Chapter 2
Juni slowly brushes her hair as she looks at the mirror. A forlorn face stares back. She puts the brush down and gathers her things. Listless, she leaves her room and goes down the stairs. She comes up to the doubledoor leading to the dining room and stops in front of it. She takes a deep breath and goes in.
She comes into a wide room. At the center is a long table, with her parents seated on at it.
“Good morning, dad,” Juni greets him cheerfully, then turns to her mother. “Good morning, mom.”
“Good morning.” Comes the reply. “Good morning.”
Juni sits down on one end of the table. Her breakfast is layed in front of her. She proceeds to eat, showing as much gusto as she can muster.
Her father nods approvingly. When she was first found, it was like she was the walking dead. It seemed like only a shell of their daughter was left. But now it appears that life has returned to her and all is well.
“What will you be doing in school today?” he asks.
“Oh, the finals are over, so there’s not much left to do,” Juni answers.
“I’m just helping out where I can.”
Juni finishes up her breakfast and stands up to leave. “May I be excused?”
“Go ahead.”
Juni’s mother watches her daughter exit from the room. Her husband also stands up to leave for work. “I’m off to work now mother.”
“Take care,” she says. They kiss each other goodbye and separate. In a few moments, the mother is left alone in the room. She peers out the window and watches as they leave.
She picks up the picture. Having always been timid, Juni didn’t have any friends.
At times, when she was alone, the masks slips away to reveal lost. It pains her to see her daughter hiding her troubles from her.
“Helfen sie bitte ihrem Gott,” she whispers. Please help her God.
Kreszenz sits on her usual spot on the bench under the shady tree. Her laptop is open and it seems that she is intent on it. But while she is staring at the screen, her eyes is unfocused.Her mind is on other things.
“Kreszenz?”
Kreszenz starts when she heard her name called. She takes hold of herself immediately and looks at Charlene.
“Hey there, beautiful,” the guy calls out lasciviously.
“I’m sorry, but I need to get home.”
“Come on, now, don’t be like that,” he drapes his arms across her shoulders. Juni glances at it, then stares at him directly in the eye. Keeping it on him, she reaches out across her with one hand to grab his dangling arm and crushes it. He yelps out in pain. Juni step-turns away and brings her heel up between his legs while grabbing at his broken arm with both hands. She pulls it forward and down and simultaneously lifting him up with her leg to bring him over her back and smashing into the ground in front of her.