PROLOGUE

The school bell at ‘Thames Primary school’ in Oxford rang. There was no mistaking the sound of it, for it was a loud, shrill noise that echoed all the way down the street. To use the excuse “I’m sorry miss, I was late because I didn’t hear the bell” would be an out-right lie, and everyone at Thames Primary School knew that. If any normal school child had not turned up for the lesson, sparks of anxiety would flood the teacher's mind- however, Mariette Soucy was no ordinary school child.

Mariette was a French girl in year three at this school. She had dull looking royal-blue eyes that made her look much older than the age she was. Her hair was long (Almost down to her knees) and a sandy-blonde, which lay over her shoulders like drooped curtains. Despite her blonde hair, Mariette had dark brown eyebrows that gave her a defined look of superiority. Her small nose and small ears matched her small face, in fact, Mariette was very small for her age, and often bullied by older children at the school for her obvious difference and was isolated from them and ignored by the staff.

Every break time, Mariette spent the short twenty minutes sitting in a park next door to the school. Many children did not dare to enter the park, for it was neglected and filled with squeaky climbing frames and rusted slides. The concrete path circling the park was old and dirty, and tips of dead grass sneaked through the cracks. The only evidence of life in this park was a dying tree in the far corner, next to a small lake.

The tree was Mariette’s favourite part of the park, for there were many branches that she could climb on, and when Mariette reached the top of the tree, she could see the whole of the street.

Mariette would sit on top of this tree and watch the other school children play in the playground. She would watch the other girls jump rope and hopscotch, and all the boys play football on the grass and tackle each other to the floor. Mariette longed to play amongst the other children at break time, but they never gave her a chance.

So, on a cold December day, as the school bell rang for fifth period, nobody noticed that one child was not amongst the others as they ran in to school. Nobody heard the high pitched scream coming from the park. Nobody noticed, and nobody cared, when Mariette Soucy fell in to the frozen lake that December day, and nobody bothered to wonder why her body was never found.