The Corner (13 page)

How was I
going to face Mandy? Would she confront me? Should I just tell her
the truth regarding the ghost and how Jareth saved me? Would she
believe me? How about the meet-up with Jareth later? How did I
cancel it? Should have gotten his phone number in the first
place.

The string of questions never
stopped twirling around my brain as I made my way to the school.
The twirling increased in ferocity when I was walking through the
school gates.

“That’s the one. Joining the
gymnastics team to know the boys in St. Andrew,” someone behind me
whispered.

Was she talking about me? There
were many girls around me, so it might not be me. But I didn’t see
any member of the gymnastics team.…

Another exclaimed, “This kind of
frail girl? You got to be kidding me! Obviously, she’s there for
the boys only.”

Hastening my pace, I sought to
get away from them.

“Shhh.”

The student with the loud voice
refused to comply with her friend’s request, “What? Why should I
keep it down? If she dared to do it, then be prepared to face the
consequences. If it’s not true, she can jolly well confront me on
it.”

Tightening my grip on my file
and dragging my nails across its plastic surface, I tried to summon
the strength to tell that girl off for her false allegations.

Would everyone think that I was
bitchy? Would I sound convincing? Would anyone believe me? Would I
be blacklisted by the teachers for causing a scene in school?

I lacked the guts to even
clarify my own name.
What a loser.
The boy-crazy girl—that
was going to be my nickname for the rest of my high school life.
All would despise me more than ever. Shouldn’t have gotten involved
with Anton and Jareth initially.…

Boys are bad news.

Things didn’t get any better
when I reached the assembly area in the car park. Mandy, who was
already standing in the line, kept on staring at me. I deliberately
avoided eye contact with her. The rumours had dragged my mood down
to the pit bottom already; I really didn’t have the energy to sort
it out with her. Also, I had zero idea on how to answer her
questions regarding the boys.

After the bell rang to indicate
the start of school, all of us stood in attention and sang the
national anthem while two school councillors pulled up the national
flag of Accastle and the school’s flag to the top of the flag
poles.

When all was over, Mrs.
Clarkson, who was standing in for the principal on certain matters,
went up to the microphone to address us, “Good morning, students.
I’ve a special announcement to make today.”

Oh no, was it my case?

The pudgy teacher continued, “A
student of our school had been suspended after receiving three
warnings for disgracing the good name of our school on several
occasions. This student had hung out with quite a number of boys
from St. Andrew Institution and failed to watch her behaviour when
in the public.”

What exactly had she done to
warrant those warnings? Talking loudly? Laughing loudly? Intimate
actions? Not sitting properly? What?

“Let me remind all of you that
even when outside of school grounds, you’re supposed to uphold the
image of the school, especially when you’re in uniform. Please
don’t forget to take note of your actions at all times. And I
strongly advise against going out on dates with boys. Definitely
not when you’re wearing the school uniform,” emphasized Mrs.
Clarkson.

Would I get a warning if caught
going out with Jareth? Should I just don’t turn up? However, it
would be mean of me to make him wait. He had helped me after all.
But a lot of my schoolmates knew me for my notoriety; they would
surely report it to the school’s authority. Big trouble was
awaiting me. Unlike that girl, I wouldn’t be slapped with the
punishment of suspension only. It wouldn’t be long before I
accumulated enough warnings to get expelled from Lawson. I was
screwed, really screwed.

Boys are bad news. Boys are bad
news.

My legs went weak. I felt sick
in the stomach. There was a bitter taste in my parched mouth.
Should I throw up? My body seemed to tell me to do so.

Be here for me. Help me.
Please.…

I repeated those words non-stop
as all of us marched to our respective classrooms after the
announcements were done. To my disappointment, she wasn’t there for
me at her usual spot. Even a ghost wouldn’t want to be associated
with a detestable individual like me.

I was alone. I wanted to curl up
in a corner until all problems resolved by themselves.

The moment I truly dreaded came
during the first recess. When Kelly and Alice were getting ready to
go to the canteen, Mandy informed the two that she would catch up
to them later. Then she strutted over to my side. With my elbows
propped on the table, I was resting my temple in my palms while
wishing that she could leave me alone.

However, she didn’t. “Natalie,
we need to talk.”

I looked up at her and nodded
with reluctance.

She heaved a loud sigh. “Why are
you avoiding me? Is it because of Anton?”

It was tiny part of the truth.
But how did I break it to her that a boy had caused a rift in our
friendship?

“You like him too, yes?” The
tone of her voice had changed to a critical one.

With my peepers on the table, I
didn’t rely her.

Then she spoke in anguish, “You
should have told me! Aren’t we friends? Shouldn’t we trust each
other? You thought that it was noble of you to give him up to me?
Have you ever considered how unfair it is to me? Making yourself
look like an angel while I appear to be the self-centred
demon.”

“No …” I never foresaw that I
had hurt her feelings that much. Why was I so dense?

“No? Do you mean that’s not the
case? I don’t know whether to take your words for it. You didn’t
even tell me that he has a girlfriend already.”

“Huh?” My head snapped up, and I
regarded Mandy with popped-out eyes. It had never come across my
mind that he was attached. How did she find out?

“Surprised?” A cynical smile
spread across her lips. “Never guessed that he would reveal the
truth when I messaged him?”

“Are you sure?” Maybe there was
a misunderstanding. I didn’t want to be a despicable being who
introduced a friend to an attached guy.

With a scowl on her face, Mandy
took out her handphone to scroll through the items in it. Five
seconds later, she put the device on my table and curtly told me to
take a good look at it.

His reply to her suggestion to
have lunch together was, “Sorry. Busy. The only spare time I’ve is
for family or girlfriend.”

When Mandy asked him about his
girlfriend, he answered she was a fourth year student in Oxland
High.
Dating an older girl?
Perhaps only a senior could
match him in his intelligence. I felt my heart plummeting to the
bottom of my stomach.

Then Mandy snatched the phone
away. “I didn’t believe them when they said that you schemed to use
me to estrange Anton and his girlfriend while you sneaked in for a
chance with him.”

That was the last idea I could
think of. I didn’t know that things would turn out to be that
way.

A slight harshness laced her
voice when she said, “Even when I saw you getting all friendly with
him, with a big smile on your face, I wanted to believe that you
were just trying to be nice to me, in a misguided way. But when I
knew more, I realized that you’re as deceiving as they’d claimed.
No wonder you avoided talking to me for the past few days.”

“I never thought of being with
him,” I spluttered.

Folding her arms, she sneered.
“It’s hard to believe you anymore when you chose to hide the truth
about Jareth and Brian.”

“Brian?” When did Brian come
into the picture?

Bobbing her head in mock
approval, my soon-to-be ex-friend scorned, “We overheard Brian
commenting to Jareth that he needed to focus hard to catch what you
were saying. And Fiona didn’t get the chance to talk to him despite
her efforts! She was so upset about it. How did you achieve
that?”

“Coincidence.” There was so much
explaining to do, and I didn’t know where to start from.

“Was it coincidence that you
gave a love letter to Jareth?”

I inhaled sharply. When did
things spiral out of control? “It’s not—”

Mandy refused to listen,
shutting me off by retorting, “It must be. Why would the boys be
teasing Jareth about getting love letters from a weird girl?” She
shook her head. “Sorry … it’s not that I’m saying you’re weird, but
… you were there. Who else could it be? They were nattering so
loudly about it. Jareth was so secretive about it, refusing to
reveal anything to anyone.”

He should have told them the
truth. But would they believe that it was just a gift of gratitude?
Or would they speculate that I wanted to impress him? Nothing I
said could clear my name. Nothing.… They had condemned me
already.

My eyes were hurting from the
strain of holding back the tears.

“Why? I trusted you,” Mandy
questioned as dejection cloaked her face.

“I’m sorry.” Stumped over the
table and burying my face in my hands, I was too tired to deal with
those accusations anymore. I just screwed up the only friendship I
had.

Why? Why did everyone think the
worst of me? Why couldn’t I find the strength to defend myself? Why
couldn’t I do anything right? Why?

When I heard Mandy storming out
of the classroom, a strange relief washed over me. At least, I was
spared of any further interrogations.

I was always alone. Nothing had
changed since elementary school. Was there anyone who understood
me? I yearned for someone to assure me that everything would be
alright.

As if fulfilling my wish, a pair
of warm arms embraced me from behind. There was no else in the
classroom, so I knew who it was.

So you’re finally here. Only you
understand me.

I didn’t resist when those arms
sank into my body.

During that moment, I lived
through her life in a fast forward motion. A top student in her
elementary school, her fate was sealed when she realized that she
had gotten into the fifth class instead of the first. The girl
studied non-stop with a fanatic passion, striving to maintain her
position at the top of the class and get into Class 2/1 in the next
year. Her scores were good enough to justify the transfer, but that
wasn’t enough for her. Her fragile world crashed when she found out
that she was second in class.

Unable to take the blow, the
girl decided to end it all. She hung a noose from an overhead
wooden beam at that special corner before putting her head through
the loop—another pair of hands was holding onto the ropes. Then
without hesitation, she kicked away the chair she was standing on.
The wooden beam began croaking under the stress from the weight of
the lifeless body swinging back and forth.

Sadness, uncertainty, desperation, anger, depression, hopelessness,
anguish … they are all around us. My craving for those negative
feelings intensifies as I feel them emanating from the humans.

The woes and wrath of those
slain souls do well to sustain me. However, the stale and cold
energy tastes unpalatable. Just like food, the raw and fresh ones
have the most exquisite flavour. I hunger for those, for I want to
gain enough strength to face the world, get my currently immobile
astral body moving and manipulate everything under the sun to my
will. I’m getting sick of huddling in the corner and scavenging for
scraps.

Now, all thoughts of humans are
laid out openly in my mind, ready for me to exploit. All have their
insecurities. Some are more adversely affected than others. How
foolish I was to let such petty insecurities overwhelmed me,
allowing her to lure me into stabbing my throat with a pen knife. I
did see my body rising up after that, and the wound had healed
rapidly.

It’s none of my concern anymore.
Nor do I care about what she will do to hurt others to generate the
emotions she seeks for, so as to keep her soul from being ejected
from the body. Mandy, Jareth, Kelly, Alice, the schoolmates, the
teachers—all may become her target.

I do hope that she’ll leave Mrs.
Olsen alone, as the old wretch is mine to torment. The pleasures of
thrusting her into utter devastation by destroying her reputation,
career and status … I long to enjoy every silver of those. I can’t
let her get away with just a broken arm.

Only Anton will be left
untouched. That girl is terrified of the powerful entity guarding
over him. Even the slightest bit of ill intent held towards Anton
will hit back at her. I cursed endlessly when I knew that I was
being fooled into thinking that she might harm him. Yet there is
nothing I can do about it, for now, until I acquire a vessel, one
that contains an abundance of negativity.

Such a shame that I can’t just
rip out the host from the body. The three spiritual links can’t be
severed cleanly through this way. Only death—not by the hands of
those belonging to the spectral dimension—can render the shell
usable. And only the blast of power forged by the pain and sorrow
of death can fuse another soul to the corpse.

I can’t wait to get mine.

When that happens, I’ve to get
used to the new name, abandoning my original one: Natalie
Blythe.

Do you have
any idea how depressing is it to come home after work and find the
place to be in a huge mess? And for every single weekday, with no
one else to help me! I wish I’ve a roommate … it’s lonely to live
by myself in this apartment.

So basically, after clearing up
everything and getting a quick bath, I’ve no time for anything
else, other than hitting the sack straight away. When morning
comes, I get into the routine of five-minute wash-up and dress-up
before heading out to catch the bus that arrives every thirty
minutes. Thanks to that stupid bus’ schedule, I’ve to settle my
breakfast in my office’s canteen instead.