Free One Bloody Thing After Another by Joey Comeau Page A

guard is yelling something or other.
    â€œ Blah blah blah ,” he yells. “ Blah blah blah blah .” Jackie’s classmates are crowded around him now, watching her. She looks crazy up here, but they’re the ones who think that a little fence like that can stop them. Her teachers look tired, but they are always tired.
    Well, Jackie has decided that she’s not going back to school today. No prison can hold her! There is a whole entire world out there that she can see, but every day all she sees are the same classrooms and the same hallways, all day long. Her mother did just fine without high school. Jackie can get a tire iron, too.
    The walrus is still looking.
    She stands on the edge of the walrus pool and waves goodbye to her classmates; she will never see them again and it is polite to wish them well. But mostly they just stare at her blankly, like they’re lined up in front of the sea cucumber tank. Jackie is not a sea cucumber, though. She waves to a mother and a little boy. She waves especially to a little pink girl. Pink hat. Pink dress. The little pink girl points her finger at Jackie, so Jackie makes a funny face just for her. The little girl shrieks with laughter. The boy laughs, too. For one second Jackie is a hero up here. For one second she feels like even crazy people can be heroes.
    And Jackie jumps into the water. It goes up her nose and right into her brain and then everything is white. Her eyes hurt and she can hear people whispering. Jackie rolls onto her side and throws up on someone’s feet. A man leans down next to her and puts his hand on her back.
    â€œYou’re okay,” he says. “You swallowed a lot of water.”
    Everyone is standing too close. Jackie throws up more water. The light is so bright. She is beside the walrus tank now, sitting in a puddle of thrown-up water. Everyone is crowded around her, but nobody good. She can’t see the little pink girl or her family. She can’t see Ann. The paramedic pats Jackie on the back again.
    â€œI’m okay,” she tells him. “I’m okay. Go back to bed. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
    listened
34
    Ms. Garcia can’t keep still. She keeps asking, “Are you warm enough?” Jackie is wrapped in three blankets, sitting with her back against the wall in the security office. She’s more than warm enough, but she likes when Ms. Garcia asks. They called Jackie’s father more than an hour ago. They’re waiting.
    â€œAre you sure she doesn’t need a doctor?” Ms. Garcia asks the security guard again. He shrugs his shoulders, which isn’t an answer at all.
    â€œI have to go do my rounds,” he says, after a few more minutes. “I’ll be back.”
    â€œWe’ll hold our breath,” Ms. Garcia says, and then he’s gone. It’s just the two of them now, sitting in the office and waiting. The other students and teachers are all gone. She’s very beautiful.
    â€œYou’re very beautiful,” Jackie says. It could be the sort of thing that a scared girl says, when she sees another woman being strong. But it isn’t, not the way Jackie says it. She says it very clearly, and very simply, and Ms. Garcia’s face flushes with surprise. She doesn’t answer, and she turns away to check her phone, but not before Jackie sees the smile.
    Then Jackie’s father is in the doorway. He wraps his arms around Jackie and kisses her on the top of her head.
    On the way home, her father doesn’t say anything for a long time. When they get home, he comes around to open the door.
    â€œI was going to take us out to a movie tonight,” he says. “If you’re still up for it.”
    â€œI’m not in trouble?” Jackie says.
    â€œWhat good would it do?” he says. He shakes his head. He’s not smiling, and she can’t tell whether he’s angry or not. “You are your mother’s daughter,