Mysteries

I woke with a gasp, my eyes snapping open to the ceiling of a brightly lit room.  A warm hand touched my arm as a face appeared above me.  It was fuzzy, but I immediately recognized the flowing, red hair.  All of it had been cut shorter to match the pieces cut off by Madelyn.  Now, her hair just hovered below her earlobes.    

            “Rena?” Pippa murmured. “Are you awake?”  I gazed aimlessly as the image started to clear.  My body felt too exhausted to reply in any way. “Pamela, I think something’s wrong with her,” Pippa said, glancing behind her.   

            Pamela, one of the parents, came to my side. “Rena?  Can you hear me?”  I closed my eyes for a moment and barely managed a nod.  “Are you able to talk?” she asked, and I nodded again. “Do you remember what happened?”

            I opened my eyes.  What happened?  I blinked a few times.  Oh, that’s right.  I punched Madelyn and then… Did I faint?  I licked my dry lips and croaked, “I remember.” 

            By the look on Pamela’s face, I could tell she was not happy with me. “Rena, I would like you to reflect on your actions against Madelyn.  Right now, she is at the hospital with a broken nose.  You do realize that kind of behavior is not okay, right?” she said.

            I glanced at her before looking back at the ceiling to ignore her attempt at being a motherly figure scolding her child.  Of course I knew it wasn’t okay to punch another person, but I also knew it wasn’t okay to chop someone’s hair off for making a friend. 

            “Did you hear me, Rena?” Pamela said in that supposed to be threatening tone.

            “Yes,” I hummed, and my stomach growled. 

            “Good.  Now, after you are well enough, you’ll be grounded in your room during free time for the next two days, so that you can reflect on your behavior.  Before I leave to let you rest, is there anything you need?”

            I gulped saliva down my scorched throat. “Food and water,” I replied. 

            “Okay.  Pippa, come here.  Leave Rena alone so she can rest,” Pamela ordered.  Pippa hesitated before standing up from the chair she was sitting in and followed Pamela out the door. 

I watched Pippa leave, hoping that she was doing okay after what had happened.  After a few moments of silence, I looked at my surroundings.  I was lying on a bed in the medical room at the group home. There were white curtains drawn between the beds, so I couldn’t see much except for the entrance below me, a few cabinets, and a white, thin blanket layered over my body.  I sighed, letting my head relax on the puffy pillow.  My hands wiggled out from under the blankets, and I inspected my fingers.  The bandages had been replaced.  Cautiously, I picked at one of the sticky ends and unwrapped the bandage from my pointer finger.  Despite the pain, I felt relieved to see that my nails were short again.  A little blood still oozed out from the skin connected to my nail.  I rewrapped the bandage and let my arms drop to my sides.  I sighed again.  My stomach felt painfully empty, so I rubbed it for comfort. 

***

            It was free time, and I was stuck in my room.  No one was allowed to talk to me, and I was not allowed to talk to others.  I was also not permitted to do anything, (except “reflect on my actions”) nor to move from my bed �" unless I needed to use the bathroom, of course.  I lolled around on my bed, staring out my window or studying the lines on the wooden boards above me.  Every now and then, I checked on my fingers or patted my constantly hungry stomach.  Pamela brought me food earlier, but I still wasn’t satisfied.  I flopped over on my side to face the room when, suddenly, there was a knocking sound from behind me.  I peeked over my shoulder and saw Pippa outside my window.  She stood in the small area between the middle school building and the fence.  My eyes widened in surprise.  She looked back and forth before waving.  Quickly, I sat up, unlocked the window, and pushed it out and up.  The cold wind rushed in, and I smelled that scent again.  I couldn’t describe it.

  Pippa ducked into the small space between the downward tilted window and the brick wall.  She peeked her head into my room, leaning against the windowpane.  “Hi,” she said with a huge smile.

            “What are you doing here?” I asked, rubbing my nose in hopes to get rid of the smell.

            “I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” she said.

            I glanced down. “I was more worried about you after what happened.”

            She cocked her head. “How come?”

            “Because, maybe the girls will want to get revenge,” I said.

            Pippa looked up in thought and grinned. “No.  I think you scared them away.  Madelyn got punished by the parents for bullying me too, you know.  She’s getting nose surgery at the hospital, but she should be back by tonight.  You must’ve punched her pretty hard, so I’m not worried anymore,” she explained, and then said, “Thanks for saving me.” 

Gosh, I felt like superman.  I nodded and said, “No problem.”

            “You should teach me how to fight, Rena,” Pippa said, punching in the air with her little fists.

            Honestly, this girl always stumped me.  I wasn’t sure if it was because she was just weird or because I hadn’t had a real conversation with a human since I came to CHC. “Pip, I…don’t know how to fight,” I muttered.

            “Well, still,” she said and dropped her arms. “I’m going to need to learn how to protect myself and my friends someday.”

            I perked up. “Pip, about that…” I said, lowering my gaze. “Did Madelyn really tell you not to make friends?”

            “Yeah,” she said.

            “Then why did you -”

            “Become friends with you?” she completed my sentence, smiling a ducky smile. “Because, I thought you were a good person.  At first, I was afraid that you might hate me like the other girls, but when you told me that you didn’t believe that I pulled the fire alarm, it made me really happy.  And, well, I didn’t really take Madelyn’s threat seriously because she always talked a lot and never went through with things.”

            “But this time, she actually did something,” I said.

            “It’s okay,” Pip said reassuringly. “You came and saved me.”

            My eyebrows pressed together.  I couldn’t understand her optimism. “But you’re hair,” I noted.  

            She shrugged it off.  “I like it,” she beamed, and then her eyes lowered. “By the way, Rena, about your nails…”  I stiffened and opened my mouth to make an excuse, but I couldn’t come up with anything.  Her eyes met mine.  “I’ve seen them before on someone else,” she said. “My mom.  She used to get really short nails and then sometimes long, sharp nails too.  She always told me that she would cut her nails too short or else she’d put on fake, sharp nails for fun.  But after seeing you with the same thing, I don’t know anymore.  Maybe she was lying to me…” 

I stared at Pippa gazing down at her hands.  What was I supposed to say?  I didn’t even know the answer.  My eyes turned away.  Then to my surprise, Pip chuckled.

“My mom was always a little weird,” she said.

Out of nowhere, a voice yelled, “Pippa!” We both jumped, Pip banging her head on the window above her.

“Owe!  Oh no �" the parents are coming,” she hissed.  She ducked out of the window and disappeared around the building.  I pulled the window back in and locked it, flopping over on my bed to act as if I hadn’t been doing anything suspicious.  As I lied there, I remembered again what Pippa had said about her mom.  Frustrated and confused, I squeezed my eyes shut and huffed out air. 

What in the world was going on?