Other Side

Chapter 11: Hinges

"Okay, you're allowed to use any of the soaps in there. Yell if you need anything and we'll get some food once you're done, okay?" Leander had spoken, probably even more than Ari heard, but there was no going back and though Ari's chest ached, he nodded again.

Dinner he could do, he was hungry, probably, it had been a minute since he ate but he also knew that he was barely holding down the food. He had barely taken two bites the last time they ate before his jaw struggled against the chewing and whatever food they had given him dropped in his stomach like a punch to the gut, sending the food back up with plenty of stomach acid to follow. They'd given him sloppy brown spotted water, they called it broth, since.

Leander left the bathroom, allowing the door to slowly click shut behind him. Ari checked to make sure he could open the door, his hand against the cool metal that twisted easily with his wrist. The fear that whatever bolts and pins would halt the turn, locking him up again, rattled with the rest of his miserable thoughts. When the doorknob twisted and Ari caught a slight bit of their conversation, he immediately shut it again, hoping they didn't notice. It was nothing he could understand so he returned to the shower. Stripping off the clothes was more of a challenge than he expected. His arms hurt when he rose to them to pull off the hoodie and shirt that almost got stuck on his head, and he had to sit down to get off the bottoms.

Then he'd hesitantly slid the glass door over so he could reach inside to feel the water, it was warm, slightly burning against his skin, but I felt nice to him as he stepped in. The water pounded against his body slightly heavier than the one at the hospital, beating down his tensed muscles. There wasn't much more to wash off though Ari took more time to scrub his skin, peeling more of the grime away to a pink rawness that the heat burned against more. He couldn't tell if that was good or bad as he moved to the soap. Scrubbed and letting the suds wash away, the only place he was gentle is where he had stitches because he wasn't supposed to wash those anyway for the first few days. Ari didn't know how long he sat in there. Arguing his very own thoughts with himself, unable to stop thinking until he'd collapsed shaking to the floor despite the hot water. It wasn't until a knock sounded at the door that he was aware of the situation, opening his eyes to see clear water flowing in the drain.

A dull thud of knocking sounded before Leander called out, "Hey bud, Randolph is making dinner. Take as much time as you need and come out whenever you're ready."

But he couldn't, could he? His head hurt as he remembered the last time, he'd taken a long shower. A waste of water on someone like you. The water had run clean for a while which meant that he had been wasting the gift of being clean to continue feeling the warmth that is provided under the water. A warmth he did not know he lacked until the very first he'd showered since getting away from Adam. He stood shakily, glad that there was a railing for him to hold as his legs struggled with a simple movement. As all the sudds washed away, he'd gotten the soap out of his eyes and stepped out. The shelf of towels was right outside the shower and he'd managed to keep on his feet as he wrapped the towel around himself.

Once he was mostly dry, he pulled on the clothes as best he could. At that point, his muscles felt like he'd been forced to run the 12 blocks it took to ditch the law enforcement and he just wanted to roll over and sleep for eternity. Even then his body knew to keep pushing, he wasn't safe then and he wasn't safe now.

He peeked his head out the bathroom door allowing some steam to billow out, glancing around for Leander or Randolph. When neither was waiting for him, he left his old clothes haphazardly piled on the counter in the bathroom and headed back the way he came. There he could hear them talking, finding them in a room just beyond the couch. A large wall of thick wooden closets connected down to a long table that served as a counter and island with barstools on which the two elves sat.