It took a while for the hospital doctors to believe nothing was wrong with me. Besides the few bruises I got from Nick and the scrapes I got from climbing the metal shelves, I was okay. I had a few colourful band-aids of different sizes; the biggest one was on my cheek from where Nick hit me and a bandage on my wrist and ankle from when Nick threw me and when I landed on the stairs trying to get away from him. the adults wondered how I could even get up there, but it was easy for me. Because even in the dark, I could see easily. I was always able to, for as long as I could remember. Just like my Dad.

The reason I climbed up on top of those shelves wasn’t just to hide, but it was because of the loud sound I heard when the thunder boomed. I heard something crash open, when I reached the top of the shelf I could see the door was now wide open.

Followed by my Dad’s smell.

I knew I’d be safe, it’s why I climbed down. Not because of Nick’s words, but because I knew my Dad was here and wouldn’t let Nick do anything to me.

When I left the basement, I saw the door and just how badly it was damaged.

The metal of it was dented with many heavy blows, and the doorknob looked like it had been smashed open with a hammer. But my Dad didn’t have any tools on him and there weren’t any lying around the door either, which meant one thing.

He opened the door by force alone from his own hands.

I knew my Dad was strong, really strong, but I didn’t think he could destroy a door so easily like he had. It made me wonder just what else he could do that one else knew about.

My Dad had stayed with Elain the whole time while Elain’s Mom was with me when I was getting looked at by other doctors.

Worry clear on her face, fearing what unknowns might have happened to me. But again, besides the bruises I had, there was nothing else. Then the police showed up, including the same two detectives from before. They asked me if Nick had done anything to me. If he had touched me in places he shouldn’t have. I told them what I told my Dad, but nothing else happened. They seemed relieved, but also annoyed, not at me, but at the person who did this. It was when Elain’s Mom was taking me back to Dad that I overheard some other police talking about Nick.

Nick was on the run from the police.

My Dad didn’t kill him…

Why?

He said that Nick was gone, so what happened?

My Dad looked like he wanted to kill Nick, to make him disappear like all the others, but he didn’t. I couldn’t understand why he would do that.

What was his reason?

Why?

We made it back to the room where Elain was, a private room so no one else would bother her if someone from the news or nosey people in the hospital were to come by and try and talk with her.

I didn’t get to talk with Elain right away, since she woke up the detectives wanted to speak with her about what happened to get her side of things. My Dad and her Mom switched places so Elain’s Mom could be with her.

While we were waiting in the waiting room, the rest of Elain’s family came, Elain’s Dad looked at my Dad who pointed to where Elain was. Elain’s Dad nodded and went faster with Elain’s brother who was carrying Kaya. As Kaya looked at me, I noticed how her gaze shifted from me to my Dad. And I couldn’t help but notice the look in her eyes.

I wondered how my Dad could have known, and now I knew.

Kaya told him.

She didn’t know what Nick was doing, just that it was wrong and that I was failing to get him to stop.

My Dad must have known about it after I pulled the fire alarm to get Kaya away from Nick. Now it made sense as to how he knew when I asked to go back to school to get the USB. But, why would he let me if he knew?

I clung closely to my Dad, I couldn’t understand him. But that was probably for the best.

My Dad hugged me back, running a hand through my hair. I think he was trying to get me to fall asleep, but I just couldn’t even though I knew it was soothing.

My body wanted to fall asleep, but my mind didn’t. I wanted to be sure that Elain was okay. When Dad put her in the car, he had covered Elain’s arm with a towel. A towel that just kept bleeding while he called the police on the way to the closest hospital from the school.

When the detectives finished, Elain’s mom came and told us we could see her for a bit but would have to head home soon. When we entered the room, Elain smiled at me, it made my heart feel tight.

“Elain!” I said as I ran over to the bed. “Are you okay? Do you still hurt anywhere?”

“No,” her voice sounded a bit crackly, there were bandages on her neck, and some peaking out of the hospital gown. “It’s nothing to worry about, I’ll be good as new in no time.”

She was lying, she didn’t want me to be upset.

But it only made me feel worse.

“I’m sorry…” I said as tears began to fall, my hands tightly gripping the sheets of the bed. “I’m so sorry Elain… I should have just waited… I should have…” The rest of what I wanted to say stopped when Elain touched my face, the white bandages looked harsh on her skin.

“No, Amalie, don’t apologize. You had no idea something like this would happen. You couldn’t have known.”

I should have though. I should have known that something was wrong. If I had just thought things clearly, then none of this would have happened.

“Amie,” Elain’s voice sounded hard, as her expression was the same. There was no sadness in her eyes, or anger, or worry, it was something I… no, I could understand. It was determination, a word that meant to not give up or back down. “Don’t go there. You can’t blame yourself for this. As easy as it would be, this is not your fault. The one who is, is the one who caused it, not you.”

That’s right, it was Nick’s fault, he was the cause. “But—”

“Amalie,” Elain cut me off, as she leaned closer, her forehead nearly touching mine. “Don’t ever think that for one second I regret what I did. Sure, there are some things I wish I could change, like placing a firm kick between his legs. But not for one minute did I ever regret doing everything I could to keep you safe. And if I had to do it all over again, I would.”

My tears fell anew as I reached for her. Climbing the bad to hug her tightly, not wanting to let her go, afraid if I did so, she’d disappear.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” her voice sounded scratchy again as she hugged me, her right arm shaking as her left firmly held on to me. “We made it out alive, and right now… that’s all that matters.” I could feel my hair getting wet, she was crying. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

* * *

It would be a while before Elain could leave the hospital.

From what I overheard from Elain’s Mom, Elain’s stitches on her right shoulder had to be replaced, as the wound had reopened from her fighting, Elain hadn’t even noticed it when facing Nick. That something called ‘adrenaline’ was so high she didn’t even feel the pain, until, of course, Nick ripped off the graph on her arm.

The police had found it right where Dad told them they would, the reason he didn’t take it with us was because of the damage it received from being ripped off and crushed, it couldn’t be used again. Elain would have to get a new one.

The rest of her injuries were mainly along her throat, chest, and stomach. From what I heard there wasn’t anything wrong with her insides, that she was lucky. But given her arm, I’m not so sure many would say the same.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

My injuries were much smaller than Elain’s, but everyone kept making mine a bigger deal than her’s.

Even after talking to a lady whose job was to know about a kid’s mind. A child psy-cho-log-ist, a word I didn’t know all that well, but the lady was nice. She told me that her job was to see to the child’s mind and well-being. She just wanted to be sure I was okay.

And… I was.

I didn’t know if that meant something was wrong with me, because I was no longer scared, or if, because I understood Nick, in that small moment, I understood where he came from. It didn’t change all the bad things he did, I still hated him, and I always would, but I felt… sad.

If that never happened to him, would he have been different? Would he actually be a good person, or was that all just an excuse, that deep down he was always going to be like that?

Such questions were useless though, it wouldn’t change what happened.

I would never forgive him. Never.

From the news on TV the next day, Nick was hiding from the police, and to find him, the police were asking regular people to contact them if they hear anything about him. A tip line was made to keep track of all the calls. A reward of fifty thousand dollars was made to catch him, from what my Dad told me, money was always a motivator for trying to catch the bad people that were running away or hiding.

I still hadn’t asked my Dad what happened that night.

I don’t think I could, even though I could tell he wanted me to ask him, I could see it in his eyes. But I wouldn’t. I just… I just felt tired. I felt like I could just close my eyes and sleep forever, and never wake up.

Part of me wanted that too, to close my eyes and never wake up.

But… that would never change anything either.

So I’ll keep moving, no matter what. Even if it’s hard.

During all of this though, I had completely forgotten about going to school, when I did remember, I realized it had been three days since then. Somehow the school was still open, after everything that happened. But when word got out on the second day, no families wanted to send their kids to school. I couldn’t blame them. Even my Dad kept me home and away from that place.

But I needed to go back.

As much as I didn’t want to, I still had questions, and for once, I wanted answers from the people who kept hiding what they knew with the guise of an ‘adult’.

I wouldn’t let them use that anymore as their excuse.

My Dad, strangely, agreed to take me, he had been going to school and collecting my homework when I got into that fight with Mia, but this time hadn’t done any of that and just stayed with me, not asking if I wanted to go back or anything. He just stayed with me.

When I did ask him about going back to school, all he said was: “If that’s what you want to do Amalie, I won’t stop you.” I don’t think other parents would have done that.

I dressed in just a simple dark blue dress with a black long-sleeved T-shirt, my hair pulled back with a black French beret as I wore black flats. I just wanted to wear clothes that would bother any of my healing bruises. As they were already dark but fading along the edges. My Dad always said I could heal quickly. Just like him.

And when we arrived at a school, from the parking lot I could see some kind of setup with cameras and a lot of people. I guess the Principal couldn’t hide this. It made me happy, only for that feeling of happiness to be taken by anger. The fact something like this happened for even the principal to take it seriously made me sick.

I wanted to throw up but I pushed it down.

“Do you want me to come with you?” My Dad asked, drawing my attention away from the growing number of reporters and parents calling out for answers.

“No thank you.” Say as I take the papers from my bag. “I won’t be long.”

“Alright then,” he got out but remained by the car. “I’ll be right here, call if you need me, Sweetheart.”

I just nodded and headed into the school. No one seemed to notice, or maybe they just didn’t care. Either way, I went in and walked past the classrooms. One I stopped at, it was covered with yellow tape, ‘police tape’ as the door was wide open. Inside that room, the very room where Elain and Nick fought. The blood from her arm was still there on the floor, nothing had been cleaned. It was like time had frozen in that place.

For a brief moment, I saw Elain, on the soft padded floor, bleeding, her hair covering her face. Even though I never really saw that such images could come clearly to my mind. It was like that whenever I read a story, I could easily picture what was happening as if it were real.

But this wasn’t a story. This had happened. Was still happening. And it wouldn’t end until Nick was finally caught.

I kept walking past the room where I tried to escape, and…

“Hmm? Amalie, what are you doing here? You should be at home.”

“Where’s your father?”

“He’ll be here in just a few minutes.”

“I’m her babysitter,”

“But it’s strange, is her father really coming? Or are you just lying to try and buy more time?”

“I could ask the same thing… Just what the hell are you planning to do to Amalie?”

“What gave it away?”

“The heck are you going on about?”

“But do you think someone like you could even stop me?”

Pieces of the conversation filled my mind as if I were hearing all again as I stared down the open doorway to the school’s basement. The door was now gone, and I could see down the dark depths of that horrible place. I then walked away, leaving that horrible place behind, I’m sure the police would find more than enough evidence of what Nick had done down there.

After I handed my work to the other classrooms, leaving them on the teacher’s desks, the last one was my homeroom class, and when I reached it, I saw no one at all. The chairs all waiting to be filled, and now only echoes filled the halls, but something deep inside me said that wouldn’t happen any time soon.

“Amalie,” Ms. Miller sounded surprised when she saw me in the classroom, I had only come back to the classroom to leave an assignment that was due, and I didn’t expect to see her so soon after what happened. But a question pressed down on my chest. “Why are you here? I thought you were recovering in the hospital.”

The news of what happened spread quickly, though I wasn’t surprised that some of that information was wrong.

“I wasn’t badly hurt. It was the girl who looked after me, Kaya’s older sister, Elain. She did what she could to keep me safe from that monster. I knew he was bad, but no one believed me until now.” I adjusted my paper on the top of the stack and looked wherever else but not her face. “It’s almost funny, no one seems willing to hear out someone like me for whatever reason then become shocked when what I tried to warn others about turns out to be true. They’re all hypocrites…”

Ms. Miller looked at me with surprise. “You know what that word means?”

I just looked down at the papers that needed to be marked, but I knew, these wouldn’t be, at least, not for a while. I moved away from her desk to my own, the old marks of what the bullies had done were all but gone now, but a few remained from the permanent marker. “It’s a word I learned recently,” I say as I run my hand over my desk. “I was trying to think of a word that should fit with those who knew what was going on and chose to ignore it. So I looked it up online to find it. Did you know the word comes from the ancient Greek word for ‘actor’? I found that interesting, mainly because that’s what Nick Green was, that’s what all of them were. Actors, pretenders, they didn’t care about the kids that were hurt, not at all.”

“Amalie, what are you talking about?”

I ignored her question. “Which is why I can’t help but wonder, some of the teachers knew but chose to ignore it, not all but some, but what about you?”

“What?” I could hear her voice quiver.

“How much did you know?” I asked, keeping my back to her. “About what he was really like? Are you a hypocrite too? Or just ignorant?” I then turned to look at her, showing her all of my anger, all of my hate for that man and what he did. “Of what Nick did to those children in the basement?”

She flinched and took a step back looking both shocked and scared. “Amalie I… I don’t know what you’re…”

“Please don’t play dumb,” I say, never looking away from her. “You’re a teacher, you’re smart. The reason I ask is that I knew that you were with Nick, I don’t know for what, but a bunch of kids thought you guys were dating, so I’ll ask again.” I was now standing in front of her, I had slowly made my way to her, where Ms. Miller hadn’t moved at all. “Did you, or did you not know what Nick truly was?”

She hadn’t moved as she looked at me like she was one of those frightened kids, but I was too angry to care. Her eyes said it all. “I… I wasn’t sure… I didn’t… I couldn’t ask him… I was too afraid of what he’d do…”

Hearing that just made me angrier.

“You call yourself a teacher… you’re supposed to protect the kids while we’re here. You’re supposed to keep us safe…” I say softly before looking at her with how I felt about her in that instance. “How could you? How could you betray us for someone who just used you?”

I could see she wanted to say something, to defend herself maybe, but how could you even try to defend your actions when that man lay his hands on kids without making you sound just as bad if not worse?

“I don’t care what you have to say, not anymore. You now know that what he did was wrong, you know that this shouldn’t have happened. You, the other teachers who knew and did nothing and that principal. People like you… deserve everything you get coming to you and then some.” I stopped at the door to glance at her over my shoulder and speak. “If you hated it so much you should have never become a teacher…” and left, could hear her whisper “I know…” but I didn’t care, now that it was out in the open of Nick’s actions, I had no reason to be nice, not to those I told over and over again what he was like and was ignored. I knew Ms. Miller never liked her job much unless it came to art, but other than that, if she didn’t like it, she could have left. At least that way, she wouldn’t have been hurt the way she had by Nick.

Not all the teachers here were like that though, Mr. McCrae saw me as I walked through the empty halls of the school, was taking the books back to the library, along with our French teacher, Madam Andrews, they knew what was happening but tried to stop it but something happened to make them turn silent. But it didn’t stop them from protecting the kids.

When I reached the outside the first thing I saw was the principal standing in front of the large crowd, talking to the people from the news.

All the while looking like he was filled with regret.

That made me so angry because I knew the truth, and there he was pretending to care.

What’s the saying that Mia would use to call him? ‘He’s full of shit’? Though I would never say something so vial, something so gross, I couldn’t help but at least feel tempted. But my Dad raised me to be better than that.

I should have just gone back to the car. But seeing him act like this compared to how he responded to me trying to get him to listen made my anger spill out and caused me to do something reckless. But I didn’t care, not anymore.

So, I waited and listened as I moved closer where I could hear the principal say that he didn’t know that they let such a monster in the school.

And with a deep breath, I shouted at the top of my lungs. “LIAR!!!” that brought all eyes to me, and I could see the principal look both shocked and scared.

Good. Serves him right.