Little facist panties tucked into the heart of every nice girl

[axeslade]

Last night was fun. Read a chapter of The Dark Highlander, then thought I had a scene to write about Neil. Turned on the computer, tried to start, failed. Went back to reading. Then, suddenly, something about Gwen hit me. This is that something. I think it may directly folllow the last bit, not sure. If anything, if you read the last bit, I don't think there are any spoilers in this one.

“Mommy, why do I have to go to school?” Gwen whined as Sheryl brushed her hair. Sheryl grinned, kissing the top of her daughter’s head.

“So you can learn things, sweetheart.”

Gwen pouted, crossing her tiny arms across her chest. Then she turned around, stamping her foot.

“But I already know lotsa things! I can tie my shoes, and button my dress; and, and I know the alphabet, and-“

Sheryl sighed, rolling her eyes heavenward, before setting her hands on Gwen’s shoulders and staring into the five-year-old’s stormy eyes.

“Your teacher knows a lot more stuff than that, angelcakes, even more than Mommy.”

Gwen’s eyes lit up at that, stunned that any person could know more than her mommy. Then, after a moment’s thought, she huffed and uncrossed her arms.

“Okay, I’ll go. I guess.”

Sheryl grinned, ruffling Gwen’s hair and kissing her forehead.

“Good. Now, get your backpack and go out to the car, I’ll be there in a moment.”

If you had asked any of the children at Applewood Elementary what made Gwenyth Stephens stand out to them day, you could never get a definitive answer. Some would have pointed to her hair, which, although it her mother washed and brushed it every night, still fell in a stringy black mass all around her face. Others might have pointed out odd things about her dress or her socks or her backpack that only small children notice. Mostly, however, you would have been told that there was just something funny about her that scared them just a little. So, like many people who are faced with something that scares them but they don’t want to admit scares them, the children laughed.

Although her mommy seemed deaf to it, Gwen heard each peal of laughter loud and clear from the very instant she was dropped off She didn’t need to ask if some other child had fallen in a very funny way just before she came, or if someone had told a really great joke. Even though she hadn’t been around other children very often before, Gwen knew with cold certainty that these children were laughing at her. So she did the only thing she could do. She stayed in the shadows, sulking and glaring at them, until a bell rang and some lady walked out of the building, calling to them. Then, very reluctantly, Gwen stepped back into the light.

The rest of Gwen’s first day in school hadn’t gone any better. First someone pulled a chair out from under her. Then the teacher snapped at her and told her to stop being a show off when, while the other children had been struggling to repeat the alphabet, Gwen started saying it backwards. And, of course, after that some girls had decided to pick on her. They started calling her things like ‘rat face’ and other things that Gwen would remember the rest of her life. And she’d tried to be good, she really had, but those girls had just been so mean that she had to punish them, so she ended up sitting in the corner for fifteen whole minutes while the other kids played.
The end of the day was no better. When she walked outside, her mommy wasn’t there yet, and some boys used this as an opportunity to start throwing rocks at her. As much as she wanted to, Gwen didn’t throw anything back, and she didn’t cry. She just ran, dark hair streaming behind her, holding her backpack up like a shield sometimes. She didn’t know how long she ran, or how long they’d continued to torment her. She stopped when her hands hit a chain-link fence, panting and snorting to keep herself from crying. Reluctantly, she turned her head, and to her relief she saw some other mommy’s wagging their fingers at the nasty little boys, and her own mommy with a hand up shielding her eyes from the sun. Gratefully, Gwen waved to her mommy and ran as fast as she could into her arms.

Gwen never told her mother a word of this. She lied, saying that school had been fun, that her teacher had been nice and that she’d made lots of friends, just because it made her mommy smile and she knew the truth would make her sad and she didn’t want her mommy to be sad.

It was only when they got home that Gwen finally let her feelings out. She raced through the door, dropped her backpack, then bolted up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door behind her. Then, she threw herself onto her soft blue and white bed, burying her face in the pillows as she sobbed. What had she done to make all those people so mean to her? She didn’t want to be mean and beat up people, it was just that after they were mean to her she had no choice. Didn’t anyone get that?

After she’d been crying for quite some time, Gwen thought she felt someone tickle her neck. She lifted her red-rimmed eyes, peering around the room.

“M-mommy?” she asked hesitantly. Then a laugh, a funny laugh that sounded a little like thunder, though it was quiet and sounded really nice.

‘No, I’m not your mommy Gwen. But I can help you. Do you want to get back at those kids from your school?’
Gwen nodded wordlessly, and the voice laughed again, and as it did Gwen felt something soft and warm running along her neck and back.

‘All right then. Here’s what you have to do…’