A Troubling Affair of Life and Death
Shouts and jeers came from five boys. They were all running at their top speed, which was not terribly fast, considering how overweight they were. Their apparent leader, a seven year old boy named Dudley, was the fattest of the bunch. His leadership still did not equate to brains though. He wasn't particularly bright, nor was he gifted in the arts or at sports. In fact, perhaps his most defining characteristic was his utter disdain for all and any that were:
A) Smaller than him
B) Weaker than him
C) Prettier than him (though that wasn't hard)
or
D) Slower than him.
Unfortunately for her, Hariel Potter fell under all four conditions.
Red hair whipped around a corner, being quickly displaced from the bun atop Hariel's head. If she weren't so busy running for her life, she might have growled. Aunt Petunia disliked when Hariel's hair was down, she said it was "un-couth". Hariel knew she was in for a beating if her hair was in such disarray when she arrived home. However, she had bigger things on her mind, like not dying.
Currently, she was being chased by her cousin and his gang. They were the biggest bullies on the schoolyard. They were fat, slow, and mean, but their leader, Dudley, somehow inspired them to beat up every kid he decided was inferior. They scared her. While they might have been slow because of extra weight, Hariel was slow from lack of it. She was rake thin and despite what Aunt Petunia said, it wasn't because of her "fast-metabolism". Hariel was plain underfed. And right now, that fact was so not helping.
Hariel sprinted across the schoolyard, dodging around trees and slides. Dudley had already given Little Pete Grasholme a bloody nose so the teacher was in talking to the school nurse. Hariel had no escape. She was trapped and she knew it.
She skidded past three girls who were playing with chalk and tried to slide through the mulch under the double bars. Unfortunately, she had been running ten minutes already and she saw Dudley and Piers, the two fastest (surprisingly) right behind her. She nearly started crying in panic. Where to go, where to go?!?
Quickly, she jumped a wooden beam that separated the mulch from the grass. She ran with all her energy towards the sandbox (and coincidently back towards the school). She even passed two of Dudley's cronies who were too slow to catch her. She was panting now.
Dudley was almost upon her now, if nothing else, he was persistent. Piers had fallen back.
She was almost to the sandbox.
Almost...
THERE!
... ... ..........
Oh no....
Hariel had vaulted over another wooden beam, this time to separate the sand and grass. The bad part was that her vault should have been impossible. No Olympic gymnast could have accomplished it. She had gone almost three yards straight up into the air and landed firmly in sand another yard away. However, that wasn't even the worst part. Dudley had been so surprised that he had kept on running. Right into the piece of wood. He fell flat on his face in the hot sand. He was crying... No, not crying. He was wailing, sobbing, and screaming for the teacher.
Hariel felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She hadn't moved from where she landed, still breathing hard. Slowly, the rest of Dudley's gang jogged up. They all stared at her, fear in their eyes. Incrementally, their heads turned towards Dudley himself. His face almost matched Uncle Vernon's when he was angry at Hariel. This was not good. They would back up whatever Dudley spouted and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would believe him no matter what. Plus... She had done her 'freak' stuff.
They were going to KILL her.