The Day Of The Meltdown...
MaryAnne doesn't say anything about Rix or him getting dragged home by his homeroom teacher and a classmate, like he was some rabid animal, neither did she make any comments about her quiet boy punching said classmate in the face after being brought home and saying he'd do it again if he could.
He was laughing, cackling, sounding borderline deranged, mental, and it honestly scared the woman. She's quick to drag him in before they attracted any more spectators, nosy, old, rat bastards, the lot of them.
He's panting and his eyes are unfocused as he stands where she leaves him in the living room until their little one walks up to him and holds his hand in a comforting gesture and his expression softens as he looks at her, holding her hand tight in his arms and he's breaking down and dropping to his knees painfully.
Now he's crying and sobbing while his little sister comforts him, crying too, for him, not because of him. Danielle is scared for him and not of him they'd always been close like that since she was just a baby, clinging to him more than her own mother.
Her phone chimes, a message notification, and she drags herself away from the crying children to get her phone.
She lets out a gasp when she taps the email icon and reads through.
The school, as meticulous as ever, had written out the incident with precise detail and attached a demand to see the parents of the guilty party, in this case, Rix, in the school grounds tomorrow to discuss his punishment.
Rix was going to be expelled, it was the most logical outcome, that is, if the parents of the victim didn't press charges, but that wasn't MaryAnne's problem at the moment. Darren was.
His hot-headed nature would surely escalate the matter and make things worse for everyone.
His reaction would be the deciding factor in this matter and she knew it would be too far from pretty.
He'd definitely explode in rage and do something, which MaryAnne would stop with her last breath but she'd simply be optimistic till Darren got home from work.
For now she could only wait and watch.
—
Two children, students, are laying in the same room in the hospital, their year of birth is similar and they're both in the same class, 11th grade, about to be seniors and take college entrance exams.
One if them is awake, one of them is still asleep under heavy anesthetics to numb him from the painful stitches.
There's two more teens in the ICU from bad stab wounds in the gut and back respectively but both were rather clumsy, like the work of a novice and not some seasoned killer. Like someone that just picked up a random kitchen and thought he could stab someone to death. Amateur
But the detective was more interested in the two that were out of surgery, precisely the one that was currently awake and recovering.
"What happened to you?", the man asking was tall, slightly built with a mop of dark curls on his head and he had a notepad in his hand, taking notes.
The question was being directed at the teenager that was awake and seemingly less injured.
"I was on my way home at around 7 or 8pm when I got attacked. I went to see my friends", the boy manages, voice hoarse from disuse and the man nods, scribbling something on the notepad.
"What happened?", the man is focused on the boy's face, almost daring him to lie, since this town had a nice population of liars and five years of working here had let him see much more than he'd like, even his senior colleagues were tired of this place but the law was a pretty important part of any society.
"Someone was following me, I could see their shadow behind me, so I took a detour and went through the park, hoping to lose the guy but I couldn't and he just lunged at me with a knife. I fought with him so I didn't get too hurt, just the wounds on my palms from struggling and the one on my thigh and cheek", the boy ended in a whisper, he was probably still bruised, his ribs that is, since he got hit with a bat that was thankfully wooden, from the state if his ribs as shown by the x-ray scans.
"Hmm. Continue. I need something from this, so keep talking", the dark haired nan was unphased by the wincing as the visibly unconcealed falsehood in all the teen's words.
"I got bashed in the ribs with a wooden bat and as I screamed, the attacker ran away, too quickly too see. But I suggest you wait for the kid over there to wake up. I'm pretty sure he must've seen the person that attacked him and it's probably the same person too", the boy coughed and looked away and the detective's eyes lit up and dimmed just as quickly and he just stared at the boy who turned away after dropping quite the bombshell. Sly brat, the detective thought as he gave the boy a once over before speaking again.
"What makes you say that?", feigning curiosity at the boy's supposed juicy hint, but in need of clues to a case like this that involved the lived of students.
"I mean, we were both attacked after going to see the same person. The day he got attacked, he had been to see a classmate and he got his injuries. So, you know, that detective instinct is supposed to be pointing at coincidences and that kinda stuff", the boy had a point but the detective couldn't be bothered.
He had no intention of continuing a conversation with a dumb kid that probably got hurt by someone from his school, probably someone who he'd bullied, seeing as the town was crawling with children, teens and even adults, with less than savory characters.
"Okay, then. I'll look into what you've said so you can rest easy, kiddo", the detective is forcing a smile and the boy is none the wiser, quite dumb, really, and the detective is actually glad. Somewhat.