Broken Ties (Prequel to The Mentalist Series)

by Kenechi Udogu

between us. All I had to do was make sure he wasn’t speaking to anyone else as I tried to carry out the Aversion. Undivided attention was needed for my words to take root.

  You will forget I spoke these words to you once I’m done. Whatever you do, make sure you leave work by noon today. Feign illness or an emergency at home, just make sure you leave and don’t return for the day. If possible, don’t return tomorrow either.

  The last bit was just in case he was one of those people who had no problem wearing the same shirt two days in a row. I didn’t want to stop him from going to work for the rest of the week, so that would have to do. The only annoying thing about using the Orb was I didn’t get the satisfaction of seeing the blue flash in his eyes. From experience, I knew he’d heard me. The rest was now up to him.

  “Are you even listening to me?” Cheung threw his hands up in the air with defeat. “Was she so amazing that all you’re going to do today is drift in and out of consciousness as you think of her?”

  I grinned. If only he’d seen me the day before.

  “Oh yeah, she was. But if you keep whining like a little girl, I’m not going to tell you what happened when I finally burst out of my fluffy love coma so, zip it Cheung.”

  I might not have helped matters by saying that, but it shut him up, temporarily. The badgering would continue at school, which was fine by me. I could deflect it better if I wasn’t trapped in a tin can.

  Curly haired guy got off the bus shortly afterwards and the rest of the ride was uneventful, with Cheung’s diverted interest on the test he claimed to have studied for. At least he’d chosen not to sulk; which would have made me feel worse.

  The day turned out to be one of the dullest in my school history, probably because I had been on such a high over the weekend. More likely because I kept looking out for Nora’s wavy auburn hair in the hallway between classes and at the cafeteria, but it was almost like she’d not come to school.

  I usually worked Monday shifts at the supermarket and should have headed there after the last bell went. Instead I found myself walking in the direction of the sports centre located two blocks away from school. It was one we shared with the local community. Being an inner city institution, we didn’t have much land to carve up, so sharing was the only way the school could offer students the chance to participate in outdoor sports. I only went to the centre when I had PE but I figured Nora would be training there with the rest of her team. There was a meet coming up soon, the last one before our end of year exams.

  I flashed my school ID at the lady at reception. She didn’t bother checking if I was scheduled to be in the building before she returned to pretending not to read her novel. It was the only reason I’d come there; nobody took much notice of the facilities users. If I approached Nora at school, we’d have an audience, something I knew neither of us wanted.

  A group of about a dozen kids were racing around the tracks when I plunked myself onto a bench. Finding Nora wasn’t difficult. Her hair held back in a knot, the toned muscles of her thighs straining against shorts that were barely there, her arms flying up and down the sides of her determined face as she crossed the finish line ahead of her teammates.

  I’d never seen Nora run. Knowing of her success was one thing, but sitting and watching my schoolmates excel in their chosen sport of torture was not my style. Maybe I should have rethought the theory a long time ago. Her mother might have shot me just for looking at her in her running attire.

  Nora always wore fairly modest dresses, even in the summer months, so I was completely thrown by the sight of the scantily clad girl leaning on her knees, trying to catch her breath as her coach yelled something at her. She finally stood up straight and nodded before accepting the bottle of orange liquid he offered her. Then she leaned into a stretch.

  My goodness, she was stunning.

  Any chance of me making my shift disappeared as I settled down to wait out the long training session. There was no way I was going to leave without talking to her. She’d stalked me out at the store the other day; I guess it was my turn to show her I wanted to spend time with her. My actions on Saturday night might have implied a lot, but I needed her to know for certain.

  “Hey,” I called out when she came out of the changing rooms with her teammates. Their wrinkled brows at the sight of me was almost comical.

  Nora didn’t seem to notice. Beaming as she slipped her hair out of the knot it was held in, she started walking towards me. “It’s okay, I’ll call you later,” she said to one of the girls without looking back.

  So much for discretion. I could have been there to swap Physics notes with her, or to do something else related to our academics. As long as I didn’t hug her in front of them; or try to breathe in her intoxicating scent. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to control myself. The group hesitated for a second before bounding off to do whatever it was they did after their training session. Probably to replace the five thousand or so calories they’d each just burned.

  Nora didn’t look like she had food on her mind as she sauntered up to me and placed her hands on her hips. She’d changed into a lilac pleated dress which stopped just above her knees. Even though they were all covered up, all I could think about were her thighs. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for me to have watched her practise.

  “Fancy seeing you here, System of a Down,” her eyes flashed to the band name on my shirt. “Don’t tell me you’ve decided to take up a school sport. Or are you here to see little old me?” She ended with an exaggerated gasp.

  My smile answered for me. We weren’t alone in the lobby but none of the people around us were young enough to attend our school. I took a daring step towards her and she didn’t move back, so I took another. There was no way I would ever be able to eat strawberries again without thinking of how great she smelled.

  “What’s wrong with your face?”

  The words came out before I could stop them. I had intended to say something witty or flirty; something to suggest I had thought about her and her alone for the last two days. Something to show I wanted to whisk her away from prying eyes and kiss her until she couldn’t think straight. The almost perfectly covered up bruise on her left cheek knocked all that out of my head.

  Nora’s eyes widened. Maybe she hadn’t realised I’d notice. Seriously, how could she think I wouldn’t? I’d mastered every line and curve of her face on Saturday. A bit of makeup, however well applied, made no difference to what I knew was there.

  “Nothing. Sheesh, can’t a girl try to look pretty without getting the third degree?” She probably didn’t intend for her laugh to sound forced as she stepped back and tilted her face away from mine.

  “Doesn’t look like nothing to me.” I started to reach up to turn her face back towards me but she took another step away.

  She obviously didn’t know I could tell she was lying, even without the ridiculous face paint. Sighing, she rolled her eyes and turned away completely. “Look Paul, just because we made out once, doesn’t mean you know me.”

  “Wait.” I couldn’t let her just walk off so I kept in stride with her. “Is this why you ran away from home?”

  Fishing was the only way I could think of getting anything out of her. I was trying really hard to stop the rage that welled in my chest but I could feel the heat soaring.

  Nora stopped so abruptly that I carried on walking before realising I was alone.

  “And there it is.” Her hands were back on her hips but not in a provocative way.

  “There is what?”

  “The reason I shouldn’t have opened up to you. Now you’re going to psychoanalyse everything I do or say because I let you in on one stupid thing that happened a long time ago.”

  Her lips might have said one thing but her body screamed another. I could sense she wanted me to know what had happened; she just didn’t know how to tell me without getting someone in trouble.

  “Listen to me Nora, if he hits you, it doesn’t matter what he makes you think. You are t
he victim.”

  Her mouth dropped open, tears lining her lower lids. “David does not hit me.” Her words were clipped, and so was the pain from the finger she poked in my chest. “He’s never raised a hand on me in his life.”

  I was too stunned to stop her as she brushed past me and ran out of the building. The others in the lobby watched me, probably wondering what I’d done or said to make the pretty little runner cry. I didn’t care. I was more confused by the fact that the last words Nora had spoken to me had been true.

  EIGHT

  Nora

  Being grounded sucked. How come we always forget how precious our freedom is until it is taken away from us? On a typical Monday night, I would have been at home anyway, watching telly or on the phone with one of my friends. Yet knowing I wasn’t allowed to leave the house made me itch for a café or the steps of Theresa’s front porch.

  I had known there was a strong possibility punishment would come, but I had thrown caution to the wind and ignored my phone on Saturday night. In hindsight, it was a foolish thing to have done for a couple of hours of solace with Paul. He was just a guy, an annoyingly nosy guy. If boring questions were so important, why had I been the one doing almost all the talking? If I hadn’t been so careless with my words, he wouldn’t have jumped to the totally wrong conclusion about David earlier on.

  There were