Caged Will

The Summer had been, done its thing, then headed off to warmer climes. Now, as the leaves hung on for dear life and shivered on the bough, a new season made itself known.

Sophie was down with that. Autumn meant a return to school, and school meant a return to a life that suited her very well indeed. The Summer had been OK, but she’d felt a lack of cohesion and a growing anxiety as all her hard work began to unravel. She’d worked hard to build her little team. She’d worked very hard indeed. 

Being netball captain helped. She’d discovered that being good at sport was a ticket to the in crowd. You were in, if you were good at sport. Just as long as you played the game that was. Being good at sport gave you the profile and it also gave you a body to die for, but that was nothing if you didn’t play the game and play it well.

Sophie had spotted this on day one at secondary school. Her days at primary school had been happy and she’d been quite popular, but those days were childish and they hadn’t prepared her for the sea of people she encountered when she stepped up to what they called Big School, but was a hell of a lot bigger than big. For a green little girl, Big School was a tsunami and in those early days, she had nearly drowned.

She was a quick learner though. She watched and she took in the winning strategies. Sophie listened keenly and then she devised her plan and thought it over before implementing it. Core to her plan was wiping out the competition. Slash and burn. Poison the land. That was something that came through loud and clear. It wasn’t enough to be the best, you had to crush your competition so that you remained the best and there was no one to touch you. You made your position unassailable and you did this by fair means or foul. Mostly foul.

Foul was fun. Sophie took to the Machiavellian destruction of her enemies like the proverbial duck to water and she enjoyed herself so thoroughly it were as though she were always meant to be top dog, her jowls dripping with the blood of her broken competitors. She gloried in the misery of the vanquished and sometimes thought she’d been born in the wrong era. She wanted to go further. She wanted to do more. Somewhere, there was a castle missing its princess. She would own every room in that castle, including the dungeons. Especially the dungeons. Deep in the bowels of the seat of power, that was where the real power was wielded, secrets uncovered and knowledge gained.

Another part of Sophie’s political plan was her team. There was obvious strength in numbers and a princess needed her conspicuous court to perpetually demonstrate her popularity and her power. A strong team would also be a spring board to the next levels. Sophie’s ambitions would not remain at school for very long. There was a whole world awaiting her manipulation. The team piece of her plan had been tricky, but then she was reminded that it was wise to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer still. Sophie decided that she was too busy being successful and popular to have friends, so it was all about having the very best of enemies. 

In this case, the best were of course the most popular. The selection was relatively easy as was the recruitment. Sophie was already popular and it was in everyone’s interests to consolidate their position, and so they were like wasps to sugar water.

Harry was the captain of the football team. From the very start, Sophie dangled him on a thread and had him exactly where she wanted him. They were an item, but they hadn’t slept together. Sophie kept that carrot well out of the eager Harry’s reach. Harry was traditionally good looking, but he didn’t float her boat. The main thing was that he floated everyone else’s boat and that gave Sophie more scope for control and it raised her even further up the pecking order.

Mimi really had the hots for Harry. She could barely keep her hands off the boy. Sophie found this amusing, especially as the poor dumb Harry was oblivious to her infatuation. Mimi was useful to Sophie because not only was she the best looking girl in the school, though it pained Sophie to admit it, but she also had the richest parents. Mimi’s parents were so rich that they owned the biggest house in town, had three Porsches and stables. Sophie had taken up riding thanks to Mimi and she envied her her horses. She pretty much envied the entirety of Mimi’s life and it annoyed her greatly that Mimi was frittering it away. In fact, Mimi was very nearly as dumb as Harry. So dumb were they both, that they deserved each other in the dumbest of ways.

The recruitment process had been made easier by virtue of Harry coming as a package with his best mate Zach. Zach was Harry’s number two and happy to live in his shadow. Sophie thought he was an idiot for that, which was a shame because barring this misguided loyalty, Zach had so much potential. As well as being good at football, cricket and any sport you chose to wave a stick or ball at, he was deceptively bright and he didn’t have to work at any of it. He was one of those annoying naturals who was good at anything he turned his hand to. If only Sophie could break that bond between him and Harry, she could do things with Zach. She could mould him into something worthy.

Mimi brought her long-time friend Bella with her. Everywhere. Bella was OK as far as Sophie was concerned. An airhead with a braying laugh like a tortured donkey on helium. But apart from wanting to strangle Bella every time she laughed, Sophie could tolerate Bella which was very much in the girl’s favour. Sophie could tolerate very few people, she was a seething pot of intolerance and that intolerance was a toxic stew that was best kept undercover.

Finally, there was Tilly. Tilly was Sophie’s addition to the group. Sophie had felt the need to balance the numbers and have her own nominee in the mix. Tilly’s mother was the deputy head and this made her very useful indeed. There had been occasions when Tilly’s influence had won the day whether that was to make trouble go away or open the door to certain opportunities that presented themselves to life’s inevitable winners.

And so, as Autumn began to make itself known and cosy up with the cooler and more violent of the elements, Sophie’s team entered the new school year. Sophie was pleased to see every member of her team slip back into their roles and she lost no time in making her presence known in what she considered to be her own personal fiefdom. She ruled here and she made darn sure everybody knew that. Life was not pleasant under the rule of Princess Sophie and purposely so. She was all about making her mark and that mark was intended to hurt.

Everything in the new school year was going Sophie’s way until Mimi had to speak up and put a spanner in the works.

“You know my parents’ cottage in Wales? Well they wondered whether we’d like to go there in two weekend’s time!” she trilled this by the lockers where Team Sophie tended to hang out. It was a good place to be seen and to inflict themselves on the passing traffic.

“Cool!” enthused Bella. 

Sophie glared unnoticed at the girl. That one word wrested control away from her and she did not like it. She did not like it one bit, because one by one, all of her team fell like dominoes. This was how easy it was to lose. Sophie was on the receiving end of a lesson that she knew she must learn well by and more importantly do something about.

Everyone’s eyes were upon her now that they had all agreed that a trip to Mimi’s cottage was a great idea. Sophie wanted to end it right there and then, but she knew this would be a sign of weakness and that she might lose the leadership of this group if she did not give them what they wanted. After all, in the end, everyone was out for themselves.

“I’m in,” she said, flashing the winning smile she’d practiced in front of the mirror thousands of times.

There was whooping and cheering followed by excited chatter about what they would get up to in that cottage.

Harry turned to Sophie and looked at her meaningfully. She knew what that look meant. Oh dear, she thought to herself as she was presented with the eventuality of Harry sharing her bed. One thing was for certain, she wasn’t going to get much sleep in that cottage.

“There’s a circus on that weekend too!” Mimi said in her annoying, sing-song voice.

“That’s all we need,” muttered Sophie. Hadn’t any of these people grown up yet? Sometimes she thought she was wasted on them. She certainly deserved better.

The weekend Sophie was dreading came along all too soon. She’d barely slept. The planning and preparation involved in getting what she wanted during this weekend had been exhausting. If that jumped up, horsey Mimi thought she could hijack Team Sophie, then she was sorely mistaken. Sophie would show her. She’d open the posh daddy’s girl’s eyes to the harsh reality of the world once and for all.

“Bring it,” Sophie muttered to herself as Mimi’s father pulled up to a stop in a minibus he’d hired, or perhaps even bought, to ferry them all to the cottage. 

The journey was tolerable, but the excitement of what lay ahead grated on Sophie even though she had opted to sit up front with Mr Trent. She found the company of older men suited her. There was another game to play here. One she knew she would be very good at.

As he dropped them off, Mr Trent patted Zach on the back, “you guys behave yourselves, OK?” Then he winked at Sophie, “you’ll keep them on the straight and narrow won’t you Soph?”

Sophie grinned her best grin, “of course, it’s my way or the highway, Mr Trent!”

He nodded, looking pleased, “you’ll go far, young lady, and please, call me Tony.”

As he drove away, Mimi slipped her hand into Sophie’s and leaned her head in close to her ear, “he must really like you, only his friends get to call him Tony.”

Sophie smiled an enigmatic smile in reply.

“Oh my word!” gasped Harry, “this is awesome!”

Sophie turned to see what it was that had caught his attention. It was the cottage. Of course it was the cottage. This cottage was not a cottage. The Trents called it a cottage because it was in the country and it was smaller than their main abode. This place was bigger than Sophie’s parents’ only home and that also went for everyone here barring Mimi. Sophie hated Mimi for that, but she smiled sweetly despite herself.

Mimi had the key and once the front door was open, everyone raced in to explore. Sophie retained her composure and serenely made her way up to the bedrooms. She was unpacking when Mimi entered the room, “oh, I was going to…”

Sophie turned and stared imperiously at Mimi, “going to what?” she snapped.

“It’s just that this is my parent’s room and…” Mimi trailed off under the power of Sophie’s staring eyes.

“And your parents aren’t here,” Sophie told her.

Mimi nodded and that was that. Sophie had Tony’s room.

Sophie was unpacked and standing looking out of the bedroom window when Harry arrived, “this place is the mutt’s nuts! There’s a huge cellar with wine in it and everything!”

“That’s nice,” Sophie said absently before leaving Harry to it and heading down stairs and into the garden.

That evening, as the air cooled and covered everything in a fine mist, they went to the circus. Sophie went under sufferance. But found that she enjoyed it at times. She hid her enjoyment and remained aloof from the other’s childish antics. They were clowns, the lot of them. All they needed was the make-up and big shoes.

Spread around the main tent, like silent sentries, were smaller tents. Sophie had to run the gauntlet of these tents as they left. Nearly at the exit there was a cry from behind her.

“Let’s do this!” said Harry, “it’ll be fun!”

Sophie’s shoulders slumped. Harry’s idea of fun was as dull as ditch water and just as palatable. On this occasion she was wrong though. Madam Zolga’s tent was intriguing and as soon as Sophie saw it, she was hooked. Besides, it was too late by then. Harry had already gone in.

One by one, they entered the tent. Sophie went last. She was the only one smiling as she joined her team. The mood was sombre as they walked back to the Trents’ cottage and hardly a word was said.

“She was well weird,” said Harry as they entered the house that was erroneously referred to as a cottage.

“You said it brah,” agreed Zach.

“What do you think she meant by it?” asked Bella.

“I’d rather not think about it,” said Tilly.

“I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight,” whined Mimi, “Zach, can you sleep in with us tonight, please?”

Zach smiled and nodded, “sure. I’ve got a sleeping bag. I didn’t think there’d be enough beds to go around anyway.”

Tilly looked put out, her single room occupancy suddenly didn’t seem like a good thing. She looked around her, her expression becoming concerned, “wait a minute, where’s Sophie?”

Everyone looked around themselves as though Sophie was hiding in plain sight. When this turned out not to be the case a discomfiting quiet fell upon the group.

“I think we’d better find her,” Harry said solemnly.

Nothing else was said, the group fanned out in search of the missing Sophie.

Minutes later, there was a piercing scream. It was Mimi. Harry was closest. He ran to where she was standing. His eyes going wide as he saw past her shoulder and into the bathroom.

“My God!” he exclaimed. 

Showing a presence of mind that seemed to go against the grain, he stepped into the bathroom and covered Sophie’s body with two bath towels. Somehow, the way the blood soaked into the towels drawing them down against the body and shrouding Sophie in the bath was even more terrible. Sophie was now laying in a blood soaked sarcophagus.

Harry drew Mimi away and shut the door, just as Zach and Bella arrived. 

“What?” asked Bella, “what’s happened?”

“Don’t go in there,” said Harry before walking Mimi down the stairs and into the living room.

Zach and Bella followed despite an almost overwhelming urge to sate their curiosity..

“Mate,” said Zach, “what’s in there?!”

“Sophie, she’s dead,” said Harry dully as he held the weeping and shivering Mimi.

“Dead?!” gasped Bella, “we should call the police!”

Zach got his mobile out, “damn! No reception!”

“Mobile’s don’t work here,” Mimi said in a monotone, “use the landline.”

Zach followed her red eyes and darted across to the phone as though his life depended upon it, “it’s dead!”

“It’s happening!” wailed Bella, “just like that creepy woman said it would…”

“Shut up!” shouted Zach as he ran to the door, “it’s locked!” he cried, “and there’s no key. Do you…?”

Mimi was shaking her head forlornly.

He disappeared down the hallway, “it’s locked too!”

That was when they heard the soul-piercing scream.

“Tilly!” whispered Bella, “we left her upstairs!” 

They watched as Zach ran up the stairs, two at a time.

That was when the lights went out, plunging them into complete darkness.

Bella screamed.

Mimi was past screaming. Instead she gave forth an almost imperceptible keening.

Harry got to his feet, tripped over a small table, scuffing his shin, “ow!” 

No one asked him if he was OK. Bella continued to scream. Mimi sat in a silent stupor.

Harry scrabbled around and found Bella. He hugged her, not knowing what else to do, “shush, Bella, please. You have to be quiet. It’s going to be OK. Just hold it together, OK?”

Bella sobbed herself to a halt, her body shuddering violently at first, but eventually subsiding.

“It’ll be a trip switch,” Harry said, “Mimi, where’s the fuse box?”

“The cellar,” Mimi managed to say quietly.

“I’ll sort that,” Harry said, “we’ll get the lights back on and we’ll take it from there.”

Harry left the two girls in the living room.

When the lights came back on, Bella was stood in the exact same place Harry had left her in. Mimi was frozen in place on the sofa. Seeing her friend in that state unnerved Bella. She didn’t know what to do and she realised that she didn’t want to be there with Mimi in that strange state. It frightened her all the more.

“I’ll go and see what Zach is up to,” she said into the room. 

When there was no reply she shrugged, waited several beats of her labouring heart and then walked slowly and carefully to the foot of the stairs. She looked up them as though she were preparing to climb a mountain, and in a way she was.

With a final glance at the back of her friend’s head, Bella ensured that everyone had split up and was now on their own. 

Team Sophie was no longer playing as a team.