Sarah woke with a jolt to her phone alarm she hit her head on her headboard and she swore a stream of curse words under her breath that would make a sailor blush, like any good Scottish girl. When she hit her alarm there were like fifty million texts waiting for her, but she didn’t have time she had kung fu class and she was already late getting ready. She rushed into the bathroom and tied her hair back and threw on shorts and a t-shirt along with one of her sports bras that was almost wholly unnecessary. She picked a white t-shirt to go under her uniform. She rushed downstairs gym bag over her shoulder her phone left forgotten on her desk.

“Dad, we’re late!”

He was reading the paper and looked at her like she was nuts.

“Kung fu!”

He nearly fell out of his chair when he hopped up. He drove to her class and when she was running in to get changed, she nearly ran over Candace who was coming out of the dance studio next door. She pointed at Sarah and laughed. Sarah was in too much of a rush to care what she was on about. She barely made it to her spot before the lesson started. They were working on the wooden trainers as usual, practicing there strikes faster and harder. Sarah was in the zone and doing good then her mind drifted to Candace and her shrill laughter. She swore mentally she hadn’t taken her pills her day was basically screwed she sighed and continued hitting the training dummy. She imagined it was Candace. She kept striking it harder and harder. She was in the moment and though they don’t tend to use them here she did kiai as her arm shattered one of the thick wooden pegs. She let out another louder one and her punch cracked the main body of the training dummy. She had been so focused on hitting it harder she had lost all track of what was going on around her. The whole class was staring at her. She looked down at her bloodied fist and her blood-stained uniform. Her master bowed to her she bowed to him. He leaned forward.

“Good strength, good power, good speed, bad control. Go get patched up.”

He called out.

“Nancy!”

The older woman who worked the front desk popped in.

“What’s up?”

“Help her take care of her injuries please.”

Nancy motioned for Sarah to follow her, and she did after glancing back at the remains of the training dummy. She’d broken all of the pegs and the top was starting to split apart. Her master looked at her as she went, then back to the training dummy. Sarah sat down in a chair in the back office and pulled her uniform off. Her arm was bloody from how hard she had been hitting the pegs and her hands were both bleeding on the knuckles. Nancy pulled on some gloves and started wiping them down with rubbing alcohol. Sarah winced it.

“Just sit still Sarah, I’ll get you patched up. You’re not the first one that’s come through here bloody from those things. Don’t know why you can’t just use punching bags.”

“It’s my fault. Forgot my meds. Lost track of what I was doing. How much does one of those cost?”

She waved her hand.

“Don’t worry about that, it’s a write off. They do break after a while. It was just weak, was old and dry.”

Sarah nodded.

“I glanced in to see what all the ruckus was about you were hitting it pretty hard, and you looked really mad. Want to talk about it?”

Sarah shook her head.

“Were you picturing it as someone?”

Sarah blushed and nodded.

“Boy or girl?”

“Bully.”

“Well, it’s better to take it out on a piece of wood then them in this day and age.”

Sarah nodded Nancy finishing wrapping her arm and her knuckles.

“It’s not all better it’s going to hurt for a while, but you won’t bleed everywhere.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“I don’t think you broke anything, or you’d be screaming in pain but maybe a doctor wouldn’t hurt if you have insurance.”

Sarah nodded and stood up picking up her uniform top. She went to the locker room and the other students watched her pass. She had kneed the target a few times and she could see bruises forming on them. She sighed and pulled up her shorts then dug in her bag for her phone. She panicked because it was nowhere to be found. Did someone steal it? She rushed out and class was still going. She knocked Nancy’s door.

“Ma’am can I use your phone to call my dad.”

She nodded.

Sarah pressed the number in, and it rang a few times.

“Nancy is everything alright?”

“Its me dad, I need a ride, can’t find my phone.”

“You still have an hour of class.”

“I got hurt, Master Winston said I could pick it up next week.”

“Are you alright?”

“It’s just a few bruises.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“Thanks dad.”

She hung up the phone.

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

“Feel better hon.”

Sarah nodded and went out front. She paced back and forth and a couple of girls in the grade behind were walking downside walk one put her hand her mouth and she was giggle. Sarah narrowed her eyes. She wondered what the heck was going on. Her father parked on the street, and she jumped in. He looked at her wrapped knuckles and her arm.

“A few bruises?”

“Aye dad.”

“Those dinnae look like ‘bruises’”

“I’ll be fine. I just split my skin a bit.”

He shook his head.

“When your mom sees that there is going to be hell to pay, I think I’ll go to the office and get some work done this afternoon.”

Sarah leaned her head on the window. She was starting to ache now.

“You’re the one who signed me up for two separate martial arts.”

“I wanted to make sure you could protect yourself.”

Sarah rolled her eyes.

“It’s not like there are creepy old men around each corner waiting to grab me.”

Her dad shrugged.

“Still some boy gets handsie with you, now you can break it.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. She put her uniform in the laundry sink and started scrubbing the blood out. She thought she had done a passible job and tossed it in the hamper. Her mother was humming away in the kitchen doing whatever her mother did. She avoided the whole conversation about her injuries by going to her room. She was laying on her bed waiting for the painkillers she took to kick in before she could type or even lift her phone. She heard her name shrieked from downstairs.

“Why is their blood on your uniform?”

Sarah put her pillow over her face and grimaced. Her door opened a few moments later. Her mother had her still damp uniform top in her hand, and she was pointing to some blood Sarah had missed near the end of the sleeve.

“Give your arm here!”

Her mother tossed the blanket off of Sarah and gasped.

“Who did that to you?”

Sarah rolled her eyes.

“I did mom!”

“You dinnae run past your mother and not tell her about this. You’re covered in bruises, and your knuckles is that blood? I knew that Kung Fu horse shit was for the dogs. You shouldn’t be hitting solid wood with your fists!”

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“Mom I just forgot to take my pills and I wasn’t paying attention it was my fault.”

Her mother leaned out of the room and was shouting Gaelic now.

“Liam you let your daughter go into a place that was dangerous and you didn’t remember to get her to take her meds!”

There was no answer. Her mother stormed down the stairs on the warpath. The next thing Sarah heard was her mother cursing in Gaelic. Sarah heard her walking back her way.

“That man will be the death of me!”

Her head popped into the room.

“Dinnae think I forgot about you, Sarah Elspeth MacCloud!”

She was waving the now clean uniform top around.

“Sneaking in like a wee little mouse, scrubbing this so I wouldn’t see the blood. I’ll not abide sneaks in my house young lass.”

Sarah pulled her pillow back over her face. It was yanked off. Sarah pondered if her mother was ranting at her in English to show how serious she was or not. There wasn’t much else she could do. Her mother was a force nature when she was angry.

“You know you need to take your meds Sarah Elspeth MacCloud! You dinnae say a single word to me last night when you came home. You ignored me knocking on your door you keep this up you won’t have one you wee boggart.”

Sarah nodded a few times.

“Do ye have anything to say for yourself?”

“I’m sorry mom.”

“That’s start.”

She started swearing under breath in Gaelic again and shaking her head.

“This isn’t over by a long shot Sarah.”

Sarah waited for her to leave. She glanced at her phone. She had so many notifications she didn’t know where to start so as she usually did with such a task when she was off her meds, she just didn’t bother starting. She threw it on her bed and opened her computer. And started surfing through videos. She ended up seeing one on her feed that her friend Kim had sent her in grade six. She realized that she hadn’t heard from her in a while and flipped to her social media and started looking for her on her friends list. She was there but…no posts from her. She was active. She went to send her a message saw all of her posts and messages had been muted. She narrowed her eyes and started looking for other friends from Minneapolis they had all be muted. She started to panic a little she didn’t remember doing that. Then she remembered her dad had helped set up all her social media accounts when she was ten and eleven. She was ready to go yell at her mom about it when she saw notification. It was from Hana. R U OK. Been blowin’ up your phone. Then I hear you have bandages on your wrists? Answer pls! Sarah looked at her phone. She was completely confused. She typed an answer I’m fine hurt myself at Kung fu. The reply came quickly: Thk Gawd. LoL was so scrd af that thing Candace psted. Sarah blinked a few times and replied, What, did she post? She couldn’t help wondering why she couldn’t just type like a normal human. There was a long pause. Here.

A deep-fake it video of Sarah and Richard and she was wearing a suit and he was wearing a dress she had an adam’s apple. With the comment Fixed. Sarah’s fists clenched and she started having one of her panic attacks. The computer started sparking she didn’t react she was long past caring she was so angry. She just wanted to hurt it and anything to do with that video. The computer exploded with sparks, and it slowly crumpled into a dense ball of metal and plastic then fire erupted from it burning Sarah’s hand which snapped her out of her rage and she started screaming and patting out her bandages. Her mother rushed up and then ran out and came back with a fire extinguisher and spray the desk until it went out. They were coughing and her mother opened her window and pulled her and her brothers out of the house. Sarah was having one of her panic attacks they were far worse when she hadn’t taken her medication. Her mother was saying just calm down, but it wasn’t working when has telling someone to calm down ever worked?

Her father’s truck screeched into the driveway. He didn’t even bother turning it off. He rushed over to Sarah and he touched her shoulder.

“Sarah-bear what’s next?”

Sarah looked up at him tears dropping down her cheeks and she was gasping for breath.

“Breath.”

He touched her arm then he did his overexaggerated breaths

“Then breath. In…. out… In… out… That’s it Sarah-Bear hold onto my voice.”

Sarah started to breath normally again.

“Good, good, now what’s next?”

She still had tears falling down her cheeks.

“I don’t know.”

“How about we take you to the hospital to get that burn fixed.”

Sarah looked down and some of her left hand and forearm were burned severely. She screamed as the pain hit her. He put his arms on her shoulders.

“Sarah-Bear you’re alright, we’re alright. Mom will take your brothers into the house you and I will go to the hospital. They’ll get you sorted out. Just breath, I know it hurts just breath.”

Sarah nodded and let her father guide her to the still running truck. She blanked out the ride to the hospital the pain was blinding. It was a slow night, and she didn’t take long to see a doctor. She was almost having troubles putting what happened into words, so her dad spoke for her.

“She was working on her laptop and it burst into flames. Think her battery went up.”

She lost the rest of the conversation because one of the nurses or doctors gave her something and she fell asleep. By the time she woke she was in her bed at home. The remains of the computer were long gone, and she has some thick bandages on her arm. She hurt everywhere. She was still in her shorts and t-shirt from the day before she groaned and held her head. Her feet touching the floor and the creaking alerted her ever watchful mother who was inside her room before Sarah could reach the bathroom.

“Are you alright Sarah?”

“I’m fine mom just need to pee!”

Sarah slammed her bathroom door and sat on the toilet she looked down at the thick bandages on her left hand and wrist. She finished and her mother was still outside she had her meds waiting for her with water.

“It’s Sunday and its summertime I don’t need those.”

“Yes, you do. And here are some painkillers the hospital sent.”

Sarah grumbled and took them she grabbed her phone from her nightstand and unlocked it.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea Sarah, hon?”

“I’m not made of glass mom, I’ll be okay. Hana was thinking I did something drastic yesterday she’s probably sure of it now after my computer burst into flames.”

“Well, if it starts to upset you put it away.”

Sarah gave her mother a look. She was acting weird. Sarah didn’t remember much beyond flaming computer and a video that had pissed her off. What the content of the video was she could not recall. She was swamped with texts, mostly from Hana and Richard. She followed the link that everyone was so angry about, and the video had been taken down. There were a few posts laughing out loud but then things turned, and Candace was getting attacked, a lot and then she saw a post by one of her teammates who takes dance classes with Candace, and it was a gif of her breaking the wooden test dummy with her bare hands. With the comment: Candace do you really want to piss off someone who can do this to a solid chunk of wood? It had so many likes it had gone viral. Sarah sank into her bed her friends had started sending her meme’s people had made. She was stuck between terrified that it was out there and amused by some of them which left her giggle and laughing and crying at the same time. She didn’t know what to feel. Her mother snatched her phone and Sarah was so stuck between absolute devastation she’d gone viral and the hilarity of the memes she didn’t resist.

“What’s this nonsense? When you wanna punch your mom but can’t?”

Sarah had gone past the tears and started laughing so hard her side hurt.

“Is this how you hurt yourself?”

Sarah was laughing so hard she was in tears again.

“Who thought up this rubbish?”

Her mother had scrolled to the top of the comments about the video Candace posted and was pointing at the deleted video message.

“What did she do?”

Sarah shook her head still laughing.

“I have no idea mom, but she sure pissed a lot of people off.”

“Why are you laughing, you’re all over the internet bleeding!”

Sarah shook her head.

“The meme’s were funny.”

“You’re funny.”

She handed the phone back to Sarah when the doorbell ring.

“For the love of! What now?”

Her mother walked down the stairs. Sarah couldn’t make out whatever they were trying to sell, and she went back to looking at the hundreds of memes that had blossomed overnight. They had some that had replaced the dummy with a person. She heard her mother walking up the stairs. She heard shoes or boots on the wood. Must be something important, people did not walk into her mom’s house with shoes on without getting scolded. She entered the room with two officers. They had their hats off and stuck between their arms and their bodies. Sarah looked at them.

“Sarah, these two fine officers would like to talk to you about a video that was posted of you and a boy. They are investigating harassment and possible hate crime?”

Sarah blinked.

“Wow it must have been bad.”

“Well, it was, say what happened to your hands?”

Sarah looked down at her knuckles.

“I went a bit too hard at Kung Fu yesterday. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to see the video. My computer burst into flames as I opened it and it was deleted by the time, I woke up from the pain killers the hospital gave me for the burns”

She lifted her left arm. The closest of the officer looked sympathetic. The other one was looking around her room and paused looking at the charred desk.

“How bad was it?”

Her mother answered.

“Just two small third degree burns she got away from it before it really exploded.”

“Do you know what happened?”

“Her dad says it was a probably shorted and overheated the battery then it caught fire and exploded.”

“He took it to his work bench at the office for testing. He’s an electrical engineer.”

“Doesn’t look like they’ll be much left to test.”

“My dad can do anything with electronics.”

“So, you were here all day?”

“No, I was at Kung fu then I took some pain killers because I was sore. Then of course the hospital. Don’t remember much past sitting at my desk.”

“Any reason you’re asking that question officer?

“Well, seeing the video made me angry, it would be understandable if it made you angry too Sarah.”

Her mother’s expression changed from curiosity to lawyer before Sarah could blink.

“I thought this was about the video, what are you fishing for? I think maybe this is over.”

“Now, ma’am.”

“It’s Lawyer ma’am to you. Coming into my home under false pretenses oh you better have a good reason, Officer. I’m having lunch with the District Attorney tomorrow.”

“There was an assault, and your daughter is the lead suspect. The victim is known to her and identified her as her attacker. And seeing the wounds on her hands. I think we’re going to have to arrest her.”

“Is that so? Sarah, give us your phone, please.”

She made a give me motion with her fingers. Sarah handed it to her, and her mother found the original video and showed them the time and date it was posted.

“You can see plainly here she is at Kung Fu when she gets those injuries, and I’m pretty sure being in the hospital in surgery for third degree burns is a really good alibi, so with all due respect, get the fuck out of my house ye cunts. Come back when you have probable cause and an arrest warrant. You best talked to the DA about this theory of yours I think she’ll have something to say about it. Now get, you’ve outstayed your welcome.”

She didn’t quite manhandle them because that would be assaulting an officer, but she made it clear they needed to do whatever they were going to do elsewhere. She slammed the door behind them and walked back up to Sarah’s room.

“Sorry love, did not realize they were here for that.”

“I wonder what happened to Candace.”

“Well, you can be assured whatever it was, she deserved it. I’ll be taking to the DA about the harassment tomorrow at lunch. You just relax hon; You have an ironclad alibi no matter what she says.”

Sarah nodded her mother walked off swearing under her breath in Gaelic as she went. Sarah picked up her phone and took a selfie. With her left hand held up. Where can I get the laptop battery burst into flames and all I got for my trouble was some third degree burns t-shirt? She got several responses all with some form of sympathy attached. She got a private message from Hana and she had said: Did you hear what happened to Candace? Someone broke into room and beat her half to death! Sarah looked at it for a few minutes. I know the police were just here asking if I did it. But I was at hospital with the burns. No response. She was probably at church or something. Sarah started going through Richard’s texts. Mostly they were asking if she was alright apologizing that he’d danced with her. That kind of hurt her. She didn’t respond.

“Sorry he danced with me? What the fuck?”

She gave a small growl scream and then put her phone on her nightstand and closed her eyes. The best way to heal was to rest and she felt like it even with the Vyvanse in her system. Must have been the painkillers.