The Freaks

chapter fifteen

The Freaks.

My hands clench into fists at the reminder.

"You look really different now," Serena says, smiling as she meets my eyes again. "All that needs to be done is the last two stages and you and Nox will be able to finally get it over with."

The last two stages. I'm ready to face them, because they will be the easiest.

Nox is going through the same stage as me right now. He's having his hair cut and letting the light bit of stubble that is currently on his cheeks to grow into something that might resemble a beard.

It doesn't take long for Serena and I to clean up the hair scattered around the stool I was sat upon. We scoop it into a corner and I watch as Serena props the broom against the train wall and starts for the door, leaving the clump of hair abandoned.

I laugh lightly as I follow on her tail. "Are we just going to leave this?"

She shrugs and slightly turns her head to look at me. "Might as well. It's only hair. It's not going to hurt anyone."

I laugh lightly as we make our way back to the main room, heading straight for the next stage into becoming someone else.

* * *

Serena introduces me to a female Freak named Esmay who will be in charge of the next stage.

Esmay is a short girl, probably about a few inches shorter than Serena. She has her red hair tied back into a tight ponytail, the end strands swinging madly as she moves around me.

I watch as she mixes different coloured paints together with the end of an old paintbrush, smiling with satisfaction when it's the right shade—a strange dark blue.

We are in another train again. I'm sitting on the same stool that Serena used to cut my hair. She's here with me now, sitting about a foot away on the seats in front of me, staring at Esmay with her eyebrows raised.

"Okay," Esmay says, turning around to face me. "When you're ready, take your shirt off for me."

For a moment I hesitate, unsure whether I should or not. Serena has seen my scars before, even cleaned them up for me, but Esmay never has. What would she think of them? I wish I didn't care, but there's that small feeling at the back of my mind that makes my fingers stay planted against my lap.

Esmay and Serena both must sense my hesitation because they both turn their heads to look at me, their eyebrows raised in question.

"Sorry," I say to cover it up, "I was in a world of my own. What did you say?"

"Take your shirt off so I can paint your back," Esmay says again with a calm voice, smiling once as her blue eyes settle on me.

I place my shirt on my lap when I take it off, a strange cool wind making me shiver as it seeps into the welts on my back. Esmay doesn't say anything when she moves around behind me, but I hear her take in a sharp breath of air.

I suddenly wish I never took my shirt off in the first place.

"Won't this paint wash off?" I ask to distract Esmay from my wounds.

I hear her take a seat behind me. "No, it's some sort of body paint. It should last about two weeks, so hopefully you'll finish the mission by then."

"Hopefully," I mumble, leaning forward when Esmay presses her fingers against my shoulder and lightly pushes me down.

Then, after a few seconds, I feel the soft strokes of the brush against my skin. I flinch only slightly at the cool feeling of the paint against my back, but after a moment I get used to it.