Chapter 4: Bloodywatergrl When Bloodywatergrl returned to her luxurious mansion that night, her father was angry. “Where have you been!!” he roared, “I was about to call out the bloody British army!” ”I was just with some friends I met today.” Bloody replied meekly, looking down at the pristine marble floor. “Go to your room and don’t come down until I say so! You can forget about seeing your “friends” for a while.” he emphasized the word “friends” as if it were distasteful. With a heavy heart, Bloody trudge up the three flights steps and walked into her spacious room. She had only lived here for two days, and she was still astounded by the size of her house. True, the house she had lived in before was large by anyone’s standards, but this place was enormous. If her American friends had been here, the whole junior class could have had a party in it. Bloody took off her sandals and put it neatly in the closet, then lay down on her bed and pulled the blanket around her. ‘Poor rich white girl. That’s what these guys really think of me.’ Bloody thought forlornly. She heard her parents talking quietly downstairs, and she silently crept to the door to listen. “It’s your fault Emily’s going on these little escapades” Her father said with a menacing tone, “if I had raised her, she would obey everything I said!” “You and your military bullshit!” her mother hissed back, “When you came back from Vietnam, all you did was lecture her. Every single day, it was ‘Emily go wash the dishes, or Emily buy the groceries, or Emily you’re swimming too slow- move it!.’ You never gave her break. I bet you never knew it, but every night I would go up to her room and she would be crying into her pillow, wondering what she had done wrong. She always thought it was her fault, and you never even forgave her. Not once did you ‘I’m sorry’ or even give her a hug. You expected her to do everything, and what did you do? Nothing. Tears rolled down Bloody’s eyes as she listened to her mother’s words. She had always thought that her father loved her, that he had a tiny bit of kindness left in his heart, but now, even this faint bit of hope vanished. She felt helpless. She wanted to run away, to escape this never ending ordeal. It was true: her father did expect too much of her, and no matter how hard she tried, she could never satisfy him. If she was even one minute late to breakfast in the morning, her father would go on a tirade, criticizing her until she burst into tears or pleaded for forgiveness. She felt like an inmate, held captive by her father’s dominating presence and deprived of all happiness. ‘A slave’ she thought ‘I am a slave, to do my father’s bidding.’ She crept back into her bed, and cried. Meanwhile, Chillo also faced trouble when he returned home. “Vere have you ben?” her mother asked in a thick English accent, “it’s neerly eleven o’clock.” “I was just out with some friends.” Chillo replied. “He was out with a girl…” PoolPrincess, his twelve-year old sister chimed in, a faint smile playing on her lips. Chillo looked at her in surprise. “How-“ “I followed you on my bike. I can be pretty sneaky you know.” She said, and waggled her finger at him. “And she’s American.” Her mother looked shocked. “You, you, you’ve been nessing arund vith an American gurl?? Doof! You know vat da Americans did to us, huh? You know how they raided your grandma’s house, took all da jewelry, then shot her in da garten, in front of your grandfather, den burnd da house! I vas only three at the time, vut I remember the sound of dat shot.” Chillo sat down at the kitchen table. He had heard this all before, and he had hoped that his mother would finally see it his way. ‘The war is over and the Americans are our allies’ he often tried to explain, but his mother paid him no mind, insisting that the Americans were spawns of the Devil, here to wipe out the Germans. ‘One day, she always said, they would all go back to Germany and live with their countrymen again, away from the Brits who were allies of the Americans.’ “So I von’t vant you to see her anymur,” she said, ‘Okee?” Chillo sighed. “Ok” he said, but he knew he was lying. How could he resist Bloody? She was the one meant for him, his life-partner. He loved everything about her, from her deep piercing blue eyes to her long, cascading brown hair. Her touch was like that of the Virgin Mary, so pure and tender, and when their fingers had met, an electrical force had passed between them. She was perfect. She was an angel. Just then the telephone rang, and Chillo went to pick it up. “Hey Chillo, what happened to you today?” Player’s Club asked, “You were really quiet on the way home. Are you okay? That girl didn’t seduce you or anything, did she?” “No…” Chillo answered hesistantly, “no she didn’t.” “Then what’s the matter?” Should he tell Player the truth? They had been friends for over ten years, and he had always been able to confide in him. “I’m … I’m all right, I guess. I’ve just got to think this through.” “Well, ok, but if you need anything, just give me a ring, alright?” “Sure.” Chillo replied, and hung up. He went up to his room and crawled into bed, but as hard as he tried, he could not fall asleep. The image of Bloodywatergrl kept reappearing in his mind, and he saw her, clear as day, talking to him along the river and holding his hand. After several hours, he finally drifted off into a restless sleep. In his dreams, he saw her again, beckoning him, but this time it was different. She wasn’t smiling, she was gasping, reaching out to him. He looked down at her and saw that there were scars on her arms, and… He woke up in a sweat and looked around. It was morning, and sunlight streamed in the window. With a sigh, he got up and dressed. He picked up his cell phone and called whiteghost. “Hey ghost, come and pick me up, I gotta go to work.” “I’ll be right there!” Whiteghost answered cheerfully. As Whiteghost left his house, he saw Bloodywatergrl walking on the other side of the street, carrying a large sack of groceries. Hurriedly, he ran across the lane, causing a truck to swerve violently to the right- right in the path of Bloodywatergrl! With an athletic leap, he dove, pushing her into a newsstand and the truck crashed into the shop behind them and exploded, killing several civilians. “Are…are you all right?” Whiteghost asked tentatively. “Oh, I think so,” said Bloody, still looking dazed “I …that was very brave of you. Thank you.” “Here let me help you with those,” said Whiteghost, as he lifted the sack of groceries and they left the scene of the accident. “So, are you fitting in, ok?” “Yeah I guess so.” “Are you going anywhere today?” Whiteghost asked, hoping she would say no. “Well, my father is out on a conference so my mom just asked me to pick up some groceries and take a walk around the city…and I guess that’s what I was doing.” She giggled, and whiteghost thought she sounded beautiful. “Well I got to pick up Chillo for work but you can stay at my place for a while. How about it?” Bloody thought for a moment. If her father found out, he would be most angry, but he wasn’t at home, and her mother didn’t mind, so… “Yes, I’d be glad to!” she said and walked with Whiteghost back to his house.