//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Violet // Story: Violet Times // by Echo Breeze //------------------------------// My name is Violet Enigma. You may know me as Detctive Enigma, but I was not always a detective. This is my story, from the ninth grade at least. It was a normal Monday. School had started out boring, as usual, but as the day wound down it became slightly more interesting. During recess, I had broken up yet another schoolyard fight. It was between the school bully and my closest friend, Candy Rush. The bully was picking on her, and she had had enough. "You really need to stop fighting, Candy. You'll end up being expelled." I told her while we were waiting for the principal. "I know, Violet. I know. It's just hard to take it sometimes." Candy replied. "At least try to, for my sake." I said. Just then, the principal walked out of his office. "Candy Rush. This makes six times in a row that you are in my office. We'll skip the pleasantries and move straight to the punishment. Six weeks detention and one week in house suspension. Dismissed." He said. I was not going sit idly by and let my friend sit through it alone. As she turned to leave, her head hanging despondently, I piped up from next to her. "Principal Neigh Say." I said. He wheeled around to face me, a look of utter disbelief on his face, as if I was not expected to talk to him. "I am just as much in the wrong as Candy is for not seeing the signs and stopping it sooner. I deserve to be punished as well." "Very well, Miss Enigma. You have three weeks detention, seeing as you have made up your mind, and Gods above know i don't have the strength to argue right now. Dismissed." He said, turning toward his office again. "Thank you, Principal Neigh Say." I said as I turned to walk away with Candy. "That wasn't necessary." She said. "I could've taken the punishment. Now we're both stuck in detention." "I know, Candy. I just don't want you to be alone for something I could've prevented." I replied. I was determined to go through with the punishment with her, even if it meant giving up my afternoons. "How could you have prevented it." Candy asked. "I know the signs of a pending fight." I replied, a dark look crossing my face. "How do you-" "Don't ask. All you need to know is that I don't have a happy home life." I interupted before she could fully voice her question. We returned to class to cheers of assent. Little did we know that by standing up to the bully, we had gained respect from basically the whole school. I saw Bright Mac clapping next to Pear Butter, and Shiffon Swirl cheering with Burnt Oak. My entire friend group was cheering for us. The school day came to an end rather quickly after that. I had just said goodbye to her and was on my way to the little apartment that my family rented. It was a long walk from the school, but it allowed me time to think. To think about what I wanted to do with my life. I got home some forty minutes later and walked in the door. I could hear yelling coming from the kitchen, but I ignored it and went to my room. The last time I tried to intervene in one of my parents' fights, my dad hit me over the head in a drunken haze, and I didn't wake up for three days. I steer clear of my dad most days. Him being unemployed meant he was home most of the time while my mom worked her ass off to make a living so we can all eat. When she got home most days, my dad would already be drunk and screaming profanities at her. I took a part time job at Sweet Apple Acres to get away from it all and to help my mom with buying us all food. Mrs. Smith was kind enough to let me work there, even though I was barely old enough to work legally. Bright Mac is nice though, him and Pear Butter, though they asked me not to tell Mrs. Smith about them. I got changed to head out to Sweet Apple Acres to go work for the afternoon. As I left my bedroom, my dad was on his way out of the kitchen where I could hear my mother crying. I waited for him to disappear into the living room before I went to her. "Are you okay, Mother?" I asked as I walked in. "Oh. Yes, I am now, my darling Violet." she replied while wiping away tears. I fished around in my jacket pockets and pulled out my last couple of dollars for the month. Payday was still two weeks off, bit I didn't care about that. I had to get my mother out of the apartment. "Here mother. I was planning on using this to buy some new clothing, but you need it more." I said. "Oh. Oh no, dear. I can't. Its your last, and payday is still too far off." she replied "I can manage, Mother. Just take it and treat yourself. You deserve it." I said, opening her hand and stuffing the bills in it. I then turned to the door that separated the kitchen from the hallway, and peeked out. "Now come on. Before father sees us leaving. I have an excuse for leaving now, but you don't" I grabbed her hand and led her out of the apartment. As soon as I shut the front door, I heard my father screaming from beyond it. "WHEN YOU GET BACK, YOU'RE AS GOOD AS DEAD, YOU LITTLE SHIT. YOU TOO, YOU LAZY BITCH!" "Don't come home until at least eight thirty, mother, please. I don't like this. That threat didn't seem empty." I said as we arrived at the bus stop. "I won't, Vi. I think I'll go visit Mrs. Smith after I've been to the shop. Then we can come home together." She replied. "Sounds like a plan." I said as the bus stopped to allow us on. We climbed on the bus together, and left the apartment block behind. The dirty, facebrick building shrinking in size the further away we got from it