Did You Get What You Deserve?

I leant against the bars of the jungle gym. There was a small group gathered around me expectantly, half of them juniors. James wasn’t there, as Dani had just gotten out of hospital and they were both at home. I grinned at the group of kids.

“You want to hear a scary story?”

They nodded eagerly. I cleared my throat and began speaking in a low voice.

“Fifteen years ago, a young boy, a student at this very school, was in this very playground, by this very jungle gym. When suddenly two men grabbed him-” I lurched at the kids and they jumped back, “-and started beating him with a crowbar. He was crying and struggling, but they wouldn’t let him go. They broke his arm, and his leg, and they bashed his head until he was unconscious, and finally they left him on the ground to die,” I pointed at the ground a few metres away, “right there.”

The kids were staring at me with wide eyes. Finally one little girl asked, “Did he die?”

I shook my head.

“Just then, a man came looking for the boy, as it was getting late and the boy should have been home hours ago. He found the boy and called an ambulance, and the boy was saved.”

One of the older boys, who was hanging around in the back of the group and trying to look too cool for childish stories, wrinkled his nose.

“That wasn’t scary.”

I held up my hand.

“I haven’t gotten to the scary bit yet. You want to know why this story is scary?”

The little kids nodded. I leaned forward, speaking in a voice barely above a whisper.

“It’s scary because it’s true.”

They jumped back, and I felt a flicker of amusement at how easily scared they were. I wouldn’t have been scared by any of the things I had told them.

“Yeah right,” said the boy in the back.

“Oh, it’s true. My dad was the man who found him.”

“Yeah right,” said the boy again.

Seven-year-old Henry Olivier, the Canadian, was bouncing up and down in a state of positive delight.

“No, it’s true,” he said, “My dad worked in the ambulance that got him!”

I looked at him, and nodded.

“True, Henry. I never thought of that.” Henry’s father was Jake, a distant friend of Dad’s.

The boy in the back snorted.

“Yeah right.”

“No, it’s true. My dad- wait, this has nothing to do with my dad. I was the boy in question.”

All eyes swivelled to Alec as he hoisted himself up onto the bars and climbed over beside me. The boy in the back narrowed his eyes, but he didn’t dare contradict a teacher.

“Prove it.”

Alec raised his eyebrows.

“You honestly want me to prove it? Okay...” he pointed at the scar on his forehead, half hidden by his hair. “That’s where they hit me with the crowbar. That bar there on the jungle gym is where I hit my head when they finally dropped me. Believe me, when you’ve lain there staring at the same pole for what feels like hours, wondering if you’re going to die, you don’t forget which pole it is. And yeah, Alec’s dad saved me.”

The boy in the back, who seemed rather dim-witted, finally put two and two together.

“Wait- you know her dad?”

Alec rolled his eyes.

“Kid, her dad was my legal guardian after my parents died. Never wondered why she’s called Alec? Named after me.”

“That’s stupid. Why would you name a girl after a boy? And anyway, you don’t name people after people who live in the same house. It’s just stupid.”

“Well duh, I was dead for thirteen years!”

The boy, obviously thinking that Alec was mocking him, turned and walked away. Alec grinned at me and I shook my head, laughing.

“And you say I give away too many private details.”