At Odds

Luca

We waste the whole day away by hanging out. I mean I wouldn't necessarily call it a waste, it's always fun. Even when we do nothing. At first it was hard understanding her, and who she was. What it meant to be a dark soul. Everyone at my school had spread these stories of the horrible things they do, the type of people they are, but Edith isn't like that. She's just, Edith.

We didn't get along much in the beginning, I guess it's the competitiveness of being young. I wanted nothing to do with her, but that obviously changed. We were both getting bullied. I was picked on for being weak, smart, among other stuff. She wasn't picked on for beig a dark soul, Lucinda made sure to keep that a secret, but rather for being different.

She's never been great at expressing emotions, at least not any positive ones. She's very robotic. Even I thought she was weird for it. But then my father died. And for the first time in my life, I knew what it felt like to feel truly alone. Yes, I had my mother, but she was griefing, so it was almost as if I had lost her too. So then I decided that if I could help it, she wouldn't be alone.

I made an effort to get to know her, and regardless of our differences. Regardless of her personal struggle with socializing. We made it work.

When we get to the houses, my mom is standing on our porch waiting for us.

"Both of you, inside." She says in her serious voice. The one she used when grounding me. The one she used after me and Edith had tried running away. The one she used when I got into a fight with a girl at school for picking on Edith in middle school. The one she used when telling me about my father passing away.

I look over at Edith and I can see it, all over her face, one of the only emotions she's able to successfully show without a flaw, fear.

"Hey kids. Sit down." We find Lucinda in the living room. We both take a seat on a separate couch while my mother sits next to Lucinda. "The, um, the hospital called. And..." Tears fill her eyes and my mother places a hand on her back.

"John is out." My mother says.

"You're kidding, right? This is a joke?" I say, confused. She doesn't answer me. Instead she now fixes her eyes on Edith.

"I'm so sorry" She says in a soft voice and I suddenly feel sick.

"I thought he was locked away in prison. Why would they just let him out?" I raise my voice and my mother shoots me a warning look.

"Well, most evidence against him and the inhuman practices he was accused of burned with the lab. There wasn't much of a case, with the money and a good lawyer, he won the trial." There's a voice crack in her sentence and she puts a hand over her mouth, she closes her eyes to try and prevent more tears.

"The point is that he's out, which puts Edith in danger. He knows Lucinda made it out and who knows how long until he gets curious and wonders who else might have survived. Especially the one who caused it." My mother adds. I can't help but shake my head. The silence in the room grows as no one says a word.

I only know what Edith has told me. The things they did to her, the test she went through. The sick things the people did to her. We were kids when she first told me, so it didn't make sense then. But looking back on it now, I can feel my stomach turn in on itself and anger clouds my thoughts.

I notice Edith has been quiet, she's always quiet but after hearing something like this. She shouldn't be this quiet. Her face is blank, expressionless, and her hands in fists.

"Edith?" I say almost in a whisper. She doesn't move, as if not to register that I had called her name. I look down at her hands. Her knuckles are white, whiter than her already pale skin. And then I see it, the red liquid escaping through her fingers. "Edith!"

I take her hands and open them up, they reveal the fingernail cuts in her palms. She finally reacts with a gasp. I keep her hands in mine and my mother gets up to fetch the first aid kit. Lucinda gets up and moves to the spot next to Edith on the couch and rubs her back gently.

"Oh, honey."