Violet

Chapter 40: Glass Bottles

Loud thunder boomed outside, making a few students in the cafeteria jump. Out of all the schools that were canceled because of the storm, their school decided to ignore the tornado warnings. Ryan looked out the window before eating his flat pancakes. "I don't get why we had to have school today," he said. He looked at the windows, but his eyes eventually drifted off to Abby who sat alone watching him.

Liz looked around. "Violet's late," she informed. "Is she coming today?"

Ryan shrugged. "No clue," he stuffed the small pancake in his mouth, then drunk some of his strawberry milk.

Mariel was sitting next to him, distracted by the soggy pancakes on her fork and Death Dragons singing in her ear. Her head bobbed up and down along with the beat, mouthing the words quietly.

Ryan was nervous. He knew Abby had told the biggest gossipers in school about Mariel's crush, but why hasn't anyone said anything yet? He was growing impatient, thinking the plan would be a letdown. That changed when four boys walked inside of the cafeteria. 

Bradly, Devin, Brandon, and Deshawn. They were the most obnoxious boys in middle school. When they entered the cafeteria they began their annoying rampage. They did things like knock over kid's milk cartons, bang on the cheerleader's table, and flick people with rubber bands. No one except Ryan knew what they would do or say when they approached the table.

Deshawn sat next to Mariel while Brandon stood in front of her. The other two guys just moped around, laughing while looking at Mariel. Before anyone could say anything, Brandon turned his back towards Mariel and cupped his hands over his mouth. "Mariel likes Robbert the rapist!" He yelled out. Soon the other boys started chanting it and more students joined in.

Mariel heard it through her music, trying hard to hold back tears. She didn't look at the boys at first, though. She shot a look straight at Desiree. "What?" She asked, not knowing what else to say to Desiree. Mariel intended for more words to come out, but it wasn't working out.

Desiree put her hand up ."Mariel, listen to me. I swear I didn't say a word."

The kids got louder when someone stood over Robbert and pointed at him. Just like Mariel, he also had dressed in the same fashion. There were many rumors about him, especially because his dad was, in fact, a rapist who got a light sentence that no one thought was fair. This was years ago. Robbert wasn't anything like his dad. He was a quiet smart kid who was well liked by the teachers. However, middle school is like a bad book cover, one look from someone and you're just bad.

Robbert got up and ran out of the cafeteria when some kids got too close to him. He didn't want to have to break anyone's nose, not that he would of course. He left to be on the safe side because not everybody knows their limits.

Mariel couldn't hold back her tears. The last thing she wanted was to embarrass Robbert. Leaving her food behind, she got up and walked out of the cafeteria. It was only until she was out of the room the teachers told the students to relax or their whole grade wouldn't have recess tomorrow. No teachers went after Mariel or Robbert, not that they were even thinking about it. They didn't care that some kids were upset. It was probably nothing important, just an immature fight over something stupid. That's the mindset that some adults have and sadly even teachers.

"Hey, screw off!" Liz yelled at the four boys who were still laughing around the table. 

"Shut up, freckled face bitch," Bradly said, and the others laughed like it was the funniest thing ever. 

Desiree stood up. "I'm going to look for Mariel," she said. Liz followed behind her, leaving Ryan behind. 

When Ryan looked over at Abby, she could see that a janitor sat next to her and that they were talking. The school didn't have many janitors, so it wasn't hard to know that he had never seen this one before.

"Violet and Veronica are home alone," Mr. Harmon told Abby. "Katherine managed to get Veronica drinking before 9 AM. She never seizes to do good."

"Aren't you paying her like a gazillion dollars?" Abby asked. 

Mr. Harmon stood up. "Come on. Let's go."

Abby got up to follow him. Before leaving the cafeteria, she winked at Ryan. He watched as she left, but deep inside he was starting to feel sorry for Mariel.

***

Abby and Mr. Harmon could see Violet from outside of Denise's house. Violet had been on the couch watching cartoons because she wasn't feeling well. She would often frown when her mother entered the living room only to leave five minutes later for another glass of wine in the kitchen. It was official, her mother was a drinking mess.

"What are you going to do?" Abby asked.

"Denise should be home any moment," he replied. As soon as she gets home, I'll make Veronica do something so bad, that no one will think she's safe around Violet."

Abby rubbed her hands together and smiled. "I love that idea. Will Violet get hurt?"

"Didn't we agree that we wouldn't hurt her again?" 

Abby shrugged. "Whatever."

A few minutes passed until they saw Denise's car. She got off of work early due to the storm. Abby and Mr. Harmon didn't have to move because Denise wouldn't see them. It was another power given by the book, but this power only lasted a few minutes. They could unlock more time after more sacrifices.

"She's walking towards the house," Abby smiled when Denise reached the front door. Denise dropped her keys when she heard loud yelling coming from inside of her house.

"No, mom! Stop!" Violet yelled.

"Where's my wallet! You want to steal from me!" Veronica yelled back.

Denise struggled to open the door and dropped it a few times before finally opening it. As soon as she opened the door, Violet burst out of the house. Veronica followed behind her with an empty bottle of wine.

"Help! Somebody help!" Violet screamed. 

Denise was too shocked to move. Neighbors were peeking out of their windows. Some people immediately dialed 911 when they saw a lady barely dressed running after a girl while holding a glass in her hand. Denise finally ran after Veronica. 

Veronica caught hold of Violet and towered her with the bottle raised in the air.

"Well," Abby said. "Stop her. You said you didn't want to hurt Violet."

Mr. Harmon didn't want to her Violet. He definitely didn't intend to. He placed his hand down, however, out of his own will, the bottle smashed down on Violet's head. Glass shattered and fell to the ground along with Violet's unconscious body. Some blood slid from her forehead and onto the grass.

Veronica was still standing, but after a few seconds, she started looking around. She saw Denise first, crying. Veronica then looking back down only to see her daughter sprawled out on the ground bleeding.  She panicked, then panicked, even more, when she heard loud sirens. "What have I done?" She breathed. 

"Get away from that child!" A middle-aged man with a large stomach ran up to her. Without warning, he stopped Veronica from making any more moves by using an arm locking method. "You just wait here until the cops come." 

Veronica struggled, but she could get away from the man. Abby was shocked by the scene in front of her. Mr. Harmon was surprised himself. He was more concerned about why his power didn't work in that moment before Violet had been hit. "I didn't do that," Mr. Harmon told Abby. "That wasn't me."

Everyone watched as the cops handcuffed Veronica. The ambulance rushed Violet inside, closing the door shut behind them.