Bloodied

There were already two orphans in school when Flissa started. Cody, who was doomed to die young like it was a family tradition, and Athena, who had seen her mum die in a housefire and everybody knew it. Flissa only got to know Cody a bit, because he lived up to expectations and expired from a bellyache by Halloween. Teachers cried openly with students, and Flissa felt unseen amidst the grief. She had been Cody’s best friend for a whole week, but no one seemed to think it counted for much. Athena got a lot of extra attention though, and when she scored 94% in Maths even though she was sad, the headmistress made a speech about strength of character in assembly.

Flissa knew she had strength of character too. She’d been on her first foxhunt when she was 9. Henry Penhaligan had vomited on his boots when he was bloodied, but Flissa hadn’t flinched, even though she hated it. Things had been different then. She’d laughed about it later, with her sister. But her sister was gone now, and it felt like a long time since Flissa had laughed.

That changed when Athena was around though. Flissa had forgotten how much fun playing with others could be. Eventually she killed herself, Athena. Everyone said it was because of what she had seen, with her mum, which Flissa thought was definitely a workable hypothesis. She’d spoken a lot to Athena, about how her mum died.

The fire that killed Flissa’s parents gave her something in common with Athena, though it was too late, when it happened, to tell Athena that. The teachers were very kind though, and Flissa, now she was the only orphan in school, got her own assembly about overcoming adversity. It felt nice, to steal the show.