“…plea-please don’t hurt me!” stuttered Catherine with fear.“Oh I won’t, not until you give me that” said the stranger in an impulsive tone.“It’s...It’s in my bag, in the file folder” replied Catherine The stranger then reached for the folder and took it and said-“ahh yes! Thank you very very much”“…Ok, I don’t know what you are going to do with me now, but I just want you to say these last words to my mom” stuttered Catherine as she continued-“Tell her…that…farting 52 times a day can help her lose some weight” “Oh come on! You just ruined it!” said the stranger releasing Catherine.“And the Oscar for the best actor goes to, Catherine Mosby!” replied Catherine as they cheerfully laughed.“God I missed you so much Tom!” said Catherine.“Oh me too Cat! Me too!” Said Tom Tom Brand is Catherine’s classmate and also her best-friend, because he’s less physique and weak, he’s often targeted by the bullies. They both knew each other from first grade and were friends since.“Thank you for doing my homework Cat, you’re the best!” replied Tom hugging Catherine. “Now-now! I wouldn’t have done your home-work ever! But had to, how she feels now?” said Catherine in a low toned voice.“Who? my mum? Ah she’s great now, doctors say she will get discharge at most next week!” replied Tom. “I’m happy for you” replied Catherine with a smile as they both reach their classroom.As they sat on the bench and reached for the books in their bag, they both heard-“Oh ho, look whose here! Catherine Mosby and her Assistant, Brand the loser” shouted Johnny Caster, the school bully. He and his gang start grinning.“Shut up Johnny, everyone knows you peed on your bed while sleeping, till you were thirteen!” replied Catherine. The whole class starts laughing, Johnny looks at everyone with his awkward rage face and replies-“Oh, seems like not him, but you are his assistant” said Johnny, and then looking at Tom and continues- “oh hey Tom, just checking out, how many days have it been since your dad left you, a year and half right?” As Tom heard it, he suddenly went cold and his eyes stopped making eye-contact.“Reply to me Brand!” said Johnny as his tyrant eyes fell deep into Tom, manipulating his feeling.Tom then looked down with a sorrowful sigh and nods for a yes; Catherine stared pensively at him as his eyes go moist with sorrow. “Oh, what again, mouse-by? Seems like your boss is going to cry! You should have bought some tissues for the ‘HALF-ORPHAN’!” said Johnny with a cringe grin on his face. “Just call him an orphan again” said Catherine, looking down with a low tone, as she held her fists tight. “What?” asked Johnny, with a baffled voice. “Just call him an orphan again, and I will make sure you regret it” replied Catherine as she looked deep into Johnny’s eyes seeking redemption.“Oh, alright then” Johnny continued clearing his throat “let’s see...ORPAN, ORPHAN, ORPHAN, ORPHAN…..”
30 minutes later……
“………”
“………”
“……..”“So, Ahem, Johnny, tell me…where did Catherine, exactly kick you?” asked Mrs. Susan D’Souza, the principle of the school, in a perplexed tone with her face resting on her joined hands that rested on the wooden desk. Johnny who was sitting on a chair next to his father, Mrs. Mosby and Catherine pointed out with his index finger.Mrs. D’Souza raised a bit from her desk to see where Johnny was pointing out, giving a facial expression exhibiting irritated confusion, she pressed her palms amongst each other and slightly rubbing her chin with them, she said “ you have to be more elaborate Johnny, verbally I mean” “Speak up Jonathan, tell me, where did she hit you, goddamnit!” said Johnny’s father angrily.“She kicked me in the No-No zone papa” replied Johnny with a cry.“No-No zone!” giggled Mrs. Mosby and Catherine “Do you think this is funny?” said Johnny’s father looking at Mrs. Mosby, and he continue “I wouldn’t care if my dumb son is hit, his face? NO! His buttocks? NO! But if my future grandchildren are in danger, who may have a slightest chance of making my family proud, well, I would seriously care Mrs. Mosby!” replied Johnny’s father angrily.“DAD! Don’t call me dumb in front of the principle” said Johnny with a cry.“Shut up you fat-arse” said Johnny’s father, as he continued looking at Mrs. D’Souza “I’m so sorry for my language Mrs. D’Souza, but my son IS a fat-arse, I mean, look at it,” pointing towards Johnny’s behinds “it’s the fattest one the history has ever seen!” “It is ok, I can understand” replied Mrs. D’Souza with a disgusted face. And continued-“Miss Mosby, do you have any reasons why you kicked Johnny in the…in the… ‘NO-NO’ place?”“He was bulling Tom and calling him an orphan, Mrs. D’Souza” Said Catherine.“But does it makes a real excuse for anyone to kick anyone in that sensitive region?” asked Mrs. D’Souza as she continued-“you could have filed a complaint against Johnny before taking any actions in your hands”“Well, Mrs. D’Souza I think everyone should do it!” interrupted Mrs. Mosby.“WHAT? Kicking my son in his balls?” replied Johnny’s dad with a shriek.“NO, what I mean is, everyone should help and be compassionate about people who have less than what we have, Tom is a guy with a physique weaker than average, and if Catherine would not have helped him, who would have?” said Mrs. Mosby, and continued looking at Catherine with smile “I am proud of you Catherine, I really am!”
40 MINS LATER
“Mommy! Are you sure I need a punishment? I already got suspended for a week” cried out Catherine from the house basement.“You got suspended for a week, that was the punishment from the school…this is just a punishment from me” replied Mrs. Mosby sitting on a sofa, sipping her coffee and reading the newspaper“I thought you were proud of me for the job I had done?” asked Catherine “I am” replied Mrs. Mosby“Then why this punishment?” asked Catherine with a cry.“I would not have mind if you punched that kid or kicked him elsewhere, but you did kick him somewhere I did not taught you about, that was an ugly move Cat” said Mrs. Mosby “Dad taught me that, and much more, for self defense” said Catherine, and continued “Can you please not punish me?”Mrs. Mosby replied with a sigh “Ok! Don’t clean the entire basement…” “Yayyy!” said Catherine cheerfully.“… just dust the boxes, ok?” continued Mrs. Mosby.“Uggghh, ok mum” replied Catherine with a disappointed tone. After dusting few boxes, Catherine remembered something really important and shouted out “Mom, are you there?” “I am always there for you sweetie!” replied Mrs. Mosby.“I am scared about Tom, what if Johnny tries to bully him again?” asked Catherine.“Well, that won’t happen!” replied Mrs. Mosby cheerfully.
An hour before (SCHOOL)“Mrs. Mosby, I am really sorry that your daughter had to get suspended because of my stupid son” said Johnny’s father to Mrs. Mosby“Oh no, I am the person to blame, if I would not have taught my daughter to kick someone there, it would have never happen, so…just to apologies, can I talk to your son alone for a minute?” asked Mrs. Mosby. “Sure! Why not…Johnny! Come here, listen and behave, don’t let me whoop you this time, he is all yours Mrs. Mosby” replied Johnny’s father as he walked towards his car. Mrs. Mosby smiled at Johnny’s father and shook her head, as she saw him going away, she then held Johnny’s arm tightly and ragingly said- “Listen you little punk, it will be the last time I will ever be saying this to, IF YOU EVER TOUCH TOM OR SPEAK TO HIM AGAIN, I WILL MAKE SURE YOU WILL REGRET IT, alright?”“Yes-yes, ma’am, sure!” said Johnny shaking and stuttering.
40 MINUTES LATER
“And that is how I made sure Tom is safe until you get back to school” explained Mrs. Mosby. “Thank you so much mom, you’re the best!” said Catherine grinning.With a smile on her face, she continued dusting the boxes; while dusting the remaining one’s, she noticed an antithetic and a bit rusty metal box shining in the far corner, Catherine’s curiosity wanted her to look inside it, but all the cardboard boxes resisted her to.“What are you doing over here?” whispered Catherine to herself as she looked at the rusty box “shouldn’t you be sold in last week’s garage sale?” she continued “let me see you” she whispered looking at the box.She jumped over the cardboard boxes, she seemed unconscious about this act, but she anyway crawled over all the boxes to reach over it.“Cat! Are you alright?” shouted out Mrs. Mosby as she heard noises.“Yes mum!” replied Catherine panting.“What was that noise then?” asked Mrs. Mosby.“Nothing mum, just some old vase” replied Catherine.“Ok, just be safe sweetie!” said Mrs. Mosby. “Yes mommy!” replied Catherine as she reached for the box,As she picked it up, and cleaned the top of it with her dress sleeves, she saw the engraving on the top of the box saying-‘belongs to Ashley and Tony’, as she read it; she became suspicious and more curious about the box and the things it may contain.She was scared, but curiosity rode over it and she slowly opened the box, as she fully opened it, she saw couple of old faded papers with rough edges. She could identify the words written on those papers but could not understand it, as, it was written in Sumerian.She was constantly rolling her eyes over the paper, she became more and more curious about the box and the name engraved on top of it.“Who is Tony?” she whispered to herself with her eyebrows reaching each other, she could hear her own heart thumping. “Who is Tony and why was mom hiding this box in the basement so securely?” she asked herself. She wanted more information, so she started to seek it in those papers, all were written in Sumerian. It was like she had all the information she needed but it was worthless for her as she couldn’t read it! After searching for a while and going through all the manuscripts, she found out a map!It was a roughly drawn map of a place, a place not far from her home…and she exactly knew what she had to do!
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