"Stephie!!"

Stephanie heard Marilene's loud shrill voice from behind her. Before she had the time to react, Marilene jumped up on Stephanie's back and giggled loudly. None of the students even bothered to look up. They always avoided and ignored them. Her, more likely.

Stephanie just sighed.

She carried her best friend on her back up to their classroom and dropped Marilene on her desk, a little too roughly.

"Wow, that was rough.", Marilene said rubbing her butt.

Stephanie dropped her bag on the floor and sat down while glaring at her hands for no apparent reason.

"What happened?", Marilene asked her worriedly. Stephanie guessed that perhaps her emotions were quite readable.

Marilene continued to look at her worriedly. Her eyes focused on Stephanie's face and stopped when she saw that scar. Stephanie had tried to hide it with foundation and what not but too much of make-up might draw unwanted attention to herself. And well, she was never a pro at it anyways.

"Perhaps did your aunt.....", Marilene's voice trailed away.

Stephanie just swatted her hand in the air deeming that untrue. She didn't want Marilene to know that and again start crying at how helpless and useless she was. She huffed and looked at her friend with bored eyes.

"You know this jerkbag of a human called Chris?", she said at last.

Marilene's eyes widened in recognition and she nodded.

"Well I almost got into a fight with him."

Marilene's eyes narrowed in suspicion so Stephanie emphasised, "Almost."

"Tell me all about it from the beginning", Marilene grinned.

So Stephanie told her the entire story except for the vivid descriptions of his face and especially his lips. After she finished, Marilene remained silent. Her eyes were unfocused and her lips had a pout just like she had whenever she was in deep thought.

Stephanie nudged her with her elbow and raised her eyebrows at her. She wanted to know what her friend thought about the whole ordeal.

Marilene just sighed.

"Well, they must be real idiots to mess with you. The last time a boy did that he was pre-"

"You sure it isn't the other way round?", a deep voice said from behind Stephanie. It was deep and yet soft at the same time. It felt familiar and by the time she realized who it was, Marilene yelped.

"Chris!"

Stephanie turned around to see Chris sitting behind them. His feet were on the desk and he had his arms rested behind his head. His t-shirt was stretched up and revealed just some of those well-formed abs. There was a dangerous and yet unthreatening glint in his eyes.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Don't fall for that. No you do not!

They looked at each other for a while before Marilene broke the silence.

"Did you use an Invisibility Cloak or did ya just teleport?"

Chris rolled his eyes at her. "No. Apparently I slipped in before you did and thought I could doze off for sometime. And apparently you little bi- I mean girls don't check."

Yeah. Stephanie did not recall checking if the classroom was empty because she had been carrying the weight of the entire human race on her back at the time.

Chris simply got out of his place had made his way out of the classroom. Just before he closed the door of the classroom, he stopped and glared at Stephanie. While Marilene blew him a kiss, Stephanie simply scoffed.

"If I were you I'd be careful of this jerkbag", he finally said. Then he went out and soon it was time for their first lesson.

Dear God, more trouble, Stephanie thought as Marilene settled in her seat and more students started to fill in.

Today was going to be a long day.

*

Stephanie walked towards her house as slowly as she could.

From walking carefully to being ready for a fight, her school had been shit. When Chris had warned her, she believed that they would perhaps corner her somewhere and beat her up. All they did was try to trip her while some shoved and stole some of her unimportant and inexpensive belongings. The only belongings she had to be honest.

One guy even stole a sanitary napkin pack from her! What would he even do with it. Perhaps wear it? What a pathetic little pig.

To be honest, she was disappointed in them. They proved to be a bunch of unprofessional famous bullies.

Stephanie sighed.

"Here goes nothing.", she muttered.

Her house, once a home, stood there with its lights switched off. It looked abandoned but Stephanie knew better than that. In her parents' absence, and since their disappearance, the house had turned into a hell for her. Every small mistake resulted into punishments and beatings.

The house stood before her. It seemed to be smiling at her evilly because it always knew what went into the house and what happened to her whenever she stepped into it. The world was a dark domain and there was no way she could escape from it. The word 'escape' sent her body in flames. She felt angry at her little brother. He had managed to escape from all the misery and had left her alone in this mess.

She brushed the thoughts away and pushed open the gate, entering it quietly.

Stephanie turned the handle of the door and it unlocked. A strange sign. It was usually kept locked. But today was no usual day. Stephanie was suddenly glad that she had all those sandwiches on her way home.

As she stepped into the house, her heart started to hammer loudly against her rib cage.

She quickly threw the lights on and closed the door behind her. When she approached the living room she saw that it was empty.

Odd.

She entered the kitchen and her heart dropped to the floor. Her aunt was sitting beside the kitchen sink holding the empty bowl in her left hand and looked at her with a sadistic smile.

But that wasn't scary. Stephanie had grown up seeing that stupid unscary smile basically stuck on her aunt's face. The crowbar held in her aunt's other hand was scary as anything.

"Home sweet home!", her aunt said gleefully.

Just hearing the voice made Stephanie's spine shiver in fright. Her own vocal cords had decided to go on a holiday to Mars. They had vanished. Poof. She still tried to speak in order to live another day.

"Au-auntie...I...I nev-never meant anyth-"

"SHUT UP!"

Her aunt's voice rang through the entire house. 

Her aunt jumped down from the kitchen base and walked towards her. Stephanie felt as if her body wasn't hers anymore. She could not move an inch! If she could only run up to her room her aunt would not be able to do anything to her but it seemed like her body had given out on her.

"I..I'm sorry!", Stephanie whimpered. It came out like a high-pitched squeak. Like a small mouse.

"You wish you'd never had to say that", her aunt smiled once again.

Can she do any other expression other than smiling, her mind thought boldly.

Her aunt was at an arm's length from Stephanie now. Suddenly out of nowhere the crowbar hit her at the side of her head. Her entire skull bubbled up in pain. Now she did not see that coming. A groan escaped from her lips.

"Oh! Did it hurt much?", her aunt asked with feigned concern for her.

"Not at all. It felt like heaven took an early visit at my place.",Stephanie's mouth shot up before she could even think. Even amidst all this, it was her mouth that was the real pain in the ass.

"Well then you are about to reach nirvana.", her aunt said.

Her head had started to bleed bit by bit. So this is how she was going to die. Like a loner and without trying all the tasty food she had thought she would eat one day. What luck!

Well done Steph. You had one job! Now it will definitely be rough. Thanks a lot!

*****