said, "No I should be apologizing." The girl got off the stool she had been sitting on and glanced up at John. "I should have been paying better attention," she explained feeling a little guilty that she had only really payed attention to the first thirty minutes of his demonstrations.
John waved his hand as though to lessen Harleen's remark. "It's all good, I already know you're not really interested in this stuff," he said with a small sigh he felt bad having spent so much time practically ignoring the girl.
"Sorry," Harleen said as she looked away from John. The girl hoped she sounded convincing as she actually did not feel sorry more just like she could be doing better things with her time.
John shrugged slightly as he headed towards the door. "let's go watch those movies, maybe Hemsworth can bring us some snacks," he said as Harleen moved to follow him.
The room John took Harleen to was large and had a projection television. There was a large wrap around couch surrounding what looked like a sunken couch in the floor which was covered in pillows.
Harleen had never seen anything like it, then she noticed the walls which were lined with DVD's. She had never seen so many movies in her life, not even at the old videos stores which were now beginning to disappear.
"How many movies do you have?" Harleen asked as she moved around the couch to try and figure out how to get onto it.
"Couldn't tell ya, my parents are always buying new ones," John answered as he searched through a shelf on the opposite side of the room.
"How is it organized?" Harleen questioned sounding genuinely curious as she finished walking around the first half of the couch.
"In alphabetical order by title. Also, if it's a series of movies they're lumped together. Sometimes that means we have to reorganize in here," John explained sounding slightly annoyed.
"That sounds both sensible and mildly irritating," Harleen commented as she finished circling the couch.
"It can be, though it makes finding some things a lot easier," John answered as he moved down the row of DVD's leisurely.
Harleen finally just decided to hop the back of the couch to sit down when Hemsworth wheeled in a tray full of food and drinks.
Hemsworth pushed a button as he came in and a table descended from the ceiling from cables and came to rest in the middle of the room. He then set up the food and pushed the cart in front of him as he left the room.
Harleen looked at all the different food on the table and grabbed a bowl of chips. They tasted a lot different than what she was used to but she ate them anyway as John came back over carrying four DVD's.
John put the first DVD in then sat on the opposite side of the couch and grabbed a plate full of vegetables.
Harleen wasn't familiar with the movies but she enjoyed them all the same. John seemed to find them more interesting than she did as he was rather engrossed the whole time and only seemed to come out of his reprieve when the show ended.
With the last one finished John looked over at Harleen and asked, "so what did you think?'
Harleen had just taken a large bite out of a mango and had to wait to finish chewing before answering, "They were good."
"What was your favourite part?" John questioned Harleen then took a sip of his iced water.
"The one part with, what was her name…Black Widow, where she gets interrupted during that interrogation then takes out all those guys at once," Harleen answered as she sat back in her seat.
"Ya that part was pretty good," John agreed as he rubbed his eyes and yawned. "It's probably time you got headed home," the boy said as he moved towards the edge of his seat.
"Ya you're probably right," Harleen stated as she too moved to get up from the overly large couch.
On the way home the two discussed the movies, it finally seemed like they had something in common.
Upon arriving in front of her house the driveway was still empty and Harleen felt a little relieved upon seeing this.
"Umm, thanks for having me over today," Harleen stated as she looked towards John.
"No problem dear," John's father replied with a small nod as he glanced back at her in the rear-view mirror.
"I guess we'll stick with movies," John suggested as he turned around in his seat to look at Harleen.
"Sounds like a good idea," Harleen agreed as she began to take off her seat belt. "And again, thank you for the ride," the girl stated as she peered between John and his father.
"You're quite welcome, and feel free to come over anytime we are able to have you," John's dad told her with an encouraging smile.
"Ya, it would be nice to have someone else to discuss movie points with and plot ideas and such," John put forward in an eager tone.
"Well that's fine by me. I should head in now. I'll see you again John," Harleen responded as she extended her hand towards the door handle.
"Mhmm, hopefully soon," John told her with a slight nod as he watched her open the door.
"Ya, hopefully," Harleen agreed as she exited the vehicle.
Harleen headed towards her home and vaguely wondered if John would invite her over to his house again. She had noticed a lot of movies she had wanted to watch but that her parents would not allow her to because they considered them to mature for her.
Harleen wondered if John was allowed to watch those movies but then thought they would probably not be there if he was not. She had seen, Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile, Fight Club, It, and many others she wanted to watch.
It made Harleen wonder at what age John had been allowed to watch those kinds of movies from. The girl herself was still banned from watching most thriller and horror movies, though she had already read many of the books for them.
Harleen pondered at this as she reached her front door but as she turned the handle, she was unprepared for what would greet her inside.
Hey everyone,
Here's chapter 2 as promised. I hope you readers out there find it as entertaining as the last revamp. If you want to know what's going on with the story, I'm posting updates on my work on Twitter and Instagram:
Rjmeijers90 rjmeijers90 and rjmeijers90
Looking forward to the next bit of expanding I got to do. If you have any feedback for me as I am still using this to improve my writing please feel free to leave a review. If you have any questions about what's happening in the chapter or need any kind of clarification feel free to ask. Thank you all for reading and also you time and consideration.
Sincerely,
RJMeijers