I woke up in a weird room on a bed unknown to me. I sit up and automatically my head starts to throb with a fast rhythmic beat.
“Just lay back, darling, you hit your head pretty hard,” a woman’s voice replies in a calm soothing voice. Her soft, smooth hands calmly pet my hair, but with every stroke of her hand, my head pounds in protest.
“Where am I?” I ask, looking around the room. It wasn’t the nicest place in the world, but it was suitable and clean.
There was a large brick fireplace on the other end of the room and a large wooden desk in the middle of the room. The wooden desk was filled with random files and shining medical tools. A scalpel shines brightly below a thin tan file.
“This is the Safe Haven ‘hospital’.” She puts finger quotes around the word ‘hospital’ and chuckles lightly to herself, “It’s sort of an inside club…Safe Haven, not the hospital.”
I sit up slowly once the pounding ceases in my head, “How did I get in here? Wasn’t I in the-?” I say, but pause as I remember everything.
Insults from Drake.
Running to the van and locking the door.
Watching innocent blood be spilled.
The woman looks at me with a reassuring look, “Don’t worry, she is perfectly fine. I promise. Here.” She hands me a small bottle, “Drink this. It’ll help you calm down and it’ll numb the throbbing.”
I opened the small glass bottle in my hand and take a slow swig, letting the smooth liquid soothe my scratchy throat.
“Wait, is this alcohol?” I ask, surprised.
“It does numb the throbbing a little bit. Plus I didn’t give you enough to get you drunk.” She chuckles to herself.
I had never tasted an alcoholic beverage before, and personally, it didn’t taste very good. But she was right, it did numb the pain.
“Where’s my sister?” I ask, setting the small empty bottle down and getting off of the mattress.
“Are you feeling okay? Do you think you can walk?” she asks, trying to steady me.
“Yes, I’m fine. The question is, is my sister alright?” I ask persistently.
“This way,” she says, “She’s taking a quick nap, I bandaged her arm up once Ethan brought both of you in.”
I gulp nervously. I really hope she doesn’t become like me. I’d pray to any god to stop her from becoming what I am…a freak, a sliced up piece of meat, a monster, because, even after the first self-inflicted cut, I become hooked.
As we walk down a short hall, the nurse and I got a chance to speak. I learned her name was Annie, but everyone called her Nurse. She’s only nineteen years and she came to Safe Haven when she was 13 because her father had abused her and murdered her mother.
It was also the first time I actually took a good look at her. Her long dark red hair shone purple in just the right amount of sunlight. Her pale green reminded me of a bamboo stick. Her skin looked slightly tan with the color of her hair, but without her hair, she looked about as pale as I was.
“Annie, how deep was her cut?” I ask, hesitant to know her answer. We walk into another room and we see Suri’s small body curled up into a multicolored quilt. I smile as her chocolate colored hair covers her eyes.
“Deep enough to bleed, but not very deep. It didn’t hit any veins or arteries. Her wounds will heal, but I’m not sure if it will scar.”
I nod my head and sigh softly. I may appear calm on the outside, but inside, my heart wants to explode. I feel horrible. I should’ve protected her. I failed.
