Some Thing Called Myself (Complete)

LI: Something Painful

Ch. 51: Something Painful

Mimi walked away from the door and continued across the corridor without any hesitation. She was walking fast, the pistons in her prosthetic legs popping and hissing with a buzzing sound Mara had never heard from them before. The rhythmic bang-bzzz-tsss of Mimi's steps worked like a trail of breadcrumbs, echoing up while the woman went down the stairs.

"Mimi, wait!" Mara called. She closed the door to Jano's office and raced after her, trying to balance the block of paper, the paint, and the different brushes she'd decided to take.

On the last step to the closest landing, one of the cans slipped from Mara's arms and went down on the metal like a guillotine on a royal neck. The can bounced on the next flight of stairs, and for each bang it made, a scream it caused, and a new door would open. Sents, adults, and children popped their heads out of their doors or jumped outside, already armed and ready for combat.

They all looked so scared. So worried. So tired.

"What the fuck, Mariana," Mimi said between teeth. She finished climbing up the final steps toward Mara, holding a dented can of paint. "Do you want to give us a heart attack?" Mimi, too, was on edge, and she'd been like that for a while. The way she spoke and walked and dressed, every day with more and more metal clasping her body, wasn't a good sign. It was almost as if she was getting ready for war.

"It was an accident, all right?" Mara shook the bitter feeling growing in the left side of her chest and reached for the can of paint as best as she could.

Mimi scoffed. Her voice was a quiet whisper when she said, "I'll take these. Let's just go. Please." She took a few more cans of paint and turned around. "Things were already bad when I left, and I had to search for you everywhere cause you seem to ignore your damned pager."

Mara grimaced. "I'm sorry. I forgot it in the dorms—left in a rush this morning."

"Yeah, well," Mimi continued in a cold voice, "I just meant I've been away for too long, so there's at least an eighty percent chance that one or more members of our squad will be dead once we get in the dens."

Mara took advantage of her proximity to look at Mimi's left leg. There was a hollow in the casing around the hydraulic joint, and it made the thing jerk with each step, putting even more pressure on the leg's clasp on Mimi's thigh. When Mimi raised the corner of her shorts for a massage, she revealed a dark bruise under one of the fasteners.

"Shit, Mimi. That looks bad."

"It's more than bad." Mimi paused to lean on the wall of the second floor and hissed. She placed the cans of paint on the floor. As much as she tried to school her grimace, the pain was still clear on her face. "It's damned hell, Mariana. They hadn't fought like this since you died. Shoving blame around, saying stupid shit to each other, acting like damned dogs."

"I was talking about your leg, but a fight sounds awful too."

Mimi raised a surprised pair of eyes to Mara. She cleared her throat and tugged at the jeans shorts to hide the bruise. Mimi's skin was a warm shade of light brown, so the blush was clear on her cheeks.

"I just need some time with it in my dorm; I can fix it—but some time doesn't seem like something we'll have for a while." She straightened, not even flinching when she stomped her left foot. "I guess we're all in deep shit anyway." She looked at Mara and huffed. "Or most of us, at least. Most of us aren't chilling in Jano's office painting pictures for an election that shouldn't be happening."

"I—" Mara snapped her jaw shut and forced a smile. Of course Mimi would think that; she'd been in Elena's pocket from the beginning. "I'm pretty sure things will get better soon."