FFM 2015, July 22 - Shinobi

The barrel was barely visible in the tall grass, but those who knew it was there knew what to look for. Its faded blue plastic was a beacon for dog-walkers of all kinds: they waded through the grass from the path to it, gingerly holding their little brown baggies of Rover's or Fifi's too-early or too-late droppings. They didn't really worry about whose barrel it was, or why someone had left it there at the edge of the forest, or what would happen to it when it eventually filled up.

When Madison's bullies brought her there the barrel was only half-full. The effect it had on an unaware viewer was dramatic: from a certain distance it simply looked like an empty barrel, som leftover from nearby construction work, but suddenly as one comes within a few steps from it, the smell hits at the same time as the view: a sea of feces, individually bagged.

Madison knew the barrel though. Her bullies had threatened to throw her there before ("It's only appropriate you smell the same as you look, shit-face"), and she'd gone to see it herself. She should've knocked it over then, but that would have upset the dog walkers (however short-sighted they were). Besides, she wasn't sure she would have been able to push it over even if she could have managed the smell for long enough. It was heavy.

This she found out only as her bullies - Amanda, Lara, Sandy and Elsa - lifted her up to the edge of it. She kicked and fought, but the barrel was like rock. Despite the horror of it, the helplessness she felt, what was topmost was the feeling of unfairness. Why her? Just because of her birthmark? They called her shit-face, but her mother had always said it was more like a teardrop. It wasn't fair!

She never could explain what happened next. Just as Amanda was lifting her left foot over the edge and Elsa her right, they all let go, and Madison dropped harmlessly to the ground instead of into the mess of dog offal. There were a few surprised yelps, then a cry of pain, and then suddenly Madison felt strong arms grip her and pull her away just as the barrel fell over and tumbled down, spilling its contents all over the bullies who had - somehow- found themselves on the ground. Their surprise turned to disgust. Madison watched as the four of them screamed as only middle school girls can scream and ran, shit smeared over their dresses, hair, shoes, legs and hands.

Madison looked around for her saviour, breathless with thanks, but there was no-one. Not a sign. Not as much as a footprint. If she hadn't felt the fingers gently but firmly pressing into her sides as she was dragged away, she would've sworn she'd been saved by a ghost.

She ran home to tell her parents. Oddly, they didn't answer as she called out from the kitchen, but then she heard the shower from upstairs. They sometimes showered together, although Madison thought that was pretty icky. As she rushed up, she thought she caught the faint whiff of dog-shit in the air, but she quickly dismissed it as just coming from herself. She should probably shower too.

Her mom and dad, after stepping out of the shower together, listened to her tale. It didn't seem to make too much of an impression on them. "Maybe it was a ninja." Her dad suggested, with a wink. "They can't all be as rubbish as the Japanese ones, eh?" Her mom just hugged her and told her she was happy she was okay, and that if anyone ever bullied her again she'd call the police on them.

It wasn't until years later, when she was a teenager, that she fully understood what her birthmark really meant.