Experiment Number One (Slow Updates)

Chapter Five

She called my mom and brought her in that day for a meeting. I was telling her what happened to me every time she left the house, sometimes multiple times a day, and she and my teacher were crying. They kept wiping their eyes and hugging me. My teacher brought me to her house and I stayed the night there. When I went home after school the next day, my dad was gone and our house was trashed. My mom said he wouldn't come back and I found her crying all the time." Adri and I both took ragged breaths, trying to calm ourselves down.

"I was afraid that kind of thing would happen to me when they took me. I was only fourteen. I was surprised when Doctor Love treated me nicely for the first few months. I wasn't being hurt or anything and they all treated me like I was their daughter. Being kidnapped still sucked, but I knew a lot of people had it worse," I said. "Years before either of you came, I was hurt for the first time in my life. Love asked me to do something and I wasn't fast enough for him, so he slapped me.

"There was a red mark of my cheek that stung and bruised over. I thought it was my fault. Afterwards, he slapped me and kicked me over and over whenever I did something wrong. He stopped when you came though. And then we got Jace. I was sure he wouldn't do anything like that again since he had stopped once you came. But then he brought us all into that room. My nightmare was brought back, and I thought it wouldn't end again," I said.

"No one has a perfect life," Adri said, as if coming to a conclusion, not judging me.

For a while longer, we sat like that, with Adri's head on my shoulder. Eventually though, she curled up on the ground with her head in my lap. She'd been asleep for about an hour when Jace rounded the corner.

My eyes were flickering and I was on the verge of sleep, my ears tuned to the silence. I immediately heard his heavy footsteps and decided that there was nothing around me to defend myself with, not knowing who it was, so I just sat there, debating whether I should wake Adri up or not. Jace turned the corner, an old cloth potato sack in his hands. He looked like a built Santa Claus with the sack slung over his shoulder, bulging with food.

When I looked from him to the bag several times, he said, "I know my way around." He sat across from me, crossing his legs. He set the bag in front of him and began pulling out fruits, vegetables, cans, and of course, potatoes.

I smiled at him. Now we don't have to worry about food for a while. That's a little less stress on all of our backs.

"So, I think I know where I live from here. I wasn't in this area often but I know where I lived. If we went to my house, you guys could see if things started getting more familiar. Yeah, it's probably a little more worn down than what you both remember, but it shouldn't be terribly different. It's a start, right?" I nodded and shook Adri awake.

"Do you think you'd be able to sleep if you tried?" I asked Jace. I knew I couldn't. He shook his head. "Ok then. It's time to go, I guess."

With that, we began walking. I was nervous because my wings were out in the open, but there was no one to be seen. Adri and I had no sense of direction or a clue where we were going, so we were glad Jace knew where he was going. We walked for a few hours, turning corners once in a while, and then stopped to eat dinner. The sun was setting, the sky turning a darker grey, and we needed to get to a safe place to sleep. Jace knew of a park where hardly anyone slept and we were planning on going there.

As night fell, I became more comfortable. It would be harder for anyone to notice my wings now.

Nighttime seemed to be the time when everyone came out. People filled the streets, opened stores and shops, and everyone woke up. No matter how I looked at it, this didn't seem like my home. Where I lived, people were awake during the daytime. Stores and shops closed at night and people didn't visit each other at night. In fact, it was frowned upon to call or visit someone at night because most people were sleeping.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm super tired," Adri said. She yawned as if to make her point.

"I agree," I said. Jace nodded at us and pointed to a park down the street.

"That's where we can sleep tonight." We kept walking until we found a nice spot that was mostly flat. Jace walked off to see if he knew anyone, and if they could lend us some blankets, while Adri and I laid down and tried to sleep. Almost instantly, Adrianna was sleeping and she snored. I quietly laughed.

I laid down my head and focused on the blackness behind my eyes. Finally, I fell asleep. 

I could feel myself waking up but I just wanted to sleep longer. I moved closer to the warm figure next to me and pulled the blanket tighter around my body. Wait, warm figure next to me? My eyes jerked open completely and I was temporarily blinded by the bright light all around me. In front of my eyes was the chest of a very beefed up guy who was rhythmically breathing in and out. His chin rested on my head and his arm was draped over my waist.  

I gently maneuvered my head up to look at his face. It was just Jace. I let out the breath I'd been holding in and took in my surroundings. Jace has gotten us our blankets and Adri laid six inches away from me. She was still in a deep sleep, though her face was splotched red and her breathing was irregular. If I had to guess, she'd woken up and had been crying for a while. Maybe because she'd remembered the conversation we had yesterday. 

Around the park, which was somewhat small, several people were asleep and a few were setting up their blankets. Everything around here was really strange. These people looked drunk. At least, that's what I assumed drunken people looked like. Where I came from, people rarely drank and when they did, it was a glass of wine and nothing more.

I sat up and the motion made Jace's eyes open. He squinted and focused on me for a moment. 

"Eno? What's wrong?" I smiled down at him.

"Nothing. I'm fine. I think I'm ready to go though, if you are." I let him wake up a little bit more, not urging him to answer.

"Yeah, it's about time." I nodded and leaned towards Adri. I gently shook her shoulder and waited for her to open her eyes. Suddenly, I became very conscious of our hospital clothes, and hoped Jace's house wasn't very far away.

"Hey there, sleepy head. We're thinking it's about time for us to get a move on," I said.

"What? Why do you have to wake me up, Lisa?" She asked. I remembered my conclusion that she'd been crying and my heart sunk a little bit. But I kept myself perky so she wouldn't have to remember. 

"Well, I want to go home, so I want to get out of here."

I stood up and Jace did too. I stretched my body and cracked my back and knuckles, only to be turned around and pulled into an intense lip-lock. Jace didn't slide his tongue across my lips this time, not knowing if I would be ready so soon, but he did hold my lower back and keep me close to him. When we stopped, I kept my eyes closed and just rested my head on his shoulder with my arms hanging loosely around his neck. Adri stood up from her spot and sloppily folded up all the blankets.

"Jace, where should we drop these off?" she asked. We pulled away from each other and locked our hands. 

"Well, I borrowed them from an old friend. He said he'd be home and we could drop them off there. I didn't want to intrude, that's the only reason that we slept out here. Plus, you girls were already asleep," Jace said, smirking. 

"Well let's return these blankets and get you back home, Jace." With that, we started walking again.