Today was the day that I start my first day of school.

A day I always wished would never come, but I would get over it eventually because it’s always the same. I knew Dad was in the process of trying to get me into a new school, away from all of what I had to deal with last year, but my grandparents were complaining about it.

I wasn’t sure why my grandparents were getting so involved. I couldn’t understand. Did they not like the school my Dad was thinking of? It was another public school, but I think my grandparents probably thought it was not a good fit. If that made any sense at all?

But it was thanks to my grandparents that I was now stuck in that school.

Again, for another year.

Part of me hated them for it.

For doing something so… stupid.

What was the point of it?

“Amalie?” my father called, drawing me away from packing my bag for school. He stood by my open door, watching me with a smile. He was dressed in a suit that was of dark red wine colour plaid pants and a matching vest with a white shirt and black tie with an ornate pattern that matched the colour of his vest and pants. “Breakfast is ready. Come down to eat. Okay?”

I was dressed in a bright red skirt with no pattern that went just past my knees, a white blouse and black socks that went up to my knees. I merely looked back at my open school bag. “Do I have to go?” I asked. It was a question with an obvious answer.

He closed the distance and sat on the edge of the bed, where he motioned for me to come and sit with him. When I got close, he picked me up and had me sit on his lap.

“I know you don’t want to. And to tell you the truth, I’d rather you stay here. But sadly, we both don’t get much choice. I can’t leave you alone. As much as I know you’d be able to handle yourself, people would question it. And the last thing I want is an unwanted spotlight on you.” He picked up my hairbrush and began to brush through my hair gently. “I’m sorry, sweetie, I know this isn’t what you want. I will see what I can do, and hopefully, by the new year, I can get you into a better school. But if you think you can’t stick it out, tell me, and I’ll do what I need to get you out of that place.” He then reached over to my nightstand and picked up the dark red French hair clip and then gathered my hair into a half ponytail and then put the clip in, keeping my hair in place.

He then wrapped his arms around me in a handless hug and squeezed lightly. “I promise you that.”

I frowned but quickly masked it. Something in how Dad said that he would do what he needed to get me out bothered me. What would he do? What would he do to those people? So, I asked him. “What would you do, Dad?”

“Hmm?”

“You said that you’d get me out of that place. That you’d do what you’d need to. What did you mean by that? What would you do?”

I knew deep down I shouldn’t have asked, but I needed to know because… if it were as bad as I thought, then I’d choose to keep going, just so no one got hurt. My school already had one monster to deal with. It didn’t need another.

I could feel his chin resting on the top of my head. “That is the question, isn’t it? It’s hard to say what I would do off the top of my head, especially with so many variables and outcomes. It really, all depends on you, my Dear. And what you would want.”

I didn’t mean to think back on it, but I did. My nightmare where I let the school burn with everyone inside banging the doors and the windows, calling for help as I watched. But now, it wasn’t just me, my father was now next to me, smiling like he always did. Before looking back to the burning school with that same smile as he held my hand.

It was scary.

“I… I’m not sure.” I say as he lowers his arms, but his fingers interlaced as his hands rest over mine as he looks down at me. “I just don’t want to go.”

I could feel him kissing the top of my head. “I know,” his resting where he kissed me as his body began to sway his body, and mine, as we stayed sitting on my bed. “But don’t worry,” he continued. “I believe that something good will come of it. I’m sure of it.”

I frowned. What did he mean by that? But I couldn’t bring myself to ask.

“Anyway,” he continued speaking very softly, almost in a whisper. “I’ve made pancakes, fried eggs with bacon with some fruit. Strawberries, your favourite.” He then gently picked me up, getting me to stand up before he moved off my bed, taking my backpack in one hand and my hand in the other and leading me down the stairs and into the kitchen, where the smell of breakfast made my stomach growl.

Hunger was a funny thing.

I was nervous about school, nearly making me feel sick, but I wanted to eat my fill of what I could see. I was so hungry I didn’t notice the sounds from the TV in the living room right away as I took my seat at the table where my Dad then placed my plate that had bacon, two fried eggs, two pancakes and three strawberries.

“Oh, it seems like I’ve forgotten the syrup. Give me a moment. I’m sure we still have some in the basement pantry.” My Dad then quickly left the kitchen and headed to the basement. While I remained sitting in my chair, I began to hear what was coming from the living room. It was on the news. I listened to a woman say a name I recognized.

Davenport.

Out of curiosity, I left my chair and silently went into the living room to see what was going on on TV. I could just hear it from the kitchen, but I wanted to see what it was about and what I thought was true.

And it was.

On the TV, I saw Lauren’s Mom. She was short and slightly round with short reddish hair with bright blonde highlights and wore an outfit that made her look like one of those flight attendants on a plane as she was led away by the police.

Funny enough, Lauren looked nothing like her parents being a dark blonde with hair that she always kept in a ponytail, her skin a warmer tone than my own as she had greyish blue eyes and a thin like a ballerina. Even with how she could act, she could do so much more. For one, I never knew just how skilled she was at using a gun. Lauren mentioned offhand that if worse came to worse, she would use a gun to protect herself from her awful family. She also really liked the wilderness whenever my Dad took Lauren and me to the cabin during holidays. She always seemed more at peace in the woods than she did in the city.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Reporters were currently swarming her mother as the woman on the TV talked about how Lauren dealt with the abuse. I knew the word Abuse meant a type of harm, be it to a person’s body or mind. I only came across it once, overhearing Lauren talking to my Dad one night when she thought I was asleep. But I was too worried to sleep, worried for Lauren and what my Dad would do to those people.

But he did nothing. Maybe someone else did it; perhaps it was an accident or something else I wasn’t aware of. Either way, Lauren’s Mom would be awaiting a response from her work and would be put under house arrest.

I briefly thought that the house would be surrounded by jail bars, but to my disappointment, it wasn’t. How would they make sure she wasn’t going to escape her home if she wasn’t locked up in a jail cell?

“Sweetie?” I jumped and turned around to see my Dad looking at me with a slight tilt of his head. “What are you doing in the living room?”

“Um…”

“—Ms. Davenport will be under house arrest until further notice from the courts.” The lady on TV continued. “In other news…”

“Ah,” my Dad said as he walked past me and turned off the TV. “I thought I turned that off. I gather it was distracting.”

“Will they find Lauren?” I asked my Dad as we walked back to the kitchen, where he kept his back to me.

“Who knows?” he looked at me, his smile still there. “We can only hope that she reveals herself when she feels that she’s able.”

I just looked at my Dad with confusion. It was like Lauren had gone into hiding rather than just disappearing. Was she in hiding from her Mom? If that were true, would she come back if her Mom was put in jail for good?

I smiled, thinking about it. I hoped that was the case.

“Sweetie, breakfast is going to get cold.”

“I’m coming!” I head back to the kitchen, no longer worrying about the coming day. If anything, this bit of hope for Lauren made me not think about the worries about school for at least a short time.

At least, until I got to school, that is.

It’s okay… I thought to myself as I gripped the straps of my backpack. I’ll be okay. I let out a shaky breath as a bunch of other kids ran ahead to play with friends as they headed to the school that I’d be returning to. It made me uneasy.

Brighton Public School.

From what I could remember, it was built in the 60s, so it’s an old building. Not as old as our house, but it was still old.

I felt my Dad’s hand on my shoulder, lightly squeezing as if to encourage me. Or something like it, I think.

“Amalie?” I turned to see Kaya with her mother, who raced over and hugged me tightly. “Amalie, I’m so happy to see you!” she yelled, making my ears ring from her loud voice. She then pulled away, looking excited at her mom. “Mom! Mom! Mom! I can’t believe Amalie is going to the same school as me! Isn’t that great!?”

Kaya’s Mom smiled. “It sure is,” she then looked at my Dad. “It’s good to see you again, Mr. Hilmarsson.”

“Same to you as well, Mrs. Ortiz. I trust that you and the rest of your family have become more accustomed to Canadian life?”

“As best as we can.” She says with a bit of a nervous laugh. “It might be a while before we’ve all acclimatized to our new environment.” The moment she said that I noticed how she looked directly at Kaya. Her smile shifted as her gaze became sad. Like she felt bad for Kaya being here at all.

Was Kaya just hiding how she felt then?

Did she not want to be here at all?

It made sense since one, Kaya had moved away from all of her friends, and two, she was starting at a new school. But maybe because I was at this school, it made her feel a bit better.

A warm feeling rested in my chest. I felt happy. I wasn’t sure if that was good or not. I didn’t want Kaya to think she needed me, especially since…

“Hey, Amalie, you still go here? I thought you said you weren’t coming back?” a girl cackled before being yanked by one of her parents to get her to stop. That girl was Mia Hathaway. Her skin was tanned as she had green eyes and a blonde bobbed haircut that curled inwards at the ends and always had a look on her face like she was better than everyone. She was one of the kids who bullied me, but she seemed to be dealing with something similar to what Lauren had.

I only noticed it once, the bruises that she kept hidden underneath her clothes when we were in gym. It was why she always wore long-sleeved shirts, even in the summer.

She was the leader of at least five other kids who took part in the bullying. Two other girls named Jill and Nancy and three boys named Edward, Brandon and Josh. But the boys wouldn’t come near me. There was a good reason for that.

I looked up at my Dad and saw that he was looking at Mia’s family in question. A knowing smile on his face as his grey eyes looked at the parents like they were less than dirt.

He looked at those three boys once with that same look when he caught them in the act when picking me up from a doctor’s appointment. And it scared them to stay far, far away from me. I wish the others who bullied me would do the same, but there wasn’t much I could do since the teachers wouldn’t do anything about it.

But that wasn’t the only issue the school had…

“Mr. Green! How was your summer? Check out any matches?” an adult called out, greeting a man with dark brown hair, darker than mine, with the same matching dark colour eyes. He was tall with a thick build, not overweight but had muscle on him.

Nick Green, the counsellor and gym teacher for our school, he’s been here since I started first grade last year. He started in the new year. And he never seemed to be good at his job. For many reasons, why the teachers did nothing bothered me. I tried bringing it up last year, but who’d listen and take what a six/seven-year-old told them?

I knew not all adults were like that, but some of the ones here, the teachers and principal, didn’t seem to care. Garry, the janitor, was hurt last year and hasn’t woken up since last spring. His family still talks to him even while he’s sleeping, and he’s reacted, I knew because I visited him once, said what I knew, and he responded—his hand squeezing mine.

He knew and wanted to stop what was happening but was hurt because he was caught.

I liked Garry, he didn’t deserve what happened to him. I wanted the one who hurt him to pay for what they did.

But as a kid, there wasn’t much I could do. At least not right away, if I could just get what was needed to stop it then the adults would listen. The thing was, I knew I could tell my father about this, but I knew if I did that, then there would be nothing that could bring this horrible truth to light.

If my Dad knew, then the monster who caused this issue would disappear. I knew that because he had done it before. And when I told someone about it, they didn’t believe me.

A lot of adults that I had the issue to deal with were like this.

Nick smiled at the other adult. “I caught a few, not as many as I would have liked. But I enjoyed it overall, especially baseball.”

Nick always had an open and friendly way about him, even when he first arrived last year. The adults and other kids liked him a lot. They always thought he was a good person. But something about him felt off to me. Like it wasn’t real. Like he was only pretending to be nice.

Something about him made me not want to trust him.

And my instinct was right…

“Amalie?” Kaya’s voice drew my eyes away from him and to Kaya, who looked worried. “Is something wrong?”

I smiled the moment she asked. “No, it’s nothing.”

“Why don’t we show you around?” my Dad offered. “That way, you both can get a better lay of the land before we adults have to head off to work?”

“I see nothing wrong with that,” Kaya’s Mom said, then looked at her. “What do you think, hun?”

Kaya nodded but seemed a little unhappy, I guess? But, again, I could understand why.

I looked back at the many adults and kids. Nick had disappeared somewhere. I’ll have to keep a better eye out. I need to make sure no one else gets hurt, like with the others.

I knew that I would have to do something to draw out that monster, draw him into the light for all to see. Then maybe, I could try again, revealing a bigger monster.

The monster that is my Father.

At least, that’s my hope… because truth be told, I’m not sure if I’d be able to take others not believing me for the second time. It should be easy, but it’s not. Even though I told Kaya, it’s something that should always be done when you know you’re in a bad situation. But when no one believes you, no matter how many times you say it, it makes it even harder to try.

But that smaller monster isn’t my Dad, so I know that this is something I can’t give up on. No matter what. I need, no, I must do all that I can to stop him from harming anyone else, to stop him from swallowing another kid whole…