Captured (A Modern Medusa Story)

CHAPTER 12: PHOEBE💙

It was her.

She was the one who saved me that night . . . right? I didn't need someone to tell me it was her. I could sense it was her. And I was sure of it, as weird as it sounded. I trusted my instincts.

Wildflowers.

I could smell it off of her. And I was terrified.

The sounds I heard and everything I was picking up from my other senses that night were giving me the wrong vibe. Not like something was wrong, but something was . . . wrongly right?

I couldn't understand. It was hard to get it.

But I seriously wished I could see what had been going on or what the hell became of those men who had ganged up on me down that alleyway.

The hisses, and movements. The subtle roars of something I could neither name nor even try to name it. It still haunted my brain until this day.

What were those sounds? And where did she come from? How was she there? What did she do to them? What were the other voices that were talking to her? Or did I hear them wrong? Was she a part of the bad guys?

Could I really trust her?

And then there was yesterday . . .

She appeared out of nowhere and casually spoke to me before her friend came over and took her away.

I liked to hear the sound of her voice. It calmed my nerves and for a moment, my temper towards Noreen faded a notch. It was hard to get myself back home when I couldn't see anything, so I had to sit there and wait for my stupid fake best friend to come and get me.

I waited so long I thought she had finally dumped me. That she was finally letting me rot away and suffer the consequences of my disability. But no, she came over.

I didn't utter a word. She simply dragged me away in the same way I assumed Dativa dragged Miss wildflower away. Into her car we went, and she dropped me home in a haste. Noreen didn't say anything back to me either, making me annoyed even more because I knew she knew she did me wrong. Was an apology too much to ask?

Her ego was too big.

And I couldn't breathe around it. I had to lower and shrink myself to the size that fit her needs. All because I needed a friend? A friend that I bought?

Whenever she was around, I felt nauseated. I wished to get rid of her, more like to get rid of myself from her. But then again, how would I get to see Miss wildflowers again? I was just a friend escorting her friend to class, not like I had any other way to get close to the girl I liked. This place had no business for me. I was a home-scholar trying to get outside and live a life of a normal girl.

But I wasn't normal.

Well, not since those chemicals hit my eyes. Never since that incident.

Since then I had been a motherless blind person. What hurt most was that as much as I wished to be independent, I knew I could never be. Thanks to my mother, I have to spend my life depending on the world in order to make my way around. I couldn't do anything without people. No matter how deep I abhorred the thought, I needed people to live my life.

I could never be self-reliant.

My life was at the hands of whoever was guiding me. And I couldn't even figure out who to trust. Heck, I had no one to trust.

I let them drive me all into the darkness because that's what they wanted to do. I had no one but myself.

Miss Halima was the only sweet person around, but again, she was just a handmaid. A woman doing her job. Despite the unconditional love she gave me and the countless times she assured me that she loved me as a daughter, I couldn't help but be terrified because she could simply be doing her job. Papa paid her to take care of me . . . Would she still love me and treat me like her daughter if nothing was transferred into her bank account?

I sighed, turning to the other side of the bed and drowning in my abyss of thoughts.

"Darling?"

Speak of the devil.

My stress melted into the air when I heard the woman's voice.

I smiled, sitting up as I heard her gentle footsteps get into the room and head to my table.

"Miss Halima, I missed you!"

I couldn't hold myself back. Once the familiar sound of a tray being set on the table passed, I got up and then we were tight in each other's arms.

I smiled.

"My beautiful beautiful girl," she chuckled, patting my head. "You always miss me, don't you?"

Was there anything to do apart from missing her? Her presence was my solace.

"How are you?" She asked once we let go.

"Good, I guess," I shrugged.

"You guess?" I could also guess she was raising a brow when she asked that.

"Nory pissed me off yesterday," I confessed.

Miss Halima laughed before taking my hand and guiding me to sit in a chair.

"Before you drain your energy complaining about that worthless bitch, how about dinner?"

"Okay," she was the only adult I knew that talked like that and it made me feel good. "What's there?"

"Your favorites, chicken noodles and a very colorful fruit salad." I could tell she was smiling. "Made by me."

"Thank you so much, Miss Halima." I smiled back, reaching for the fork that I knew was there, and dug in.

It was in one of these moments when people doubted if I was really blind. The way I moved and did things with absolute surety.

Little did they know, I was just like a programmed robot. I lived my life in a set of patterned schedules for so long that I had become fluent with my actions and responses. I knew the exact location of my things and ensured that they were always in place. My shoes, my clothes, the doormat–Name a thing and I could point it out for you. I had automatically crammed them, thanks to repeating the same stuff every day.

I didn't need anyone to show me where the sink was or where I could find my lotion. Everything was located in a permanent place. It was a blind people thing; I guess. And if I couldn't find something where it usually was, then I knew something was wrong. It was also easier to sense danger that way.

Though the world danger resonated so well with my father's personality. He was the only one who could barge into my room unnoticed. He was danger.

I wished wildflowers could protect me from him, too. He was more ruthless than late night gangsters in the alleyway.

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me- *compliments someone that they smell like wildflowers🤗*

Also me having no idea what wildflowers smell like👻