Alice Unbound by Colleen Anderson

Author:Colleen Anderson [Anderson, Collen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Exile Editions
Published: 2018-04-09T16:00:00+00:00

THE RISE OF THE CRIMSON QUEEN

Linda DeMeulemeester

“Only three,” said the funny looking kid who’d been locked in the coal bin.

He’d somehow crawled into the cellar during the night. Aggie heard him scratching at the door and rattling the latch. “Let me out,” he’d moaned.

When she set him free, they stared at each other face-to-face. Aggie had never seen anyone quite like him. He was as small as a toddler, with long coal-smudged white ears and a soot-covered waistcoat. When she reached out to touch his droopy ear, he bit her hand and ran away clutching two fistfuls of coal to his chest.

“Dirty, rotten thing,” cried Aggie, holding her thumb.

“Only three,” he called back.

Aggie and Mommy were driving back from the swimming pool. Rain beat against their windshield and hammered like pellets on the car roof. The windshield wipers pounded a rhythm until Aggie felt her heart match its beat. The old-car smell mingled with stale cigarette smoke, making her feel sick.

“Daddy and I are divorcing,” Mommy said.

When they got home, Mommy let them eat in front of the television. Daddy would never have let them do that.

Two nights before, like other nights, Daddy had come home from work and everybody had to be quiet. Aggie hated quiet. After dinner they could sit without noise or fidgeting while Daddy sat on the couch and sipped his beer. He always fell asleep watching hockey and one of them, usually Tricia, would turn on cartoons. Then Davy would switch the channel to an action show. Aggie didn’t much care what was on TV. She just wanted them not to argue. They always argued. Daddy would wake up and send them all to bed.

The next night, Aggie had played with her father’s tools. He accused Davy. Davy was too afraid to defend himself. Aggie was too scared to confess. Davy got a spanking.

That’s when Aggie wished her father would go away, so she wouldn’t have to worry about being quiet or good anymore.

Aggie only had one so-called friend on the block, and she didn’t like her much. Her cousin Jane lived next door and was two years older and bossed Aggie around. She was tall, skinny and blonde, and Aggie thought they looked stupid together because she was short, dark and plump.

“Come to my house after school.”

Jane never asked, she told. Aggie had to wait outside the school for her for an extra half hour. The wind bit into Aggie’s ankles and scraped her lips raw. She yanked her skirt as close to her knee socks as she could.

Jane cried all the way home, saying her hands were cold. Aggie didn’t think a seventh grader who blubbered had any right to boss her.

The next day, when Jane wanted her to stay outside in the biting cold and wait for her, Aggie shook her head and went straight home. But as Aggie walked down the steps of the school, she saw Jane plastered against the window making a fist at her. Jane had her ways. Aggie was afraid to go to school the next morning.

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