This is the beginning to a short story I wrote a few years ago. The main character is a young teenage girl named Zoellie Crane, nicknamed Zoey, and she was jumped on the way to school. This is part of the aftermath, Enjoy.

Untitled: by Emily Heiland



Edith: Zoey, I’ve been trying to call you for hours, and you’re really starting to worry me. Call me back.
Edith: Zoey Elizabeth Crane, answer your phone or so help me.

Padre: Zoey, it’s your Dad. You know, I'm about f you don’t answer. I just got a call that you never came into school. You better have a damn good explanation for that.
Padre: Zoellie Elizabeth, call me.
Zoey, in iMessage: Dad, I’m okay.
Padre: Where in God’s name are you?
Zoey: Trig at the moment, um, I sort of had trouble this morning. I’m good, though, sorry for making you worry.
Padre: Yeah okay, we can talk when you get home.
Zoey: I have volleyball until 7 tonight, don’t sweat it. I'll see you later.

That was the plan, anyway. Zoey knew that volleyball ran only until around five, but it was an explanation for her bruises. It’s not unheard of to get hurt in the sport, which is why it is the perfect cover up.

Her footsteps echoed throughout the emptied hallway, indicating that Zoey was indeed alone. Her black Doc Martins were pretty beat up, laced with dark deposits of mud and dry dirt, showing that her previously wet feet were drying.

Classes were still in session, meaning people would notice if she casually slipped into Biology. It was even more noticeable that she wasn’t around for the first three hours of school because her hair was soaked completely through, not a single strand was spared through her drenching, and normally you wouldn’t be getting that wet even had she been there for Gym.

It’s not that the teachers don’t care - and they do sometimes - it’s the fact that they simply wouldn’t understand how Zoey Crane could possibly be jumped and ditched in the alley between the town pub and Peebles, especially since they live in a.) the middle of nowhere, and b.) the fact that the biggest thug in Newland Grove was the resident llama that ate everyone's jacket if you got too close.

Who would have been the idiot to beat up the mayor’s kid and even stupid enough to leave her in the middle of two sketchy buildings?

Zoey couldn’t even believe herself that she managed to get jumped in a town where the last criminal activity was an illegal u-turn at the main junction.

No store was ever robbed, no uproar of concerned citizens ever bothered the village, and no kid was ever beat up and left in the middle of an alley for no reason.

Then, of course, it would be Zoey Crane to suddenly spike the crime rate.

The sound of an old-school bell echoed throughout the hallways, indicating that 4th period was over. Students flooded into the aisle at once, too absorbed in their own conversations to notice Zoey slip into the bathroom. She messily scribbled an “out-of-order” sign with a piece of notebook paper and she taped it to the door so students wouldn’t come in. She was sure they would notice the footprints leading to the door. Then again, they were too busy talking about Prom to even notice that Zoey’s eyes were turning into an ugly greenish color.

She considered her options. She could tell her father that she got jumped, but then he would sick the entire town on whoever did it and that would be pretty bad for her. She didn’t need another person to hate her. Zoey’s other option was to dial her best friend Edith, who had just came back from her BOCES and she had some medical training, so she could check her out.

Zoey also supposed that she would wipe off all the dirt, reapply her makeup, and pretend that she was okay and try really hard not to wince every time she took a step.

In her opinion, that was probably the best idea.

Well, the best idea WOULD HAVE been to tell her father, but Zoey was never quite good at making decisions for herself anyway.

Her eyeliner and foundation were left alone in her bag, unscathed by her attack, so she popped out a couple of her Elf containers and pretended that the attack never happened. Why would someone want to attack her? What wrong has she done?

Why me?

What do you think happened to Zoey? Motives? Answer in the comments below!