Freaks: Day One (Part 1/4)

"I feel like a fool".

"You look great, Jody. Just suck it up and act normally".

"I can run faster than anyone in this place. Why should I act normally?"

"Because you promised me!"

Jody and Laura Kent look at their new secondary school and take in a deep breath.

"I could seriously just run a lap around this school in under 5 seconds and no one would know!"

"You leave a momentary trail of electricity when you run due to your disruption of time. I'm pretty sure someone would notice!"

Jody sighs.

"I'm going to hate it here!"

"It's our first day. Just try? Please?"

Jody sighs once more as he turns to look at his twin sister. She smiles sweetly.

"Fine. But only because you're asking so nicely!"

They walk into Trillingham School. A medium sized, daunting secondary school. Especially for 11 year olds.

******

In a dark room, barely lit, an oldish looking man wearing a tweed jacket is tied to a chair. He's hunched forward as blood slowly drips from his mouth. Someone else can be seen in the light with a bloody knife.

"I must admit, Mr Joel, I'm rather concerned for you...I'm not sure how much more of this you can take!"

Mr Joel looks up feebly.

"Please...just let me go...I won't tell anyone! You have my word!"

"But you haven't answered my question!"

"I've told you everything I know!"

The man with the knife laughs.

"Haha. No you haven't..."

Mr Joel sighs. The man with the knife kneels down in front of Mr Joel and holds his head up by his hair.

"I know you know who they are. I've seen you talking to her. You have a particular interest in one female student don't you...but not in any way that would be considered untoward! No. You're her...scientific advisor?"

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Maybe you're just her pet? Maybe I'll go and visit her myself. She might be more willing to talk..."

"Leave her alone..."

"I'm sorry?"

Mr Joel sighs.

"At last, he admits he knows the Caretaker!"

"Leave her alone..."

"Oh, I'm not leaving her alone, trust me!"

"Take her on and she will stop you!"

"Oh she'll try. She will try..."

The man drops Mr Joel's head.

"The truth is, Mr Joel, I already know what's going to happen. To you, to Miss Neave...and to who comes next..."

Mr Joel looks confused.

"Are you another time traveller? I've dealt with time travellers before you know! I once met a wonderful young woman who could travel through time with ease..."

"I'm not a time traveller. I'm so much more than that..."

The man plunges a knife into Mr Joel's chest.

"...didn't they tell you? My name is Tragedy. I'm a trickster and I am older than your universe..."

More blood comes out of Mr Joel's mouth. Tragedy smiles.

"Here's what I'm going to do, Mr Joel. I'm going to wear your body in an attempt to trick the Caretaker into letting me help her against a beast from the planet Yurik. Then, when the opportunity arises, I'm going to kill her. So that the next Caretaker can take over. And THAT'S when the real fun begins. I've waited billions of years for this day and it's as wonderful as usual..."

Mr Joel slowly slips away. Tragedy smiles.

"Now...I've perfected the process a number of times...should be painless...

******

"You are all Year 7 now. Primary school is over and it's now time to act a little bit older. A little bit more responsible than you had to before. In Year 6, your teachers probably told you that you had to set an example to the younger children. Well, now you're the younger ones and you need to act a little bit more mature than you did last year and you need to treat others how you wish to be treated. This school is in the middle of an area that has seen increased Natural and Aug activity in the past 5 years and we need to have our wits about us. Some are dangerous, some aren't. So treat others how you wish to be treated and always be on the lookout for suspicious behaviour!"

The headteacher addressed the new intake. He was a strange looking man with a bald head and a hunched back.

"Trillingham is a safe place but it's only as safe as the resolve of its citizens. And in this school, if you see anything suspicious, you need to report it to us so that UKETT can come and deal with the issue at hand. Do not try to tackle the threat alone!"

Jody shook his head disapprovingly as the headteacher continued. Laura turned to him.

"Don't shake your head like that. You'll draw attention to yourself!"

"How stupid is this guy? Of course some of us can tackle the threat alone!"

"No we can't. And don't get cocky!"

"It's just stupid and naive!"

"Just shut up and listen will you!"

Jody did so, still fundamentally disagreeing with everything the headteacher says. 

"So just be aware of the threats that face our school. Now, do any of the tutors have any messages?"

One teachers raises his hand.

"Mr Joel. Go ahead".

Mr Joel stepped up to the front, looking around and finding Jody.

"My name is Mr Joel. I'm the head of science. And I just wanted to welcome all of you to Trillingham School. A truly wonderful establishment. And I just wanted to say on behalf of all the teachers in this room that, if you have any problems at all, do not hesitate to come and talk to us. Any problems...at all..."

He once again locked eyes with Jody, smiled and walked away.

******

"That science teacher was creepy..."

Jody sat in class next to his sister as they waited for the class to filter in and take their seats.

"He kept looking me like a predator to prey!"

"You're imagining things, Jody..."

As Jody was preparing a retort, a young woman came and sat next to Jody. They looked at each other, smiled and the young woman unpacked her bag. When she had and sat down, she turned to Jody and smiled again.

"My name's Mel! What's your name?"

"My name's Jody. And this is my sister, Laura".

"Jody? Isn't that a girl's name?"

"I spell it with a 'dy' as opposed to a 'die'".

"Right...ok..."

As they complete this conversation, a voice appears from the next table.

"Who names their kid 'Jody'?"

Jody turns around and sees some boys sniggering to themselves.

"My mother. Problem?"

"It's a stupid name".

"Can't be any stupider than yours. What's yours?"

"Carl".

"Carl? Who names their kid 'Carl' these days? How old are you? 70?"

Carl looked annoyed.

"At least my Mum didn't name me after a girl!"

"At least I don't sound like one of the elderly characters off Coronation Street..."

Carl stands up and walks over to Jody.

"You better watch your mouth, Jody. Or I'll punch it sideways across your face".

Jody stands up. He's shorter than Carl but he doesn't look afraid.

"I'd like to see you try. Because, believe me, it won't end well for you..."

Carl's about to punch him when the teacher comes in. It's Mr Joel.

"A fight? Come, come, boys. We don't fight in Trillingham School. Sit down and wait patiently. Now, my name is Mr Joel and I'll be covering your history lesson today. So, in this half of the year, we're going to be looking at various events that happened in the medieval and renaissance periods. We'll be looking at the Norma Conquest of England, the Domesday Book before finally finishing at the Renaissance and a particular event that happened in the town of Nuremberg in 1561..."

Mel put her hand up.

"Yes...What's your name?"

"Mel".

"Mel. Go ahead".

"Will we learn anything about Naturals and Augs? The history of them?"

"We don't have that on the national curriculum but there's a theory the aforementioned event in Nuremberg was caused by a Natural. But beyond that, no".

Mel looks sad. Mr Joel looks at Jody once more, as he did in assembly. Jody notices.

"No. The course will be slightly boring in Year 7. But I promise it gets more interesting in Year 8 onwards. You'll find it much more...satisfying..."

The gaze between Jody and Mr Joel intensifies for a few moments before a knock at the door breaks it.

"Enter..."

The door opens and a young woman steps in. She's a Year 13 but she's beautiful. Long flowing blonde hair, leather jacket and just generally stereotypically beautiful. Jody sees her and gets lost. He's somewhat interested.

"Mr Joel, sorry to intrude, I was just wondering if you were around at break or lunch today? I need to talk to you about something important? Sorry, it can't wait!"

Mr Joel smiles.

"Of course. You can speak to me anytime. Come at break time. I'll be in my usual room!"

"Thank you, sir"

The young woman went to leave the room but she locked eyes with Jody. As they do, she smiles at him. She vanishes almost as quickly as she appeared. Laura notices and looks unimpressed.

******

Jody, Laura and Mel leave the room together. Jody is still awestruck by the young woman. Laura is just unhappy he's gone into a strange state.

"Who was that girl?"

"A Year 13 who would have no interest in a Year 7!"

Jody looked at his sister.

"Way to crush a boy's dreams..."

Mel intervened.

"She's called Roberta. I know her. She doesn't live too far from me. She's a weird girl. She's always out in the middle of the night and always sneaks back into her house in the early morning. She's weird!"

"Stay away from her, Jody!"

"No. She's beautiful. I'm allowed to admire beauty when I see it!"

Laura stopped him.

"Ok, stop. I know what you're like when you get obsessed with something. Remember the phase you went through when you loved Pompeii? The time you were obsessed with Mr Invincible? The time you heard that story about the girl from the middle ages who could open time portals? When you get sucked into something, you tend to sit on it for a long time and get completely absorbed by it. Don't get absorbed by a girl who is quite blatantly out of your league!"

Mel stands there awkwardly. Jody doesn't look impressed.

"Well I'm going to find her anyway. She's interesting and I want to know what she's like!"

Jody turns around and bumps into someone. It's the young lady from earlier. She smiles.

"Look where you're going, young man! You never know who you could bump into in these halls!"

She chuckles as she walks off. Jody watches her with interest. Laura smacks him on the shoulder.

"You'll never get her..."

"Watch and learn, little sis...watch and learn..."

Jody followed her back towards the room from he previously exited...

******

Jody snuck up to the classroom and put one ear to the door. He heard as the young lady and Mr Joel have a debate.

"I don't understand how you're so complacent about this. If this guy is real, he's a threat!"

"Or he might not be. What would his motives be?"

"I don't know. But there are stories. Stories saying he's older than the universe itself!"

"So why come here now?"

"I don't know. Maybe he's something to do with the Akara?"

"Akara is unimportant at this time. This 'Tragedy' is more important. What do you know about his current intentions and whereabouts?"

"There was a spike in energy a few days ago in Elizabeth Gardens in the city but, beyond that, nothing yet. Only whispers!"

"Ok. Well, I'll keep an eye out. Just keep me updated in the meantime..."

The young woman starts to leave the room. As she comes closers, Jody hides.

"Oh, and Roberta?"

Roberta turns around.

"If he's as dangerous as you claim, be careful!"

Roberta nods. She opens the door and walks out. She walks away. Jody steps forward with a smile on his face.

"Roberta..."

He chuckles to himself for a moment before looking back into the classroom where he sees Mr Joel. However, as he looks on, he sees Mr Joel remove his face to reveal a stranger. Jody looks terrified as he realises that the Mr Joel isn't who he says he is. As he looks on further, the stranger looks to the door and sees Jody. He smiles and winks. Jody speeds away in horror. His superspeed getting this better of him. He hides behind another building and tries to process what he's just seen.

Tragedy looks at the door and smiles evily.

"So...Jody Kent...it begins..."