12. Enemies to friends

~Abuse warning~

When I opened my eyes again, my muscles were stiff and I felt disgusted. I moved over to the sink and washed my face, just to be on the safe side. Then I paced around the room and jumped in place trying to get warm. My damp clothing didn't help. I tried to wring out some excess water. I kept rubbing my arms and blowing into my hands. Nothing was helping me warm up. I gave up, sat against the wall, pulled my knees to my chest, and continued to shiver as my breath clouded the air. 

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep again. A shrill beeping played over my intercom in several tones. It wasn't consistent, and there was no pattern: two fast beeps, three second pause, five slow beeps, one second pause, one long beep, and every combination between, some soft, but most were loud. I covered my ears with my hands, leaving my face buried in my knees. A tear silently streaked down my cheek. I had never felt so alone. I really wished to have someone to talk to; my reflection was only good for so much. My body shook as I silently wept. Eventually, I was able to sleep, although it was a very restless sleep. I don't know how long I slept, but the beeping was still going on when I woke up again. 

I finished my half glass of water, used the bathroom, and began gently rinsing off the blood on my face. I studied my reflection again. The bruises on my face were starting to look like a muddy grey surrounded by dandelion yellow. "Okay, so is this normal for two days of healing?" I asked mentally trying to recall previous healing on other bruises. I pursed my lips, unable to remember and looked at the rest of my injuries. I now had two gashes on the right side of my forehead. My eye tracked lazily, and I rested my hand against the mirror as I took it all in. Even in the braid, I could tell my hair was greasy. My clothing looked tarnished and wrinkly; I was a mess. "Hey, Sunshine," my voice cracked and a tear formed in my eye, so I continued mentally. "Are you ready to meet your maker? I don't know how much more of this you can take. It's okay to give up. At least you got to see your brother one last time. You are a free spirit. He can spit on you and cover you in his juices. He won't break you." I pounded on the mirror, and smirked standing up tall. "Who am I kidding? You've seen worse days than this. Hold your head up. You can be strong, if only just for you! Now who is this emotional wreck I see staring back at me?" I thought. Then I smiled and enthusiastically said, "today is a good day. I will own it!" Putting my hand straight behind my back, I used the wall to stretch my shoulder. "Ahhhh! No pain, no gain. Take care of your body, Sunshine," I said, fighting through the pain. I smiled at my reflection again and mentally encouraged myself, "if they slap one cheek, offer them the other. If they hurt you, smile. It'll heap coals on their heads." I then worked on the other arm. I stretched every muscle in my body. Each new stretch wrecked havoc on my body. I bit my lip trying keep from screaming out, reopening the wound on my lip. 

My door opened again. I sighed, smiled, and walked towards the entrance. I stepped into the room. It was set up the same as before; the water tank to my left, the bed to my right, and a single chair by the mirror. Ronnie sat in it with a bamboo rod resting across his lap. He had some rope draped loosely diagonally his chest. "Sit." He used both hands and gestured towards the tank and the bed. I smiled at him as I chose to sit on the water tank. I closed my eyes and relished in the warmth of the room. His chair creaked and I opened my eyes. He was now standing, slowly walking over to me. The rod in his right hand. 

"How's the Professor? Has the Doc taken care of him?" I asked with a grin, looking at his hands. His left hand had two fingers taped up. The backside of his hand had a deep purple bruise. He was now standing in front of me.

"My hands are fine. Thanks," he snapped. "You wanted balance. Well I'm here to give you balance." The bamboo staff whistled as he brought it down across my lap. I bit my lip in pain and blinked back tears, sitting on my hands to keep from rubbing the welt that was forming. I knew that bringing those to my lap would allow him to try and break my fingers. "Your back and legs need some color too." He grinned viciously. He grabbed his rope menacingly with his left thumb. "We can do this the hard way or the easy way." I smiled sweetly at him then looked at the bar above my door before meeting his eye again. 

"Do you just want me to lay face down on this tank? I'd be happy to." His face twitched as I continued to smile at him. "So is that a yes?" I asked as I lay down on the tank, resting my forehead against my forearms. Bracing myself for what was to come, I mentally said, "laughter instead of tears is your best bet. He wants to hear you scream. You never give your dad the satisfaction for fear of waking up your sister. You can be strong, just for you." 

Ronnie growled and threw his rope on the floor. The rod landed across my back with a whistle. I winced, bit my lip, than giggled trying to mask the pain. "What's so funny!?" Ronnie snarled as he brought the rod down again and again. I giggled some more. 

"Pain is funny," I tried. Tears squeezed out of my eyes. The rod hit my legs three times. Throwing fuel on the fire, I quipped around my tears, making sure my voice stayed strong, "losing your touch, Ronnie? That almost didn't hurt." He brought id down across my shoulders and I snickered. Four more lashes were given, between my knees and lower back. I laughed again as tears flowed. In an angry fury, he hit me seven more times all the way up my body. Now I was crying, but to him, it must have still sounded like laughter. I wiped my eyes on my arms, bracing for another wack. 

"I give up!" He huffed, throwing his rod across the room. "Let me out!" A door opened and he retreated. I closed my eyes, sat up slowly, and chuckled softly. My whole body shook and trembled. Another door whooshed. I opened my eyes and looked towards the mirror, wondering what they would do to me now; that wasn't the door that opened. Lauren stepped out of her doorway. I smiled warmly at her. She had a different set of clothing on than the last time I saw her, her hair was shiny -a little messy- and she looked healthy. 

"Hey, Lauren. How are they treating you?" I asked genuinely concerned. She returned my smile as she grabbed the chair and set it in front of me. 

"Very well. I'm left alone mostly. A tray of food slides in every so often. I spend a lot of time playing solitaire. I get lots of rest; my room is always dark," she replied as she sat down and looked down my body, slowly losing more color. She looked guilty. "Why are you doing this, Annette?" 

"Doing what?" I asked confused

"Taking all this punishment. They're going to kill you! That would make me feel responsible," she said glumly, pointing to the welt on my leg. 

"I'm fine, hun. Really. It looks worse than it is," I lied, rubbing the welt on my thigh. I would be fine eventually, but I felt unable to move at the moment. "Why do you care? I thought you hated me, or could care less about what happened to me." 

"I don't hate you," she admitted softly. "I became instantly jealous of you when you moved to our town. The guys stopped paying attention to me, and tried to get your attention. But you never responded. Why didn't you ever accept one of their offers for a date? Did you feel too superior to them?" 

"No. I never felt better than them. Whenever I was approached by a guy, there was always a small crew behind him laughing. So I just always took it as a joke, and I was the butt of it. I always tried to blend into the background and stick to my school work. I've always felt invisible, but the first choice for a good old-fashioned-cage-rattling." I explained. "Our class is a bunch of pranksters. They always want me to do something I'm not okay with. 'Cops kids are always the worse. Show us your true colors. Are you one of us?'" I mimicked. "They're immature, and I look forward to heading off to the college." 

"Seriously?" She squeaked out in surprise. I nodded. "Not even one of them you would agree too, no matter how sincere they were?" I shook my head and gestured with my head to the mattress across the room. 

"They don't have any desire to get to know me. They just want to see if I'd party, hit a few joints, down a beer or two, and end up in bed with them. I'm not that girl. When I'm ready to have sex, I will. For now, I'm saving that honor for my husband. It's the best gift I can give him. Plus, I believe the reason I would date someone is because I can picture a long life with them." Lauren visibly relaxed. I didn't realize she was so stiff. She stood up again, walked over to the mattress, and grabbed two pillows. Bringing them back over to the water tank, she put one on the chair and put my feet on it. The other she set on the tank and sat beside it. 

"That's why they keep pestering you. You're too much of a prude and need to lighten up and enjoy life," Lauren paused. "I never thought I'd be the one to say this to you, but you're pretty cool. We're not hooligans, huh?" I chuckled, looked down, and winced in pain. "I've never seen someone speak out for others like that. Thank you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to say hi." 

"It's all good. I'm a fairly reserved person anyways. If I don't have to talk to you, I'm okay with that," I remarked softly with a soft giggle. She joined in. I bumped her shoulder with mine and teased, "so who is he?" 

"What? I don't know what you're talking about," she spoke harshly, stumbling over her words as she looked away from me. 

"The guy you're interested in. You were relieved when I said I didn't care to date any of the guys in our class." She blushed crimson. "Can I have three guesses?" She nodded. "Do you want me to explain my reasoning?" She nodded again. "Okay. Well you and Nate are always chummy and you are far too comfortable around him, so it can't be him. Is it his best pal, Mike?" She smiled and shook her head. "Strike one. You and Ryan are most popular in our class, it makes sense for you to like him." She shook her head again. "Okay. Okay. Okay. I got it. Is it Adam?" Her jaw dropped. 

"How'd you know?" 

"So that's a yes," I giggled. "I people watch. I don't mean to, it just happens. I pick up on a few things that others missed. For starters, the day I served you guys you claimed that you guys were only there for him and you shot daggers at him whenever he flirted with me. You were absolutely nauseated by that, and therefore didn't eat," I explained. Her mouth was set in a firm line. "I would have turned him down even if he was sober. Not only because the whole table was laughing, but because of the way he looked at you when I wasn't right there." Lauren's face relaxed slightly as her eyes got big. "He looked like he was melting every time you smiled at him. He seemed like a lost puppy following you into the restaurant. He scowled slightly when you slid in next Ryan and Marie immediately sat next to you. Then when Ronnie had the gun to your head, Adam let go of me and took a step towards you. He got in the van and gave you a small smile. He likes you too, hun. I would never get in the way of that," I revealed. In a joking tone, I continued, "plus, I would never fit into the limelight world you guys live in." 

"We started dating two days before that. Nobody knew," she confessed shyly. "We were all hanging out when Ryan told Adam to break out of his shell. Adam insisted his shell was open enough. Dan immediately jumped in and bet $50 that if his shell was so open that getting a girl to kiss him should be a piece of cake. Adam immediately walked over and kissed me. Yep. It was a piece of cake. Marie added to it that it had to be a girl Adam hadn't really talked to. You, Renae, and Mindy are the only three from our class who haven't said more than hello to him, making all of you the perfect choice. If Adam couldn't convince one of you to kiss him, he would be branded a coward and mocked. To up the stakes even more, the bet wouldn't be complete until we had proof of the kiss, in front of people, multiple photo shots. Mindy is a s**t and we could've gotten her to play along easily, but she's vacationing in Hawaii. Renae scares Adam. So we came to find you. I'm sorry. I was just going to snap a picture when he kissed you. Ryan was sticking around for proof. Then you ran and they both ran after you. He should have been running to me. I wanted to yell. I was shocked when you said you might give him a chance if he wasn't drunk. Then that b*****d came up beside me and pulled my hair. I screamed, but not like I wanted to. You're right. We are all a bunch of jerks," she explained full of remorse. 

"No harm, no foul. Renae's a bit morbid, but she's my best friend. She doesn't like to be cornered. I was your best bet. You guys could've approached it differently," I stated and shrugged my shoulders. "He's not a coward or a jerk. I wish you both the best," I told her honestly with a smile. She smiled back at me. The door to my cell opened again. "Guess that's my cue." I tried to stand. My calves felt like they were detached from the bone and I yelped as I crumpled in pain. Lauren walked across the room again and grabbed the bamboo rod. 

"Let me help," she offered as she gave me the rod. With the tank behind me, the rod as a brace, and her pulling me up by my elbows, I was able to stand. She tucked both pillows under her left arm as she wrapped her right arm around my waist. Using the rod like a crutch, and leaning mostly against her, we hobbled to my room. Three steps away from my entry, her doorway opened. "Guess that's my cue." She smiled sadly and tossed the pillows into my room. "I'm sure you can use those." She leaned me against the wall, walked towards her room, and looked over her shoulder. "Take care, Annette. Try and find a way to live." 

"Thank you, Lauren. For everything. You're a good friend." She smiled again and disappeared into the wall, the door closing behind her. I braced one arm on the wall and used the bamboo crutch to finish entering my room. It was still cold, but at least now my clothes were dried. I sat down against the wall and scooted one of the pillows closer. I took the pillowcase off and put my arms inside. Then I put my head on my pillow and closed my eyes. The beeping didn't bother me as I drifted to sleep; I was too tired to care. The other pillow was three feet away; I didn't realize it covered another rice cake and more pain medication.