One New Message (Random Updates)

Chapter 18

1 Year and Half Ago

Jade took a deep breath and looked around her new room in the women's center. She let out a shaky breath and wrapped her arms around herself. Feeling the plastic bracelets around her wrist press into her skin she closed her eyes, "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay," she whispered to herself. "This is okay."

"Jade?"

Jade opened her eyes and turned around to face the woman standing in the doorway. "Yes?"

The elderly lady smiled softly, "I'm glad the hospital finally released you. Did you have trouble finding us? Are you ready to come see the rest of the place?"

Jade looked around the room that only contained a bed and nodded, "I think so."

The woman nodded, "How about I just show you one room and then we try from there?" Jade nodded and walked over to her. "Do you want me to remove those hospital bracelets?" Jade nodded again and the woman pulled out a small pair of scissors from her pocket and clipped the bracelets off before pocketing the bracelets and scissors. "I'm Miss Elizabeth and my partner Sandy is finding some clothes that will hopefully fit you. She will bring you some later tonight for you to try on."

"Thank you," Jade whispered as she followed Miss Elizabeth out of the room.

"Was it hard finding us?" Miss Elizabeth asked and Jade shook her head. "I must admit you are the youngest girl here Jade besides the moms with their children. We haven't had an 18 year old with us yet, I won't ask you to tell me your story just yet but I hope you know that when you are ready you can talk to me or Sandy. We don't judge and we have seen a lot in our six decades of being together, I doubt anything will surprise us." Miss Elizabeth turned to face Jade and put a hand on her arm, "We are here for you Jade."

Jade blinked back tears and nodded before looking down at her hands that were hidden in her crossed arms, "Thank you."

"Come on, I hear teenagers like electronics so I think you will like the media room," Miss Elizabeth said as she patted her arm then turned back to the hall.

Jade followed her into a small room that held five desktop computers. "You wanna play games with me?" A little girl around the age of ten asked as she spun circles in the chair she was sitting in. "I can show you some fun games."

Jade smiled, "That sounds like fun."

Miss Elizabeth smiled and left the room. Jade sat down in front of the computer next to the little girl who smiled happily, "I'm Brittany."

"I'm Jade."

"My Mom and I are here because my dad is mean," Amy said as she clicked on a button that brought up a bunch of games.

"My parents are mean too," Jade whispered to Amy. "How do you play this?"

"You have to pop all the balloons," Amy explained, "but you can only pop the same color and they have to be three or more or they won't pop."

"Ohhhh," Jade said as she listened to Amy give her tips on how to play.

An hour later there was a knock on the wall, Jade and Amy turned around to see another elderly lady standing there with a smile, "Jade? I'm Miss Sandy, do you want to see if these clothes fit you?"

"Okay," Jade said nodded. She looked back at Brittany, "Thank you for letting me play games with you."

"See you at dinner," Brittany called out as Jade followed Sandy back to her room.

Jade saw three leggings on her bed and three shirts. "I'll wait in the hall while you try them on," Sandy said as she also held out a bag, "undergarments."

The days turned into weeks and then a few months had passed. Before Jade knew it Brittany and her mom were leaving the center to start over in another town. While Jade was sad, she was also happy for them. She sat down in front of the computer and sighed as she logged onto the gaming website that was becoming her favorite.

Clicking on her favorite scrabble game she sighed as it found a new player for her to compete against. "Spyrohacker914, that's interesting," she murmured to herself, "certainly is better than Dreamkitten I suppose."

The letters finally formed and she smirked when she looked at the letters. Spelling out 'demon' she hit play and sighed. Frowning when she saw the chat ping, she bit her lower lip and clicked on it. Good first word. Definitely better than my word of home.

Jade chuckled and replied Only got to form it because of your M so thanks

They played for a couple more minutes and then she saw another message waiting for her. You are great at this game, have you played on this site before?

A bit yeah, you?

A while, so I'm surprised I haven't played against you before. Since the game is almost over, do you want to join the chat I'm in so we can talk some more? No pressure.

Jade thought for a moment then shrugged, Sure why not.

Awesome, it's for 90s kids to just talk about whatever. I must admit I'm excited to keep talking to you.

She was surprised to find herself looking forward to continuing talking to this person as well. He sent her the name of the chat and she quickly found it.

Hi, she typed in the chat bar and hit enter. A few seconds later she saw that SpyroHacker was typing.

Hey DreamKitten, so what's your favorite 90's cartoon?

She thought for a moment trying to remember the last time she actually got to watch cartoons. Scooby Doo or CatDog or Courage the Cowardly Dog, idk it just depends sometimes.

Cool, fav color? Mines yellow

Depends on my mood.

Oh, intriguing, I like it lol. Is it too personal to ask what state you're in? I'm in Texas at Charleston Academy University, I'm working on a degree in computers and coding.

Wow, I actually just got accepted into CAU, I start this upcoming term, so I'll be a freshman.

Seriously? Wow, welcome to CAU. What will your degree be? Maybe we can meet up and I can show you around with some of my friends.

Maybe

Can I create a private chat for us so I can tell you more about CAU and we can talk more? I really would like to be your friend.

Jade stared at the message and her breath caught. She looked down at her hands and then back at the computer. Okay.