The next few days passed in agony for all four roommates, Lisa, however, was taking everything worse than the three other girls. She'd just opened up and allowed herself to be close to Jennie, only for the smaller girl to be torn away from her. The impending thought that Jennie may end up in jail and never be able to come back home terrified Lisa.
In all of her years on earth, Lisa had never suffered a loss as great as this one. Sure, she'd lost her great aunt when she was 7 years old, but she didn't remember anything about the woman. Her mother had scolded her for picking flowers at the funeral instead of mourning along with her family, but Lisa couldn't bring herself to feel sad over the loss of someone she barely knew.
Now Jennie was another story. Lisa cared immensely about the younger girl. Granted, she used to hate her. But she found it impossible now, after learning about her. Lisa found it impossible to hate anyone once she figured out enough about them. Once she learned someone's true motives, it made it easier for her to sympathize with them.
She'd spent the rest of the weekend in bed. Her roommates would come in and check on her occasionally, but after she lashed out on them multiple times, they decided it was best to give the brown eyed girl her space.
It was only 11 PM on a Sunday night that Lisa realized she had classes the next day. Which meant she was supposed to turn in another one of her independent art projects. After considering skipping class, Lisa was eventually able to pry herself out of bed.
She flicked on the lights in her bedroom and searched her backpack for her materials. Her eyes scanned over the colors of paint she had to choose from, grimacing at all the bright vivid colors she'd brought home. Eventually, she shoved all but two tubes of paint back into her bag
Using the black and white paints, she mixed a variety of grays in her palette. Gray. Because without Jennie, everything seemed to lose it's color. Bright colors only reminded her of what she could possibly lose.
She began to search in her closet for a canvas, swearing that she had one stashed away somewhere. Her heart stopped when she found what she had been looking for. It looked a bit different than she'd expected though.
Instead of finding a blank white canvas, Lisa found a plain white canvas - covered
In Jennie's childish scribbles. She must have done this the morning she had colored in her sketchbook, as well. Feeling tears welling in her eyes, Lisa slammed the painting down on her easel and began to blindly slather paint over the colorful drawings, wanting to get them out of her sight as quick as possible.
A few minutes and a fit of tears later, Lisa looked down at her palette only to realize she'd used up all of her paint. Glancing back up at the canvas, she bit her lip when she realized just how thickly she'd layered the colors. Paint was dripping down the canvas, down the easel and leaving small specks on the floor.
Growing increasingly frustrated with herself. Lisa threw her paintbrush down and groaned. She trudged back over to her bed and crawled under the covers, curling up in the same spot where she'd spent the entire weekend.
There was knock at the door a few minutes later. When Lisa didn't acknowledge it. Somi let herself into the room. She raised an eyebrow at the painting before walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed.
"How're you feeling?"
Lisa sighed, sitting up and wiping her eyes. "Why can't we just go... I don't know, fucking steal her back and leave the country?"
" Cause then we'd all end up in jail, dumbass," Somi laughed softly. "It's getting late..."
"I know," Lisa glanced at the clock. I have class tomorrow. "You're going?"
The doe eyed girl nodded. No matter how much she wanted to miss class, she knew she needed some sort of distraction. Sitting around and allowing her thoughts to run freely was only making her feel worse.
"What do you think she's doing right now?" Lisa asked quietly after a few moments of silence. She saw Somi's face fall slightly and sighed. Neither of them liked the thought of Jennie in jail.
"From what I know, they're holding her in a cell until the trial," Somi ran a hand through her hair and glanced out the window. "And then.... depending on what happens in trial, y'know..
Lisa clenched her jaw and nodded. She knew. She'd thought about it for hours. "I better get some sleep," she said finally. deciding to not continue the conversation and work herself up even more. Somi nodded in understanding.
"We meet with the lawyer tomorrow," Somi reminded her, standing up from the bed. "We'll pick you up from class and we can drive there together?"
"Sure," Lisa sighed. "Night."
"It'll all work out somehow," Somi said quietly, giving Lisa a sad smile. The doe eyed girl just sighed and pulled the covers over herself. Somi slipped quietly out of the room.
Lisa tossed and turned, but finally ended up falling asleep, only to be woken up by the blaring noise of her alarm. Groaning, she sat up and stared at the wall, working up the willpower to get out of bed.
As she was washing her face, Rose appeared behind her in the mirror. She looked up, tilting her head to the side.
"Are you okay?" her roommate asked softly. Lisa splashed cold water on her face and nodded.
"Tired," she shrugged, drying off her face and dotting concealer under her eyes. "Thank god for makeup, right?"
Rose laughed softly. "Yeah, really." she bit her lip. "You sure you're alright? We meet with the lawyer today and I figured it might be hard for you.
"I'm fine, Rose" Lisa said firmly, not wanting her roommate to push the subject any further. She was trying her best to push any emotions out of her head. Luckily, Rose took the hint, giving her a sad smile before leaving her alone.
Once Lisa was dressed, she scanned her bedroom one last time. When she saw the painting she cringed. It would have to do, though. She had no time to throw together something else. Tucking it under her arm, she jogged out to her car, tossing it into the backseat carelessly.
She drove slowly to class, wanting to put it off for as long as possible. Lisa hadn't realized how much she needed Jennie in her life until she was gone. Jennie had brought color to her once dull skies. And now, the blue of the sky was slowly fading with each day of Jennie's absence.
Eventually, she ended up in the parking lot of her school. She parked, circling her car so she could grab her painting.
"Shit," she mumbled, noticing the chips of paint that had rubbed against the back of her seat. She picked up the canvas, turning it over and groaning when she saw the Small white spaces where the thick sections of dried paint had chipped off. Now, some of Jennie's childish scribbles were peeking through the black and gray coating.
She was too tired to try and think of a solution, so instead she tucked the painting under her arm and jogged inside to her classroom. Of course, she was late once again, and after apologizing a million times, she set her canvas in the back of the classroom and quietly took her seat.
Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Somi and Rose were cooped up in Somi's bedroom, hovering over her laptop.
"How can she not have any family?" Rose furrowed her eyebrows. They'd been trying to find someone who had connections to Jennie for the past hour, but they'd come up empty handed each time.
"I have no clue." Somi sighed, shoving the laptop off of her lap. "I give up."
"Hey, wait," Rose lay back on the bed and thought for a moment. "Didn't she always talk about how she was South Korean?"
"I remember that, yeah," Somi nodded and scooted back on the bed to join Rose. "Which means she might have family there, but..."
"They won't know her," Rose finished her sentence for her. "And they won't speak English." Both girls sighed in defeat.
"I can't imagine having no one,"
Rose said after a few minutes of silence between them. "That'd be... terrifying. I mean, the only person she had was a complete asshole."
"She have us," Somi lifted her head and sat up. "And Lisa."
"Lisa," Rose raised her eyebrows suggestively.
Somi rolled her eyes at Rose's playfulness and stood up, walking over to the window and staring at the city below them. "She's not taking it well. If Jennie has to leave.... y'know... she'll be crushed."
"She didn't know what she was getting into," Rose agreed.
Across the city, Lisa was just finishing her class. She practically ran to the door, but One of her classmates tapped her shoulder before she could leave and pointed to her teacher, who had been trying to get her attention. Lisa grimaced, dropping her shoulders in defeat and walking over to his desk.
"Your work this week is sure... different," Mr. Robertson began, setting her painting on the table. Lisa crinkled her nose, cursing herself for even turning it in. "You put a lot of emotion into this, yes?"
Lisa bit her lip and shrugged. "I guess."
"To me, this looks like a work of pure grief, Miss Manoban," he leaned over the painting and traced the colorful marker underneath the paint, Where Jennie had drawn.
Lisa clenched her fists. "It's none of your business, actually. All you're supposed to do is grade it," she snapped, feeling her blood boiling. She couldn't help it.
Her teacher lifted his head to look at her, surprised by her sudden outburst. Lisa held her breath. He just nodded towards the door, signaling that she could leave. Lisa practically sprinted out of the room. not wanting to get herself into any more trouble.
When she made it to the parking lot, she glanced around for Rose and Somi's car. All four roommates had agreed to drive to meet the lawyer together. In her backpack, Lisa clutched Jennie's journal close to her chest.
When she couldn't spot their car, she sat down on the curb and waited. Every time she was alone, Lisa's mind always seemed to wander to Jennie. What was the small girl doing at that very moment? What if she was hurt? Or sick? Or scared? Lisa bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut.
The familiar rumble of Somi's pickup truck beckoned in the distance. Lisa lifted her head, noticing her friends waiting for her at the back of the parking lot. Sighing she jogged over and slid into the backseat next to Jisoo who squeezed her hand supportively.
"Rose, it's a fucking left turn, look at the brochure," Somi leaned over from the drivers seat and fished a piece of paper out of the glove compartment, unfolding it and pointing to the small map.
"Dumbass, it's only a left turn if you hold it upside down," Rose flipped the paper around to prove Somi wrong. The girl huffed and turned the car right, speeding off down the road.
"Calm down up there," Jisoo huffed turning to Karina and rolling her eyes. They'd been on edge all day."
"Have not," Rose mumbled. "We're just nervous, that's all."
Lisa remained quiet while the girls bantered back and forth. Her mind was still on Jennie. Only a few days stood between them and the trial. And everything would become even realer the moment she set foot in the courtroom.
“Lis...?" Jisoo said quietly. Karina looked up.
"What?" she snapped. "You're crying...?"
"Oh," Lisa whispered, wiping her eyes and turning her head away from the other girls. "I'm fine."
None of the passengers in the car questioned her, knowing it would only make things worse. Rose and Somi continued to argue over the directions until they finally pulled up in front of the large building.
They walked in silence, and a few minutes later they found themselves seated in a small room around a table, sitting across from a small man with a briefcase. Lisa felt sick to her stomach. The reality of this was slowly sinking in.
"I guess we can get started then," he nodded once, pulling a stack of papers out from his briefcase and thumbing through them. "Jennie had to undergo a psychiatric evaluation as well as a medical evaluation," he started.
Lisa swallowed hard.
"Unfortunately, she wasn't very compliant," he continued, making Lisa's heart drop in her chest. "Looks like we've got enough information, though, if we combine everything with her previous medical records. I'm assuming you girls know about the accident Miss Kim was involved in?"
All of them nodded except for Lisa, who just sat frozen. He flipped through the papers and pulled out a pale yellow sheet, sliding it across the table for them to look at.
"That's the official accident report," he explained, placing two pictures on the table in front of them. Lisa felt her stomach flip and she had to turn away to compose herself for a moment. "Those were taken the day after the accident. You can see where her skull was fractured, which is where most of the damage to her brain was done."
Turning back slowly, Lisa studied the picture. Jennie was connected to a multitude of wires and machines. She was so small and vulnerable in the big hospital room. Lisa's hands shook and she had to shove the pictures back across the table for her own good. The other girls understood, just as shocked by them as she was.
"The trauma to her head was pretty severe." he continued, slipping the pictures back into his briefcase. Typically, a traumatic brain injury has cognitive, perceptual physical. and behavioral affects. All of which Miss Kim seems to be showing"
"Memory loss is evident, although it seems to be spotty in some cases. It's hard to identify the things she does remember, and the things she doesn't. She has trouble understanding others and processing her own information, as well as expressing her own thoughts, which is frustrating for her."
"But in her case, that doesn't seem to account for some of her.. problems, to put it lightly", he sighed and fished through his papers again, reading one of them for a few moments.
"A history of abuse is evident, yes?" he turned to them. All four girls nodded.
"Her uncle," Lisa spoke up for the first time. "It started in fifth grade."
He nodded and jotted something down. The other three girls looked at her, wondering how she knew the information. Lisa avoided their gazes and took a deep breath.
"At first we thought her brain injury may have triggered something called non-fluent aphasia, which would explain her trouble speaking in full sentences," he cleared his throat and scanned the papers once more. "Which might be the case, but there seems to be more."
"There's a long recovery period after Something as traumatic as a brain injury. Especially in Jennie's case, she would have to relearn a lot of things that she'd lost in the accident," he explained. "Unfortunately. the person she was living with at the time was not only abusive, but negligent."
"Her uncle wasn't a fit caretaker. Jennie didn't have any help in her recovery, which explains her... peculiar way of seeing things. Everything she knows she's most likely figured out on her own. With no socialization, this all can stunt her recovery. Are you following?"
Lisa clenched her hands into fists her blood was boiling with anger towards Jennie's uncle. She settled on nodding slowly and forcing herself to breathe deeply
"Now for her psych evaluation," he began, and Lisa's heart was beating rapidly. As if what she was already going through wasn't enough, there had to be even more. Jennie didn't deserve any of this.
The man slid another paper out of his binder and laid it on his desk. "She showed signs of Post Traumatic Disorder, most likely from the abuse that continued once she got home from the hospital."
"Basically, her brain is overwhelming itself. She already had damage done to her brain, So now having to process the abuse and any repressed memories is even harder for her than it would be for, say, me or you."
"This is so fucking stupid!" Lisa snapped, slamming her hands on the table and standing up. "I don't get why we have to sit here, while Jennie is out there, and we can't even help her!"
She felt a hand on her arm and looked over at Somi, giving her sympathetic look. No one seemed to be angry with her being upset, and Somi tugged on her arm to urge her to sit back down. Lisa sighed and slouched back into her seat.
"You don't happen to be the one she calls Lili, do you?" the man nodded to Lisa. The moment she heard the familiar nickname, the does eyed girl burst into tears. Her roommates immediately crowded around her to calm her down.
"I'm fine, guys, I'm fine," Lisa mumbled, wiping her eyes and sniffling. Truth is, she wasn't fine, but she could fake it for now. "I need to talk to him alone, I have..." she nodded towards her backpack. The girls understood, giving Lisa supportive smiles and slipping out of the room.
Once the door shut behind them, Lisa bent down and pulled Jennie's old journal out of her backpack, flipping it open and setting it on the table.
Lisa bit her lip and thought for a moment. "She brought this with her when she showed up at our door." She lied. She couldn't confess to breaking into the house.
"She wrote about her uncle in here," lisa said after taking a deep breath. The lawyer nodded, signifying to her that it was okay to go on. "She talks about how he... hit her, and at one point she says he threatened her with his gun, which I think could explain how she... you know."
Lisa passed the journal across the table for him to look at. She looked down at her hands in her lap, her anxiety growing by the second.
"Can I take pictures of these?" the lawyer asked, holding up a small digital camera. "This would serve as solid evidence in the courtroom." Lisa nodded softly, watching as he snapped a couple pictures of the pages, before passing the journal back across the table.
"I just wanted to brief you and your roommates on what we've concluded so far with Jennie," he explained, beginning to store the papers back in his briefcase. "We've got a solid argument, strong evidence, and proof of his abuse. I think we've got a pretty good chance."
Lisa took a deep breath and nodded. "Thank you," she said softly, holding Jennie's journal tight to her chest and heading out to meet the other girls in the lobby.