by Sonya Jesus
Rolling my eyes isn’t appropriate, but it’s involuntary. This is all about Connor.
“Don’t act like I’m overreacting. You go back and forth with those guys and it’s annoying as fuck. You string them along, tease them and they still keep hanging around. You hurt them, break their hearts and somehow you manage to attract more of them. I’ve never seen anything like it!”
Negating her accusations, I shake my head, conveying my message. I don’t agree. I don’t do that. I don’t mean to hurt anyone.
She doesn’t pick up on it, she’s too in her own head. “You almost broke up the other day. You spent the night with Robins. I thought that was it! Then I find out that instead of coming to me, he went to someone else! That bitch backstabbed me. She swooped right under me and stole him from me.”
“What?” I don’t know if I said the word aloud.
“Ironic, huh? While I was busy trying to get you out of my hair, to get the man I love. She takes him from me.”
I shrug my shoulders, shaking my head, indicating I didn’t understand.
Haley screams, “Jaime and Connor slept together! Did you know that?”
I suppose an open-relationship encompasses those terms.
When there’s no reaction from me, Haley comes closer and studies me. “Oh, you think it has something to do with your open-relationship?” A slow smile forms on her face before she starts laughing. “Oh, Amelia. They were screwing before you redefined the terms. Or did you think Connor didn’t have his own motives behind the whole ‘open’ thing?”
I shake my head vigorously. I don’t know what Jaime told her, but it wasn’t true.
She rolls her eyes, leans down, reaches into her back pocket and takes out her phone. She taps at the screen, lighting it up. The heavy breathing, the squeaking of the bed, could be anyone. Haley forwards the recording a little until there was talking. Mostly Jaime moaning Connor’s name.
This is a trick. Connor’s voice wasn’t on that tape.
“Wait for it…” Haley clips, the pain evident in her eyes. Her eyes redden; she’s straining to keep the tears from falling. “I’ve listened to this so many times.”
Jaime’s voice mingles with the masculine grunts. The more Jaime begs, the harder the bed squeaks.
“Listen, Lia. It’s coming.” Haley turns the recording louder. The male voice echoes in my ears as he announces his release. There is no doubt in my mind: it’s Connor screaming Jaime’s name. After a few seconds, Jaime says, “Now, that’s how an anniversary should end.”
He lied to me. I tilt my head back, propping it against the wall. My eyes blur with tears. Not just because being lied to sucks, but because maybe Haley is right. I toyed with Connor and used him as a lab rat for my own social experiment. I’m indecisive. One minute I pine over Robins, and the next I’m kissing Aiden. What’s wrong with me?
If I get out of here alive, I’ll figure my shit out. That’s if I get out of here, because otherwise, it won’t even matter. How does being lied to compare to being tied up in a hospital bathroom by a lunatic? What good is telling me that Connor cheated on me, if she wants to kill me?
Haley puts her phone away, staring at me with wide eyes, the white around her iris speckled with crimson streaks.
“He chose her. Over us.”
I try to spit out the cotton but she catches me. Reaching for me, she squeezes my cheeks so hard that my jaw pops. She takes another few balls of cotton and puts them in, shoving the others further down. My mouth isn’t producing enough saliva to make them comfortable. “Will you stop trying to take these out? I can’t have you puking again. I don’t have any more liquid nicotine! I injected it all into your IV.”
That’s why the heart monitor was off. Nicotine? Like the E-cigarette thing? That’s not going to kill me. She pulls out an empty vial and shows it to me. The bottle is small, dark. I can’t read the label from here.
“Have you ever heard of nicotine poisoning?”
That’s not real.
She smiles, dangling the bottle between her thumb and forefinger. “So, smart yet so stupid.” She rotates the bottle around to show me the skeleton head with two bones forming an X. The toxic symbol.
I breathe in deeply through my nose when the shock hits me. She poisoned me? She´s been poisoning me all along?
“It takes less than one milligram of nicotine per kilogram of bodyweight to kill someone.” She holds up the bottle and points the quantity. “I have 15 mills of 36 mg strength. Can you do the math?” She releases my cheeks.
I can’t focus. This is my life. How does it come down to a fucking math problem? Okay think Lia, 36 mg times 15 milliliters. That’s 36 times 10. 360 plus half of that so… 180… that’s 540 mg. I weigh 150 pounds give or take with the weight loss, that’s- I don’t know how many kilograms that is. Is it divide by two? I blink the tears away. What am I doing? She wouldn’t have made a mistake on the dose. I close my eyes and clear my head.
Why has no one come to check on us?
Where is Weston? Didn’t she say he discharged me? If he discharged me why did I still have the IV when I woke up? How long ago did she do it? Why was she mad that I puked? It was intravenous, I didn’t ingest it. But I had the IV on. Did it somehow help filter things? Was there something in the IV?
A vibration on the floor jolts me back. She leans back on her heels and drags the phone over.
“Wonderful!” Haley squeals. “Anyway,” she says. “I gave you more than enough to kill you. Yet you’re a resilient little bugger aren’t you?” She stands up, goes to the sink and washes her hands. “I owe you an apology though, you see. Like I said, I knew scaring you wasn’t enough. I said it over and over but no one ever listened. So I took it upon myself to make you sick. I figured if scaring didn’t work, then making you sick would distract you. Maybe make you fail some classes. So, I researched online. I used tetrahydrozoline, you know, Visine? But I should have just killed you right from the beginning. I would have avoided all of this.”
She grabs a hand towel from underneath the cabinet and wipes her hands. She folds the towel in a triangle shape and kneels down in front of me. “I’m going to have to figure something out with you. But first we have a visitor.” She brings the towel and wraps it around my eyes, knotting it, then takes something stretchy and puts it over the towel, tightening it around me.
“Lia, you sit tight. Our visitor is on his way.”
I start to swing my body around, trying to make her stay. It doesn’t work. Haley smacks me so hard that I bang my head into the toilet. “Shut the fuck up!”
A knock on the door causes Haley to giggle. I wish I could scream and warn whoever is on the other side.
Another knock, and the door opens. “Babe?”
Connor. I start to wriggle around again.
“Lia?” he says coming closer. “Are you ready? I got your message.” I still myself, listening for Haley. That’s who she was texting before?
“Are you in the bathroom?” his voice approaches.
I stay still. Please don’t come in here.
“Did you get my messages- I’m real- What the fuck?” I feel his arms on me. Relief and fear floods me. I try to shake my head, warning him about Haley.
“Hi, Connor,” her voice is frigid. “Thanks for coming.”
Connor screams out in pain. “Shit. Fuck.”
Surely someone heard that. His hand touches me, warm liquid glides down my leg.
“Get up! Run, Lia!” he urges.
The door slams shut. My fingers trail down my leg until my fingers find his wrist. Why is he so wet?
“Oh, Connor!” Haley snarls, her voice brimming with malice. “That must really hurt.”
“Haley.” The distress in his voice sends shivers down my body. “What are you doing with that?”
Alarm draws up my courage. I inch forward, dragging myself across the bathroom floor until my feet hit something hard. Is that his back? I bend my knees up and continue until my shins are plastered again
st him. Hands grope my legs, cupping my calf, squeezing tightly.
A warning.
I freeze and listen to the silence. Why hasn’t Haley answered him? Where is the hospital staff? I hear a vibrating noise; someone’s calling. No one answers the phone.
Maybe someone was calling me? If I was discharged people will come looking. But why did Connor come?
As if hearing my thoughts, Connor questions Haley. “What is this all about Haley? Did you send me the text to pick Lia up?” There’s a pause.
I jerk my head around, trying to shake my head free of the blind fold.
“Do I repulse you?” she lashes out.
“No.” The word is breathy and filled with pain. “Why-”
“You lie!” she drops her voice dangerously low.
The room is silent until it fills with Connor’s moaning. The recording isn’t loud, but it’s amplified in this room. Connor’s crushing hold on my leg worsens. I bounce my legs, rubbing my knees against his tense back to reassure him.
Haley speaks over the recording. “Sound familiar?”
“Where did you get that?” I zone in on his voice, checking for vital signs of injury. His breathing is heavy, but that could just be from the anger. He doesn’t give her time to answer. “Shut it off!”
My lungs surge. This isn’t a time to demand things. I try to get his attention with my legs. He loosens his grasp and removes his hands. Something crashes against the wall, thudding to the floor.
Argh. Ugh. Those deep guttural howls weren’t coming from the recording. “You bitch. What do you want from me?” His voice is strained, cracking after every few words.
“I want you to stop talking and listen.” An eerie calm fills the room. “I brought you here for answers.”
“What kind of answers? You have a crush on me, is that it? You want to get me back for being in love with Lia? Or maybe it’s for fucking Jaime and not you?” I wince at the words. “I’m sorry, Lia.”
“I said stop talking.” She reaches for me. I hear a snipping sound in the air, then I feel the touch of cold metal on my shoulder. The sharp edge bites into my skin, visually warning Connor. My heart is throbbing against my bones.
“Okay, Haley. Stop. Let her go.” Connor talks her down.
The edge of the scissor eases off my upper arm. “You really hurt me, Connor.” The cloth around my eyes dampens. Where the fuck is my inner MMA fighter? Why do I need a Vixen, an Angel, when they are useless when it comes down to it? I don’t know how to fight. I don’t even have the strength to unbind myself. God, I’m not even smart enough to realize I’ve been living with the enemy! All those red flags: stealing my clothes, the hair, the anniversary card, the flowers, the walking in and out of the room like she owned it, the bear…. Shit, she probably even slept in my bed. She was there with me at the Pep Rally. The globe, the pin, the video, the following me around campus… that was all her.
I remember the chocolates and how she didn’t want Harper to eat them. She probably poisoned them. But then why be nice? Why worry when I got sick if she was the one making me sick? Why stick up for me with Mason? Why get mad when I treated Connor wrong?
I don’t understand and I’m so tired. Confusion is blurring all my rational thoughts. I need to fight, but I can’t. I need to scream my lungs out, but I can’t. I need to touch Connor and help him, but I can’t. I need to be strong, but I can’t because I have never felt so weak before. I can never do things I need to.
I stop wallowing in self-pity when I feel someone pulling the cotton out of my mouth. My heart flutters with relief, until I feel the point of the scissor penetrate my skin. It nicks the shoulder and stabs into the soft flesh below it. I throw my body back in pain, but the motion makes it slice through.
I straighten my back as Haley explains the rules. “I’m going to take some of this cotton out, because I don’t want you choking on it until I’m ready for you to die. If you, or Connor, displease me, I will slice your arm open.” She chuckles. “Heavy duty medical scissors. So sharp! Cuts right through flesh.”
“Haley stop-” Connor begs.
I cry out in pain as Haley plunges the scissor deeper, dragging it along my skin, tearing my flesh open. I feel the warm blood trickle out from the laceration. “You need to start listening Connor, or I’ll jam this into her neck and finish this.”
I groan again, the sound of my voice surprising me. There’s much less cotton. I test it out. “Haley?” It sounds muffled still, but comprehensible.
“Yes?” she gripes. “I’m missing the cotton already. Now shut up. We are going to play a little game, I’m going to ask a question and you and Connor are going to answer honestly. If you don’t,” the scissor slides down my arm, lengthening the already deep cut. My blood oozes out, dribbling down my arms to my finger-tips.
“Okay,” I agree.
“Let’s start with something easy.” She removes the scissor. “Do your regret dating Connor?”
How is that easy? In the context of the time, yes. If I didn’t date Connor, he wouldn’t be caught up in all this mess. I probably wouldn’t be in the hospital because of her. This moment wouldn’t exist. Or maybe it would? She’d snap, I’d do something to trigger her crazy eventually. This is all to hurt Connor, so I choose the answer she expects. “Yes.”
“You hear that Connor!” She screeches gleefully.
“I do,” he stammers. “It’s okay, Lia.” Why is he trying to make me feel better? I got him into this mess. He’s the one who should regret dating me.
“Your turn, Connor.” She pauses, probably thinking of a question. The silence adds to the density in the room. “Do you regret meeting her?”
Shivers trickle down my spine. Between the dampness, fear, and numbness, I’m freezing. I tense, contracting to preserve body heat. “I regret a lot of things, but falling in love with her isn’t one of them.”
“Let’s fix that then.” Haley places her palm against the back of my head, her fingers loosely gripping my hair. I wince when she exerts pressure on the tender spots. “Who’d you rather, Lia?”
I tense as she clamps her fingers around my ponytail. What is this girl’s fascination with hair pulling? I brace myself as she thrusts my head back and forth, jostling my brain. I’m going to be sick. I dry heave, swallowing cotton in the process, which makes me heave again. She straightens my head, mumbling a ‘not yet’ so only I can hear. She removes some more cotton, I manage to slow my breathing even though it feels like every hair on my scalp is being yanked out.
“Lia, who would you rather be with? Let’s go with the freshman loves of your life: Gavin or Connor?”
This isn’t fair. “Connor,” I croak.
“Interesting. Fine then Connor or Mason.”
“What are you doing Haley? Stop!” My heart fills with affection because he’s trying to spare me.
Bam! I don’t register the pain until my eye feels like it’s going to explode. I’m dizzy, my breathing is shallow. I open my eye and shut it, exploring the extent of the injury. Maybe it wasn’t my eye. She smashed the side of my head into the wall.
“You’re going to kill her!” Connor’s voice trembles with fear. “Fuck she’s bleeding everywhere! Let me play, I’ll answer the questions. Just leave her alone!”
“No.” I’m not thinking clearly. But I didn’t want him to suffer because of me. What did Haley ask? Mason. The least I can do is give the truth. “Connor.”
“What about the soccer guy.” My heart paces. Aiden. “Dylan or Connor. No, wait! Aiden or Connor?”
“Fucking shit, Haley. I already know the answer to this game. She’ll choose Robins over me. She’ll chose him! Everyone knows that!” I want to say no, I want to say I’d choose Connor. Or anyone else. But I don’t know, I don’t know anything anymore. I shake my head ferociously, but I don’t think it moves. I am so tired. Haley releases me. My body is limp. I sink into the tile floor.
“It’s okay, Lia,” he softens again.
I close my eyes. A di
stant thought enters my head. Why does he keep saying that?
“You know, I love you, right? I meant-”
What just happened?
“Connor?” My eyes aren’t opening. I hear a shuffle in the background. A door slams in the distance, relief floods me, but it’s not enough to keep me up.
At least they’d save Connor.
Chapter 27: Saving the Queen
Hawk
I get to the hospital a little after five in the morning. The empty waiting room doesn’t surprise me, even though I expected Christopher. There’s no time to ponder on his whereabouts. I fly through the lobby, only slowing down when the main corridor opens up into various halls. A couple of nurses pass by, noticing my haste. There is no time to deal with security or nurses, but this wing is restricted. Cooling the fire inside me, so I don’t give anything away, is a necessity.
I walk over to them, this time feigning only words, because the concern my body screams is pure truth. Amelia’s GPS locator pinged from this hospital, which means Haley is here and with a head start. God knows what she’s doing to my beloved.
“Can I help you, dear?” a new nurse addresses me. “Visiting hours haven’t started yet.”
“I just stepped out for some coffee and fell asleep downstairs in the cafeteria. I’m really sorry that I lost track of time. But my girlfriend… I was in such a panic mode… I haven’t slept since she got here. I don’t want her to wake up and not find me there. I feel horrible for leaving her alone.”
“Don’t worry, dear. I see you have your barcode sticker. It will unlock the door for you.”
Sticker? I look down and see the hospital pass on the hem of my shirt. How did I not even remember that damn sticker? We got bombarded by security when we were coming back from the cafeteria. They tried to kick us all out until Coach Reid came and vouched for us. We handed security our identification cards in exchange for neon green clearance passes with a barcode. I never handed mine back in.