Piece By Piece (Complete)

6. Risks

Sang

It was always quiet at night.

I laid in bed, listening to the emptiness, the fleeting call of an owl outside, the small creaks that indicated the foundation was settling.

But then there was another creak. And another.

Footsteps.

I sat up, listening, but it was impossible to tell who it was, I just knew who it wasn't. My mother.

The footsteps continued toward my door and then stopped. If I squinted I could see the slightest shift in the depth of the shadows beneath the door.

"Sang?" a small voice whispered.

I opened the door quickly to find Dinah, one of the newer girls. Her face was pale and her eyes were red, but I couldn't see anything else wrong. "What happened?" I asked.

"It..." she couldn't say anything, and I knew then that it wasn't her, it was someone else.

"Show me."

I followed her quickly toward the rooms upstairs, carefully keeping both of us to the sides of the staircase to muffle the sound of our movements and avoiding the security cameras as much as we could. The girls all shared rooms, usually three to a room unless space was limited during a particular month. The door of the room she indicated was slightly ajar, and I was just able to make out the outline of someone kneeling beside a bed, the shaking movement of her shoulders unmistakable. As I entered the girl on the ground turned toward me and I saw it was Bridget, tears streaming down her freckled face, soaking the neck of her nightshirt.

My gaze then moved toward the girl in the bed Dinah and Bridget shared a room with and I stilled, trying to steel my nerves and be brave for all of them.

It was Georgia.

"Could someone get me a warm washcloth?" I asked. I wasn't sure if it would do anything to help, but it was a task that would keep at least one of them busy. Bridget nodded, silent tears still streaking her face as she rushed to get up, disappearing toward the bathroom down the hall. It wasn't until then that I wondered how they'd managed to escape their room, as I knew the Mistress locked each door every night. Please don't let Bridget get caught now.

My mind was racing as I looked back toward Georgia. Since her punishment earlier in the week things had only gotten worse. I knew Mistress was practically starving her to keep her from gaining more weight, but looking at her now I knew that couldn't have been all that had happened these past few days. Her skin was too pale, her strawberry blonde hair matted against her forehead. When she'd first arrived two months ago she'd had a sweet, summery smile just like her name... and now I feared it would never return.

"Georgia," I said softly, kneeling beside her. I felt her forehead, her cheek, her pulse. She was cold, but she was alive. What had happened? My relief was replaced with worry when I saw it - a dark stain seeping into her sheets. I pulled the blanket down and away from her body and stilled. It was blood. So much of it I couldn't hear anything beyond the ringing in my ears, my heart settling into my throat. I didn't know what to do.

"What is it?"

Dinah. I forgot she was in the room with me. "She's too cold. Is there another blanket?"

Soft feet entered and I knew Bridget had returned. I covered Georgia with both the blankets Dinah handed me, hoping I could spare the other girls from what I'd just seen. "Stay with her," I told them, meeting each girl's eyes. "Do you know how to check her pulse?" Dinah nodded slowly, her eyes afraid, as Bridget rushed to kneel beside Georgia again, pressing the washcloth to her forehead. "I will be back," I said quickly. "Don't let anyone else in until I get back, ok?" I was afraid that if my mother knew, instead of sending for help she'd simply let Georgia die. And even though I had no idea what the life of a pet was like, while I had any kind of control at all in this terrible place, I wouldn't let that happen.

"Dinah?" I whispered, seeing the girl staring listlessly at Georgia's still form. I was afraid I was about to lose both of them if she went into shock.

"I won't," she said, before kneeling beside Bridget and gently taking Georgia's hand.

Looking between them, I wasn't sure either of them were ok, but there wasn't time. I practically flew down the hallway, fear kicking up in my stomach at the thought of what I was about to do. If I called him, I didn't know what would happen to the other girls here, this place being their only home. While what the Sorenson Academy for Girls was known for was a far cry from providing the loving family each of these girls deserved, all they had was each other, and this phone call could end all of that.

But it would also stop the abuse. Stop the gilded system of slavery my mother and her buyers participated in. Stop the horrid diets, the pressure for perfection, the vitriol and lies that dripped from her thin lips like poison.

And it could save Georgia, I added as I broke into her office, using the small pin I'd hidden at the top of the doorframe. The door began to squeak when it opened, and I paused, frozen with fear. I didn't hear anything, but when I continued opening it the echoing sound seemed even louder than before. I could feel my heart in my throat then, its cadence frantic. If she caught me in here, I couldn't even imagine what she would do, but if I didn't try...

I took a deep breath and dropped the handle. The space was big enough for me to fit through, and I couldn't afford — Georgia couldn't afford — for me to give up now. I slipped in, pausing just inside the room to let my eyes adjust to the low moonlight filtering in through the blinds. It had been a while since I'd been in here, but not much had changed, as far as I could tell. I scoured the space from where I was, looking for the phone I knew she kept in here. When I couldn't see it from where I stood in the doorway I moved slowly, careful not to knock into the glass coffee table. My eyes searched frantically, my chest tightening with every second that was wasted, and I sighed with relief when I finally found it, carelessly placed on the bookshelf beside the large oak desk.

I paused, listening again for any sound of movement. Hearing the stillness, I reached into my bra to extract the card he'd given me nearly three months ago, which I'd kept beside my heart ever since.

With shaking hands I punched in the numbers I'd never thought I'd dial and pressed the phone to my ear, suddenly afraid he wouldn't answer. It was the middle of the night. And what if he was far away? Panic seized me. I should've called an ambulance, I thought, listening to it ring again, but then my eyes caught on a picture of the Mistress posing with several distinguished looking men and women, and it was just a reminder that anyone might own a Sorenson pet. I didn't know who I could trust besides Sean.

God I hoped I could trust him.

"Hello?" a sleepy, male voice asked, and my heart seemed to beat even faster now that he had actually answered.

"Sean?" I whispered.

"Who is this?" he asked quickly.

"I—One of the girls at Sorenson's Academy," I said quickly, looking back at the doorway again. "There's a girl bleeding, there's so much blood—"

He sounded like he was moving. "Don't worry pumpkin, we're coming."

I didn't know who this 'we' was, but I felt a soaring feeling spread out from my heart. "What do I do until you're here? She's cold, and the blood... it's coming from her..." I closed my eyes at the image, hoping things looked worse than they actually were.

He cursed. "Stay with her. Check her pulse and breathing often," he said. "Do you know CPR?"

"I've only seen someone perform it, I've never..."

I heard more rustling, and then he was shouting at someone else as I heard a door shut. "I will be there as soon as I can," he said sincerely. "Call me if anything changes."

He was about to hang up, but I needed him to know. "No one else knows," I whispered fiercely. "I... I shouldn't even be calling you—"

"I'm so glad you did, pumpkin," he said. I heard what sounded like an engine and felt a sliver of relief. He was coming. "Look after our patient. Make sure she's doing alright until we get there, ok?" I nodded before I realized he couldn't see me, and then I told him I would. I couldn't take the phone with me though, I thought as I hung up, but he was coming. He was coming to save—

"You stupid whore."