Wingless

14. The Break-Out

"You never touched me," I said simply. Kelsie turned her head to look at me as if I were the one who should have a cot in Shady Oaks. "If I mean you any harm. Your hands would hurt me, would they not? On instinct. Touch me, and see that I mean you no harm. That Fismuth is pure."

I could see her face then and I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to stop looking at it. It was so interesting. She had an oval-shaped face with large, wide set eyes. Though everything else I saw was in dull shades of ash, I could see her clear brown eyes. They had specks of golden honey towards the pupil in no special order. Her eyes were perfectly framed with dark, long lashes.

And that was where the perfection ended. Her top lip was fuller than the bottom and her nose was long and straight but plump at the end. Her cheekbones were unnaturally strong, and her eyebrows were slanted downward almost as if she were permanently sad.

"My mom and dad... They were too scared to touch me after a while. Then the doctors. Then the orderlies and the nurses," Kelsie confided before she swallowed harshly. "I haven't been touched by anyone in almost two years."

I crumbled under her stare. I shook my head. "No," I whispered, thinking about what my life would have been like without Tane's reassuring, soft touch. "That, Kelsie, that is not right."

She sucked in her breath as if she could keep herself together that way. I lifted a hand and let it hover just above her skin. With the back of my knuckles, I grazed her cheekbone upward toward her hairline. Back and forth, slowly and softly, over and over, until she unleashed a massive sob and fell against me. I threaded my fingers into her hair and held her head against my chest as she cried.

The weakness she showed was a product of years without Fismuth's Prestigious training. She would learn. For the time being, I allowed her to cry. She kept her hands in her lap (away from me) as I stroked her hair and wrapped an arm around her to steady her.

Kelsie shook her head after a few minutes. "It's all right," I said, "Touch me." She hesitated, so I gently wrapped my fingers around her wrist and pulled it up to my chest. "See?" I coaxed, still smoothing her hair. "I will not hurt you. And you will not hurt me."

Kelsie was still for a long moment as I let her feel the beating of my heart. Then she threw herself against me in a forceful attack of affection. I froze. I remembered this from my life on Earth. Both of her arms wrapped tightly around my neck, her head tucked into my neck, her body pressed against mine. What was this called?

"A hug," she whispered, her voice muffled against my skin.

A hug, I repeated in my mind. I mimicked the motion, pulling her close and settling my chin on her shoulder. She was almost warm to me. I liked this 'hug' almost as much as I liked gum. I wanted to try it with Tane.

"It's time," Tane said from outside the door. "Charlie and Dethany are ready." I nodded and pulled Kelsie up with me.

"Come with us. We will protect you," I promised, vowing Tane's allegiance as well. Kelsie looked up at me and then to the tear-stained places on the t-shirt that I'd borrowed from Charlie. She nodded. I took her hand and braced myself.

“Tane, are you ready?” I asked, carting Kelsie behind me. Tane nodded and we glanced at each other, connecting more in that second than I had those five minutes with Kelsie. She and I were a good team. The only team I wanted to be on. “Charlie and Dethany, are they outside?” Again, Tane nodded, and we began walking back to the recreational area for the second floor patients.

There were two orderlies. No doctors. No nurses. And fourteen disturbed souls. “Remember what I taught you,” I began, looking at Tane, “Listen inside and breathe. Always breathe.”