The Bloodstained Poem Chapter 2:

The sun glared through the open window, bearing down on Erin, as she sat at the back of the class, writing. The geography teacher, Mrs Brewster, was still talking and giving out the instructions for this lesson, but like every day. in every lesson, apart from English and Art, Erin was paying no attention whatsoever. She doodled scribbly over a small piece of white paper. On the piece of paper were several hearts, and a few random lines of poem. The hearts had bullet wounds in, were bleeding, had been stapled, and an arrow shot through them. Pleasant. She folded the paper up and slipped it under the table as the teacher began to walk down the rows of desks, giving out some pieces of paper. Boring, boring, Erin thought, yawning slightly. She gazed out into the sight beyond the window. The sun-glazed playground for once looked inviting, especially the lone bench underneath the huge oak-tree, hidden in the shade. She could imagine herself sat there, while all the other children went about their business, sat, eyes closed, breeze rustling her hair, birds chirping, rays of hope shining, but she was in the cool shade, not hot, like the other children, playing.1

"Erin!" A loud, sweetish voice awoke her from her daydream, she was shocked to find Mrs. Brewster glaring down upon her, their noses less than two inches from each other. Some of the children were giggling, like always, when she got into trouble.2

"Do you mind telling me how much work you've managed to do magically, in fifteen minutes, whilst staring out of the window daydreaming?" Erin glanced at the white clock above the teachers desk, indeed, she had been daydreaming just short of fifteen minutes.3

"Sorry Miss." She mumbled. She grabbed up her Biro, shifted the paper slightly, and pretended to be reading about Geographical Influence, until the teacher, slightly edgily, moved away, to look around other peoples work. Erin breathed a sigh of relief as silently as possible, then looked up at the clock, only ten minutes to go until the end of lesson, she thought grimly. Reluctantly, she read through the paper properly, determined to at least write down one sentence, though that would probably get in her more trouble than writing nothing at all when the teacher told her father. His temper-span was very very short these days, he seemed to lash out at everyone and everything, weather living or dead. He even lashed out at next doors dog, just for bringing the paper to him whilst he sat outside in the small front garden on his deck-chair, sleeping, with a pint in his hand, and woke him up. It was extremely rare to find him in the house, come to think of it. Most of the time he was at work, of in the pub, or out in town with some of his mates, which was okay for Erin. She loved to be alone in the house, she could sing, dance, write poems, and do anything she wanted, just to get rid of her depression. But she did wish he would take a little notice of her. She felt too alone, she couldn't bare it. 4

The day continued to drag on slowly. She hadn't reached the oak tree before the other kids at lunch time, so she had to sit in the sun on the grass, her head pounding, her arms sore and hot. But at the end of the day, it had cooled down quite a lot, and she enjoyed the nice walk home. That was, until she saw Carrie Jones and her cronies, Mandy Writhnor, Anne and Ashley Ruose, Ellie Trescot and June Billsbury. 5

Carrie was fairly tall, with ice blonde curly hair that looked bushy but sleek around her dark tanned face. Her eyes were an astonishing blue, she was the most popular girl in the school. She was a real girl girl, she always wore make-up, but she was also the best runner in the school, and she never wore high heels. Quite scary, actually, thought Erin, but she never said anything. 6

Mandy was quite short, but just as beautiful. Her skin was the colour of dark chocolate, as were her eyes, and her hair was naturally frizzy and brown. Erin thought back, in year eight, Mandy had tried to straighten her hair, lets just say, afterwards, she looked more like a fizzy baboon than a pretty coloured girl. 7

Anne and Ashley were twins, they looked exactly the same. The only way you could tell them apart was from their voices. Annes voice was very sweet and with an Irish accent, whereas Ashley's voice was very womanly and with a London accent. They were both average height, they always wore their hair exactly the same. Today it was pushed into a bun, with a dark blue and bright pink ribbon wrapped around it. They both had their face covered in make-up. Their eyes, were a dull green.8

Ellie and June were both blondes, with darkened hair underneath, cut in layers. Ellie had a beautifully blue eyes, and June had green eyes, which looked slightly dulled. Their faces were both heart shaped and quite beautiful, though Ellie was very plain. 9

"Hey, look who it is." Carrie said, leaning against the wall of the silent street, as Erin came closer. She wished she didn't have to go that way, but the other way around was twenty minutes longer, and if she had to make a run for it, they'd cut her off. This way was better, if she could get past them, she'd have the upper hand, but within two minutes, Carrie would catch her up. She looked down a moment, then looked up. 10

"So where'd you get those shoes, Thomas?" Carrie said as she came closer, but she didn't answer. 11

"I asked you a question. Or have you suddenly gone deaf."12

"No i havent gone deaf, and tell you the truth, i don't want to talk to you, bye." Erin snapped, and quickened her pace as she passed them. She could feel them staring after her. Then there was another sound of quickened footsteps, and a shout, which Erin had no time to decipher. Something hard hit her head, and pushed her down onto the floor. She felt her skull connect with the gravel painfully, she lay there under a moment, dazed. Then there was someone next to her, laughing, gently kicking her arm, though it hurt badly. No...she cried inside, at the shoe kicked painfully against her scars. She leapt to her feet clumsily, dropping her bag, then began to run. She ran faster than she had ever done before, almost as fast as the time when her mum...Tears began to flow from her eyes. Blood poured down the side of her face, trickling into her mouth. She licked it away, and turned the corner. She could see her house now, she could see it. Then with a moment of fright, she though her keys were in the bag, but then she heard them jingling in her coat pocket. She grabbed them, dropped them, picked them up and ran. She heard the footsteps stop as she crossed the road over to the house, they wouldn't come any further, in case her dad was home. But she still felt scared. Her hair got in her eyes as she tried shakily to put the key in keyhole, it opened with a click, and she was inside, she was safe. The door clicked shut behind her, blocking out the sun, her rays of hope. She learnt against it, breathing hard, tears running from her eyes...13