BLACKROCK ASSIGNMENT: SCENE 12 TO PROSE
It’s a dark summers day in the town of Blackrock. Figuratively and literally. A storm front comes in from the coast and the town is punished by 100km/h winds. The rain punishes the green grass fresh from the spring just past. The colour from the town has vanished. Houses that used to be painted in bright blues and yellows, now look monotone and dreary. The people are just as downcast. No birds, no cars, no people, no sound. Except one.
The cemetery is the focal point of the town. Despite the circumstances, most of the town displayed their sorrow at Tracy Warner’s funeral. The young 14yo had been brutally raped and murdered just the night before. She was attending a party and thought it would be a night to remember…Indeed it was. But not for her. It was for her best friend Cherie Milenko who lies solemnly next to her grave, looking towards the sky hoping to find a glimpse of her lost friend amongst the thick dark skies. The constant pitter-patter of the rain and the occasional bang of thunder is drowned out by Cherie’s boom box which played Tracy’s favourite song.
Just one week earlier the two had won what would be their last netball game together. Tracy had a shift at Pizza Hut the night of the party. She hadn’t ever missed a shift before. Tracy’s life hadn’t been easy. Her parents divorced when she was much younger. She constantly clashed with her stepdad even to the point where he was a suspect of her rape and murder. Cherie knew her best friend Tracy, but no one really knew what was happening in her life. Nobody knew what really persuaded her to go to the party. Her friendship with Cherie and Leanne was all that she had. She would walk 5 kilometres to school every morning, scrape together a measly lunch and would go without food some days, she would wear the same pair of clothes every day and was struggling to pass her classes at school. She was in a cocoon of isolation. Those two were all she had.
She wore an old dress of Leanne’s with a pair of Cherie’s earrings. She looked better than she ever had before and she had never felt so amazing. Despite being so young, she was a social butterfly at the party. She was too much of a social butterfly. You get punished for being friendly at a party in Blackrock, especially if you’re a female. If you’re a guy? Don’t worry about it. But a girl? Be prepared. The hierarchy that exists amongst the group is vicious and volatile. The environment that was created at party wasn’t safe. The alpha males had set out to prey on the young women. Tracy was one of the ones that...
