Zoey's pov
"What's this for?" I ask, picking up the box of hair dye that Mrs. Hare just threw at me.
"You. We do not tolerate wildly colored hair here. Nor do we tolerate facial piercings. As in, take out your nose and lip ring and give them here," she commands, holding out her hand. I sigh and give in, knowing that if I don't just give them to her, then she'll rip them out.
"I expect your hair to be dyed by dinner tonight," she says curtly. Then she turns and exits my room, slamming the door on her way out. I sigh again and look down at the color in my hands. Dark brown. I was going to have dark brown hair.
After a few minutes of sulking, I slowly get up from my bed. I trudge to the bathroom that I got to myself. It was horrible. There was no hot water. I hate it.
I put the dye in my hair. While I do so, I feel a pang of sadness. Memories of when Michael and I would dye our hair together flood back to me. How we would always laugh and joke around. Having competitions to see who could make the biggest mess. The loser had to clean everything up.
Tears start sliding down my cheeks. I sink down to the ground, feeling even more miserable. Sobs start to escape my body. I try to control them, but it was no use.
"Zoey Noel! You've just lost your dinner! Stop crying!" Mrs. Hare yells, pounding on my door. I manage to calm myself down enough. My sobs fade away.
"I brought you dinner," a girl says, pushing a plastic bag into my hands.
"I'm not supposed to be eating tonight. Hare's orders," I say, confused.
"I know. I snuck it away from the kitchen. Enjoy," she says, starting to turn. I grab her wrist.
"Why would you do that for me?" I ask, "I don't even know your name."
"I'm Cindy. And because it's absolutely horrible how people treat you. Not just Mrs. Hare, but those Anderson twins, Natalia, the Range brothers, 5 Seconds of Summer's management, your biological family. It's really disgusting," she rants.
"How do you know about all of them?" I question.
"Zoey, you're like a legend here. Everyone knows your story. We'd listen to stories about you on the news. You reminded us that even when we wanted to lose hope, we couldn't. Because you beat the odds. You didn't let anyone pull you down,"
Cindy tells me, a look of awe in her eyes.
I smile sadly and open the door wider so that she could come in, "I wouldn't say that I didn't let anyone pull me down." I pull up my sleeves a little bit.
"Don't worry," she comforts, stopping me, "we all hit a few road blocks." She pulls up her shirt a little, exposing her hip, which had faint lines across it. I pull her into a hug. Cindy happily hugs me back.
I found a light in this hell hole.
