Page 45 - Student: dazed And Confused

"No, honestly, Karen. It's fine."
Suddenly, it wasn't so much fun - and she wasn't going to upset her mother. Sulkily,
she turned the TV off and dropped the remote control onto the small, round coffee table.
"I'm done." She stomped up the stairs and shut her bedroom door behind her with a loud
bang.
The room was painted light blue and green, with an apple-green carpet. The only
pictures on the walls were photographs of her, her family and her friends. She lay down on
the floor and took a box of crayons and some paper from her desk. As an after-thought, she
got up and opened her stereo cabinet, turned the radio on and turned it up loud enough
that she couldn't hear herself think. She could feel vibrations through the floor from the

music, and was confidant that they could hear it in the room below. Good. She wanted
them to know how angry she was - or, maybe she just didn't want them to forget there was
a hurt little girl up here. Not that there was anything either of them could do about it. They
couldn't just erase the past few days.
She had turned the volume up to Not Quite Deafening, but it didn't bother her. She
went back to her drawing and sang along with the song on the radio. If it would stop her
from thinking.
There was a sharp, business-like rap on the door. "Jessie ! Can we talk?"
She glanced up from her drawing, and stood up. Her arm extended, but instead of

opening the door she reached over and turned her stereo up even further. But, the voice
outside called even louder. She couldn't bear to turn the radio up any more in case her ears
exploded, so she just went back to her drawing and tried to ignore the voice.
"Jessie, please," the voice begged. " It. it's Daddy. Let me in."
She shrugged, even though there was no-one to see it, and looked up expectantly.
Sure enough, the door handle rattled as it turned and the hinges began to creak. Grown­
ups didn't think that children needed privacy, never had any respect for it - there wasn't
much point in telling adults to keep out. She looked back down at her drawing and ignored
the man sitting on the edge of her bed.
"I think we need to talk," he said, over the top of the thumping music.

That was funny. Jess thought he needed to talk and she needed to listen. That was
okay because she wasn't talking to him. She kicked her legs behind her as she idly picked at
the carpet with her free hand.
The man looked at her, waiting for some kind of response that didn't come. "You
need to listen to what I have to say. Will you listen to me?"
Jess didn't turn the music down, glad that it was annoying him so much. She wasn't
in the mood to talk or listen or in any way communicate, especially not with him.
He looked around the room at her furniture and things. "Nice room you've got here.
Interesting choice." The room was covered with bright cushions and stuffed animals.

"Very." he searched frantically for a word that wouldn't cause offence "... colourful." He
stood up and turned the stereo down to a much more acceptable level and sat back down.
Jess stared at him, daggers in her eyes - oh, if only looks could kill..