Bars and White

Chapter Four

I woke up in a cold sweat. I looked around frantically trying to figure out what exactly had happened. My arms and legs showed no signs of new cuts and bruises which was a huge surprise.

Suddenly, everything from the day before flooded back to me and I shivered from the memory of that horrible laugh. It was so odd that the monster hadn't emerged last night and I suppose it had something to do with that girl.

It didn't matter anyways though. She wasn't coming back. It was clear I wasn't going to pay any attention to her since she clearly wasn't wanted. Also, she would never get past the guards again. I had no idea how she did it the first time. I was glad though because I never wanted to see her again. I didn't like her presence and the aura that she gave off. It made me want to get as far away as possible and I had no idea why.

That day, I had seriously underestimated the skills of that girl. And the stupidity of the guards. Because whaddaya know? Just a few minutes after the bell rang, I smelt her. Yes I smelt her. Her scent wasn't sweet like strawberries or a certain someone. Yes, it definitely wasn't pleasant. I didn't like it one bit. But of course it wasn't bad. It wasn't as if she had bad hygiene or anything. She just smelled sad. Very sad. And I didn't like it one bit. Because it made me sad.

Either way, it wasn't long before the familiar pink hair popped up through the corridor and once again I was staring into those haunting yellow eyes. Today she was smiling like crazy and I didn't like it one bit. She looked so sinister and evil as if she was secretly plotting to murder me. I mean for all I knew she could be.

Either way she came and sat down in the same spot she did yesterday. I half expected her to start laughing hysterically again and prepared myself for the worst. But nothing really happened. She took out a small iPod and earphones which surprised me. My mind had been running like crazy and I forgot for a moment that this was probably just some regular girl. HA! As if! No regular girl comes to a prison with pink hair and crazy yellow eyes. Back to that, what was she doing here and how did she get in ... again?! She completely puzzled the hell out of me and she had only been here for a few minutes.

The girl sat there peacefully, listening to god knows what for god knows how long. I took the time to observe her. The hate from the day before hadn't gone away and I was just trying to find every possible thing that was wrong with her. For instance, the color of her iPod was just putrid. It was bright pink just like her hair and looking at it made me want to puke my guts out. My eyes traveled up the white apple earphones to the little button allowing volume adjustment and pause and play. It sparked a small pain in my chest as my eyes zeroed in on the minus sign.

It was a rainy day. Weird things always seemed to happen on rainy days. We were sitting together on a small park bench already soaked to the core. She took out her earphones and offered one to me. One of the buttons on the little rectangle was broken so you could only raise the volume and not lower it. She pressed play and sweet music flooded my ears. It was classic piano and something the old me would have hated. But at that moment, I love it. I scooted even closer to her. Unfortunately, I manage to crush that button between us until music was blasting through our ears at a very very painful volume. The pain was excruciating but none of us wanted to stop the beautiful song or take out the iPod and risk damaging it in the rain. It really was idiotic. But we sat there with winces on our faces as the rain didn't lighten up one bit.

I snapped out of my little daydream and came to my senses. The girl still sat there gently swaying to the music she listened to. Oh screw it! I hate... And then I realized that all I could do was hate. And hate. And hate. All of a sudden it was like I was looking myself from the outside of a little glass cage. Just a sad, pathetic excuse of a man hating on everything in the world. The sudden epiphany made me laugh. So I began to laugh. I laughed just as the girl had laughed the day before. I laugh until tears came to my eyes. Through those tears I saw the girl watching me. With pity in her eyes. Pity.

And the mere sight of her pitiful yellow eyes made me stop laughing. I started crying instead. I cried big fat wet tears. I cried an ocean. I don't know how long I cried for but if I was in the right mind I probably would have been so embarrassed. But I wasn't in the right mind. I was losing my mind. When I finally stopped crying, the girl was gone. But her iPod remained. I sat still for a long time. Once my tears dried the curiosity arose. I looked at the iPod. NO.

No. No. No. But yes. I timidly shuffled over to the bars and reached through. When my fingers grasped the cold plastic iPod, a jolt of melancholy rushed through me, causing me to drop it. My arm retracted quickly and I retreated back to my bed. All of a sudden I didn't really want to see that iPod. So I laid down and closed my eyes.

An hour later, I was sitting on my bed with the iPod in my hands and the earphones in securely. It took a few minutes of fumbling but eventually soft music began flooding through my ears.

And the coward he ran.

And in his arms is the bleeding

Love of his life.

And she cried,

"Kiss it all better,

I'm not ready to go.

It's not -

And then I ripped the earphones off and flung the iPod against the wall. Tears surfaced again and then it was replaced by rage. Red hot fury burned within me and all I could do was grind the bottom of my bare foot into the iPod. I didn't stop, even when the screen had shattered and the sharp pieces had dug themselves into my feet.

I went to sleep with bloody feet and the lyrics of that horrible song ringing in my mind.