4.
The rooster called once again. I sat up straight in my bed, wearing nothing but my bra and panties. I was shivering uncontrollably. My body was frail like porcelain. I was breathing heavily, the vapor expelling from my mouth. Head pounding, I threw off the comforter and ran to the sink, turning it on and sucking in as much water as possible. I was so thirsty. I drank as much as I could, and when I was content I fell to my knees, nauseous. Losing it, I bolted for the toilet and vomited. When the vomiting was done, I went for the sink again and started guzzling water. When I felt secure that I could keep the batch of water down, I stumbled quickly back to the bed and buried myself in the comforter. I rubbed my hand up and down my face, dry blood crumbling, and falling off. I could not see myself, but by the feel of it, I was a train wreck.
I sat there for while rocking back and forth, trying to keep myself warm. It wasn't long before I heard a rustling upstairs. I clenched both my fists, and prepared myself for what was to come. Barrett and Clive made themselves both clear. Behave yourself or you shall feel indefinite pain. I heard the unlocking sounds of the door flap above. I braced myself. Still breathing heavily, vapor exploding from my mouth; I watched as the figure slowly descended into my dungeon. I sat up on my makeshift bed, pulling myself into the corner. Frightened, I quickly tried to cover my naked flesh with the comforter.
Subtle clothing. It was a sleek slender body form that of which could only belong to another female. She didn't wear the typical boots, they were only converse. She was however wearing the typical overalls. My eyes, slowly coming to terms, raised from her shoes up to her torso, and finally met her Brown light autumn eyes. She was at that point, the most gorgeous thing that I had ever seen. She looked at me with eyes so sincere. The condition I was in must've frightened her, for her mouth dropped wide open.
"Jesus H Christ," she said. "What the hell did they do to you?"
She rushed up to me quickly, and only by normal response I quickly propelled myself further into the corner of my bed, even though I had run out of space. I raised both my arms over my face and tried to protect myself as best I could. Even beauty could be dangerous. At that point all I knew was that I had enemies.
I sat there in the corner, trembling with both my hands covering my face, and tears rolling down my cheeks. It wasn't until I felt two warm hands gently grasp my wrists and pull my hands down from my face, that I finally opened my eyes, and gazed into the soul of an angel.
Her face was prim and proper, and her lips were the shape that any beautiful lip should be formed. Her skin complexion was of buttermilk, and her eyes, oh God her eyes were so beautiful. All fear completely faded away and I melted into her. There was nothing I wanted more then to be nestled into her arms.
She pulled back quickly to assess the damage. She looked at me from top to bottom. She shook her head. She opened her bag that she had carried in, and pulled out a cloth. She went to the sink and started to rinse it. She then came back to me, and raised the rag to my head. I flinched, pulling my head back a bit. Gently, she urged me by softly planting her palm behind the back of my neck and carefully pulled me closer. I gave in, and let her clean my wounds.
"I apologize so greatly. They called me this morning, and I rushed as quickly as I could. I am so sorry."
I just sat there in disarray. Though the cleaning of my wounds was painful, I felt comfort in her care. She looked me over, bit by bit. She placed gauze around my wrists, and put ointment and bandages over my extremely inflamed and swollen brows.
I sat off the edge of the bed with my legs crossed. She took her hand and placed it on the side of my calf. She slowly raised her hand up my thigh. The feelings sent tingling sparks up my spine, until she reached the fresh burn mark. My newly acquired brand. I shuddered and winced with pain once she reached it. I grabbed her hand quickly and pulled it away. She looked at me so seriously, and she said, "I have to put ointment on this. I need to treat this or it will get infected."
I finally got a good look at the burn mark on the side of my thigh. It was a lowercase p, and a lowercase b. I looked at her. "What does it stand for?"
Her gaze met mine. She didn't smile nor did she frown. Her face just remained expressionless. "Oh, let's see, how should explain this?" Her eyes left mine and she began to look around the room, trying to think of a nice way to put it. "Oh hell!" She looked at me again. "P.B. stands for Paul Bishop? He would be your new owner."
I let out an "ahhh?" So it has now come down to it. I was now owned by someone. I looked into my lap and just shook my head. "Are you my owner to?" I lifted my head and looked at her again.
She gave a little half smile, and said "no, no. My name is Paige. Just think of me as your personal nurse, your counselor, you're? Caretaker." She lifted her flawless arms again and continued to clean the dried blood from my face.
I noticed a tattoo at the bottom of her wrist, it seemed to be a set of initials, IVY. I slowly raised my hand and grasped it to get a closer look. "Ivy?"
It wasn't a quick movement but she slowly pulled her wrist away. "Someone I care very much about, but I can't be with right now."
"I'm so sorry."
"No need. It was my own damn fault." Paige pulled away from the bed and stood in front of me, seeing if there was anything she missed.
The cold began to settle in and I started to shiver uncontrollably. I quickly found my comforter and tried to cover myself.
Paige looked at me confused. "Where are your clothes?"
"Dumb and dumber jacked them last night."
She walked back to me and sat back on the bed. Her hands lay in her lap and her fingers were crossed. She turned her head and looked at me again. "I'm so sorry, they can be a bit overbearing, but I'm here now. I won't leave your side. I'll get you some clothes. Is there anything else I can get you?"
One word and one word only spilled from my lips, "food."
"All right then," she said as she raised herself from my bed. "I'll be back in a few. In the meantime, just try to relax. We have a lot to do today." And with that she was gone. She walked back upstairs and left me alone once again. I had to laugh at myself a little bit, the whole just trying to relax thing. How the hell was that possible after what I had just been through?
I reached back and pulled the scrunchie from my ponytail, letting my little past shoulder length hair fall down. I ran my fingers through my scalp scratching at everything and trying to relieve tension. God I could have used a shower, some food. I shook my head letting my hair fly everywhere. It was soft, and for comfort I'd always grab a strand and twirl it through my fingers.
Nestled in my dirty, smelly, bloodied comforter, I sat up and leaned in the corner of the wall on my bed. I didn't know how long I waited for clothing and food, but I started to drift off into sleep again. I hoped the bad dreams wouldn't come back. I waited for Paige. I had already gotten used to her face and her beautiful smell.
The Switchblade Mamma Page 4