CHAPTER 3: The Visit
Things get really cool over here! Enjoy!
I woke up feeling relaxed . . . until I recalled the fact that my parents would be coming with me to school today. What if they embarrassed me? Sighing in defeat, I forced myself out of bed and walked down the stairs.
"Good morning, Elsi." my mother greeted me as I descended the stairs. I merely grunted in response as I sat down to a breakfast of Belgian waffles.
"We made it for you so that you could feel better, Elsi." my father explained.
I nodded as I took my first bite.
"And please ― stop calling me Elsi. I don't like it." I groaned. "Besides . . . do you really have to come? What if you embarrass me?" I asked.
My mother laughed. "Of course we won't embarrass you! We'll just keep a low profile and leave it at that."
I almost fainted from relief as I wolfed down my breakfast and proceeded to grab my bag and my shawl.
"Hold on! We're coming with you, remember?" my father exclaimed.
"And just how are we gonna get there on time?" I asked in a bored voice.
My mother answered that question. "Do you live in Toronto or not?!" she laughed. "We're taking the TTC!"
After what seemed like a million years, my parents and I trudged over to Kipling station. We paid our seven-dollar fare, and we went to the eastbound platform to wait for the train. After three minutes, we were on a train headed west.
We were pulling into the Bloor-Yonge station when my father pointed at a poster across from us. I looked where he was pointing and groaned. Service was unavailable from Bloor-Yonge all the way to Kennedy for "track maintenance".
"Hey, what do zombies know about track maintenance?" I huffed as my parents and I dragged our roots off the train and out of the station.
"Do they even try to ― hey! How're we supposed to get to school now?" I sputtered.
"Close your eyes, Elyssia." my father instructed.
"Oh my God, don't be trying your meditation crap!" I grumbled.
Next thing I knew, I felt like I was being swept up in a tornado, and in five seconds flat, my parents and I were in Scarborough. I wonder how that happened . . . I thought as we started walking towards the huge building with a cross on it, and soon, we were buzzing the intercom to get in. The front doors unlocked, and we went inside the office, just as the bell rang.
"Okay, listen. I gotta dash. If at any time you or the principal will need me, you can buzz my classroom using the phones over there." I explained, indicating the phone-like devices to my right. "My classroom number is 314."
And with that, I was tearing up the stairs like there was no tomorrow.
"Good morning, class." my teacher greeted us.
"Good morning, Madam Hibiscus," we replied in uninterested voices.
"I can see that we need to turn up the cold air in here to wake you up. But I have a surprise for you!" Madam Hibiscus exclaimed.
The "surprise" was that we were split into three groups, and I ended up being with Ellen and two members of her gang. Ellen looked pissed off as she looked at me, with what looked like twelve stitches on her forehead.
"Hurt you that bad, huh?" I asked casually just to pull her strings.
"Heck yeah! Ellen told me, and that's why Albert and Brian didn't come to school!" Carol the Cactus snorted. "If I didn't have to take the school bus, I would have whooped your ass!"
I gritted my teeth as our teacher called order by clapping her leaves.
"I'm doing this because if the zombies ever do come to attack this school, we need to be prepared, like it or not. So, show one another your skills, and try to teach one another." she said before she looked back down at her work.
"I'll go first. Losers never go first!" Ellen uttered haughtily as she sauntered into the centre of the group.
"Knock 'em socks off like a boss, Ellen!" Alduin cheered.
"Hear, hear!" Carol echoed. Feeling pumped by the praise, Ellen created a huge load of sun. I couldn't help but clap because I was impressed. As the rest of the plants went into the centre to show off, I gathered my thoughts. I'd show the whole group ― no, the whole class that I was actually a force to reckon with.
"Yo, daydreamer. It's your turn at the plate. Not like you'll do much!" Alduin snickered into my ear. Taking a deep breath, I went into the middle. I eyed Ellen and Carol as if to say, "I'm stronger than you think." I swept my right leaf in a circle, and created a storm of crystals, just the way I did in the living room of my house less than 24 hours ago. Everyone looked at me in shock as the crystals made contact with the wall and disappeared. Finally, Ellen spoke up.
"H-hey! That's not an ability! That's just weird! And that's the major reason as to why you're such a weirdo!" she squawked.
My teacher walked over as soon as she heard the commotion.
"Elyssia, Ellen's right. Why don't you do something that's . . . down to earth?" Madam Hibiscus suggested.
"B-but Miss! It's an ability that I happened to be born with!" I protested.
My teacher just sighed and walked back to her desk.
"See? Even the teacher doesn't give a damn!" Carol sniggered.
I could feel my anger taking over, and I couldn't help it. My instincts just told me to sweep my right leaf in a circle, and this time, I had created what looked like several bullets that found home in Ellen's stitched forehead. Carol gasped, and made her way to the teacher's desk. I knew I was in big fat trouble, because the teacher came marching over to me, and the principal had entered, with my parents in tow.
"Elyssia Antonia Maccabaeus! What the hell just happened?" my mother yelled as she ran over to me.
I looked around proudly. Students were cowering every time I gave them a look. I smiled.
"Now, this will teach you how to treat me like bull crap!" I sniggered.
But as I looked back at my parents, my smirk was wiped clean off of my face.
"O-oh, I'm so sorry! I swear to God that I didn't do it on purpose! I mean it! My instincts kinda took over . . ." I whimpered.
I glanced back at Ellen, who was howling mournfully as the gash I had given to her yesterday was reopened by my frozen bullets. Carol was beside her, giving her words of support and comfort as she slowly rubbed her stem.
"M-mom! Please understand!" I pleaded.
The expressions on the faces of my parents didn't change one little bit. They just looked at me with sheer disappointment. I gasped as they turned to leave and the bell rang. But this time, I didn't go outside. I hid inside a dusty old cabinet until my teacher went out. Then, I ran into the washroom and unscrewed a vent. I crawled in and decided to roam around the school through the vents, stewing all the way. Finally, the bell signalling the end of the day rang. I ran out of St. Henry CS and into the subway station, hoping that the train would come. But several students came with sticks that apparently came from one of the old trees in the schoolyard.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!" Ellen snickered as she and the rest of her gang beat me up.
I had finally lost it. I let my emotions fly past the boundaries, and in a blinding flash, those students had been knocked out cold.
"Ha!" I muttered as I hopped onto the train that had arrived just in time.
"Elyssia!" my mother screamed as she flung the door open and literally dragged me inside.
"The principal wants to talk to you. He's here. Don't be sassy, or I'll give you a tanning that you'll never forget!" she snapped.
I sighed as we took seats at the dining table, wishing that my twin siblings weren't in Humber Summit's infamous graveyard.
"Elyssia, I heard that you gave Ellen a gash that needed twelve stitches yesterday after school, and that you practically knocked Albert and Brian's teeth out because of your . . . powers. Correct?" the principal asked.
I bit my lip at the question, before I nodded slowly.
"Now, I know you're a smart girl who can control your emotions. Am I right?" the Tall-nut asked. Again, I nodded slowly.
"Well then. Detention with me tomorrow. Lunch recess. Perhaps that will teach you how to brutally injure your fellow students!" he growled as he got up from his seat and walked out the front door.
I smiled impishly. "W-wellll . . . not as bad as it can get . . . right?" I asked.
"Wrong!" my father growled as he pushed my mother away and went into the kitchen, only to emerge with a wooden spoon in one leaf.
"Dad! Y-you've gotta be kidding me!" I sputtered. Too late. My leaves, stem and head were being spanked. Hard. Cuts that were trying to heal were reopened, and bruised areas hurt like hell. After what seemed like centuries of this torture, my father calmed down. My mother grabbed the spoon and whacked him hard.
"I have a good mind to call the police!" she hissed. Wiping away my tears, I said, "And I have a good mind to run away from this hell-born crappy life that I have!" My mother and father gasped.
"Y-you're kidding me, right?" my father squeaked. I shook my head.
"You weren't kidding. Why should I be kidding? You guys don't even give a crap about me! Just go to the graveyard and die. There's a nice one by Humber Summit. Would you like to go there?" I hissed coolly before I ran into my room. I packed everything I'd need for my crazy escapade into a bag ― a quarter for the pay phone, a knife, a compass, and basically all the survival mumbojumbo that I'd need. I flew down the stairs and out the door, and I started running along Kipling Avenue, not bothering to stop once.
One hour later, I was at Yonge and Bloor, panting and sweaty.
"H-ha! Now for a place to stay!" I muttered.
But just then, a horde of zombies appeared out of nowhere. I shot my icy jets at them, making them fall, one by one. But then came the unexpected: a zombie shooting an electrically charged bullet at my head. And I was sinking to the ground, fast.