John Doe

"John Doe"

With so much going on around her it was a miracle she could
concentrate at all. The kids screamed as they scuttled around Arianna's
feet. The television was blearing out at some unearthly volume. The
shrill ringing of the phone pierced her bones. The buzzing of the
blender matched the rhythm of her heart. The slam of doors; the stamp
of feet; bang, crash, buzz, crash, bang, clatter, clutter, splutter,
buzz, crash, crash, bang, crash, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,
bang, BANG!
The house was silent at she stood looking at the broken glass on the
floor. As she bent down the house let out a sigh, 'Oh, why is this
happening to me?' She thought as she aimlessly gathered the shards, 'If
only&;#8230;' she looked up as the memory came flickering back. The
one she had been trying to forget. She closed her weary eyes and let a
dispirited tear slip down her cheek.

Arianna looked across the High Street at her friends waiting for her at
the gates.
"Come on!" They yelled as she stood jigging on the pavement, watching
the traffic thundering by. Spurred on by cries of, 'run, you chicken'
and 'get a move on' she bit her lip and ran across the stream of
cars.
Safe but panting on the opposite side of the road Arianna joined her
friends and sneered at incensed motorists jamming their car horns at
her. From the other end of the group she heard a joyous cry go up and
turned her gaze to its target.
"It's freak-boy again," whooped one of her friends, "I would have
thought he'd have had enough and ran to the Devil by now!"
Arianna joined in the hysterical laughter as the Freak walked past.
She turned her gaze slightly and her eyes were met with the Freak's
accusing stare. Nervously she stopped laughing and turned away. After a
moment of brief deliberation she shook the image from her head,
straightened her back, stuck her chest out and pouted her way to
class.
Arianna sat in the chair nearest the radiator and began unpacking her
things. Light-heartedly, she hummed the last song she had heard that
morning as she stared out of the window opposite. For an inner city
college the view was breathtaking; all greens and blues as the
landscape merged. Her aimless daydream was rudely interrupted by a
modest shadow politely edging its way to an available seat. She focused
her eyes on its face and The Freak looked back; for a split second its
impassive eyes held her gaze before she turned away.
"Right then," piped the teacher shrilly, "today we're going to be
studying the endocrine system. Can anybody tell me what that is?"
The question fell on deaf ears as the class stared back, blankly.
Arianna looked around the room as various quips and puns were thrown
back and forth until the rabble was silenced by a small voice.
"Silence!" Shouted the teacher, "who said something?"
The voice spoke once more, "the hormonal system in the human
body."
All eyes fell on the owner of the voice as a murmur of disapproval
rose from the class.
"Well, look who knows the answer! It's the Freak!"
Someone, somewhere threw a screwed up piece of paper in the Freak's
general direction and all hell broke loose. It escalated into a
mini-riot as more and more paper was thrown. A paper ball landed on
Arianna's desk and without thinking she picked it up and threw it at
the Freak. Through the screams and whoops of laughter she could see it,
sitting with its head in its hands gently swaying back and forth and
for a fleeting second guilt engulfed her body. Without warning her
regrets were dissolved as the Freak slowly stood completely upright,
turned towards the door and calmly walked away from the battle ground;
every pair of eyes watching him go in a bemused silence. Then, the room
was quiet.
"Right then," sighed the teacher, "may we begin?"
After the fifth period that day Arianna was stood at the college gates
with her friends, smoking like a chimney. Gaily she joined in their
jokes and laughter at the day's events.
"And when Ali fell up the stairs at lunch!" Roared one of her
friends.
"I liked it when Mark forgot to do up his bag and all his books fell
out in the corridor." Yelled another.
"The best was the Freak this morning though, classic that was," bawled
someone else and once again a wave of laughter broke out amongst the
group. Chuckling Arianna drew the last dregs from her cigarette butt
and threw it on the floor.
"Well, I'm going to be going now so I'll see you all tomorrow, ok?"
She asked, hugged each one of her friends in turn.
Smiling, she stood on the pavement feeling the vibrations of the
traffic through her feet. Patiently she waited, watching the monotonous
stream of cars glide by. Her mind drifted back to that morning; the
unearthly calmness in the Freak's eyes as everyone pelted it with
sheets of paper. The continuous rumble of the traffic was silenced by
her mind repeating over and over, 'he asked for it, he asked for it'.
Her head bobbed in time with the pulsating traffic, sheepishly
searching for an opening. At last she saw a space in one lane of
traffic and trotted to the middle. 'He asked for it, he asked for it'
the thought pulsated in her mind.
"Arianna!" The cry came from behind her. 'He asked for it, he asked
for it'. Regaining her consciousness she turned her head and shouted
back.
"What?" 'He asked for it, he asked for it'
"Don't forget that CD compilation tomorrow!"
"Ok," as she spun her head round she half acknowledged a lull in the
traffic in front of her and stepped out. 'He asked for it, he asked for
it'. Once her head was straight her whole body froze. Unable to move
the smallest of muscles in her leg she simply stood there, eyes like
saucers and glowing with fright. Her mouth opened to form nothing more
than a silent scream. Arianna looked directly at the front of the bus
and hysterical terror overflowed from every pore and engulfed her whole
body. Every second the bus came nearer. Every inch the noise got
louder. The whole world froze. She closed her eyes. She waited for
death.
Impact came from somewhere, exactly where didn't matter now. She
landed; curled up and whimpering like a baby. With her eyes still
tightly closed she counted slowly to herself.
'1&;#8230;2&;#8230;3&;#8230;18&;#8230;19&;#8230;20&;#8230;am
I dead yet?' She thought not knowing whether she was dead or alive.
'28&;#8230;29&;#8230;30, ' she kept counting; soothing herself
gently, '58&;#8230;59&;#8230;60, ' slowly and carefully she
forced her eyes to open and saw the pavement.
Confused, she uncurled herself from the foetal position and on finding
all the limbs worked and she could move, stood up. Stiffly she looked
at the street; the bus wrapped around a lamppost, the traffic perfectly
stagnant and the crowd of people huddled in the road.
She walked shakily to the people and pushed her way through, breathing
heavily. She looked at the attraction on the floor and froze again. She
fell to her knees as a wave of nausea crept through her bones. Her
glazed eyes looked at the body before her. The thin legs were sprawled
in impossible positions yet there was no mark on the pristine black
trousers. The chest lay still, not even a faint pulse beckoned life
back. The arms; one flailed across the road covered in grazes and
bruises, the other protectively clutching the fragile chest. The face
was hypnotising. The glacial eyes stared into space with an unrelenting
serenity that brought tears welling in Arianna's own eyes. The mouth
was open slightly as if it were still alive, still breathing, still
human. Arianna was washed with sorrow and guilt as a trickle of
rose-red blood slid slowly from the Freak's mouth and along his ivory
cheek. She cried then. Her head buried in her hands, she cried like she
never had before; deep heartfelt sobs filled with anguish and
regret.
"Excuse me Miss," a voice broke the grief momentarily, "excuse me, do
you know him Miss?"
She nodded weakly and stared at the paramedic,
"y&;#8230;y&;#8230;yes&;#8230;," she stammered.
"Do you know his name?"
Again she nodded and for the first time Arianna's heart gave the Freak
his identity, all be it a second too late. She looked at his lifeless
body and whispered through the tears,
"Jack Williams."

Silently she watched the bin glide to a close. Mesmerised by her
memories she turned back to her cooking and began to beat the egg
yolks. Round and round, back and forth, slap, bang, crash, slap, round,
back, round, forth, bang, slap, crash, slap, slop, plop, bang, bang,
bang, bang, bang&;#8230;