Her Heroes

Chapter Two

I huffed a sigh of relief when at first glance nobody was in the room. Gently closing the door behind me, I startled at a sudden creak of the floors.

"My sweet, sweet Nadia. Did you really think you could escape from me?" I froze. I couldn't move. My eyes were whipping back and forth trying to figure out an escape from this mess. He was close enough that I could feel his alcohol-tinted breath against my shoulder. "Answer me!!"  A fist pounded the door, too close to my head to be called anything but a threat. 

I jumped at the noise and closed my eyes before taking a deep breath. My mouth opened and closed but no words would come.

"No matter, I guess you want to do this the hard way." 

My eyes flew open as he dragged me away from the door by my arm. I searched for anything before my eyes landed on the broken chair that had been thrown in here earlier in the week. Straining against his iron grasp, I managed to grab a chair leg. Swinging it with all of my might, I hit him across his back. The adrenaline rush faded as quickly as it came and just as quickly I realized what I had done. My eyes widened in horror as he turned back to look at me. He wasn't just angry anymore, he was seething.

"Why you little-" He pulled my arm harshly, sending me flying to the ground. I scurried away, onto the farthest part of my old, beaten mattress before he grabbed my leg and pulled me back. Tears stung my cheeks as I closed my eyes. The first hit came as a surprise, hitting me on my lower abdomen, making me crunch in an attempt to lessen the blow. The next hit was more expected, a backhand across the face.

After two more hits, he was done and pulling out the familiar thin, black box. I went to crawl away again but he placed his knee and some of his weight on my stomach, forcing me to stay in place as he drew out a long needle. Drawing liquid from a clear bottle into the syringe, he forcefully turned my head and injected the contents of the liquid into a vein in my neck. I whimpered as it pierced through my flesh and flooded my bloodstream.

***

Pain. It was the first thing I realized when I came to. Everything hurt. He was never gentle, he had no reason to be. Curling into a ball on the mattress, I let more hot tears fall. I couldn't lay here for long though, just because what happened to me last night didn't mean that I was free from the other factors of life. 

Whimpering, I pulled myself off of the mattress and into a hunched, yet standing, position. I slowly walked over to a stack of clothes on the ground and pulled on a stained, light blue sweatshirt and a pair of ripped black yoga pants before leaving the room and heading back to the kitchen to begin making their breakfast. 

***

I had just finished cooking when a drunk Rachel and an equally as high Neil graced me with their unwanted presence. Standing back, I watched the pair devour the food and thought about how I would kill to eat a piece of toast. But no matter, school started in a couple of hours, and like always, I would be able to steal somebody's food.

"Nadia," I kept my head down as Rachel called out to me.

Heavy footsteps alerted me to Neil coming close and I schooled my breathing to seem even and unaffected by his presence. The last thing I needed was for him to realize how truly scared of him I was. He grasped my throat and pulled my meager weight off the ground, "when my wife addresses you, you best respond bitch." My hands wrapped around his wrist as I kicked at the air, trying to take a breath as my air supply continued to be cut off. 

Only once Rachel grabbed his arm, pulling him away, did he stop. "Serves you right, you dirty, desperate, whore." The she-devil spat at me before clearing the table with her hand as she swished out of the room after her husband. "Oh, and clean this mess up." Clutching at my neck to try and ease the burning feeling it took to breathe, I counted to ten before forcing myself back to my feet. The worst thing to do when they were mad was to procrastinate, the last thing I needed was a repeat of last night. Besides, if I wanted to get to school, then I would need to clean now.

Picking up the shards with my bare hands, I winced as the glass pierced back into my cauterized wound. Shaking my head, I hurried up with cleaning the crystal pieces off the floor before returning with a cleaning spray and towel.

***

No less than an hour later I stood in front of the local high school, Delview High. A fancy name for an old place filled with pompous assholes who all thought they were better than you because they owned a fake piece of designer anything, but bragged it was real. Shaking my head, I cleared my thoughts to prepare myself for the one respite in my life. Sure, this place was a hell-hole but it was nothing near the one that I called my home. At least here I was invisible. Before mom and dad died I had had friends. I wasn't popular by any means but I wasn't a loner like I am now either. 

Sighing as the first-period bell rang I began the long trek through the empty halls to my Honors English class. First, though, I stopped in the nearest bathroom to ensure that none of my scars or the top edge of the handprint-shaped bruise were visible from beneath my concealer. I knew if anyone saw and called home or the cops, I would be greeting the soil next to my parents corpses.

Noting that nothing was showing, I headed towards first period. 

***

Slipping into the class, I found a seat close to the door and quickly sat down. 

"Miss Perkins so glad you could join the class." The teacher, a middle-aged lady, peered at me over her bifocals. At the feeling of everyone's gaze on me, I ducked my head, letting my curls shroud my face from my peers. "Now that I can resume the lesson, please turn to page one-hund-" she was cut off quickly by a rapid knocking on the door. Huffing, the teacher stood up and opened the door. "May I help you?" I couldn't see the face but immediately recognized the voice of one of the secretaries from the front office.

"Could you please step into the hall with my Mrs. Wilkens?"  My teacher straightened her sweater and nodded her head before stepping out and shutting the door behind her.

Two minutes later, Mrs. Wilkens reentered the room, pity clear in her eyes. "Nadia, you are needed at the front office, bring your belongings with you hon." I quickly shuffled everything into my bag and stood up, lugging my backpack over my shoulder. Even though it weighed a mere ten pounds, I felt weighed down by every inch of it.

As I walked towards the door I heard some of the kids snicker. Ducking my head further, I quickened my pace to reach the front of the room.

Mrs. Wilkens stepped towards me and touched my shoulder gently. It took every muscle in my body to force myself to not flinch away from her touch as I lifted my head to look at her face. "It was nice having you in my class Nadia. I'm sorry for your loss." I nodded at her numbly and left the room to join the secretary in the hallway.

***

"Well Miss Perkins, this is where I leave you. Once again, I am deeply sorry for your loss." The secretary knocked on a door before smiling at me and giving me a quick embrace before returning to her desk in the front of the office. Shaking off the feeling of her skin touching mine I looked at the floor beneath my toes.

"Come in."

I took a deep breath before adjusting my backpack and opening the door slowly. "Ah yes, Nadia, please, come in." The principal looked up at me and smiled gently, gesturing to an empty chair before his desk.

I slowly walked into his office and sat down. He smiled at me again before rounding his desk and sitting on it in front of me. My hands began to twitch from his closeness to me. I didn't know how long I could last before my panic of proximity would kick in.  "I'm sorry to say this Nadia but something has happened to your foster parents, Rachel and Neil...."