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: Hi, I wrote this yesterday and would really like some reviews. Thanks a lot! ^-^ : The Truth About After School Activities : : By Erie Maxwell : Sari stood blocking the side door, frozen. She hadn't thought there would be so many others here, all chattering noisily within their igned groups. A small girl of about ten suddenly pushed her roughly inside, towards the group leaders. : "Come on, we don't have all day! Go tell the people you're here so I can leave." : Sari sighed. Rendo was the one who had forced her into this mess. Something about how it would do her some good, maybe even toughen her up from the simpering creature Sari was known to be. At least, this is what the brat had said to convince Sari's parents. Sari knew the truth though: this was , plain and simple. Rendo may be able to charm the older generation, but Sari knew her better than anyone else, and thus could see the under laying cruelty and contempt within her sweet words. Sadly, there was nothing she could do now, her mother had said she must, so there was no use fighting it. Mother always got what she wanted. : With her task in mind, Sari resignedly stepped up to the head leader, a harsh looking blond who came up to Sari's hip. Nevertheless, she shivered under the icy glare the child-like leader had granted her. The Head finally broke the look off, glancing down at her clipboard. : "Name?" Her voice had a sickeningly saccharine pitch, allowing the recipient to know they were being patronized without being able to prove it. : "Um, Sari Langrisser." She watched as the Head, nodding, covered a full line of printed material with a crimson color which bore an unnervingly close resemblance to fresh blood. Looking closer, she suddenly noticed something. "Uh, I don't think that's my name . . ." : She was rewarded with a terrifying glower and the sound of the heavy clipboard top slamming shut. : "I never make mistakes." The Head, after giving her a once over, gave a snort of contempt. "You're in the Bluebells from the looks of you. Get moving." : With that, Sari was shoved rather harshly towards a group in the back corner. The others turned to face her, one by one grinning maliciously. 'Fresh Meat' was obviously written all over Sari as she fought her better judgment and took another step towards her evident doom. : "H-hello, I'm the new t-troop member. A-a . . ." She could barely finish her thought, never mind her sentence, as a meaty hand came to roost upon her shoulder. : "So . . . What you in here for? Neglect? Abuse? Not that we ever get one of those, but . . . you know, it’s best to ask just in case." The giant looming before Sari asked in a surprisingly soft, although haggard voice. Now that she could see them more clearly, all of the troop members looked much the way the leader, who had spoken, sounded. Worn out, to the point that up close, they seemed utterly unable to live up to the rough nature their stature imposed upon the consciousness of society. Of course, they were still far too terrifying for Sari's liking. Taking a deep breath, she tried not to stutter. : "No, I think it's just because everyone thinks I'm a wimp. My parents, Joe, and especially the brat." Her eyes blazed at the thought of that little . Not surprisingly, the others nodded in understanding and compion, a murmur of 'Same here' heard all around. : "So, what's It like? Mine's twelve now, and a more of a monster everyday. Last night, he tried to burn my bed, thinking it was some stupid joke. He even laughed when I had to get my burns treated! Little jerk. . ." The speaker shivered with rage. : A chorus of voices rang up, each desperate to have their story told. A shrill scream carried from the other side of the room, coming from another of the group leaders. : “STOP IT! Or else . . .” The troop promptly shut up, knowing full well the meaning of the threat hanging on those words. Unfortunately, someone from the troop nearest the door had not heard the shout early enough. : “A-ha! There’s the last one out guys.” The Head pointed a slightly chubby finger at the member in question, a thin, brittle thing, whose normally pale skin had turned sheet white. She gaped, deer-eyed at the leaders as the leaders slowly turned to her, malevolent smiles on each of their faces. : “I-I didn’t hear you! You can’t do this . . .?” She was now too terrified to move, the five leaders forming a circle around her. : “You know the rules Millie! Last one talking’s gotta take the punishment for everyone else. Take her to The Room, and make it quick, got it?” The leaders nodded in acknowledgment of the Head’s orders, dragging a stooped Millie away. : “What are they going to do? Kill her?” Sari worried out loud in a soft whisper. : “No, just rough her up a bit. They have tools to do it back there.” The Bluebells’ leader, standing to the right of Sari answered, inching her head ever so slightly towards the utility closet where Millie had been taken. : Before Sari could ask anything else, the Head opened her mouth to speak. There was a hush as she reached inside her front pocket, grasping around for something. : “Well, here’s another meeting of ‘Girl Guides’. Today we’re doin’ first aid! Now, I need a bowl-un-ear to do it.” : No one stepped forward. This didn’t seem to faze the Head as she simply grabbed someone from the front of the crowd. : “Today we’re gonna learn how to fix a broken bone.” She gently took the hands of her chosen ‘volunteer’, placing them palm side up on the table. She than preceded to tape over them with electric tape, until the point where the volunteer could not move them, despite all the squirming and pulling she was doing as it was realized what was happening. Ignoring the simpering whines of her victim, the Head, once fully satisfied that the tape was doing its job, pulled from her pocket what she had been searching for. A hammer. She brought her arms to their highest point, smirked viciously at the crowd, then brought her weapon down at lightning speed. : Sari couldn’t watch. She heard the nauseating crack of the fragile inner workings of the volunteer’s hand seconds before the blood-curdling scream of anguish. There was a sickening rip and slap before Sari looked up again. The volunteer was down; crimson seemingly splattered along her arm, little droplets littering the floor nearby. The tape had yanked quite a bit of skin off of her, exposing patches of scarlet on the palm of the hand. In addition, there was a red welt slowly darkening to violet where the Head had smacked her with the hammer to shut up. Small ivory chips nose-dived among the red saliva dripping from her oddly aligned jaw. The tears were now nearly noiseless, racking sobs only escaping every few minutes. : “Let this be a lesson to you,” the Head announced, looking pointedly at Sari, “Only sissies cry, and sissies have no place here.” : The troop members nodded, trying to hold back the wretchedness of the sight before them, hoping desperately that they weren’t next. : “Alright, now you take your sticks and tape…” : : * * * : Sari had spent the better part of half an hour trying not to watch the Head rip the tape off of people’s hands. Sari had been one of the first to take it off, and luckily she hadn’t had hairs on her arm, allowing her to escape with only a slight burn from the speed of the tape. Some weren’t so lucky. : The Head had decided not to break any more hands after the first one, saying simply that she no longer felt like it, and the noise it caused was far too annoying anyways. She settled for covering each person’s hand in tape, than ripping it off gleefully. She seemed to enjoy the winces and swollen, bloodied lips that had been bitten too hard. No one dared cry, after what had happened before. : Looking up, Sari saw that the other leaders were back, although Millie was not. After having cheerfully ed at the last ‘bandage’, the Head turned to them, smiling. : “Snack time?” : They nodded, than left moved towards the small kitchen at the side of the room. They pulled out several drawers, emptying them as they went along. Finally, when the entire kitchen was on the floor, and the refrigerator’s contents had been strewn along the island and cupboards, they gave the signal. : The Head glared at the troops. “We’re hungry, so you guys can cook for us.” Having bestowed this great honor upon them, she sat at the leaders’ table in her special chair, crossed her arms and glared, daring any of them to speak out of turn. : Mumbling about how unfair this was, the troops moved towards the challenge before them. The ones who could cook immediately put themselves as leaders, instructing everyone else on what to do. Sari, a leader for once, had a hard time explaining what she wanted done between her stutters, and thus had to write most of it down. As no one would go near anything remotely red, it was decided that they would make grilled cheese sandwiches, and just leave some ketchup with the leaders to pour if they wanted it. : Before anything could be made though, the filthy stovetop would have to be cleaned. Sari glanced over at it and shuddered. The entire stove was covered in grime. Green, slime-like splotches dotted the almost navy blue cover of thousands of unidentified food sources mixed together as they crusted one on top of another over the years, and she wasn’t certain, but Sari could swear she had just seen those white flecks move by themselves . . . All in all, it was a absolutely disgusting place to look at, let alone cook. : Nevertheless, the leaders were demanding food all the more rapidly, screaming louder each moment until Sari was certain the piercing sound had broken her eardrums. The troops were soon organized, each with jobs to do. The Bluebells had floor duty, easily the best job as all it consisted of was picking up the pots that the leaders had thrown down, since they would be doing the actual cooking. : “Wouldn’t it be great if the Head just dropped dead from eating food from there? I mean, we don’t have to clean it that well, do we?” A particularity young Rose stage whispered from her place in the stove corner. The other Roses gasped, appalled at the idea. : “Bella, how could you say that?! I mean, she’s your-.” The Bluebells’ leader stepped forward, interrupting the Rose. : “Bell’s right. We’ll start cooking now, and hopefully one of them will become fatally ill from exposure!” She was given a pitying glance from the Rose who had spoken. “Oh don’t look at me like that! Think of all she’s done to us, all she’s putting us through! She deserves it, the -.” : “Shut up Ruth, what if they hear you?” However, the Roses moved cautiously to the side, allowing Ruth, Sari, and the rest of the Bluebells room to work. They fried up six beautifully golden sandwiches, staying far from the stove whenever they could, than carefully handing the plate to a smug Ruth to bring to the table. : The Head glared distastefully at the plate. “About time! But my, but you look a tad puckish. Here, have a grilled cheese. I insist . . .” Ignoring Ruth’s protests, the Head stood on her chair to stuff sandwich after sandwich down Ruth’s throat, almost choking her. With the last grilled cheese within Ruth’s chunky cheeks, the Head put her head to the side, pretending to consider something. : “You know, I don’t think we’re hungry after all. Oh well!” She smirked, obviously happy about her conquest. Suddenly, beeps of the leaders’ various watches filled the air. “Oh fine, we’re done. Go get your things or I get ‘em.” The Head scowled; upset her fun was finished for the day. : Millie’s family, who were the first to arrive, was directed into the utility closet with excited whispers. Next came a Rose’s ride, than a steady stream of people until all that was left was Bella, a Clover, the ‘volunteer’ and Sari, all who sat in uncomfortable silence. : After what seemed like hours, Rendo appeared at the door, scowling. She grabbed Sari’s hand and yanked her towards the door, muttering insults. Taking a quick survey of the room, she noticed someone and promptly dropped Sari’s hand, leaving her to follow in tail towards the Head. : Upon reaching the Head, Rendo’s face broke out in a broad grin. : “Arabella! What’re you doing here? I thought you told Miya you had some family stuff to do!” : The Head sighed sullenly. “Well, would you want to admit you spend your evenings . . . here?” : Rendo smirked smugly, only too glad to be on the other side of the situation. “I guess not. Oh well, see ya on Monday!” : The Head nodded. “Tell your sister to bring her B.B. gun, ‘kay? Bye!” : With a parting wave, Rendo turned to Sari. “Come on Mom, move it! We don’t got all day, you know.” : Sari pulled her keys out of her bundled up coat pocket and started towards the car, followed by her screeching daughter. : ‘I’ll get that little if it’s the last thing I do . . .’ : : A/N: ‘Why,’ you ask? Because I read ‘The Lottery’. Then, ‘Just A Shave, That’s All’, which is filled to the brim with CRIMSON. Honestly, all I think my teacher has something with pain. All we read for our short story unit are deep, meaningful stories in which people are brutally murdered. (or in some cases, almost) Not that I’m complaining of course. I love those types of stories! ^-^ So what did you think? More of a depressing story than I'm used to writing, but I like it! If you have any questions, write me. I realize the ending might seem like it came out of nowhere, but if you read through, I made quite a few hints. If you want to know where the more obscure one are, e-mail me and I’ll tell you. Opinions? Comments? Criticisms? Send 'em here, or to babygirl_1999bc@yahoo.com , erie2222@hotmail.com or maki_chan202@yahoo.com . Thanks!

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