1
The first incident from the damned occurred when I was heading into St Givalius on Tuesday.
Was there a reason that, on that day, as kids walked into school with slumped shoulders or heads down, the first of those weird occurrences happened?
Not really.
I guess the Other’s powers needed to affect us one day, if he were to do what he intended to do to us.
And so it began.
I saw him standing there as I walked in through those blue gates.
I was thinking about Kehlani at the time … how far we’d be going soon … what I needed to buy her to keep her happy … that sorta teenage stuff.
He stood on the footpath leading into school, except he wasn’t moving, just staring, not a sign of life within his eyes.
*
I stopped as I came through the gates, just gazing at the boy.
I recognised him.
Levi Clauser ... a Year Seven boy, or so I believed ….
He was one of those guys who hibernated in the library every recess, maybe too scared to come across another kid ... maybe he just liked playing the games in the library.
He started speaking in some foreign language ... and I mean, really foreign, alien would be a better description.
A few girls made small frightened murmurs, stepping back, and I felt my skin crawl as I listened.
*
Another incident occurred at recess.
Usually, during recess at St Givalius the place is bustling with activity ... kids playing games and mucking around and such ... but on this day a gathering of students all stood beneath the Technology faculty near the toilets.
I stared up the top of the building as sun gleamed down from over it.
A boy stood at its edge, looking out.
He spoke in that weird alien language the other guy had been, a long grin upon his face as blood dripped down his cheek.
*
At lunch I was sitting with my girlfriend Kehlani when we saw the girl for the first time.
I was chewing on a peanut butter sandwich Mum, the legend had made for me.
Kel’s leg was draped over mine.
A game of basketball played out on the court, as Kel and I just watched.
I noticed Hailey’s hair first … I guess I did because it shone with a brightness like no other I’d seen … like it came from some other world.
With my girlfriend leaning up against me, I prayed Kel didn’t sense that jittering deep within my chest we sat there.
Frowning, Kel looked out towards the girl as she passed.
‘Who’s the new girl?’ she asked.
’I looked up, pretending I hadn’t noticed her. ‘New girl?’
Kel nodded towards the girl.
I shook my head, my heart now slamming.
‘I have no idea ...,’ I told her.
*
The worst of the initial incidents happened during Geography that day, last period.
All us Year Elevens copied some notes from the board, and soon a figure arrived in the doorway ... a Year Nine girl and she stared over towards Mr O’Keefe as he marked the roll.
Mr O’Keefe soon became aware of the presence.
In a dull, lifeless voice she said, ‘Mr O’Keefe ... you only gave me a “C” ... why did you only give me a “C” ...,’ and walking in a way that made it appear like she almost glided across the surface she entered the room.
David Brewer, who sat by the door, grasped his nose, turning back to us. ‘Smells like she pissed herself,’ he said, classmates of mine giggling.
Mr O’Keefe frowned at David. ‘David, you don’t—’
But his eyes reverted to the girl as she continued inwards.
He was right, as the girl walked by it sure as hell did appear, at least by the scent in the air, like she’d peed herself ... at best.
As she drew forwards, she passed the gleam of the LED projector which shone up against the white screen out front, and at that moment her features all but disappeared … as a ghost appeared to drift by before us.
She then slunk out the knife.
*
Out by the front gates after school, Kel, myself and my mates discussed the odd events that day.
At this point the new girl walked by again, hair dark gleaming in the evening light.
As I held Kehlani’s hand, I felt my heart jitter once again, and in the distance, clouds covered the sun for a moment.
*
The weekend arrived, and Kehlani and I walked along the main street of Burarra.
Thompson Street, the main drag, was pretty much the only cool place to be Saturday morning.
We held hands as we walked, Kehlani gazing in through shop windows, and soon she stopped before Footwear Plus, pointing, saying, ‘Those heels look so adora—’
Some yelling up ahead caused her to pause mid-sentence.
I peered through the few groups of shoppers and townsfolk strolling along that morning, and there stood a man in ragged old clothes before a security guard, pointing behind the guard.
He shoved the guard, yelling, ‘You can’t kick me outta that place … I been comin’ here for the past ten years … move!’
And the guard pointed behind the man, yelling, ‘Go … get away from here … move off now.’
*
At home, Dad sat up in the lounge room.
He was at the dining table, staring at his iPad, and standing behind him, I looked at the news video which played.
A car served and veered all over the road, people running and screaming, trying to flee the out-of-control vehicle, and now it drove onto a wooden jetty, and as the car hurled off its edge the screams came from the speakers.
*
I sat in Biology Monday morning doing the Start-Up activity when a shadow emerged at the entrance to the room.
The new girl walked through.
As she crossed the front of the classroom, my heart leaped once more into some irregular and painful rhythm, and around me, a few of the heads of the boys rose from their work.
Mr Hollard looked up from where he marked the roll.
The new girl said, ‘Sorry, sir … I couldn’t find the classroom ….’
Mr Hollard nodded, then pointed out a seat for her to sit in.
The new girl moved towards the seat, and I noticed she moved with a kind of grace, that I had, until then, not witnessed before, as though she’d been trained in some particular form of etiquette no one else was privy to.
The folds of her dress slunk over her nice legs as that dark silky hair draped over her shoulders, and as I glanced away, that rhythm hardened in my chest.
*
The bell went for the end of class, and soon came the standard scraping of chairs, or sighs, or exclamations of thanks to the creator.
Students filed towards the doorway, but upon my exit, I came alongside the new girl.
For a moment our eyes found each other, and I was amazed at how green hers were, as though hers were coloured with a material more special and brighter than that of the eyes of anyone else in this world.
‘You first,’ she said, and I choked when I tried to say ‘thanks’ as I passed her by.
*
Kehlani and I hung-out back at hers after school that day, sitting on her couch and watching some Netflix.
The house was silent, other than the voices and sounds of waves lapping up against the beach on the show we watched.
Kehlani leaned against me, and I looked at her.
I took in that small strip of freckles across her face, and how tiny they were, like some miniature galaxy sat upon her face.
Her eyes were so magnificent and blue, perhaps they shone more than the water around the island from the show we watched.
She drew long thin fingers across my cheek.
‘Tell me you love me, babe …,’ she said, those blue eyes staring somewhere into me. ‘Tell me you think about me all the time … that I’m the only one for you ….’
I smiled, leaning forwards. Our lips met, but at that moment those eyes, those green ones flashed into my mind and I withdrew a touch.
I recalled that gentle doused hair, and how it slumped over her shoulders, as though needing to smother every inch of their girl with its glossy hands.
‘What … what’s wrong …?’ said my girlfriend, those blue eyes so bright they might burst.
*
In my bedroom that evening I sat at my study staring into the monitor of my laptop.
*
We played basketball out on the court during PDHPE the following day.
I had possession, bouncing past Nora Morrish, feigning to Ethan Shore, and soon I found myself alone, the ring open and free before me.
Sunlight seeped in beneath that awning as I dribbled, grasped the ball and leaped.
Grayson Peady, having come from the side, leaped also, and soon we collected each other mid-air.
I hit the ground on my back, the ball bouncing away. Stars had flashed in my vision, and when I refocused again, standing above me was the new girl.
*
Having gathered my senses, I tried standing.
The new girl, plus Harper Leffley, steadied me as I did so.
Mrs Grogan asked the new girl and Harper to accompany me to Sickbay, but there went Harper, trying to swat the basketball from a flying Jack Hassell.
*
The girl and I walked towards the office, alone.
‘That looked like it really hurt,’ she said, peering into my eyes, I imagined, to see if I was still experiencing any concussion.
I shook my head, touching that tentative spot on my head. ‘Didn’t hurt as much as missing the shot.’
Soon we arrived at the office, and now kids played games out on the grounds, the bell for recess having sounded.
‘Well … this is your stop …,’ she said, smiling, and before she walked off she turned, saying, ‘I’m Hailey, by the way, Hailey Coeman.’
*
I once more stared at my screen in my study that night, the cursor for the laptop blinking in the Facebook search bar.
Finger hesitating, I eventually pressed ‘H’.
A rumbling from over on my bed.
My fingers skipped on the keyboard, and I typed some gibberish word into the search bar as I glared over at my girlfriend’s face flashing up over and over again on my screen and closing the laptop, I cleared my throat and answered the call.
*
That night I dreamt.
We rode my brother and I, up Summer’s hill.
He was ahead of me, Logie, as usual.
The breeze drew his fine brown hair back over his head, and as he stared behind him in the darkness he called, ‘Come on, bro, what’s taking you so long …?’
I was up on the pedals of the bike, working my legs but further, further that brown-haired boy with the nice skin drifted into the darkness.
*
On Wednesday, during Computers I glanced over the other side of the room towards the new girl.
She stood by a computer, chatting to a few friends she’d apparently met, and soon
her gaze drifted over towards me, and I reverted my gaze towards my friends.
After a few moments, I chanced another glance.
There she was, talking, that dark hair draping over her shoulders like some pleasant oil spill.
