Malenda

    Malenda was a small girl, smaller than the other girls and much smaller than the boys.  She awkwardly wore her big sisters glasses on her crooked nose.  Her uniform was too big and it gave her the bad kind of individuality that every nine year old avoided.  Slouching in her desk, her primary goal was not to be noticed by any of her class mates.  Her secondary goal was simply to make it home that day without crying.  While she did look forward to going on a field trip to the zoo, she dreaded spending an hour and a half on the same bus as Tommy and Tiffany Timber.  The same year Malenda skipped the third grade the Timbers were held back to repeat the fourth grade.  Tommy and Tiffany were eleven year old fraternal twins: blond hair, blue eyes, perfect teeth, perfect parents. 

    On her way to the restroom she imagined what she looked like as she walked and tried to make adjustments in her step so that she blended in.  Entering the restroom, she glanced over her shoulder and just caught the eye of a girl standing by her locker.  Malenda's heart sank.  She prayed that maybe the girl was looking to the other end of the hallway, or just staring off into space.  She quickly entered the bathroom and began to wash her hands, listening for the girl in the hallway.  She watched in the mirror as the girl entered the restroom.  Two other girls followed and blocked the exit.  Malenda had only one defense mechanism - a scream that, with practice and perhaps lessons, could shatter fine crystal. 
         Mrs. Weatherby entered the restroom a moment before the girls reached Malenda. 
         "Everybody out!"
         As all the girls filed out of the bathroom, Malenda first, the teacher grabbed one of the other girls by the arm.
         "If I have to hear that little girl scream one more time…"
         "Sorry, Misses Weatherby."

    Malenda ran down the hallway.  She was painfully aware of the attention she was bringing to herself but no fate was worse than being stranded in the back of the bus, away from teachers, away from help.  She heard the last door on the hallway open with a click as Mr. Tenner stepped quickly out into her path.
         "No running, young lady.  Now, you wait right here with me until all the other students have passed."

         Anxiety filled her body.  She trembled as she watched the other children walk past her in a single file line, each watching her intently.  Each plotting and planning.  Each with an idea and an evil smile.  Long after the line had progressed, Mr. Tenner let Malenda go.  She tried to walk confidently to the full bus but it was difficult with all of her classmates staring at her.  Imagining a thousand different scenarios of what might happen, she stepped onto the bus and looked around.  Only one seat was left, and it was the second from the back.  She would have to sit in between Tommy and Tiffany.  The other students seemed to watch her eagerly as she took each step.  Glancing at their faces, she felt that she was looking at a school of fish that possessed group thought.  She did not look at Tommy or Tiffany as she sat between them, Tommy behind, Tiffany in front.  Malenda simply sat and waited. 

         Tommy's head popped over the back of her seat. "Hi, Malenda."
         She did not respond, or even look at him.
         "Yeah, hi, Malenda." Tiffany added as she turned around.
         Malenda continued to look intently at the floor.  Tommy grabbed her pony tail and pulled her head back to his.
         "If you even-"
         Every child on the bus jumped and clapped their hands to their ears. Mr. Weatherby jumped up with a grimace.  The scream continued, sustaining the same note, until the teacher reached Malenda.
         "Timber, front seat, right now!  You too, Tiffany."
         Mr. Weatherby sat in silence with Malenda.  The other children sat and watched, biding their time.

         Mr. Weatherby made sure that Malenda was the last one off the bus.  They walked together to the ticket window. 
As soon as they were past it the teacher said, “I have to use the bathroom, wait right here.  Don’t move.”
Malenda did as instructed.  She waited for what seemed far too long and began to wonder what could have happened.  She eventually risked sitting on a nearby bench and carefully watched the entrance to the restroom.  Finally, it was too much for her to take and she summoned all her strength, stood up and entered the bathroom.  What she saw terrified her, but only for a moment.  The bathroom was just a long hallway of stalls with a second door at the other end of it.  Once the initial wave of panic subsided, she realized she was free to roam the zoo as she pleased.  Wondering if anyone would even try to look for her, she began to calculate the time until she had to be back on the bus.  She left herself an hour as a safety net; she would be back at the bus long before the class reconvened at one o’ clock.  Exiting the restroom, she stopped at a over sized map of the zoo.  You are here.  She was right next to the reptile house.  Checking over her shoulder, she skipped in that direction.

    Without warning two girls and a smaller boy sprang from the bushes. Without hesitation Malenda screamed at the top of her lungs.  Not waiting for the teacher that would come to the rescue or even waiting for the scream to subside the pack of children disappeared.  The scream ended abruptly and Malenda’s eyes widened.  She swallowed hard and touched her throat.  She contemplated this for a few moments then turned slowly walked away. 

    Malenda listened closely for the roving ruckus that was her fourth grade class.  She checked corners before rounding them and watched exhibition halls before entering them.  As she peered through some foliage to a parallel trail she saw her class.  They were heading for the monkeys, so she headed for the great cats.
She liked big cats.  Big cats did not have to prove themselves with actions.  People respected and feared them out of instinct.  As she walked, lost in awe, she stopped looking where she was going, but more importantly, she stopped looking at herself.  She simply strode, without the slightest bit of self awareness.  When she walked past the last bars of the leopard cage she realized the she had forgotten to monitor herself, but her absence had already attracted an onlooker.

    The boy was eight, Malenda gauged, and walking toward her with intent. 
“Why are you wearing those clothes?”
Malenda stared at the boy; he was not part of her class, but was still not to be trusted. 
“My name’s Malcolm, what’s yours?”
Malenda continued to stare, not really knowing how to handle someone who wasn’t trying to make her cry.
“My favorite cat is a panther, what’s your favorite?”
She shrugged.
“Let’s go look.”

    The tiger paced back and forth in its tiny ecosystem.  There was a worn trail that circled the enclosure and the tiger walked this each day.  On this particular day the tiger was pacing back and forth on the piece of trail that edged right up to the concrete moat separating the general public from the tiger’s natural environment.  Malenda and Malcolm walked right up to the edge of the moat, grabbed the railing and stared in awe at the huge feline.
Malenda flinched just before the rock hit Malcolm in the back.
“Who’s your boyfriend?”
Malenda’s heart sank.  She had forgotten about everything for a few brief moments.  Malcolm ran in the opposite direction of Tommy.  Tiffany’s leg jutted out from a bush and Malcolm’s feet became tangled in hers.  He hit the ground hard and began to cry.  He slowly got up as Tiffany laughed, he did not look at Malenda before he ran away.
 
    Peace and quiet rained down on Malenda’s ears like hail.  She tried to scream one more time but all she heard was the sound of hot panicked breath escaping her mouth. 
“Well, well, well.” Tommy basked in the rare opportunity.
“Indeed,” Tiffany agreed.
Malenda tried to speak. Anything, she wanted to say anything.  Her voice was gone, would she even make noises when they make her cry.  She took a step back as the sinister siblings advanced.
Tommy casually strode toward her, “We owe you. I owe you, what I think is, weeks’ worth of you weaseling your way out of what you know you deserve.” 
Malenda took another step back, flicking her eyes from Tommy’s to Tiffany’s.
“Where is Misses Weatherby?  She always shows up to save you.”
Tommy and Tiffany’s shoulders touched as they stopped in front of Malenda. They looked down at her and then at each other.  Malenda, almost out of instinct, out of fear of what was about to happen, took one more step back.

    A noise, louder than Malenda could ever make scraped inside her head.  It ended with a loud and hollow thud.  Tommy and Tiffany stared down into the bottom of the concrete moat.  Malenda lay motionless and for a moment they were terrified, but then Malenda grabbed her head and tried to moan, silence again filled her mouth. 
         “What now, Malenda?”
         “Yeah, how are you-”
         A defeating sound filled the air.  The twins each screamed in fright but they were both drowned out by the roar of the tiger.  Tommy and Tiffany jumped up and started to back away as the tiger walked toward the edge of is environment.  It seemed to be staring into both of them at the same time.  It stopped and continued its gaze, as if trying to communicate something.  The two fourth graders continued to back away as the tiger jumped into the moat – still staring into their eyes. 

         “Misses Weatherby, Misses Weatherby.”
         “Come here, come here.”
         “You have to help.”
         “Malenda jumped into the tiger pit.”
         “What, if this is some kind of joke, so help me God…” but Mr. Weatherby could see the fear in the children’s eyes; she knew something was very wrong. 
         When Ms. Weatherby peered over the side of the railing she saw what was left of Malenda, the tiger had dragged her to the far side of the concrete moat.  Had it not been for the shreds of plaid uniform there would have been no way of ever identifying the body.