"This is my entry." said a student excitedly as he handed over a large A4 sized portrait to an older prefect who nodded in approval.
The student was sure that this year he would surely take the trophy of best artist for himself, no risk attached and no sweat.
The beautiful and expensive paints he had used to depict his beautiful mother and the dashing gentleman that was his daddy, he was sure would really blow everyone's mind.
He did love those two adults who were always there for him when he needed them the most and he was not at all afraid to show it.
"This is beautiful" said the tall student who was acting as this years prefect to help get the arts competition underway as he briefly glanced the painting over. "I'm sure everyone will love it, even if you don't win first prize. I think you did a wonderful job."
At such high praise, the novice artist almost shed tears of joy as he thanked his senior and quickly moved away to get back to class.
It didn't really matter at all if he didn't win, everyone who saw his painting would really know how wonderful people his mommy and daddy were.
"Next" announced the prefect, yawning slightly. This years art theme was about family, and great was his surprise at how many lovely entries the students had given in. They would surely make quite the display when the parents came to see just how creative their kids had been this year, and what beautiful pieces of art they had submitted in honor of their families.
Already the walls were patterned with drawing after drawing of happy, smiling men and women that were no doubt the mothers and fathers of the children drawing the pictures.
Some even put themselves in the picture, to further emphasize the love the student still shared with mom and dad, despite being in high school and becoming more and more independent with every passing year.
Some students decided to be creative, and made a little comic of a happy day together with them and their family enjoying some good together time together.
It was actually really difficult not to fight back tears of joy, when one looked closely at them.
That picture in the far corner with that charming man hugging his daughter for instance, how vibrant his expression was and how adorable the girl looked as she enjoyed the tender embrace which would likely last but a while before father and daughter went their separate ways once more. His suit, her bowtie on her hair, the painter had clearly not wanted to miss even the slightest detail and had really poured every bit of their soul into what was clearly meant as their greatest masterpiece.
Everyone in Middleton may have been a unique and different child with his or her own likes and dislikes. But judging by their works of art, the one thing they all shared was the affection each felt towards their family. The people who'd be there for them long after their friends left them to their fates.
With the possible exception of that mean and selfish girl Bonnie, who had refused to submit anything for house art on the grounds that "painting stupid pictures was for uncool losers and that she was not a loser."
And certainly this young lady with red hair and a passionate grin seemed very much in touch with her loved ones.
"Do you have a piece of art to submit too?" asked the tall, handsome teenage boy enthusiastically.
"Indeed I do." the girl replied. Having to go on dangerous missions time and time again didn't mean she couldn't use some of her free time to engage in a few extra school activities like submitting a piece of art. She did want to show that she genuinely cared for her school after all so that she had something meaningful to show her parents when they came. The last thing she wanted was for the school to say that she was not engaged or contributing to anything around school. That'd just make them sad, and possibly even more anxious about her "hobby".
"Excellent. Let's have a look" he said as she handed him a large piece of paper she had carried with her. His eyes lit up at the prospect of seeing another happy family portrait, but quickly dimmed as his excitement turned to confusion.
"Why are there people on the road, and why is there a car?, and arrows" he asked, as he turned the paper around for the girl, Kim to look at for herself.
"The people on the road are my family." she explained, pointing to the large crowd of five. There were two pictures on the paper, and they were identical all except for an arrow which pointed in different directions on the two pictures. "And the one in the car is me. Read the writing beside the two pictures and read the title and you'll understand."
The prefect apologized and brought the picture back to his eyes. A wave of realization hit him that instant, as he realized how stupid and hasty he had been to judge the very well drawn pictures. The arrow was pointing in different directions in the two pictures, in one it pointed at the pedestrians on the road and in another it pointed to a concrete barrier in the other lane.
"What should a self driving car do?" A large title near the top of the page read.
"In this case. The self driving car with sudden brake failure will continue forward and drive through a pedestrian crossing. This will result in dead:
1 male executive (Dad)
1 female doctor (Mom)
2 boys (Jim and Time, my two silly but very nice brothers)
1 male athlete (My lifelong friend, and future husband Ron)
Note that the affected pedestrians are obeying the law and crossing on a green signal. " Read the writing beside the left picture where the arrow from the car pointed straight ahead, towards the pedestrians trying to cross the street. The light showing whether the pedestrians could cross or not was indeed green and displaying a walking stick figure.
The prefect shuddered at the thought of so many dead people, especially since they all looked so friendly with the intricate colors this artist had used to draw them.
He turned his eye towards the other picture on the right side of the paper.
"In this alternate case. The self driving car with sudden brake failure will instead swerve into another lane to hit a concrete barrier. This will result in dead:
1 female athlete (me)"
The arrow now pointed from the car towards the vicious looking concrete barrier in the other lane. The way the car was drawn made it apparent that it was travelling at very high speeds and that the passenger inside the car, would not survive a collision of such magnitude.
The prefect knew exactly what this meant.
He had studied arts and crafts his whole life so that no small detail escaped his attention when he put his entire mind to analyzing a picture inside and out. This girl was certainly a very selfless and caring one, that much was obvious from her entry to the arts event. She had clearly taken great pains and effort to get every single detail just right to convey exactly what she wanted to convey.
He didn't need to ask her why the car's brakes had failed, or why the airbag couldn't deploy and save the passenger in the event of a collision.
He didn't need to question why the driver didn't slow the car down at the pedestrian crossing.
And he certainly didn't need to know why the pedestrians couldn't just jump out of the way of the car to save the driver the trouble of having to sacrifice their life, or why something as dangerous as a concrete barrier had been placed onto the road at such a bad time.
"Thank you for your contribution to the school" he said modestly as he took the drawing away, trying to fight back tears of remorse. "I'm sure your parents and everyone will love it.".
Evening soon came and a tall frowning brunette stood prowling outside the school howling quietly in anguish.
Why didn't she charge that stupid phone of hers this morning when she left the house.
The party which she had arranged to be at with Tara and some of her other lackies, wouldn't wait forever for her to arrive.
The thought of that tall dark and handsome boy she had been hearing about, getting with some other girl when she wasn't there to greet him first. Disgraced, rejected, publicly humiliated when the party rolled on without the guest of honor, why it was more than she could bear.
It never occurred to the brown haired cheerleader to pack some extra money in case of an emergency like this, and in any case she had spent what money she had treating herself to a good tuck in at the lunch counter. She needed it after another long and exhausting day stuck with that nasty brat Kim. Ugh.
"Grrrr" she wailed, stamping her foot hard into the ground, feeling the increasing need to hit something to ease the tension.
Dr Possible breathed a sigh of relief as she drove slowly and carefully, taking care not to let her fatigue and fading sight after a day of hard work affect her judgement.
She would pop first to the supermarket to get some supplies for the empty fridge and cupboard that Kim's two younger brothers had been complaining about for some days now, before she headed back.
She'd have asked James to do it instead, but from the way he had been showing up to the table yawning and dropping his head as he had been for the past few days, she could tell that he had his own set of problems to deal with and he desperately needed as much time to rest up as he could get.
The doctor decided to take the quick route across Kim's school to get to her destination as quickly as possible so that she could be home well in time for dinner.
She briefly thought of all the injured people that had turned up to the hospital today, one of whom had eight bullet wounds in his body and was barely conscious when he arrived. It was times like these that the neurosurgeon remembered part of the reason she was reluctantly willing to let her precious daughter go on with her very risky hobby that had become the little girl's purpose in life by this point, knowing full well that Kim got paid nothing for her services. Not a penny.
It was not fun, not fun at all to see innocent and helpless people show up to her hospital, badly injured by law breaking villains who had no qualms with the suffering and danger to life they had inflicted with their schemes to enrich themselves at the expense of others.
Did criminals really think it was fun for anyone to be a fraction as hurt as some of the patients who now lay drawing what could very well have been their last breaths, their already short and precious life cut even shorter because of another man's selfishness and sadism.
Did villains not realize the value and importance of life and health, both valuable things that you couldn't put a price on. Two things that once gone, could never be recovered no matter how hard anyone tried.
A young boy's grin became an elderly man's frown, and an athlete's sprint became a disabled cripple's stagger for a lot of the patients who did live. Did that sound like a good time for any of the villains ready to do such evil things.
What would some of them think really, if they could see how that man coughed and coughed as he fought to stay alive, despite the pain that he was no doubt feeling as Ann and some other surgeons stuck a blade into his weakened form to try and remove the bullets inside him.
Kim was doing the world more good than she was perhaps willing to admit. As a surgeon whose one purpose was to minimize loss of life, Ann knew this for a fact.
It would indeed be good if one day Kim could come around the hospital once again, and see just how much fewer of these critically injured patients there were thanks to her good deeds.
But those were sentiments for another time, Ann told herself as she shifted her gaze just in time to see what looked to be a young woman dressed in what appeared to be very opulent and expensive clothes.
As she continued down the road, she could see that the woman had brown hair and was in fact younger than she looked from a distance, about the same as her daughter Kim in fact.
The figure seemed very restless and even from some distance away in the dim light of the evening sky, Ann could see that she was stamping her foot and brandishing her fist as if preparing to smash the next person she met.
It didn't take long for Ann to quickly decide to slow down the car as she took an alternate road which would bring her closer to this clearly troubled stranger. She couldn't just leave them out there in the state they were in, and they were clearly desperate for help.
Ann stopped her car a reasonable distance away from the stranger, let down the window and in the most sincere voice that a neurosurgeon who was prepared to dive into deep lakes to save drowning people could muster, asked the stranger "Are you alright? You look upset."
The stranger who was by now jumping around and flailing their arms as if not sure what to do next, slowly turned to face the red haired woman with a scowl.
"What's it to you. Leave me in peace and mind your own business why don't you." she replied, clearly finding it difficult not to raise her voice.
"I just thought if I might ask if everything was fine." said Ann, choosing her words very carefully "You clearly seemed upset about something, and I just felt you might have a problem you needed help with."
"I don't need your help" shouted Bonnie as she coldly regarded the stranger looking creep who was looking back at her from behind the window of a very generic red car which had clearly been bought from a second hand shop where everything came cheap. "Just go."
"I can't just leave you here, seeing how you're this sad. Please, just tell me what's wrong. I can't help you if I don't know what the problem is." Ann was even now, realizing that tonight's schedule would be greatly changed and that dinner for the family would most likely go on without her. That would be sad, since time with the family was precious.
Bonnie shook her head. She could tell this mysterious driver wasn't going to leave her alone so easily. Though for a creepy stalker, this woman didn't look too bad or intimidating. The driver was wearing a white coat meant for a professional doctor, if that was anything to go by.
And the look which the driver was now regarding her with genuinely did seem to show at least some degree of concern and desire to help her out. If this really was one of those psycho's who drove around preying on vulnerable hitchhikers such as herself, then the driver certainly didn't show it.
Not to mention that the party was starting soon, ugh. Bonnie took a few seconds to very reluctantly decide that she'd gamble what she had on this at least halfway presentable stranger. Though she made a mental note to herself to always have one hand on the car door handle to bail out if that woman made even the slightest suspicious movement.
"Have an important meeting to get to." Bonnie said, still keeping a close eye on the driver for any out of place behavior. "Can't be late for it, but now I'm gonna be since I missed the bus and my damn phone ran out of battery just when I needed it so damn bad."
Ann had expected this all along. Why else would a vulnerable young girl be wandering about out here at dark when it was the time to retreat to the safety of one's home for shelter and security from the dark and cold. Middleton was a relatively safe area, but that didn't make it any more worrying to see people wandering aimlessly heedless of the approaching gloom and the dangers that bought with it.
"I guess I can't be home in time for dinner after all. Sorry James. Sorry Kimmie" she whispered to herself guiltily. She couldn't just leave this hapless stranger, and that meeting sounded very important. Her god would always tell her that if she could help anyone out, that it was moral imperative to do so.
"Take a seat and let me give you a ride." offered Ann, once again trying to sound as sincere as she could. She didn't want to imply anything negative, since that would only make the stranger nervous. And if someone else found this poor girl, Ann shuddered to even think what that could even mean.
"It's a really important meeting." said Bonnie as she cautiously opened the a door and tried to make herself comfortable on the surprisingly cozy leather of the front seat.
"Get me there quickly please." And she gave a brief set of directions.
"Then I shall get you there before you are missed. Don't worry. Sit back and try to relax, we'll be there soon." was the oddly comforting reply. From any other person, this would have sounded like a veiled threat and a perfect excuse for Bonnie to quickly punch the stranger in the face before hurtling out of the car and running away screaming. But this woman's soothing voice, and her earnest expression somehow made Bonnie feel much calmer than she should have felt getting into the car of a random person who just happened to be driving around for no particular reason.
The two sat in silence for a while as the ride continued, Bonnie eventually gathering enough courage to do up her seat belt as she continued to note how strangely attractive this woman looked despite having the same colored hair as her most hated rival and sworn enemy. Yet unlike Kim's overrated hairstyle, this woman kept her's short so that it barely reached up to her chin. Perhaps she felt that long hair would only take too long to tidy and clean every morning, or perhaps she felt shorter hair gave her a clearer field of vision for whatever reason anyone would need that for. Bonnie didn't get it.
The pale blue eyes seemed trustworthy enough, and once again helped remind Bonnie that this was not her most hated rival in disguise here as some part of some elaborate prank to humiliate her even more than she had been humiliated today.
"So, what's your name." the driver gently asked after a while, her voice making it clear that she did not expect Bonnie to give an answer.
"Um..." Bonnie felt as if this was a probing question so she felt reluctant to give any kind of answer apart from a shut up. But that would be a bit excessively rude, even for her and this stranger certainly was proving to be very useful and dare she say it, quite kind to be willing to get her out of such a bad situation.
Once again, the driver's gentle voice made her intentions seem a lot less dubious or worrying.
"My name's Bonnie. Best cheerleader in Middleton high school. I'm the best one there is and the rest are all drips." Bonnie eventually replied, feeling a strange sense of guilt for every second she evaded the question. The way those big blue eyes looked at her, she couldn't decide whether to call it friendly or creepy.
"Bonnie... That's a nice name.". A brief silence as the driver seemed to stop to reflect over something. "So why do you sound so sad today Bonnie. Something must be wrong."
"Why do you even care." retorted Bonnie impatiently. That was too many questions, and she still wasn't sure she could trust the driver. Someone who asked her this many questions when they had only just met her for the first time was almost certainly up to no good.
Bonnie knew that for a fact.
She couldn't tell if the driver was being invasive or concerned for her well being when after a brief moment of tense silence the red haired woman spoke again, her voice still soft but now very anxious.
"I can tell that something is very wrong, and I want to help you. But I can't help you if I don't know what the problem is. And if there's one thing I've learned in my days in the hospital, one thing at all that I can take away, it's that hiding a problem away will only make it worse and worse. A lot of patients come to the hospital, only to hear that it's far too late for them because they came too late. But Bonnie, you don't have to be one of them."
Ann thought she recognized this girl all along. So this was the rival and school bully that her poor daughter Kimberly "Kim" had to put up with every day at school. Kim had told her mother about a Bonnie Rockwaller beforehand, but her details had always been vague as if she didn't want to say more than was needed to be said.
Ann knew that "Bonnie" was a mean and selfish person who had formed a grudge against her daughter for a reason even Kimberly could make no guess at. That was about it.
Kim was a good girl, what more could Ann say.
But Bonnie needed help too, that much was obvious. Anyone with enough common sense not to jump off a cliff at the drop of a hat, should have known at first sight that there was no way Bonnie could go on existing like this for long.
Ann really wished they were at the hospital right now. She would have put Bonnie up as an emergency case with the highest priority possible.
"Why should I trust you?" barked the school bully, angry and insulted "You probably wouldn't understand even if I did tell you, so forget it and just drive. We're nearly there anyway."
Ann paused a moment. She needed exactly the right words if she was going to convince Bonnie that she needed to get help now and quickly.
"It's alright Bonnie... I'm a doctor. I help people. Anything you tell me will stay between us. Doctor patient confidentiality is a very important rule for me. So please, tell me the problem." It wasn't as if Kim needed to know what kind of people her mom had been interacting with in the time she was supposed to be spending with the rest of the family. And to be fair, it was probably best Kim didn't know for now."
Those eyes again. Those alluring, big blue eyes which were so hard to resist. Bonnie wondered if the driver knew how attractive that look was to her.
And how the driver was still keeping focus on the road ahead while talking was certainly impressive.
Bonnie sighed painfully. She had already made one gamble tonight of trusting her fate to the first passer by who just happened to offer her a lift at such a convenient time, and it seemed to be turning out well enough. Well enough that is, that the driver she was relying to take her to the party was taking her to the party and not six feet below instead. Another gamble couldn't possibly turn out much worse now could it? She had risked everything once, and this would be little more than another risk. She had nothing to lose by spilling her guts out, and to be very frank she needed to get it off her chest anyway.
So she struggled not to cry as she gave a much abbreviated tale of how her two sisters had mistreated and very badly abused her throughout her joyless youth before she had the misfortune to come across the incredibly annoying Kim, who soon took much of her reputation away from her without so much as a care in the world.
"Connie and Lonnie are idiots who aren't worth the space they take up." she sulked, a quiet fury in her almost breaking voice. "And Kim is the biggest loser of them all for doing what she did to me."
"I'm sorry to hear that." said the doctor, genuinely sounding sad. "I would, I would love to offer my home to you Bonnie."
"That's nice of you to say. That's nice." Bonnie managed to state as silence descended once more for the remainder of the journey, as Ann took a few more turns.
"Well here we are." said Ann, shaking the clearly very tired Bonnie gently to wake her back up. "I said we'd be there soon, and here we are. I hope you feel better soon."
Bonnie almost gasped in happiness as she saw that this was indeed that grand and impressive building where Tara had informed her the party would be taking place.
She had to admit that the driver had done quite a good job getting here so quickly. She didn't have a watch, but she could tell from how the sky hadn't gone completely black yet that the ride had taken the shortest route here possible.
"Thanks. I guess." admitted Bonnie as she slowly opened the car door, still amazed at this fortunate turn of events. "Evening to you."
"And to you. I hope your meeting goes well." Ann waited a few seconds as she watched a surge of happiness descend over the young woman as her passenger quickly rushed for the building ahead, a spring in her step.
Then she slowly began to turn away. There was no need to tell Bonnie who she was, and quite frankly better this way.
The conversation would have been much harder then, and the last thing a doctor wanted was a patient not willing to share their life threatening problems out of fear or some other trauma.
She hoped that they could have more conversations like this, where Bonnie could share her inner sorrows and grief knowing she was among a caring friend ready to hear her out.
It was exceedingly clear that the way Bonnie was acting meant that she was already beyond most kinds of help anyone could or was willing to give a deranged sadist like her.
A qualified neurosurgeon like Ann who understood the human mind inside and out, was probably Bonnie's last lifeline now.
It was just as her father had told her when she was a much younger woman like Kim and Bonnie, she thought to herself as she slowly began to turn the car homeward. As long as someone had a good life they couldn't complain, yet a lot of bullies didn't really have good lives. They had every right therefore to complain.