Post by silent.lullaby on Apr 28, 2009 23:21:42 GMT -5
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 07] Blood, Sweat and Vomit
Nina was right. I kept falling, my jell-o legs not co-operating at all. Around lap four I was pretty certain I was going to pass out. I made it to lap five before falling down on the other side of the line my chest heaving. Our teacher was the only one left, all the others only had one or two lap penalties and were gone quite a while ago. The teacher glanced at his watch, “well what do you know, that took quite the long time, it’s almost eight... better run to your building,” he said with laughter as he stalked off.
“Fuck,” Robyn said checking her watch, “come on, if we run we could still get to sleep in our beds tonight.”
“I’m going to puke,” I moaned rolling onto my stomach and trying to push myself up with my arms. Nina immediately held my hair back as my stomach started to wretch up that horrible cafeteria food, the cereal and now curdled milk. “Fuck my life,” I moaned nearly falling into my own vomit out of weakness.
Nina hauled me to my feet, “grab her arm and other leg, and we might just get to our room.”
We got into the building and they started carrying me in the stairwell, or more of dragging my feet, them now to weak to carry me further, so my legs kept banging against the metal stairs since I didn’t have the energy to lift them as the two girls dragged me up. I heard a shout and the door above us opening and closing. Suddenly Thayne and Leon were there, “fuck noob, you look like shit,” Thayne decided to kindly tell me.
“Thanks, I feel like shit,” I responded, as Thayne took Robyn’s spot, and Leon took Nina’s they lifted up my numb legs.
“What the hell your bleeding,” Thayne informed me.
I checked my palms first from all my falling they were a little red, but not bleeding. “Where?” I asked looking down to check my knees as they moved quickly up the stairs, my knees were scuffed and there were pieces of sand and rock in the scratches.
“Shins.”
I forced myself to kick one leg forward. Sure enough bashing them against two flights of stairs had busted them open but I couldn’t feel a thing. “Infirmary?” Leon asked me.
“Bed,” I responded.
“Alright,” Leon responded wiggling his eyebrows. I gave a weak smile as we got into our hallway, “goodnight.” And he was gone leaving me with Nina to get me inside just a minute and a half before eight.
“It does get easier here,” Nina reassured me as she helped me undress and get into the shower, as embarrassed as I was, I was grateful for her help. She got into the shower next to me. I was sitting down in the shower. I was too exhausted to stand. I started washing off the sweat, dirt, gravel, blood, and the dirty water from the tunnel.
My timer went off and I climbed to my feet, my shins were starting to bleed again, I wrapped a towel around myself and Nina walked off quickly grabbing a first aid kit and instructing me to sit on the counter. I did as she asked and she put on a set of gloves and started to bandage me up, “sorry.”
“What for?” I asked surprised.
“I should have kept your legs up.”
I waved her apology off, “I should have been able to keep my own legs up. Besides, to sleep in our own beds, it was the best bet.”
“We wouldn’t have gotten to our rooms in time,” Nina responded cutting a strip of gauze, “If... Uh... Thayne and Leon hadn’t helped.” She said their names like questions, obviously forgetting or she just wasn’t good at names.
“Good thing they did then.”
“Yeah, see them in class all the time, never actually knew their names.” Nina said sadly, “neighbours in this hell and we don’t know one another.”
“Really! You didn’t know their names?”
“B-5,” Nina responded. “It’s part of breaking us, we are all B-5. Most people here have their walls built up. Keep everyone else out. Just those in your room, that you need to get by. This place isn’t nice, but there are things you can do to make it easier... like working out, or studying harder.” Nina shrugged, and cut a piece of tape, before wrapping it around the gauze. “This place is hell, but you can make the flames a little cooler, you know what I mean?”
“Yeah,” I responded making mental resolutions to work out, “I get what you’re saying.”
“Good,” Nina closed the kit and stood extending a hand to me, “lets get you to bed.”
Once in my room I walked groggily to my bed, I put my keycard right beside my bed and grabbed my pills from my bag, I still had yet to completely unpack. I had time to do it, but my muscles ached so badly I couldn’t be bothered, I took my birth control (which awkwardly enough my father insisted I go on the day I turned sixteen), and my sleeping pill with water and laid down on my bed.
I stared up at the ceiling thinking about what Nina said about hells flames in relation to this place. She was right, I could make the flames cooler. For right now though I just wanted the burning of my muscles to simmer down. I frowned realizing once again it was Thursday and Robyn said that we did the obstacle course every Thursday and Friday. It made me want to cry.
Tears welled in my eyes, for being in this hellish place, for the teachers and their cruel ways of keeping us from socializing properly, for the friends I was missing, and... I refused to miss my father. How dare he send me to this place. This was his fault. Still I could admit I missed Cory, that little brat. Him I still missed... just a little.
I fell asleep thinking of my little brother.
“Wake up!”
I jolted to a sitting position and looked around my room violently, but there was no one there. I opened my door, no one was in the hallway, I looked through the glass sliding door, and flicked on my light. There was no one. Not anywhere, dead or alive, I was alone. I let out a breath and some nervous laughter. It was just a part of the dream, I convinced myself sitting down on the side of my bed, I glanced at the clock. Early. Way to fucking early, still I knew I wasn’t getting back to sleep. My shins still hurt, I went to the bathroom to re-bandage them, I had to pee anyways.
I relieved my bladder, showered, put on some fresh gauze, had a long debate on what to wear and got dressed in a tight pair of black jeans, a lace decorated camisole and a tunic over that. I checked myself out in the mirror and smiled, the smile faltered and was replaced with a frown. I shook my head as the alarm went off, I grabbed my keycard and opened my door and was first to swipe my card.
Robyn stepped out of her room, her hair wild and devilish, her eyes still groggy and only open slightly as she swiped her card and headed immediately for the bathroom. Nina came out stumbling with speed to swipe her card. She rubbed her eyes as the alarm silenced and looked at me, her eyes widening, “someone was up early, hows your legs?”
“I’ll live,” I responded simply. She smiled and then headed off to the shower herself.
Walking into the kitchen, I poured some cereal and frowned. I missed Lucky Charms and Count Chocula, now it was Special K and Cheerios, which I mixed for some variety and frowned cause I knew that was as exciting as breakfast was going to get for me.
I sighed and picked up the bowl before walking over to the television and flicking it on, it was the weather, deciding it wasn’t going to get better I sat down heavily on the couch and ate my cereal. Tonight was going to be cold, about plus 5 and we had the obstacle course.
Sitting back I wondered what happened when winter came along. Somehow I didn’t think it would get any easier. They probably had a hellish indoor course somewhere. I pondered the tortuous possibilities as I heard Robyn yell something that sounded a lot like, ‘you got toothpaste in my eye.’ I listened, but the argument seemed to end there so I didn’t worry too much.
I did a quick wash of my bowl and spoon, dried them and put them back in their proper places. Checking my watch, I noticed the bathroom door open and the two girls scurry to their room. The second alarm would be going off soon. I went to my room and grabbed my binder.
Scurrying around I looked for my pen, it was on my night stand, I grabbed it and noticed that my phone was blinking. I smiled and opened it.
Two texts from Tori.
Hey hun! I cant believe u arent here! I keep lokin 4 u in every class! When do u get out of there? I miss u.
Are u ok? U didnt respnd! Smthng wrong? Hope u well.
I quickly hit reply and started typing.
This place is hell! Im ok. Don’t worry. Vry bsy w classes. Gym evry day! Kill me now! Lolz love you, miss you
I hit send and watched the little graphic woosh by, the second alarm went off and I dropped my phone to the night stand not knowing if it finished sending or not. I didn’t have time to look I dashed off equipped with my binder, pen and key card.
My second day here was about to begin.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 08] Questioning with Answers
We had different schedule today. First class, law. I waited till everyone sat down and sat in the empty seat. My neighbour for Friday first class was an good looking Asian kid, the teacher started talking and writing notes on the board, I opened my binder and started copying them.
I squinted my eyes, the teachers writing was squished and tiny. I seen a lot of other kids leaning forward as well, squinting. I looked to my neighbour, he didn’t seem to have a problem, I looked at his sheet and started copying the notes from there.
The teacher started to come around with a thick stack of papers stapled together and was dropping one on each persons desk. I got mine and was immediately discouraged. For name I wasn’t sure what to write, I thought Nina said they didn’t know our names. I looked over to the kids beside me. He’d written B-5-8-2, it hit me, room number. I wrote B-5-4-3 since I lived in room three.
I read the first question, and realized I didn’t have the slightest idea what the answer was. I started going through my notes of the day, and realized it wasn’t in there, I looked over to the kid beside me. Asians were super smart right? Okay, I know it’s wrong to stereotype, but in this hell I couldn’t afford not to. If he had the answers, I was copying them.
I peered through my curtain of blonde hair to read the answer and it made sense, I wrote it in my own words and then read his second and third answer and copied them as well. This certainly was going to make this class easier. I looked at number four and it read, ‘stop copying me.’ I frowned realizing I was busted, so on my number four I wrote ‘sorry,’ and elbowed him so he would look where I was taping my pen.
He smiled at me, he was some kind of cutie! I smiled back at him, he erased the copying comment and wrote the real answer then looked at me, I was giving a nervous smile my eyebrows high. He snickered quietly and just tapped his page signifying it was a-okay to copy. I smiled, read his answer and translated it to my own words. Suddenly law class didn’t seem so bad.
On his one line he wrote, ‘who are you?’ Once I read it he erased it and read the next question. I wrote on my page, ‘Claire Keeds, who are you?’ When he looked over for a minute and looked back to his own sheet I knew it was okay to erase my message and start writing more answers. I looked over to his sheet, ‘Hiro Sohma’ I smiled at him, and he smiled back.
We continued writing back and forth, while he worked through the questions, and I guiltily copied them. I wish I could have been more help, but I was quite hopeless, I didn’t take law at my old school, and I didn’t have a choice here.
I snickered at a comment Hiro wrote on his sheet and he put his finger to his lips to shush me while silently snickering himself. Suddenly his face fell and his hand went to the desk slowly. I swallowed and turned around. There was the teacher who had been reading our conversation on our sheets. “B-5-8 and B-5-4 two laps after class.”
I bowed my head and sent an apologetic look at Robyn and Nina. Robyn gave a glare that made me physically feel cold. Nina just shrugged, like she knew it was going to happen sooner or later.
Groans came from behind us as the teacher went to the front of the class and got lost in a book. A pencil flicked Hiro’s ear, “you oversized jackass!”
I turned around in my seat to face Hiro’s bullies. “Leave him alone!” I said in a loud whisper. I looked over my shoulder, the teacher flipped the page and continued reading. I turned back to the two guys that had groaned. The one had dark shoulder length hair and dark eyes to match. The other had spiked brown hair and olive green eyes.
“Don’t, Claire, these are my room mates.” Hiro said quietly.
“Geeze don’t introduce us to the pretty lady or nothing,” said the one with shorter hair, he smiled and winked at me.
“Claire, this is Hawkeye,” he said referring to the guy with the shorter brown hair, then pointed to the guy with the long dark locks, “And that’s Rick Hart. They are alright once you get use to them.”
“What’s your real name? I asked Hawkeye.
“Anthony,” he responded, “but I’ve gone by my last name since... well since I’ve got here I guess. Please, just call me Hawkeye, everyone else does.”
“Turn around,” Rick said suddenly as he bowed his head and started doodling so it would look like he was working. Both Hiro and I turned around and picked up our pencils. I looked up under my lashes. The teacher then turned the page and looked directly at us. Content with the fact that we weren’t doing anything, he went back to reading.
I was thankful for Rick’s intuition. I looked over my shoulder at him, he looked up at me like he knew I was watching him. He nodded his head quickly up and I turned back around, I peered up the teacher looked to us again. I got chills down my spine. How did Rick know?
The class ended and I was distraught that I had to run laps in my good clothing. “Couldn’t have just did your own work?” Robyn asked as she broke away from the rest of the group running faster than I really could.
“Don’t mind her, you should have brought up the ripped up shins to make her feel bad,” Nina said jogging at my speed. “Then again... I’m not sure if she has a conscience...”
“You’re hurt?” Hiro asked, he was jogging at my other side, Hawkeye and Rick running just a bit ahead of us.
“Yesterdays obstacle course didn’t really agree with me,” I admitted.
“And then Robyn and I tried carrying her up the stairs so we could make it before curfew... only we were so exhausted ourselves we couldn’t hold up her legs, bashed them against every step for two flights,” Nina said sounding guilty. “It really was a good thing Thayne and Leon helped out there too, otherwise we not only wouldn’t have made it in time, but some more damage would have happened to those shins of yours.”
“So your new,” Hawkeye said turning and jogging backward, “what do you think of this place?”
“It’s horrible, I somehow expected it to be easier,” I admitted.
“We all did,” Rick said.
“Not you,” Hawkeye said with fake shock as he looked over at Rick who pulled him little to keep his running backward buddy on the track.
“We all want it to be better, so our worse case scenario is the best of the worse we can think of.”
Hawkeye stared for a moment, mulling over Rick’s confusing reasoning. Hawkeye turned around and continued running, “whatever man.”
As we continued running, I was already feeling exhausted and I had no idea how I was to get through a second night of obstacle course. I let out a sigh, the laps were very annoying and exhausting, “why can’t they just give us detention,” I whined. The guys snickered and Nina rolled her eyes.
By the time we finished running, I could tell that my shins were bleeding again, I could feel the sticky wetness under the gauze. I wasn’t really sweating, due to it being pretty cold and I was thankful since now we missed lunch and had classes. I more or less limped back to the school, trying to be inconspicuous about it, but everyone noticed.
“Maybe the infirmary is the best bet,” Nina suggested as Rick held open the door for all of us as we walked into the school. “Maybe they need stitches or something, I mean, you got pretty beaten up by those stairs.”
I grimaced, “metal stairs one, me zero.”
We merged into the sea of students heading to their next class, Nina grabbed my arm, and as I looked over I seen her link arms with Robyn as well, she didn’t look at me as she continued, “if you go to the infirmary... you could probably get out of the obstacle course tonight.”
Robyn looked pleased by this idea. You are only as strong as your weakest room mate. I was that weakest member. If I were gone... they probably wouldn’t have to do any laps, and be back in their own rooms before long. I mulled it over, it did sound a lot better than that horrible obstacle course.
Hawkeye looked uncomfortable walking beside Nina looking over his shoulder, he then turned to us, “I’ve heard horror stories of the infirmary.”
“Don’t scare her,” Hiro scolded.
Hawkeye bowed his head, he was much taller than his room mates his shoulders slumping forward, “I’m just making sure she’s informed.” He had a casual tone as he shoved his hands into his jeans. “I’m not saying she has to be afraid, I’m not even saying the stories are true.”
Looking over to Nina she started to turn pulling me with her and we were in the science room, “you can figure it out later,” she whispered to me, “right now grab your lab coat.”
Inside the science room I found that for labs, we worked with our room mates. They really were keeping us separate as possible here. I opened a drawer and took out the lab coats, I passed one to Nina and one to Robyn and put my arms through the last one myself.
Thayne, Leon and Scott were at the lab table ahead of us, I looked around till I found Hawkeye, Hiro and Rick on the other side of the room. Somehow knowing people made me feel a little sane, a little happier. The more people I knew, the bigger my social bubble, the more at home I felt. Not that this was a good place to be, by any means, but there were other people going through it just like I was.
We sat down on our tall stools as the teacher spoke, I listened but took in next to nothing of the boring lecture. I was lucky Nina seemed to know what she was doing during the lab, occasionally asking Robyn or I to pass her something. Other than that both Robyn and I were of little to no use.
“Hey!” I turned around at the sound of a loud whisper behind me. One girl sat with her head on the desk, sleeping, knowing she wasn’t the one addressing me I turned to the two awake partners. A set of twins looked at me, the one with blonde highlights was slightly shorter. Both had their head tilted to the left as they studied me as I studied them. Both were brunettes, their hair hanging straight to their shoulders, pouty lips and angular cheek bones, their eyes wide and a chocolate brown in colour. They could have been models, yet here they were at Kennedy Boot Camp. “Can you guys pass us a match, our station is all out.”
“Uh,” I turned around and opened a few drawers till I found the drawer Nina had put the matches back in, I handed them the pack, “here you go.”
The taller twin smiled at me, her teeth were perfectly straight and looked like they had just been whitened by a professional. “Thank you,” she said quietly. They got to work and I started watching Nina once more. Watching her work was a little dull, Robyn was sleeping on her desk, much like the blonde girl with the twins. Still I thought of how it would be to just go to the infirmary, not have to worry about the horrible fitness challenge which is the obstacle course, if only to escape it for this week. I rubbed my temples as my stress increased, and started giving me a headache. Thinking on it, I realized the infirmary would be good for me and for my room mates. I wouldn’t hold them back.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 09] Social Deprivation
After Science we fluttered over to English. I started reading the text book answering the questions on grammar easily. I was sit beside Hiro once again he smiled wide and spoke softly, “my turn,” he said picking up his pen he started to copy my answers. I suppressed some laughter, this was going to work out very well. English wasn’t so bad, just an hour of grammar correcting not difficult but very boring.
Next up was History class. I sat beside the one twin from science class, the one with blonde highlights, since it was the last space left. She looked at me warily then turned her attention to the teacher. Once we got our assignment I looked over to the girl I was sitting beside. I needed social. I needed it like I needed air, like I needed food, like I needed water. I couldn’t survive with out having a social net behind me. It was the way I had always been.
I smiled at her kindly and spoke quietly so the teacher wouldn’t hear, “hi.”
She looked at me staring for a moment then sighed, “you shouldn’t speak.”
Giving a casual shrug I continued, “maybe that’s what got me here in the first place, big mouth.” Thinking on it now, perhaps my swearing had been my fathers breaking point. I pondered for a moment while the girl was writing answers on her papers.
“A nark?” She said with malice.
“Not what I meant,” I said quickly, “I mean I talk a lot, anyone would want to get rid of me.” I laughed nervously, I wasn’t use to people speaking like this, much less, speaking like this to me. She rolled her eyes at me, but I continued. I was nothing if not persistent, “I’m Claire.”
The girl mumbled something quietly though I distinctly heard, ‘I’m Mary.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said looking at my sheets so it wouldn’t be so obvious to the teacher that we were talking.
“I’m don’t thinks so,” she grumbled obviously getting more and more annoyed by my talkative traits.
And just like that all my worries of the teacher catching us were gone, because the conversation dropped like a hot stone from my hands. I wasn’t use to rejection in any form. It stung and I frowned starting on my work. My hands danced over the paper, I was glad, this was the unit I had been doing in school, hell this was the same text book and the same questions my teacher had assigned us a few weeks before my father made this rash decision. I answered them easily from memory. I peered over, my quick answers seemed to have annoyed Mary further.
The tone for class change went and everyone gathered their belongings quickly. I wrote quickly finishing up my last answer before clipping my pen to my binder. Mary’s twin was at her side in a moment, they looked at each other for a long minute. Mary shrugged, though I didn’t notice her sister say anything. How odd. Mary looked over her shoulder and sighed. I looked back to see what. The same blonde girl was sleeping yet again on her desk, snoring softly. “JC?” Mary shook her gently, “JC, time to get up.”
JC looked up and rubbed her eyes groggily, “Anna, I really wish they held night classes here.”
The twins chuckled and the taller one, the one who was closest to me spoke, “JC, I’m Anna, you’re talking to Mary.” The smile in Anna’s voice was evident. Apparently she found the confusion of being a twin amusing.
JC grinned, “one of these days...”
“Yeah, yeah,” Mary muttered, “it’s not like it’s difficult to tell us apart.”
“I know,” JC replied picking up her binder, “I just don’t really pay attention. You guys sound the same too.”
“Do not,” Mary argued grouchily.
“Yes we do,” Anna argued.
“Hey, you coming?” Nina said. I hadn’t realized I was frozen in place I nodded and the three of us (Robyn never went far) walked into the hallway. The weight of the conversation with Mary at the beginning of class fell off me and I let out a sigh. Nina studied me with worried eyes, “I really do think the infirmary would be best for you. I’m not a medic, what if that gets infected?”
I frowned, only my second day here and I was already trying to get out of obstacle course. Worse, I was so weak my room mates were trying to insist upon it. As much as I wanted to prove everyone wrong, prove I could do it. I knew for one I couldn’t. And secondly I didn’t want to screw up Nina’s chances at not having laps and getting to bed on time. Robyn I didn’t really connect to, but Nina had taken me under her wing so to speak.
Before my pride could take control I said, “you’re probably right.”
So they led me to the infirmary, the nurse tutting at my injuries and shooing away Robyn and Nina. Nina gave me a little wink, it wasn’t encouraging. Robyn seemed a little happy to be rid of me.
The nurse told me to lay down on the horribly icy metal slab while she bustled around. I wasn’t the only one in there. One was vomiting noisily into a plastic pail, the sound alone made me feel ill, not to mention the smell. I stopped breathing through my nose. Another girl was there a wet washcloth over her forehead, she looked to be sweating though she held to her blanket for dear life.
“So what seems to be the problem?” I looked up to the nurse, I hadn’t even noticed she had come over.
I pulled up both of my pant legs, “bashed up my shins pretty bad.”
The gauze was stained crimson with blood, the nurse tutted, “honestly!” She quickly unwrapped my shins, not bothering to be careful nor gentle, I figured her hands alone would cause bruises the way they gripped my calf. “Uh, just a little nick!” I looked down, apparently we were seeing two different things. That wasn’t a nick, that was a gouge.
The nurse rolled her eyes at me as if she could see the argument in my eyes. She poured peroxide on the wound and I howled as it foamed. “Oh shut up,” the nurse said callously. She wiped off the foam roughly. Any new skin that had been growing was ripped off, I was sure. She wiped on some yellowish cream that I assumed to be something to keep out infection. She wrapped them back up quickly again, her bony fingers digging into my calves again. “There, you can go to your next class.”
I sat up slowly, stunned. “I have the obstacle course next though,” I argued.
The nurse turned slowly, “I said you were fine. You can walk, you can run. Now get out of here and get to your next class. I don’t have time for slight injuries like yours.”
I noticed the kid who had been throwing up had stopped for the duration of my time, she was giving him mouthwash and making him leave too. Callous bitch.
I jogged trying to get use to the weight of my body pressing hard against my feet with more speed. My teeth were grinding together as I entered my building, I looked up the stairs and sighed taking them two at a time to save time. Entering my dorm Robyn darted out of the kitchen and looked at me stunned. “You must be shitting me!”
“I shit you not,” I replied as Nina walked out of her room dressed in tight fitting leggings with her snug shorts, probably for warmth, and a super tight light weight turtleneck.
“What the hell?” She spoke coming toward me, “she couldn’t have discharged you?”
“Oh but she did,” I glanced at the clock and started walking down the hall, “I’m not getting out of obstacle tonight.” I could hear Nina and Robyn complain and wonder before I walked into my room and closed the door tightly behind me.
I let out a sigh as I leaned against the door for a moment trying to compose myself. I walked over to my bags, still only half unpacked. I grabbed a pair of shorts, I thought better of it as I stared at them for a moment. I threw them to the floor and found a pair of black tights. I shuffled through the bag till I found a long bright yellow shirt. I shuffled out of my one set of clothing and into the other.
I glanced at my phone and walked over to it. My messages hadn’t sent. I frowned, mine hadn’t sent, but I had received some. Tori had written a few: Im serious! U r worrying me! Message back. Then: Claire what the hell is this? Don’t ignore me. Then: What u think these ppls r better than me? There were a few messages that weren’t from her like one from Cory: the house is real quiet with out you. I frowned, there was an underlying ‘I miss you’ in his message. Now neither of his siblings... I shook my head ridding myself of the thought. I flicked to the next message from Dad this time: Hope you are doing well.
I thought the messages would cheer me up, I tried sending again. Didn’t work. I couldn’t send. I poked my head out the door, “why doesn’t this...”
Nina shook here head her eyes on my phone, “social deprivation,” she said simply. I frowned. This just kept getting worse.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 10] The Colour Yellow
I stepped out into the hallway with Nina and Robyn thinking over the phone thing. I could get messages but couldn’t respond. Not only was it socially depriving, it was depressing, and it was making Tori angry with me. We’d been a package deal for so long, and now we were fighting for the first time. Or she was fighting, it was like I was paralysed and she didn’t know.
“You okay?” Leon asked me, his mismatched eyes staring at me, his eyebrows knit close with worry.
“Just found out today cellphones only work one way here,” I mumbled unhappily.
He sighed, but said nothing more. No one did. We all just moved one slow step at a time as the other floors got out a head of us and the ones on the sixth floor pushed us forward. The stairwell was ridiculously crowded and I felt a little claustrophobic. Another problem for me was my shins. They were burning now, extremely uncomfortable, and I knew they would slow me down, which would mean more laps, and I couldn’t imagine doing laps. I couldn’t imagine my body being strong enough. Then again, I didn’t think I could do it the first time.
Trying to think optimistic I forced a smile on my face (since I read somewhere that when you smile even when you aren’t happy it sends something to your brain and tricks it into thinking you are) I put my head up a little more and walked with my shoulders back. Confidence was key. Or it was to me. I was alway confident.
I swiped my card and walked into the gate the held the obstacle course. Though I wasn’t sure why it needed a gate. No one would come here willingly. Then again I looked at Thayne who was flexing his muscles, perhaps some would- if only to prove a point.
Standing by Nina and Robyn I felt my nerves come back to me. I tried to shake free of them, there were whispers in the cold winds that sounded like warnings and oh boy, did I ever want to listen. Instead I watched as the first group was called. Three girls that I didn’t know. Then another trio of girls, then another. The pattern set me on edge, I didn’t want to be part of the next trio of girls. The pattern broke though, a few guys went, then a girl trio, then B-5-8 was called and I watched for the first time as Hawkeye, Rick and Hiro moved together quickly.
Hiro didn’t look to be as strong but he was twice as fast and had flipped on to the wall before his roommates even reached it, he was pulling the zipline as the other two pulled their selves up. They worked quickly knowing time was what would save them from laps, and with that as motivation, they moved like a hot flame was coming toward them.
They did quite well, making it just above three minutes. A time I could only pray for and knew would never happen. I was slow to begin with, but now with my legs I also felt weak. I breathed in and out slowly trying to calm myself. The guys were shivering as the water hung to them, wrapped in towels they got to leave, Hiro shot a little wave at me as they walked through the gate heading back to B building.
I jumped a little with each number the teacher called. Thayne laughed at me, his loud booming laugh that made me chuckle a bit myself. Tension easing away slowly.
The tension came right back as I heard the teacher call, “B-5-4.”
Pushing myself to run I got to the wall second, Robyn behind me she put her hands together and I put my foot in it she vaulted me up and I landed on my feet letting a hiss of pain escape my tightly sealed lips. Nina was already pulling her cord and Robyn was at my side in a moment. We got our zip line handles at about the same time my arms tiring already.
Gripping the handles so hard my knuckles turned white I pushed off with my feet hoping to get further than I did last time. I had to, I simply couldn’t run it. I heard a splash as Nina pinned right into the water, I dropped to the sand pit falling forward, I had made it halfway this time. Better than last time, but last time I wasn’t running injured. Robyn made her tiny splash before I got back up to my feet.
I saw Robyn’s blonde head come up for air as she got to the tunnel, she took a gasp of air and submerged herself once more. I estimated a minute and a half for me to even get to the pool I took a breath and dived in. The cold water shocked my system and I immediately had to come up for air. I heard some people snickering at how poorly I was performing, but I didn’t need that, I already knew how horribly I was failing my room mates.
I swam on my back since I could mostly float and use my arms instead of doing anymore unnecessary damage to my shins. My arm hit the concrete, I pulled myself over to the tunnel and took a deep breath, I let it out again as my teeth chattered. At this rate, I was going to get pneumonia, I hoped if I did they would send me to a hospital rather than the infirmary.
Taking another breath I was under and swimming through the tunnel. It was ridiculously long. I had my eyes open so I could see just how long. I wish I hadn’t, it was so dark but I could see the light on the other side. It was depressing to see how long the tunnel really was.
All of a sudden I wasn’t going forward, I looked down realizing my pants must have snagged on the nails in the tunnel, I was annoyed that I would have to go back up for air. I turned in the water looking down at myself. My legs were invisible in the darkness, for they were dark too. I could see my shirt though, such a vibrant yellow.
I bent over myself in the water, my hand extended feeling my leg trying to find the snag. My hand touched something. Not a nail. I jerked my leg but in the water with my leg not giving I was instead pulled forward, and in the darkness I made out the shape of a human being. The hand around my ankle was what had me caught.
My mouth fell open, my oxygen left and was immediately replaced by water. “If you can’t send me on,” the ghost said, the words warped by the water, “then maybe I’ll just have to follow you to the light.”
He was going to kill me! I started thrashing, gasping, my nails digging into the little ridges in the metal tunnel, trying to pull myself away from him using just my fingertips. I wondered how long this had gone on. I wondered if it happened in quick seconds, or dragged into minutes. I couldn’t be sure, but no one seemed to be coming for me. My mind was weak and flickering out. My lungs burned with the dirty water, they were just begging for some air. I wanted to give my lungs their one request.
Suddenly the ghost wasn’t the only other entity in the water. Strong arms wrapped under my armpits and I was dragged away. I could see the ghost loose grip, bright white teeth flashed at me and I shivered.
When I awoke again someone was pushing down on my chest... hard. And another was blowing into my mouth. I shivered coughed, choked and my head was quickly pushed sideways the water spilling from my mouth. I heard someone sigh in relief, there were a ton of whispers, someone was rolling me to my side so I wouldn’t choke on the water I was spitting up, I heard someone faintly crying.
Swallowing burned, my throat felt raw, just like my lungs which I thought had a possibility of bleeding. I breathed, but it was about as much as I had energy for. Someone crouched in front of me, it was the teacher, “B-5, you okay?”
I flipped him off. Apparently I had more energy than I thought. The teacher got up in a huff muttering something about laps when I was better. I didn’t care, if he looked at me he could see quite clearly for himself I was not o-fucking-kay.
I turned to see Thayne looking a little stunned, he was the one in front of me, sitting my mid section, it was obviously his strong hands that had been pumping my lungs and heart willing me to keep going. I rolled onto my back with effort to see who it was that had been breathing for me. For the first time I didn’t notice the mismatch of Leon’s eyes first, first I saw the fear, the worry in his eyes. I forced a smile, and he let out a breath.
I reached a hand toward both of them for support. Thayne and Leon both took it and helped pull me into a sitting up position. Looking from one to the other I finally noticed... neither of them were wet. “Who?” I asked weakly, my voice rough and cracked sounding like a shell of my former voice.
I followed Leon’s gaze to the faint crying noise I had heard. Robyn’s head was against Nina’s shoulder. To my surprise though it was Robyn crying. As I started to struggle to my feet Thayne flipped my arm over his shoulder and hulled me to my feet with out even having to be asked. I was thankful, I wasn’t sure I could stand on my own.
Leon took my one arm as I stumbled forward toward her. “Robyn?” I said softly touching her back. She turned and looked at me her face shocked, like she expected that I would have died. Suddenly she lunged, her arms wrapped tightly around my neck. I would have fallen over but Thayne stood behind me holding me up.
Robyn’s hand ran through my dripping blond curls as she cried holding me tightly to her body. I looked to Nina who simply looked sympathetic for all parties. Robyn’s body shook, she was solid muscle but she seemed extremely vulnerable at this moment. For the first time, she really seemed to have emotions past hate and annoyance.
Curiosity finally got the better of me, “what happened?” I asked quietly, no able to do much beside stay standing, and Thayne was helping with that.
It was Robyn who explained, her voice was frantic. “We were waiting, Nina and I, for you to get out of the tunnel. We thought.... we thought you were still on the other side knowing how bad you seem to do on the zip line.” She paused gulping down another breath as she wiped away tears now as quickly as they came. “Leon was the one who noticed, he was still at the starting end waiting to be called, but he saw your yellow top and it wasn’t really moving at all.”
“I got worried,” Leon took over, “I was running over and was about to jump in when the teacher grabbed me and held me back. Told me to stop goofing around get back to the beginning, but then I shouted back that you weren’t moving... that’s when I seen Robyn jump back into the pool.”
Robyn took back over the telling, “you were still at the beginning of the pipe... just floating there. I...” Robyn’s intense crying was back again, “I thought you were dead the way you were just kind of floating there. I grabbed you.”
“I remember,” I murmured, “I remember your arms under me...gave me a little hope.”
“Do you remember what happened?” Nina asked curiously.
I shook my head in denial, though in my mind, I could clearly see the ghost that had been haunting me. His shadowy outline, the white of bone and teeth. “I just remember when Robyn started to pull me toward the exit.” I hadn’t noticed Scott before but now he was at my side with a small stack of like three towels, he held them out to me. “Thank you,” I said my voice rough, as I put one in my hair and huddled into the other one. It made me a fraction warmer.
Robyn nodded and continued, “when I got you to the pool Nina was there and helped me get you to the side where the boys hauled you out and started immediately resuscitating you. I... I though you were already dead.” She hugged me closely again.
I let the information sink in... and when it came down to it... my life was saved by the colour yellow.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 11] Weekends In Hell
I didn’t go to the infirmary, despite the pleas of my room mates, and the boys next door. Leon had looked at me with worried eyes the entire way back to B building. He too now wrapped in a towel, because helping a drowning victim doesn’t exclude you from running the course. They said good night to us, and Leon mentioned casually that it was turning out to be a nice night.
Sitting in the shower again, my limbs ached though the felt like they had no real substance. I scrubbed my hair with the generic shampoo they have. I missed the smell of coconuts. I still had a bottle in my bag, but I didn’t want to waste it. I shook my head as I rinsed it, I couldn’t believe I was rationing shampoo. This place really was driving me mad.
Grabbing a pair of fluffy blue pyjama pants and a tank top from my bag, I thought of what would have happened if I hadn’t worn yellow, if Leon hadn’t seen me, if Robyn hadn’t heard him, if Robyn hadn’t jumped in, if Nina hadn’t helped her get me to the side of the pool, if Thayne wasn’t so strong and persistent, if Leon hadn’t breathed for me... The what ifs were heavy. Once in my pajamas I grabbed a small blanket and wrapped it around my shoulders like a cape as I exited. Nina and Robyn were speaking quietly on the sofa and I walked over sitting down in the chair.
“How are you feeling?” Robyn asked before Nina had even turned her body to look at me.
“I’m alright,” I responded, “thanks to you.”
Robyn looked down at her hands, she was wringing them, she looked to Nina then to me, “I’m glad you are okay.”
I smiled at her trying to lighten the mood, “I’m pretty thrilled about that too.” A smile flirted with Robyn’s face. She was quite beautiful when she smiled, closest I’d seen was a sneer. “I still can’t believe what a strong reaction you had though.”
Looking to Robyn’s fingers I could see her wringing them once more as she spoke quietly, “my mother drowned.” Feeling terrible I immediately apologised but she waved it off, “you didn’t know.” She smiled up at me, “besides you weren’t trying to drown, you just suck at swimming.”
I let out some nervous laughter, if I were honest, I was quite a strong swimmer, of course in light of recent events, it was best they thought I just sucked. It was better than trying to explain a dead man grabbed my ankle in a desperate attempt to drown me, so that he can follow me into the light, or whatever happens for those spirits that should go on.
Robyn yawned, her mouth opened wide tongue curling up slightly rubbing her eyes she stood, “well, I’m glad you are still our third,” she said to me, “good night you two.”
Both Nina and I said our good nights to her and Nina looked at me, staring really. “You look exhausted,” she noted matter-of-factly.
“I feel exhausted,” I admitted yawning.
Nina stood and placed her hand on my shoulder, “sweet dreams then, g’night.”
“Good night,” I responded. I heard the click of her door. Obstacle courses and daring rescues really could wear people out. With a yawn I also realized so did almost being drowned by a dead guy.
In the kitchen I grabbed an apple sliced it carefully and put the slices into a bowl and headed back to my room. Perhaps some star gazing would be nice. Besides, Leon said it would be a nice night, which might just be a statement, or a casual ‘meet you outside’ thing. I pulled a warm hoodie overtop my tank to ward off the cold, I brought out my blanket along with me to sit on and I wrapped it around my feet.
“The stars are bright tonight,” I heard Leon say, the light in his room was off, so there was no light on his balcony, he was faintly lit by the off light from my room, and from the full moon. I sat down on my corner of my balcony. The corner closest to Leon. He turned to me, “how are you feeling?”
“I’ve been worse,” I said taking a bite from my apple slice, I offered and he declined.
“Really?” Leon said quite surprised, “are you typically that prone to disaster?”
I grinned a little, my head leaning against the bars. “I don’t know... maybe?” I could feel Leon’s unique, powerful stare on me and I hoped the light in my room wasn’t enough to give away the red that now darkened my cheeks. I looked over at him, “what?”
He was frowning looking me over, “nothing,” he said finally looking away. I let out a sigh and we watched the stars twinkle in the sky, occasionally we would each point out a constellation we knew. I didn’t know many, pretty much the little and big dipper, Leon pointed out the stars that made up Orion. I still didn’t see this man in the stars, but then again I didn’t see a bear when I looked at the dippers either.
I yawned, I was exceptionally exhausted. “Perhaps you should go to bed?”
Yawning again I replied, “Yeah, I think I probably should.”
“Uh... should what?” I looked over at Leon, behind him stood the ghost who waved smugly at me.
“Uh... I... I....”
“Claire?” Leon’s light eyebrows drew close as he looked at me puzzled, he must have read the fear on my face, he looked over his shoulder, and like anyone else, he didn’t see the ghost that stood there. “Hey, you okay?” He asked looking at me.
“Yeah, just, big day you know,” I said with a nervous laugh getting to my feet and nearly tripping I didn’t even say goodnight, I didn’t even thank him again for saving my life. I just got inside my room, shut my door locked it and grabbed my bottle of vodka from my bag.
I drank back in quick swigs. The warm liquid burning slightly. I looked around my room, no flickering lights, no burning man, no nothing. I took another swig for safe measure and took my sleeping pill despite the ‘do not take with alcohol’ warning. My hands were shaking and I tried to calm myself down, I turned off my light and peered through my balcony window. With the lights off Leon wouldn’t see me. Leon was looking troubled as he stared up at the stars, Thayne was out there with him now, no ghost.
Sitting down on my bed, I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. It didn’t work. I laid down and prayed for dreamless sleep.
Of course, as always, my prayers were ignored. I dreamt of burning, of smelling my own flesh burn, of feeling it turn to ash, to peel away and flake off. I was disturbed greatly by it, but then realized it was Saturday. The first day off since I got here. Only had two days of hell. Bring on day three, after all how bad could the weekend be?
When I came out for breakfast in my pajamas, Nina was humming as she cleaned swiftly through the kitchen and dining area. She caught me in her sights and smiled, “morning.”
“G’morning,” I responded.
“How did you sleep?” Nina asked while cleaning off the counter top.
“Like a baby,” I lied.
“Must be a baby with a horrible imagination,” Nina murmured.
“Why?” I asked my eyes tightening as I stared.
“You were screaming,” Nina said, like she was shocked I didn’t know, “like someone was... I don’t know... like they were trying to burn you alive....”
She was closer than she knew, “sorry, just a bad dream, hope I didn’t keep you up,” I responded quietly as I grabbed a granola bar from the cupboards not really feeling like cereal this morning.
Nina shrugged her slender shoulders, “that’s fine, you aren’t the first one.”
I chewed quickly and swallowed the bite, “what do you mean?” I asked curiosity getting the better of me.
“People walk into hell here, or at least, our perception of it,” Nina said with a sigh, “so nightmares are pretty much normal here, the separation from friends and family, the daunting school work, the obstacle course, the gym classes, the overtime we put in studying. No one expects it to be like this. Yet... we have to persevere, we try not to think about it so it takes root in our dreams.”
Or it could just be a burning man trying to freak me right the fuck out. Instead I pretended like that made perfect sense. Trying to get the topic away from nightmares I asked, “what do you do on weekends in hell?”
Nina grinned, “our parents can come visit, or take us home for the weekend, though that rarely happens in anyone’s case. We can study, go swimming in the indoor pool, we can go to study hall, or the workout room. Pretty much anywhere as long as you swipe your card.”
“I wonder...” I let my words trail off and shook my head, of course my father wouldn’t come here. He’d sent me here to begin with, besides I’d only be dropped off here two days ago. He wouldn’t even think that so much has happened. I threw the wrapper in the garbage and quickly got ready for my day I had my bathing suit under my sweater and jeans, I exited. Nina was no longer there, and I hadn’t seen Robyn at all yet.
I swiped my card granting me entrance to the pool room. I stepped in and was bombarded by the scent of chlorine. The ceiling was high, there were two large pools, one had lanes roped off, the other did not. There was a few people in the lanes, and no one in the pool. I didn’t really want to race with those in the lanes so I took the empty pool to myself. I pulled off my clothing folded them and put a towel over by my things.
Standing on the edge of the pool, I let my one foot dip low to touch the lukewarm water. I shivered slightly, then told myself it was nothing like the intense cold of the tunnel. I took a few steps back, ran up and dived in. I swam, my arms strong, my legs felt alright, whatever the nurse had used was good stuff. Even if I now had finger sized bruises to go along with the gashes. I flipped and headed back to where I started.
Coming up for air I saw someone in the edge of the pool, he smiled, “I thought you would be here.”
“Rick?”
He smiled at me, “how are you feeling?”
I waded in the water a little stunned, “how did you...”
“Know?” He chuckled, “I know a lot of things Claire. Anyways, I told Hiro you were going to study because I didn’t know if you were actually okay.”
I swam over and he extended his hand and I grabbed it. He hauled me out with some help from myself. I stared at our feet in the water ripples going out, “how did you find out?” He smiled.
Nina was right. I kept falling, my jell-o legs not co-operating at all. Around lap four I was pretty certain I was going to pass out. I made it to lap five before falling down on the other side of the line my chest heaving. Our teacher was the only one left, all the others only had one or two lap penalties and were gone quite a while ago. The teacher glanced at his watch, “well what do you know, that took quite the long time, it’s almost eight... better run to your building,” he said with laughter as he stalked off.
“Fuck,” Robyn said checking her watch, “come on, if we run we could still get to sleep in our beds tonight.”
“I’m going to puke,” I moaned rolling onto my stomach and trying to push myself up with my arms. Nina immediately held my hair back as my stomach started to wretch up that horrible cafeteria food, the cereal and now curdled milk. “Fuck my life,” I moaned nearly falling into my own vomit out of weakness.
Nina hauled me to my feet, “grab her arm and other leg, and we might just get to our room.”
We got into the building and they started carrying me in the stairwell, or more of dragging my feet, them now to weak to carry me further, so my legs kept banging against the metal stairs since I didn’t have the energy to lift them as the two girls dragged me up. I heard a shout and the door above us opening and closing. Suddenly Thayne and Leon were there, “fuck noob, you look like shit,” Thayne decided to kindly tell me.
“Thanks, I feel like shit,” I responded, as Thayne took Robyn’s spot, and Leon took Nina’s they lifted up my numb legs.
“What the hell your bleeding,” Thayne informed me.
I checked my palms first from all my falling they were a little red, but not bleeding. “Where?” I asked looking down to check my knees as they moved quickly up the stairs, my knees were scuffed and there were pieces of sand and rock in the scratches.
“Shins.”
I forced myself to kick one leg forward. Sure enough bashing them against two flights of stairs had busted them open but I couldn’t feel a thing. “Infirmary?” Leon asked me.
“Bed,” I responded.
“Alright,” Leon responded wiggling his eyebrows. I gave a weak smile as we got into our hallway, “goodnight.” And he was gone leaving me with Nina to get me inside just a minute and a half before eight.
“It does get easier here,” Nina reassured me as she helped me undress and get into the shower, as embarrassed as I was, I was grateful for her help. She got into the shower next to me. I was sitting down in the shower. I was too exhausted to stand. I started washing off the sweat, dirt, gravel, blood, and the dirty water from the tunnel.
My timer went off and I climbed to my feet, my shins were starting to bleed again, I wrapped a towel around myself and Nina walked off quickly grabbing a first aid kit and instructing me to sit on the counter. I did as she asked and she put on a set of gloves and started to bandage me up, “sorry.”
“What for?” I asked surprised.
“I should have kept your legs up.”
I waved her apology off, “I should have been able to keep my own legs up. Besides, to sleep in our own beds, it was the best bet.”
“We wouldn’t have gotten to our rooms in time,” Nina responded cutting a strip of gauze, “If... Uh... Thayne and Leon hadn’t helped.” She said their names like questions, obviously forgetting or she just wasn’t good at names.
“Good thing they did then.”
“Yeah, see them in class all the time, never actually knew their names.” Nina said sadly, “neighbours in this hell and we don’t know one another.”
“Really! You didn’t know their names?”
“B-5,” Nina responded. “It’s part of breaking us, we are all B-5. Most people here have their walls built up. Keep everyone else out. Just those in your room, that you need to get by. This place isn’t nice, but there are things you can do to make it easier... like working out, or studying harder.” Nina shrugged, and cut a piece of tape, before wrapping it around the gauze. “This place is hell, but you can make the flames a little cooler, you know what I mean?”
“Yeah,” I responded making mental resolutions to work out, “I get what you’re saying.”
“Good,” Nina closed the kit and stood extending a hand to me, “lets get you to bed.”
Once in my room I walked groggily to my bed, I put my keycard right beside my bed and grabbed my pills from my bag, I still had yet to completely unpack. I had time to do it, but my muscles ached so badly I couldn’t be bothered, I took my birth control (which awkwardly enough my father insisted I go on the day I turned sixteen), and my sleeping pill with water and laid down on my bed.
I stared up at the ceiling thinking about what Nina said about hells flames in relation to this place. She was right, I could make the flames cooler. For right now though I just wanted the burning of my muscles to simmer down. I frowned realizing once again it was Thursday and Robyn said that we did the obstacle course every Thursday and Friday. It made me want to cry.
Tears welled in my eyes, for being in this hellish place, for the teachers and their cruel ways of keeping us from socializing properly, for the friends I was missing, and... I refused to miss my father. How dare he send me to this place. This was his fault. Still I could admit I missed Cory, that little brat. Him I still missed... just a little.
I fell asleep thinking of my little brother.
“Wake up!”
I jolted to a sitting position and looked around my room violently, but there was no one there. I opened my door, no one was in the hallway, I looked through the glass sliding door, and flicked on my light. There was no one. Not anywhere, dead or alive, I was alone. I let out a breath and some nervous laughter. It was just a part of the dream, I convinced myself sitting down on the side of my bed, I glanced at the clock. Early. Way to fucking early, still I knew I wasn’t getting back to sleep. My shins still hurt, I went to the bathroom to re-bandage them, I had to pee anyways.
I relieved my bladder, showered, put on some fresh gauze, had a long debate on what to wear and got dressed in a tight pair of black jeans, a lace decorated camisole and a tunic over that. I checked myself out in the mirror and smiled, the smile faltered and was replaced with a frown. I shook my head as the alarm went off, I grabbed my keycard and opened my door and was first to swipe my card.
Robyn stepped out of her room, her hair wild and devilish, her eyes still groggy and only open slightly as she swiped her card and headed immediately for the bathroom. Nina came out stumbling with speed to swipe her card. She rubbed her eyes as the alarm silenced and looked at me, her eyes widening, “someone was up early, hows your legs?”
“I’ll live,” I responded simply. She smiled and then headed off to the shower herself.
Walking into the kitchen, I poured some cereal and frowned. I missed Lucky Charms and Count Chocula, now it was Special K and Cheerios, which I mixed for some variety and frowned cause I knew that was as exciting as breakfast was going to get for me.
I sighed and picked up the bowl before walking over to the television and flicking it on, it was the weather, deciding it wasn’t going to get better I sat down heavily on the couch and ate my cereal. Tonight was going to be cold, about plus 5 and we had the obstacle course.
Sitting back I wondered what happened when winter came along. Somehow I didn’t think it would get any easier. They probably had a hellish indoor course somewhere. I pondered the tortuous possibilities as I heard Robyn yell something that sounded a lot like, ‘you got toothpaste in my eye.’ I listened, but the argument seemed to end there so I didn’t worry too much.
I did a quick wash of my bowl and spoon, dried them and put them back in their proper places. Checking my watch, I noticed the bathroom door open and the two girls scurry to their room. The second alarm would be going off soon. I went to my room and grabbed my binder.
Scurrying around I looked for my pen, it was on my night stand, I grabbed it and noticed that my phone was blinking. I smiled and opened it.
Two texts from Tori.
Hey hun! I cant believe u arent here! I keep lokin 4 u in every class! When do u get out of there? I miss u.
Are u ok? U didnt respnd! Smthng wrong? Hope u well.
I quickly hit reply and started typing.
This place is hell! Im ok. Don’t worry. Vry bsy w classes. Gym evry day! Kill me now! Lolz love you, miss you
I hit send and watched the little graphic woosh by, the second alarm went off and I dropped my phone to the night stand not knowing if it finished sending or not. I didn’t have time to look I dashed off equipped with my binder, pen and key card.
My second day here was about to begin.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 08] Questioning with Answers
We had different schedule today. First class, law. I waited till everyone sat down and sat in the empty seat. My neighbour for Friday first class was an good looking Asian kid, the teacher started talking and writing notes on the board, I opened my binder and started copying them.
I squinted my eyes, the teachers writing was squished and tiny. I seen a lot of other kids leaning forward as well, squinting. I looked to my neighbour, he didn’t seem to have a problem, I looked at his sheet and started copying the notes from there.
The teacher started to come around with a thick stack of papers stapled together and was dropping one on each persons desk. I got mine and was immediately discouraged. For name I wasn’t sure what to write, I thought Nina said they didn’t know our names. I looked over to the kids beside me. He’d written B-5-8-2, it hit me, room number. I wrote B-5-4-3 since I lived in room three.
I read the first question, and realized I didn’t have the slightest idea what the answer was. I started going through my notes of the day, and realized it wasn’t in there, I looked over to the kid beside me. Asians were super smart right? Okay, I know it’s wrong to stereotype, but in this hell I couldn’t afford not to. If he had the answers, I was copying them.
I peered through my curtain of blonde hair to read the answer and it made sense, I wrote it in my own words and then read his second and third answer and copied them as well. This certainly was going to make this class easier. I looked at number four and it read, ‘stop copying me.’ I frowned realizing I was busted, so on my number four I wrote ‘sorry,’ and elbowed him so he would look where I was taping my pen.
He smiled at me, he was some kind of cutie! I smiled back at him, he erased the copying comment and wrote the real answer then looked at me, I was giving a nervous smile my eyebrows high. He snickered quietly and just tapped his page signifying it was a-okay to copy. I smiled, read his answer and translated it to my own words. Suddenly law class didn’t seem so bad.
On his one line he wrote, ‘who are you?’ Once I read it he erased it and read the next question. I wrote on my page, ‘Claire Keeds, who are you?’ When he looked over for a minute and looked back to his own sheet I knew it was okay to erase my message and start writing more answers. I looked over to his sheet, ‘Hiro Sohma’ I smiled at him, and he smiled back.
We continued writing back and forth, while he worked through the questions, and I guiltily copied them. I wish I could have been more help, but I was quite hopeless, I didn’t take law at my old school, and I didn’t have a choice here.
I snickered at a comment Hiro wrote on his sheet and he put his finger to his lips to shush me while silently snickering himself. Suddenly his face fell and his hand went to the desk slowly. I swallowed and turned around. There was the teacher who had been reading our conversation on our sheets. “B-5-8 and B-5-4 two laps after class.”
I bowed my head and sent an apologetic look at Robyn and Nina. Robyn gave a glare that made me physically feel cold. Nina just shrugged, like she knew it was going to happen sooner or later.
Groans came from behind us as the teacher went to the front of the class and got lost in a book. A pencil flicked Hiro’s ear, “you oversized jackass!”
I turned around in my seat to face Hiro’s bullies. “Leave him alone!” I said in a loud whisper. I looked over my shoulder, the teacher flipped the page and continued reading. I turned back to the two guys that had groaned. The one had dark shoulder length hair and dark eyes to match. The other had spiked brown hair and olive green eyes.
“Don’t, Claire, these are my room mates.” Hiro said quietly.
“Geeze don’t introduce us to the pretty lady or nothing,” said the one with shorter hair, he smiled and winked at me.
“Claire, this is Hawkeye,” he said referring to the guy with the shorter brown hair, then pointed to the guy with the long dark locks, “And that’s Rick Hart. They are alright once you get use to them.”
“What’s your real name? I asked Hawkeye.
“Anthony,” he responded, “but I’ve gone by my last name since... well since I’ve got here I guess. Please, just call me Hawkeye, everyone else does.”
“Turn around,” Rick said suddenly as he bowed his head and started doodling so it would look like he was working. Both Hiro and I turned around and picked up our pencils. I looked up under my lashes. The teacher then turned the page and looked directly at us. Content with the fact that we weren’t doing anything, he went back to reading.
I was thankful for Rick’s intuition. I looked over my shoulder at him, he looked up at me like he knew I was watching him. He nodded his head quickly up and I turned back around, I peered up the teacher looked to us again. I got chills down my spine. How did Rick know?
The class ended and I was distraught that I had to run laps in my good clothing. “Couldn’t have just did your own work?” Robyn asked as she broke away from the rest of the group running faster than I really could.
“Don’t mind her, you should have brought up the ripped up shins to make her feel bad,” Nina said jogging at my speed. “Then again... I’m not sure if she has a conscience...”
“You’re hurt?” Hiro asked, he was jogging at my other side, Hawkeye and Rick running just a bit ahead of us.
“Yesterdays obstacle course didn’t really agree with me,” I admitted.
“And then Robyn and I tried carrying her up the stairs so we could make it before curfew... only we were so exhausted ourselves we couldn’t hold up her legs, bashed them against every step for two flights,” Nina said sounding guilty. “It really was a good thing Thayne and Leon helped out there too, otherwise we not only wouldn’t have made it in time, but some more damage would have happened to those shins of yours.”
“So your new,” Hawkeye said turning and jogging backward, “what do you think of this place?”
“It’s horrible, I somehow expected it to be easier,” I admitted.
“We all did,” Rick said.
“Not you,” Hawkeye said with fake shock as he looked over at Rick who pulled him little to keep his running backward buddy on the track.
“We all want it to be better, so our worse case scenario is the best of the worse we can think of.”
Hawkeye stared for a moment, mulling over Rick’s confusing reasoning. Hawkeye turned around and continued running, “whatever man.”
As we continued running, I was already feeling exhausted and I had no idea how I was to get through a second night of obstacle course. I let out a sigh, the laps were very annoying and exhausting, “why can’t they just give us detention,” I whined. The guys snickered and Nina rolled her eyes.
By the time we finished running, I could tell that my shins were bleeding again, I could feel the sticky wetness under the gauze. I wasn’t really sweating, due to it being pretty cold and I was thankful since now we missed lunch and had classes. I more or less limped back to the school, trying to be inconspicuous about it, but everyone noticed.
“Maybe the infirmary is the best bet,” Nina suggested as Rick held open the door for all of us as we walked into the school. “Maybe they need stitches or something, I mean, you got pretty beaten up by those stairs.”
I grimaced, “metal stairs one, me zero.”
We merged into the sea of students heading to their next class, Nina grabbed my arm, and as I looked over I seen her link arms with Robyn as well, she didn’t look at me as she continued, “if you go to the infirmary... you could probably get out of the obstacle course tonight.”
Robyn looked pleased by this idea. You are only as strong as your weakest room mate. I was that weakest member. If I were gone... they probably wouldn’t have to do any laps, and be back in their own rooms before long. I mulled it over, it did sound a lot better than that horrible obstacle course.
Hawkeye looked uncomfortable walking beside Nina looking over his shoulder, he then turned to us, “I’ve heard horror stories of the infirmary.”
“Don’t scare her,” Hiro scolded.
Hawkeye bowed his head, he was much taller than his room mates his shoulders slumping forward, “I’m just making sure she’s informed.” He had a casual tone as he shoved his hands into his jeans. “I’m not saying she has to be afraid, I’m not even saying the stories are true.”
Looking over to Nina she started to turn pulling me with her and we were in the science room, “you can figure it out later,” she whispered to me, “right now grab your lab coat.”
Inside the science room I found that for labs, we worked with our room mates. They really were keeping us separate as possible here. I opened a drawer and took out the lab coats, I passed one to Nina and one to Robyn and put my arms through the last one myself.
Thayne, Leon and Scott were at the lab table ahead of us, I looked around till I found Hawkeye, Hiro and Rick on the other side of the room. Somehow knowing people made me feel a little sane, a little happier. The more people I knew, the bigger my social bubble, the more at home I felt. Not that this was a good place to be, by any means, but there were other people going through it just like I was.
We sat down on our tall stools as the teacher spoke, I listened but took in next to nothing of the boring lecture. I was lucky Nina seemed to know what she was doing during the lab, occasionally asking Robyn or I to pass her something. Other than that both Robyn and I were of little to no use.
“Hey!” I turned around at the sound of a loud whisper behind me. One girl sat with her head on the desk, sleeping, knowing she wasn’t the one addressing me I turned to the two awake partners. A set of twins looked at me, the one with blonde highlights was slightly shorter. Both had their head tilted to the left as they studied me as I studied them. Both were brunettes, their hair hanging straight to their shoulders, pouty lips and angular cheek bones, their eyes wide and a chocolate brown in colour. They could have been models, yet here they were at Kennedy Boot Camp. “Can you guys pass us a match, our station is all out.”
“Uh,” I turned around and opened a few drawers till I found the drawer Nina had put the matches back in, I handed them the pack, “here you go.”
The taller twin smiled at me, her teeth were perfectly straight and looked like they had just been whitened by a professional. “Thank you,” she said quietly. They got to work and I started watching Nina once more. Watching her work was a little dull, Robyn was sleeping on her desk, much like the blonde girl with the twins. Still I thought of how it would be to just go to the infirmary, not have to worry about the horrible fitness challenge which is the obstacle course, if only to escape it for this week. I rubbed my temples as my stress increased, and started giving me a headache. Thinking on it, I realized the infirmary would be good for me and for my room mates. I wouldn’t hold them back.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 09] Social Deprivation
After Science we fluttered over to English. I started reading the text book answering the questions on grammar easily. I was sit beside Hiro once again he smiled wide and spoke softly, “my turn,” he said picking up his pen he started to copy my answers. I suppressed some laughter, this was going to work out very well. English wasn’t so bad, just an hour of grammar correcting not difficult but very boring.
Next up was History class. I sat beside the one twin from science class, the one with blonde highlights, since it was the last space left. She looked at me warily then turned her attention to the teacher. Once we got our assignment I looked over to the girl I was sitting beside. I needed social. I needed it like I needed air, like I needed food, like I needed water. I couldn’t survive with out having a social net behind me. It was the way I had always been.
I smiled at her kindly and spoke quietly so the teacher wouldn’t hear, “hi.”
She looked at me staring for a moment then sighed, “you shouldn’t speak.”
Giving a casual shrug I continued, “maybe that’s what got me here in the first place, big mouth.” Thinking on it now, perhaps my swearing had been my fathers breaking point. I pondered for a moment while the girl was writing answers on her papers.
“A nark?” She said with malice.
“Not what I meant,” I said quickly, “I mean I talk a lot, anyone would want to get rid of me.” I laughed nervously, I wasn’t use to people speaking like this, much less, speaking like this to me. She rolled her eyes at me, but I continued. I was nothing if not persistent, “I’m Claire.”
The girl mumbled something quietly though I distinctly heard, ‘I’m Mary.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said looking at my sheets so it wouldn’t be so obvious to the teacher that we were talking.
“I’m don’t thinks so,” she grumbled obviously getting more and more annoyed by my talkative traits.
And just like that all my worries of the teacher catching us were gone, because the conversation dropped like a hot stone from my hands. I wasn’t use to rejection in any form. It stung and I frowned starting on my work. My hands danced over the paper, I was glad, this was the unit I had been doing in school, hell this was the same text book and the same questions my teacher had assigned us a few weeks before my father made this rash decision. I answered them easily from memory. I peered over, my quick answers seemed to have annoyed Mary further.
The tone for class change went and everyone gathered their belongings quickly. I wrote quickly finishing up my last answer before clipping my pen to my binder. Mary’s twin was at her side in a moment, they looked at each other for a long minute. Mary shrugged, though I didn’t notice her sister say anything. How odd. Mary looked over her shoulder and sighed. I looked back to see what. The same blonde girl was sleeping yet again on her desk, snoring softly. “JC?” Mary shook her gently, “JC, time to get up.”
JC looked up and rubbed her eyes groggily, “Anna, I really wish they held night classes here.”
The twins chuckled and the taller one, the one who was closest to me spoke, “JC, I’m Anna, you’re talking to Mary.” The smile in Anna’s voice was evident. Apparently she found the confusion of being a twin amusing.
JC grinned, “one of these days...”
“Yeah, yeah,” Mary muttered, “it’s not like it’s difficult to tell us apart.”
“I know,” JC replied picking up her binder, “I just don’t really pay attention. You guys sound the same too.”
“Do not,” Mary argued grouchily.
“Yes we do,” Anna argued.
“Hey, you coming?” Nina said. I hadn’t realized I was frozen in place I nodded and the three of us (Robyn never went far) walked into the hallway. The weight of the conversation with Mary at the beginning of class fell off me and I let out a sigh. Nina studied me with worried eyes, “I really do think the infirmary would be best for you. I’m not a medic, what if that gets infected?”
I frowned, only my second day here and I was already trying to get out of obstacle course. Worse, I was so weak my room mates were trying to insist upon it. As much as I wanted to prove everyone wrong, prove I could do it. I knew for one I couldn’t. And secondly I didn’t want to screw up Nina’s chances at not having laps and getting to bed on time. Robyn I didn’t really connect to, but Nina had taken me under her wing so to speak.
Before my pride could take control I said, “you’re probably right.”
So they led me to the infirmary, the nurse tutting at my injuries and shooing away Robyn and Nina. Nina gave me a little wink, it wasn’t encouraging. Robyn seemed a little happy to be rid of me.
The nurse told me to lay down on the horribly icy metal slab while she bustled around. I wasn’t the only one in there. One was vomiting noisily into a plastic pail, the sound alone made me feel ill, not to mention the smell. I stopped breathing through my nose. Another girl was there a wet washcloth over her forehead, she looked to be sweating though she held to her blanket for dear life.
“So what seems to be the problem?” I looked up to the nurse, I hadn’t even noticed she had come over.
I pulled up both of my pant legs, “bashed up my shins pretty bad.”
The gauze was stained crimson with blood, the nurse tutted, “honestly!” She quickly unwrapped my shins, not bothering to be careful nor gentle, I figured her hands alone would cause bruises the way they gripped my calf. “Uh, just a little nick!” I looked down, apparently we were seeing two different things. That wasn’t a nick, that was a gouge.
The nurse rolled her eyes at me as if she could see the argument in my eyes. She poured peroxide on the wound and I howled as it foamed. “Oh shut up,” the nurse said callously. She wiped off the foam roughly. Any new skin that had been growing was ripped off, I was sure. She wiped on some yellowish cream that I assumed to be something to keep out infection. She wrapped them back up quickly again, her bony fingers digging into my calves again. “There, you can go to your next class.”
I sat up slowly, stunned. “I have the obstacle course next though,” I argued.
The nurse turned slowly, “I said you were fine. You can walk, you can run. Now get out of here and get to your next class. I don’t have time for slight injuries like yours.”
I noticed the kid who had been throwing up had stopped for the duration of my time, she was giving him mouthwash and making him leave too. Callous bitch.
I jogged trying to get use to the weight of my body pressing hard against my feet with more speed. My teeth were grinding together as I entered my building, I looked up the stairs and sighed taking them two at a time to save time. Entering my dorm Robyn darted out of the kitchen and looked at me stunned. “You must be shitting me!”
“I shit you not,” I replied as Nina walked out of her room dressed in tight fitting leggings with her snug shorts, probably for warmth, and a super tight light weight turtleneck.
“What the hell?” She spoke coming toward me, “she couldn’t have discharged you?”
“Oh but she did,” I glanced at the clock and started walking down the hall, “I’m not getting out of obstacle tonight.” I could hear Nina and Robyn complain and wonder before I walked into my room and closed the door tightly behind me.
I let out a sigh as I leaned against the door for a moment trying to compose myself. I walked over to my bags, still only half unpacked. I grabbed a pair of shorts, I thought better of it as I stared at them for a moment. I threw them to the floor and found a pair of black tights. I shuffled through the bag till I found a long bright yellow shirt. I shuffled out of my one set of clothing and into the other.
I glanced at my phone and walked over to it. My messages hadn’t sent. I frowned, mine hadn’t sent, but I had received some. Tori had written a few: Im serious! U r worrying me! Message back. Then: Claire what the hell is this? Don’t ignore me. Then: What u think these ppls r better than me? There were a few messages that weren’t from her like one from Cory: the house is real quiet with out you. I frowned, there was an underlying ‘I miss you’ in his message. Now neither of his siblings... I shook my head ridding myself of the thought. I flicked to the next message from Dad this time: Hope you are doing well.
I thought the messages would cheer me up, I tried sending again. Didn’t work. I couldn’t send. I poked my head out the door, “why doesn’t this...”
Nina shook here head her eyes on my phone, “social deprivation,” she said simply. I frowned. This just kept getting worse.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 10] The Colour Yellow
I stepped out into the hallway with Nina and Robyn thinking over the phone thing. I could get messages but couldn’t respond. Not only was it socially depriving, it was depressing, and it was making Tori angry with me. We’d been a package deal for so long, and now we were fighting for the first time. Or she was fighting, it was like I was paralysed and she didn’t know.
“You okay?” Leon asked me, his mismatched eyes staring at me, his eyebrows knit close with worry.
“Just found out today cellphones only work one way here,” I mumbled unhappily.
He sighed, but said nothing more. No one did. We all just moved one slow step at a time as the other floors got out a head of us and the ones on the sixth floor pushed us forward. The stairwell was ridiculously crowded and I felt a little claustrophobic. Another problem for me was my shins. They were burning now, extremely uncomfortable, and I knew they would slow me down, which would mean more laps, and I couldn’t imagine doing laps. I couldn’t imagine my body being strong enough. Then again, I didn’t think I could do it the first time.
Trying to think optimistic I forced a smile on my face (since I read somewhere that when you smile even when you aren’t happy it sends something to your brain and tricks it into thinking you are) I put my head up a little more and walked with my shoulders back. Confidence was key. Or it was to me. I was alway confident.
I swiped my card and walked into the gate the held the obstacle course. Though I wasn’t sure why it needed a gate. No one would come here willingly. Then again I looked at Thayne who was flexing his muscles, perhaps some would- if only to prove a point.
Standing by Nina and Robyn I felt my nerves come back to me. I tried to shake free of them, there were whispers in the cold winds that sounded like warnings and oh boy, did I ever want to listen. Instead I watched as the first group was called. Three girls that I didn’t know. Then another trio of girls, then another. The pattern set me on edge, I didn’t want to be part of the next trio of girls. The pattern broke though, a few guys went, then a girl trio, then B-5-8 was called and I watched for the first time as Hawkeye, Rick and Hiro moved together quickly.
Hiro didn’t look to be as strong but he was twice as fast and had flipped on to the wall before his roommates even reached it, he was pulling the zipline as the other two pulled their selves up. They worked quickly knowing time was what would save them from laps, and with that as motivation, they moved like a hot flame was coming toward them.
They did quite well, making it just above three minutes. A time I could only pray for and knew would never happen. I was slow to begin with, but now with my legs I also felt weak. I breathed in and out slowly trying to calm myself. The guys were shivering as the water hung to them, wrapped in towels they got to leave, Hiro shot a little wave at me as they walked through the gate heading back to B building.
I jumped a little with each number the teacher called. Thayne laughed at me, his loud booming laugh that made me chuckle a bit myself. Tension easing away slowly.
The tension came right back as I heard the teacher call, “B-5-4.”
Pushing myself to run I got to the wall second, Robyn behind me she put her hands together and I put my foot in it she vaulted me up and I landed on my feet letting a hiss of pain escape my tightly sealed lips. Nina was already pulling her cord and Robyn was at my side in a moment. We got our zip line handles at about the same time my arms tiring already.
Gripping the handles so hard my knuckles turned white I pushed off with my feet hoping to get further than I did last time. I had to, I simply couldn’t run it. I heard a splash as Nina pinned right into the water, I dropped to the sand pit falling forward, I had made it halfway this time. Better than last time, but last time I wasn’t running injured. Robyn made her tiny splash before I got back up to my feet.
I saw Robyn’s blonde head come up for air as she got to the tunnel, she took a gasp of air and submerged herself once more. I estimated a minute and a half for me to even get to the pool I took a breath and dived in. The cold water shocked my system and I immediately had to come up for air. I heard some people snickering at how poorly I was performing, but I didn’t need that, I already knew how horribly I was failing my room mates.
I swam on my back since I could mostly float and use my arms instead of doing anymore unnecessary damage to my shins. My arm hit the concrete, I pulled myself over to the tunnel and took a deep breath, I let it out again as my teeth chattered. At this rate, I was going to get pneumonia, I hoped if I did they would send me to a hospital rather than the infirmary.
Taking another breath I was under and swimming through the tunnel. It was ridiculously long. I had my eyes open so I could see just how long. I wish I hadn’t, it was so dark but I could see the light on the other side. It was depressing to see how long the tunnel really was.
All of a sudden I wasn’t going forward, I looked down realizing my pants must have snagged on the nails in the tunnel, I was annoyed that I would have to go back up for air. I turned in the water looking down at myself. My legs were invisible in the darkness, for they were dark too. I could see my shirt though, such a vibrant yellow.
I bent over myself in the water, my hand extended feeling my leg trying to find the snag. My hand touched something. Not a nail. I jerked my leg but in the water with my leg not giving I was instead pulled forward, and in the darkness I made out the shape of a human being. The hand around my ankle was what had me caught.
My mouth fell open, my oxygen left and was immediately replaced by water. “If you can’t send me on,” the ghost said, the words warped by the water, “then maybe I’ll just have to follow you to the light.”
He was going to kill me! I started thrashing, gasping, my nails digging into the little ridges in the metal tunnel, trying to pull myself away from him using just my fingertips. I wondered how long this had gone on. I wondered if it happened in quick seconds, or dragged into minutes. I couldn’t be sure, but no one seemed to be coming for me. My mind was weak and flickering out. My lungs burned with the dirty water, they were just begging for some air. I wanted to give my lungs their one request.
Suddenly the ghost wasn’t the only other entity in the water. Strong arms wrapped under my armpits and I was dragged away. I could see the ghost loose grip, bright white teeth flashed at me and I shivered.
When I awoke again someone was pushing down on my chest... hard. And another was blowing into my mouth. I shivered coughed, choked and my head was quickly pushed sideways the water spilling from my mouth. I heard someone sigh in relief, there were a ton of whispers, someone was rolling me to my side so I wouldn’t choke on the water I was spitting up, I heard someone faintly crying.
Swallowing burned, my throat felt raw, just like my lungs which I thought had a possibility of bleeding. I breathed, but it was about as much as I had energy for. Someone crouched in front of me, it was the teacher, “B-5, you okay?”
I flipped him off. Apparently I had more energy than I thought. The teacher got up in a huff muttering something about laps when I was better. I didn’t care, if he looked at me he could see quite clearly for himself I was not o-fucking-kay.
I turned to see Thayne looking a little stunned, he was the one in front of me, sitting my mid section, it was obviously his strong hands that had been pumping my lungs and heart willing me to keep going. I rolled onto my back with effort to see who it was that had been breathing for me. For the first time I didn’t notice the mismatch of Leon’s eyes first, first I saw the fear, the worry in his eyes. I forced a smile, and he let out a breath.
I reached a hand toward both of them for support. Thayne and Leon both took it and helped pull me into a sitting up position. Looking from one to the other I finally noticed... neither of them were wet. “Who?” I asked weakly, my voice rough and cracked sounding like a shell of my former voice.
I followed Leon’s gaze to the faint crying noise I had heard. Robyn’s head was against Nina’s shoulder. To my surprise though it was Robyn crying. As I started to struggle to my feet Thayne flipped my arm over his shoulder and hulled me to my feet with out even having to be asked. I was thankful, I wasn’t sure I could stand on my own.
Leon took my one arm as I stumbled forward toward her. “Robyn?” I said softly touching her back. She turned and looked at me her face shocked, like she expected that I would have died. Suddenly she lunged, her arms wrapped tightly around my neck. I would have fallen over but Thayne stood behind me holding me up.
Robyn’s hand ran through my dripping blond curls as she cried holding me tightly to her body. I looked to Nina who simply looked sympathetic for all parties. Robyn’s body shook, she was solid muscle but she seemed extremely vulnerable at this moment. For the first time, she really seemed to have emotions past hate and annoyance.
Curiosity finally got the better of me, “what happened?” I asked quietly, no able to do much beside stay standing, and Thayne was helping with that.
It was Robyn who explained, her voice was frantic. “We were waiting, Nina and I, for you to get out of the tunnel. We thought.... we thought you were still on the other side knowing how bad you seem to do on the zip line.” She paused gulping down another breath as she wiped away tears now as quickly as they came. “Leon was the one who noticed, he was still at the starting end waiting to be called, but he saw your yellow top and it wasn’t really moving at all.”
“I got worried,” Leon took over, “I was running over and was about to jump in when the teacher grabbed me and held me back. Told me to stop goofing around get back to the beginning, but then I shouted back that you weren’t moving... that’s when I seen Robyn jump back into the pool.”
Robyn took back over the telling, “you were still at the beginning of the pipe... just floating there. I...” Robyn’s intense crying was back again, “I thought you were dead the way you were just kind of floating there. I grabbed you.”
“I remember,” I murmured, “I remember your arms under me...gave me a little hope.”
“Do you remember what happened?” Nina asked curiously.
I shook my head in denial, though in my mind, I could clearly see the ghost that had been haunting me. His shadowy outline, the white of bone and teeth. “I just remember when Robyn started to pull me toward the exit.” I hadn’t noticed Scott before but now he was at my side with a small stack of like three towels, he held them out to me. “Thank you,” I said my voice rough, as I put one in my hair and huddled into the other one. It made me a fraction warmer.
Robyn nodded and continued, “when I got you to the pool Nina was there and helped me get you to the side where the boys hauled you out and started immediately resuscitating you. I... I though you were already dead.” She hugged me closely again.
I let the information sink in... and when it came down to it... my life was saved by the colour yellow.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 11] Weekends In Hell
I didn’t go to the infirmary, despite the pleas of my room mates, and the boys next door. Leon had looked at me with worried eyes the entire way back to B building. He too now wrapped in a towel, because helping a drowning victim doesn’t exclude you from running the course. They said good night to us, and Leon mentioned casually that it was turning out to be a nice night.
Sitting in the shower again, my limbs ached though the felt like they had no real substance. I scrubbed my hair with the generic shampoo they have. I missed the smell of coconuts. I still had a bottle in my bag, but I didn’t want to waste it. I shook my head as I rinsed it, I couldn’t believe I was rationing shampoo. This place really was driving me mad.
Grabbing a pair of fluffy blue pyjama pants and a tank top from my bag, I thought of what would have happened if I hadn’t worn yellow, if Leon hadn’t seen me, if Robyn hadn’t heard him, if Robyn hadn’t jumped in, if Nina hadn’t helped her get me to the side of the pool, if Thayne wasn’t so strong and persistent, if Leon hadn’t breathed for me... The what ifs were heavy. Once in my pajamas I grabbed a small blanket and wrapped it around my shoulders like a cape as I exited. Nina and Robyn were speaking quietly on the sofa and I walked over sitting down in the chair.
“How are you feeling?” Robyn asked before Nina had even turned her body to look at me.
“I’m alright,” I responded, “thanks to you.”
Robyn looked down at her hands, she was wringing them, she looked to Nina then to me, “I’m glad you are okay.”
I smiled at her trying to lighten the mood, “I’m pretty thrilled about that too.” A smile flirted with Robyn’s face. She was quite beautiful when she smiled, closest I’d seen was a sneer. “I still can’t believe what a strong reaction you had though.”
Looking to Robyn’s fingers I could see her wringing them once more as she spoke quietly, “my mother drowned.” Feeling terrible I immediately apologised but she waved it off, “you didn’t know.” She smiled up at me, “besides you weren’t trying to drown, you just suck at swimming.”
I let out some nervous laughter, if I were honest, I was quite a strong swimmer, of course in light of recent events, it was best they thought I just sucked. It was better than trying to explain a dead man grabbed my ankle in a desperate attempt to drown me, so that he can follow me into the light, or whatever happens for those spirits that should go on.
Robyn yawned, her mouth opened wide tongue curling up slightly rubbing her eyes she stood, “well, I’m glad you are still our third,” she said to me, “good night you two.”
Both Nina and I said our good nights to her and Nina looked at me, staring really. “You look exhausted,” she noted matter-of-factly.
“I feel exhausted,” I admitted yawning.
Nina stood and placed her hand on my shoulder, “sweet dreams then, g’night.”
“Good night,” I responded. I heard the click of her door. Obstacle courses and daring rescues really could wear people out. With a yawn I also realized so did almost being drowned by a dead guy.
In the kitchen I grabbed an apple sliced it carefully and put the slices into a bowl and headed back to my room. Perhaps some star gazing would be nice. Besides, Leon said it would be a nice night, which might just be a statement, or a casual ‘meet you outside’ thing. I pulled a warm hoodie overtop my tank to ward off the cold, I brought out my blanket along with me to sit on and I wrapped it around my feet.
“The stars are bright tonight,” I heard Leon say, the light in his room was off, so there was no light on his balcony, he was faintly lit by the off light from my room, and from the full moon. I sat down on my corner of my balcony. The corner closest to Leon. He turned to me, “how are you feeling?”
“I’ve been worse,” I said taking a bite from my apple slice, I offered and he declined.
“Really?” Leon said quite surprised, “are you typically that prone to disaster?”
I grinned a little, my head leaning against the bars. “I don’t know... maybe?” I could feel Leon’s unique, powerful stare on me and I hoped the light in my room wasn’t enough to give away the red that now darkened my cheeks. I looked over at him, “what?”
He was frowning looking me over, “nothing,” he said finally looking away. I let out a sigh and we watched the stars twinkle in the sky, occasionally we would each point out a constellation we knew. I didn’t know many, pretty much the little and big dipper, Leon pointed out the stars that made up Orion. I still didn’t see this man in the stars, but then again I didn’t see a bear when I looked at the dippers either.
I yawned, I was exceptionally exhausted. “Perhaps you should go to bed?”
Yawning again I replied, “Yeah, I think I probably should.”
“Uh... should what?” I looked over at Leon, behind him stood the ghost who waved smugly at me.
“Uh... I... I....”
“Claire?” Leon’s light eyebrows drew close as he looked at me puzzled, he must have read the fear on my face, he looked over his shoulder, and like anyone else, he didn’t see the ghost that stood there. “Hey, you okay?” He asked looking at me.
“Yeah, just, big day you know,” I said with a nervous laugh getting to my feet and nearly tripping I didn’t even say goodnight, I didn’t even thank him again for saving my life. I just got inside my room, shut my door locked it and grabbed my bottle of vodka from my bag.
I drank back in quick swigs. The warm liquid burning slightly. I looked around my room, no flickering lights, no burning man, no nothing. I took another swig for safe measure and took my sleeping pill despite the ‘do not take with alcohol’ warning. My hands were shaking and I tried to calm myself down, I turned off my light and peered through my balcony window. With the lights off Leon wouldn’t see me. Leon was looking troubled as he stared up at the stars, Thayne was out there with him now, no ghost.
Sitting down on my bed, I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. It didn’t work. I laid down and prayed for dreamless sleep.
Of course, as always, my prayers were ignored. I dreamt of burning, of smelling my own flesh burn, of feeling it turn to ash, to peel away and flake off. I was disturbed greatly by it, but then realized it was Saturday. The first day off since I got here. Only had two days of hell. Bring on day three, after all how bad could the weekend be?
When I came out for breakfast in my pajamas, Nina was humming as she cleaned swiftly through the kitchen and dining area. She caught me in her sights and smiled, “morning.”
“G’morning,” I responded.
“How did you sleep?” Nina asked while cleaning off the counter top.
“Like a baby,” I lied.
“Must be a baby with a horrible imagination,” Nina murmured.
“Why?” I asked my eyes tightening as I stared.
“You were screaming,” Nina said, like she was shocked I didn’t know, “like someone was... I don’t know... like they were trying to burn you alive....”
She was closer than she knew, “sorry, just a bad dream, hope I didn’t keep you up,” I responded quietly as I grabbed a granola bar from the cupboards not really feeling like cereal this morning.
Nina shrugged her slender shoulders, “that’s fine, you aren’t the first one.”
I chewed quickly and swallowed the bite, “what do you mean?” I asked curiosity getting the better of me.
“People walk into hell here, or at least, our perception of it,” Nina said with a sigh, “so nightmares are pretty much normal here, the separation from friends and family, the daunting school work, the obstacle course, the gym classes, the overtime we put in studying. No one expects it to be like this. Yet... we have to persevere, we try not to think about it so it takes root in our dreams.”
Or it could just be a burning man trying to freak me right the fuck out. Instead I pretended like that made perfect sense. Trying to get the topic away from nightmares I asked, “what do you do on weekends in hell?”
Nina grinned, “our parents can come visit, or take us home for the weekend, though that rarely happens in anyone’s case. We can study, go swimming in the indoor pool, we can go to study hall, or the workout room. Pretty much anywhere as long as you swipe your card.”
“I wonder...” I let my words trail off and shook my head, of course my father wouldn’t come here. He’d sent me here to begin with, besides I’d only be dropped off here two days ago. He wouldn’t even think that so much has happened. I threw the wrapper in the garbage and quickly got ready for my day I had my bathing suit under my sweater and jeans, I exited. Nina was no longer there, and I hadn’t seen Robyn at all yet.
I swiped my card granting me entrance to the pool room. I stepped in and was bombarded by the scent of chlorine. The ceiling was high, there were two large pools, one had lanes roped off, the other did not. There was a few people in the lanes, and no one in the pool. I didn’t really want to race with those in the lanes so I took the empty pool to myself. I pulled off my clothing folded them and put a towel over by my things.
Standing on the edge of the pool, I let my one foot dip low to touch the lukewarm water. I shivered slightly, then told myself it was nothing like the intense cold of the tunnel. I took a few steps back, ran up and dived in. I swam, my arms strong, my legs felt alright, whatever the nurse had used was good stuff. Even if I now had finger sized bruises to go along with the gashes. I flipped and headed back to where I started.
Coming up for air I saw someone in the edge of the pool, he smiled, “I thought you would be here.”
“Rick?”
He smiled at me, “how are you feeling?”
I waded in the water a little stunned, “how did you...”
“Know?” He chuckled, “I know a lot of things Claire. Anyways, I told Hiro you were going to study because I didn’t know if you were actually okay.”
I swam over and he extended his hand and I grabbed it. He hauled me out with some help from myself. I stared at our feet in the water ripples going out, “how did you find out?” He smiled.