The Siren

She just looked at me with a pained expression on her face, and nodded.

I started lifting the stuff and moving it. She seemed to get out of her trance and started unpacking, while I brought in more boxes. In a few hours, it was all settled.

"Th... Thanks... for the help..." she muttered.

"No problem," I said, and went to my room, really tired. I barely made it to change clothes and fell asleep like a log.

******************************************

Nadine had a huge problem with herself and me appearing to have any association whatsoever, so she insisted that her mom take her to school, alone. I just took my bike, so for all effects and purposes we appeared as alien to each other as ever. We had zero interaction in school and zero interaction at home. Then my dad bought me a car, and Beth decided that since I went to school, I should alleviate the burden of her having to drive her daughter to school every day.

"Beth, Nadine will probably hate the idea," I told her.

"Why on Earth would you say that?" she asked in a mixture of love and alarm, a combination mothers worldwide have down spat.

"She wants to stay as far away from me as possible. To be honest, I am fine with that," I answered.

"Bobby, is there something you are not telling me? Do you have a problem with my daughter?" she asked me.

"Beth, she is the one with the problem, not me. I have no problem either taking her with me or not. It is one and the same to me. But she doesn't really want to associate with me, either directly or indirectly, so that won't work well," I replied. "If you want more info, just talk to her, I am sure she would be happy to inform you. By the way, Nadine was dead set against us all living together from the start, and her greatest problem is basically me, so that you know. Just to warn you."

Beth took a pensive look.

"Bobby, she is my daughter and I love her to death. You haven't seen her as I have, the sweetest little angel. When Jim died, she was devastated. I was too, as I lost the love of my life - I mean before I met your dad. But she lost her father. She was lost. She created all this... nonsensical behavior just as a means of survival, to cope with the pain. I was afraid that you would be the same as her, against me and your dad, but I happily found out that you are a true blessing, so amazingly mature for your years! I am sure that your love for your dad is the reason for that, and I am so grateful that you have accepted both me and my daughter in your life, and I cannot but love you even more for it! I am so lucky and happy to have you in our family! Please, I beg of you, please, have patience with my daughter. She is so much better than what it looks like. Please, believe me!" she implored.

"Beth, I think that you make my dad happy, and you are super cool, so I am happy for the both of you. Nadine though, she has to figure out stuff on her own. I will be patient with her, but she will have to do the work, not I. I accepted both of you from the start. She cannot accept me. Or this, the whole thing. The work, I am afraid, is hers, not mine. But I will be patient, as you ask," I told her. She hugged me, brought my head down and kissed me on the forehead.

"Bobby, I have one more request from you, although I really don't have that right."

"What?"

"You are a wise young man. You have matured way beyond your years. Somewhere in that shell she has created, is the beautiful angel that I have known. All I am asking you to do is to... to protect her."

"Beth, I..."

"Please, Bobby. She is all I have left in this world. Her behavior is bound to create enemies. I don't want to lose her! I don't know what I will do if something happens to her! I..."

And she cried on my shoulder. I hugged her and tried my best to comfort her. I understood exactly what she was saying. No matter how bitchy Nadine was, she was her daughter, and she loved her as a mother would. She would indeed be devastated if something happened to her. Hell, even I would be devastated. Who are we kidding here.

"Beth, you didn't even need to ask me that. I'll do my absolute best to protect her. I will do everything and anything in my power to keep her safe, as long as I am close enough to actually be effective. I give you my solemn promise," I said to her. She cried on my shoulder, saying 'thank you'. If Nadine had one percent of human as her mom, she would be a Saint. My daddy chose very wisely indeed.

**********************************************

The only way for the whole driving thing to pan out OK without a nuclear holocaust was for Nadine to obtain her driver's license and drive her own car. Beth refused to even discuss buying Nadine a car, but she would let her drive her own while the rest of us would juggle the use of the remaining two vehicles, dad's and mine. Driving did not come naturally for Nadine; it took a lot of practice to get to a point were she wasn't dead anxious about parking or switching lanes. In the end she made it - barely. And then she started driving her mom's car, without any major accidents thank Goodness, and we did the juggling thing and all was OK in the world. All of this lasted until Beth demanded use of her own car for work, and as she was in real estate, she didn't really have steady hours. So Nadine was left car-less, and we were back to square one.

Beth was the one to break the news to her that I would be her designated driver. It did not go well.

"Mom! Why don't you listen to me? I don't want Bobby to drive me to school!" she said with anguish and anger.

"Nadine Walters! Do not use that tone of a voice with me! Do you hear?" said Beth with a finality that left no margin for misinterpretation. She was really pissed at her daughter.

"But Mom..."

"No but! You will go together at school from now on and that's it! You should be grateful that he has a car and that he agrees to take you there, otherwise it would be bus, bicycle or a long walk for you, young lady! Are we clear?"

"But Mom!..."

"I said ARE WE CLEAR? " said Beth with a further level of finality that was catalytic for the discussion to end.

Following the mother-daughter script written ages ago, Nadine stormed to her room, banged the door shut and screamed her rage. I just watched all that and thought what a great day tomorrow was going to be. Of course, Nadine did not disappoint.

Once I woke up and did the usual morning business, I found her waiting outside the car at the driver's side.

"Gimme the keys. I will drive us to school," she said.

"Like hell you will! Get out of my way, I wanna open the door," I said. She didn't move. "For the last time, get out of my way. Please step aside and let me open the door," I said. Again, not an inch from her part. I put my hands outside her arms, lifted her off the ground while she screamed from surprise, and set her down three feet to the left, then opened the door and got in. I fired up the ignition and started driving, looking at her through the rear view mirror. She just looked at me aghast. I stopped the car and waited to see what was going to happen. She walked to the car, opened the passenger door and entered. She was literally fuming. During the drive to school, she did not utter a word.

A few hundred yards from the school building block, I stopped the car.

"No one will see you here if you exit the car. They won't know how you came. I suggest you do as I say if you want to keep this a secret," I said pointing at the car around me. Without uttering one single word, she opened the door, exited the car, and left for school. I parked the car and went to school as well.

If she avoided me before, she absolutely refused to even look at my general direction. Well, tough shit. I completely blocked her thought from my mind and continued with the classwork. In the school cafeteria, she always sat with the flock of harpies that were her friends, and I always sat at a location as far away from her as I could, me, myself and I, my favorite company.

After the last class, she left in a haste. I went to my car but she was nowhere to be found. I was ready to leave when I got a message on the cellphone.

"Same place."

And so I picked her up where I left her, incognito as in the morning. The ride home was as silent too, which was more than fine with me. When we reached home, she opened the door and entered the house without even acknowledging my existence. I turned the car off and went inside as well. She was obviously locked in her room, with music blazing full on. I took a bite to eat and went to my own room to study.

And so started our everyday routine. It was relatively silent, comfy and thus OK. Until it wasn't.

*************************************

It was in the break between the fourth and fifth period that I heard them. I went to the men's room to take a dump - that sandwich was bad, I knew it - when I heard them from the stalls across the wall.

"Is it on for tonight?"

"Yeah! After eight she is alone, we'll get the bitch then!"

"Alright!"

And then they flushed and left.

Shit.

There were at least three that I heard. They were going to ambush a girl after eight today. If I alerted anyone, they would simply postpone this and do it another day. Plus, chances are that the "bitch" was Nadine, as she was the only one that stayed that long for practice. Yes, Nadine was a bitch, but she was a top-notch figure skater, and doubled on the rollers too. So they would gang up on her during the last part of her practice, when she was all alone.

I was enraged. Beyond words. Three pieces of shit against a girl? What the actual fuck?

I went to the storeroom for the athletic gear, and got myself a few items. Gloves for hard labor and a baseball bat. The first three motherfuckers at Emory I did bare handed. These assholes were to get the deluxe treatment.

When classes ended Nadine sent me the usual text to wait for her at the designated pick-up spot next to the gym at about eight forty. Of course I went to the place that she trained, and hid myself behind the trees in the shades, waiting for the fuckers to come.

As I was waiting, I watched her. Goddammit, she was perfect. I mean, perfection personified. The most beautiful girl in the world with a body to die for, and she was so good at what she did. So elegant, so graceful. She was simply unbelievable.

I caught some movement to the left. There they were. Three of them, as I had thought. I knew them, I could definitely handle them. When they approached the entrance to the auditorium that Nadine practiced, I got out of the shadows.

"Hey! Cunts!" I said to them.

"Shit!" said one the assholes.

"Do you recognize me?" I asked him.

"Y... yes, I do," he said.

"Then you know what I am going to do, don't you?" I asked him?

"Who is this fucker?" asked the piece of shit in the middle.

"He is the Killer, man! The fucking Killer! The Emory Killer!" said the former, ashen-colored asshole, who was about to shit his pants.

"That's right, you sick little fucks. I am him. The Emory Killer. I handled three pieces of shit, each double your size, bare handed. I have come prepared for you now. What do you want me to write on your tombstones? You, piece of shit in the middle, yeah you. What do you want me to write?" I asked while walking steadily and very menacingly towards them.

"Shit man! No, this is a misunderstanding!" implored the leftmost asshole of the trio.

"There is no misunderstanding you fucking cunts! You are here to get 'the bitch'! I heard you in the stalls! 'The bitch' is under my protection, which means you mess with my people, you mess with me. You fuck with her, I fuck with you!"

"Shit man, we didn't know! We... we'll leave and... let's all forget this ever happened, OK?" said the asshole who knew me.

"The only way for you cunts to live is to leave town. Get your parents to change schools. If I see you motherfuckers tomorrow at school, you will die. None of you will survive. It will be slow and painful. You hear me now?" I told them.

"Yes! Loud and clear!" the asshole said.

"Good. Now let me give you a little incentive..." I said and charged.

I knew the asshole in the middle was going to be a problem, so I gave him a good stab with the bat to the midsection and one good hit to his backside. He dropped like a sack of shit and could barely breath. Then I gave a good smack to the head on the asshole to the right and then blasted the thigh of the fucker to the left. Once they were all down, I did a good number on them, bat-hitting, kicking and punching them. Once I was done, they could barely move. It was carnage. Their blood stained the pavement. Thank God it was a pretty secluded area at that time.

"Get your shit together, go home, say some bullshit to cover this shit you created, and make absolutely fucking sure you change schools. If I see you again, you die. Are we clear here?" I asked them.

"Yeah man, OK..." muttered the one asshole that could still speak.

"Get the fuck out of here. I don't want her to come out and see your fucking faces. Now beat it!" I said. They picked up their pieces slowly, with deep grunts and all. They managed to leave. I went to get the car and parked it right outside the place. I hid the bat and gloves in the trunk, and waited for her.

She came out around eight forty five. She momentarily stopped when she saw the blood on the pavement and her expression changed, but continued. She entered the car as she usually did, and we silently - as usual - went home. She didn't seem to have sensed a thing. Thank God.

***************************************************

Next day there was a commotion at school. The three fuckers were bandaged at various places on their bodies. Their distraught parents were at school to settle their school district change, as 'this neighborhood is very dangerous for our children'. Yes bitch, if your child is a would-be rapist, and he wants to fuck with my Nadine, it is a very dangerous place indeed.

My Nadine, huh?

Well, the shit that went between us was what it was, but yes, she was my Nadine. She probably never knew it, but I would die before something happened to her. I hated her guts but she was who she was.

From the fourth period, I sensed that something was different. Nadine started stealing glances towards me with a questioning look. When she entered the car at the designated place for the trip home, she had a strange expression. She was trying to speak. I looked at her inquisitively, and she said:

"M... may I say something?"

"Sure."

"Um... something... weird happened today."

"What?"

"Um... you saw Stu Hamlin, Joe DiBrassio and Matt Shaw, all bandaged up? They were mugged and beaten up. Like, a lot."

"Really?"

"Yep. They will transfer to another school district. They are basically leaving town."

"Good for them, I guess."

"Well, that alone was strange enough, but something even weirder happened."

"What?"

"Stu Hamlin found me. He was bandaged up like a mummy. He said 'I am so sorry for everything! Please tell him that we will leave! We won't even approach you ever again! Please tell him that, OK?' You can imagine my surprise. I asked him who to tell all that to, and he said 'the Killer! Please tell him we won't do anything ever again! Please! Please tell him!' and he left."

Shit.

"It was a serious 'wtf?' moment," she continued. "Then it got me thinking. When I got out of the gym yesterday, I saw something that looked like blood on the pavement. I didn't give it any more thought then, but I now start to see something here. Care to fill the details for me?" she asked, with a look that I couldn't quite decipher.

"That little fucker..." I muttered.

"What happened, Bobby?" she asked.

Goddammit.

"What do you think happened?" I asked her back.

"I only know that he was hitting on me, and he didn't take rejection well. He had said that I would pay. I thought he was bluffing," she said.

"I am not sure I should tell you," I answered.

"Why?"

"I don't want to scare you for no reason."

"If what I think has happened actually did happen, then I need to know! Tell me, please!" she said.

I hated that asshole Stu with every fiber of my being for putting me in this position. She was a bitch, yes, but she didn't deserve to fear for her life because of those fuckers. I took a deep breath.

"They were going to come to your roller practice. They wanted to 'teach you a lesson'."

She gasped and opened her eyes wide.

"I heard them by sheer luck," I continued. "I took a dump at the toilets because I ate that shitty sandwich from the cafeteria. I happened to be there while they took a piss at the stalls and they didn't see me. They thought they were alone but I heard them loud and clear. They were going to mug a girl after eight, when she was alone. When they said that, I knew it was you. I was both grateful that I heard them and, at the same time, absolutely enraged by what would have happened if I hadn't. So I went there and I taught *them* a lesson. I told them to move the fuck out of our school. I told them that if I ever saw them again, I would kill them. It is a good thing they heeded my warning and are leaving town."

Her eyes were wide open and moist. Her mouth was wide open. She was starting to hyperventilate.

"Nadine, look. We have our differences. But I won't let anything happen to you."

She started to hyperventilate with intensity.

"They were... going to... to rape me! Oh God! And... and... you saved me! You... you s... saved m... my life! Oh my God!" she cried and started sobbing. She was losing it.

"Nadine, please focus on my voice. You are safe. You are with me. You are safe. Please, breathe..." I said, trying to calm her. She frantically tried to unclip the seat belt, but she couldn't. I found the latch button and pressed it. She threw the seat belt aside and fell on me. She grasped on me for dear life and cried, sobbing and wailing. I tried to comfort her as much as I could. I didn't want to be yet another scare for her, so I was very careful. She was the one to glue herself to me.

After some time, she was coherent enough for us to go home. She just became a small little thing on her car seat, with a hollow, desperate look. It made me so sad that she was reduced to this. That's what I wanted to avoid. If I ever saw that fucker again, God...

When we arrived home, she didn't do what she normally did. She waited for me to open my car door, then she opened hers. She waited for me to lock the car, and was near me the whole time we walked to the house. She didn't move an inch away. Motherfucking Stu.

Inside the house, she was very timid. Nothing like the usual Nadine that had a flying rage against everything that moved. She asked our old folks to join us at the living room. She was the one to tell them with a trembling voice what had happened. They were livid. Also they were grateful. Beth literally hugged me and cried, and thanked me for protecting her daughter from harm. Nadine had an empty, desperately sad expression. She had to cope with it all. I understood, and gave her space. That is all she would need at a time like this.

*****************************************

Things started changing after the incident. Nadine started breaking the ice between us in small but decisive steps. First, she started coming to my room, always knocking first. In the beginning, to ask for homework tips, in case there was something she had a problem with. Then, she started briefly talking about her favorite music, or films, or books. She even invited me to her room to listen to some music. Baby steps, but steadily improving. Then she started to come by my room to bring me food. She started cooking, and she was really good at it, except the few times that she almost burned the house down.