Broken Innocence

Ch. XIX

“Ari?”

I jumped a little, looking up from my drawing at Miss. Pierce. Her large blue eyes staring at me-watching as I looked up at her like a deer in headlights. We sat in an empty room with two other guards and were just relaxing. I wore the mask that Michael had given me and I sat in the chair, and drew with crayons, feeling like a small child again. 

She eyed me closely, then her eyes went back down to my drawing. I looked down at it as well, seeing a tall man with a white mask on that had brown hair, as well as a blue jumper suit. In his hand was a knife, which was stained in blood. In his other hand, he gripped a woman’s head...just the head. Nothing was attached to it and blood was dripping down. I looked up at the woman quickly and started to cover it up with my hands, but she reached over to gently move my hands away and took the drawing and looked at it. “Why did you draw this?”

“I dreamt it...” I whispered honestly. I looked down at the overly used red crayon sitting on the table. “I don’t know who it is...but I dreamt about it last night.” I picked at the flattened wax tip, letting pieces crumble onto the table. 

“Did you dream it some other time?”

I just shook my head. I didn’t look back up at her. I didn’t want to. Ever since the boy they liked, and trust me that feeling turned down yesterday I felt like one of those emotional teenage girls that just is brand new to me. 

I just didn’t know what to think. Did he see me as a friend? He didn’t say no, but he wasn’t quick to saying yes either. It was just hard to think that there was a possibility that he didn’t that was making my stomach turn. 

I shifted a little in the chair, exhaling shakily. The medication that Miss. Pierce was making me take effected me so much to the point where I could hardly walk. It made me feel tired and my legs felt like noodles. I asked her if the side effects I was having was normal, and she said yes. I didn’t know why she was making me take them, but part of me felt as if it was to make sure I didn’t act out again-to keep my mind and my body so weak that I had to stay in the wheelchair and that I didn’t lash out ever again. 

“Why don’t you take the mask off?” I heard, and looked up at Miss. Pierce who was looking at me with soft eyes, which I knew now there, was nothing soft about this woman. She was awful-abusing her power over me to make me suffer. 

“Because I don’t want to. “ I said simply before finally looking up at her, staring at her through the mask. “It was a gift.”

“From Michael?”

“The one and only.” I took a piece of paper and picked up a crayon and started to draw again. 

“You know he’ll be leaving soon. Will you miss him?”

“Of course.” I didn’t even look up at her. 

“Do you think he’ll miss you?”

The tone she used held a tiny bit of humor in it. Almost as if she knew that Michael could care less about me. But I refused to allow myself to think like that. If I did, I would only allow myself to fall into self-pity. “I believe he will.” I said softly, drawing circles. “He cares about me...I know he does.”

“He’s a killer. The man that works with him thought there was some hope in him when he was just a child, but now? He claims that Michael should be locked up for the rest of his life...possibly to die and rot behind the iron bars.”

If only she knew. 

They all believe Michael will be sent to prison and that he will allow them to do such a thing to him. But no. He will be out. He will break out and we’ll never see him again.