Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Chapter Five

Isaac "The dentist" Ventura 

She's in shock. She went from letting out a little laugh, to staring intro the corner of the room with tears rolling down her cheeks. She's very quiet, trying to hold herself together. I'm impressed, but not really sure why. I usually find joy in the misery of others, and so do my fellow brothers in crime, but I feel something stirring inside me at the sound of her meltdown. Nico's jaw is tense and Malcolm looks uncomfortable as well, and not just because of the inhumanely small chair. The four of us are not usually a quiet bunch, well, the three of us, Nico doesn't talk but his loud personality and uncontrolled facial expressions make up for it. But, ever since the eardrum shattering screams sounded from the girl from somewhere in this goddamn hole, the air has been growing suffocating little by little. It's almost a relief that she's back in this room.

They roughed her up quite a bit. She is fully drenched in what I assume is water. Her eyes are bloodshot, her arms are scraped from contact with the concrete floor, and she has handprints along them as well. The most protruding handprint is on her jaw. I'm almost praying in my mind for her teeth to be unscathed. She hasn't spoken a word to us yet, so I haven't been able to make a qualified observation about them yet.

We continue to say nothing. To be honest, I don't think any of us really know what to say to make her feel better. She eventually calms down and remove her hands from her face. She pulls her knees to her chest and rests her chin on them. The poor thing looks utterly exhausted, and it makes me want to put her in my pocket and keep her as a little pocket hamster.

"Are you feeling a little better now?" Malcolm asks her sending her a deadly smile. He should tone it down a little bit if he doesn't want to scare her half to death. I discreetly glance back at her, to see how she's going to respond to his question. She looks at him intently, as if trying to figure him out. Good luck with that, love, figuring Malcolm out is as easy as walking through a desert made of quicksand. She seems to come to a conclusion and gives him a little nod. She is shivering from being wet mixed with the chill of this dank room.

"Are you cold?" He asks her as well. She answers his question with another nod of her head. He glances at Nico and they share a look. He gestures towards the girl with his head, and Nico lifts himself off the floor to remove his suit jacket. Nico walks as close to the girl as the shackle allows him to and holds out the jacket to her. She looks hesitant to take it, but the sound of her teeth clattering seems to make up her mind. She slowly reaches her shaking hand out to grab it and sends Nico a tight smile in thanks. He returns her smile with one just as tight. Maybe they're communicating telepathically? Nico returns to his previous spot. The girl doesn't put on the jacket right away, she looks like she is struggling with a dilemma, probably debating on whether she should remove her drenched shirt or not, so I decide to make her decision a bit easier.

"You should remove your shirt and leave it to dry, it'll get you warmer faster without it on underneath the jacket." She shoots me a quick nod, as if I just confirmed her already existing plan. "We'll give you some privacy, right guys?" I look at the guys, who either nod or grunt in confirmation. Nico, Damiano and I avert our eyes while Malcolm closes his. I hear a bit of movement, and the fabric of the jacket being pulled on. Malcolm opens one eye at a time to see if she protests, but she doesn't. She is keeping the jacket wrapped tightly around herself. Her eyes are tearing up a bit again, but this time she keeps the tears at bay.

"Thank you." She whispers almost inaudibly, we definitely would have missed it if it wasn't so quiet in here, and I wasn't already looking at her. I got a small glance at her teeth, making me smile big. They are in fact still intact.

"Don't mention it." Malcolm responds. Nico sends her another nod. It gets quiet again, and I decide it's time for an icebreaker.

"So, what toothpaste do you use?"