New Wings

Chapter 14

~One Week Later~

Cress-

There comes a point where you're too tired, too numb from the shock to focus on the present. Do you ever get that feeling? They say it's called getting the mean reds. Not the blues, like when it's been raining too long, because that's just being sad. No, it's the ugly reds-and they're downright horrible. Some people are lucky enough that they never have to feel that. They never reach the point where you realize you are incapable of contributing anything to the world. All you seem to be able to do is sit, with eyes wide open, as your mind floods with memories.

She was tied to the plush velvet seat, cozied up in their own special, premier first class compartment as the train barreled and hissed its way along the tracks. The Le Courtiers were just behind her, watching to window in the door. She was out of view from a single passenger. At that moment she ceased to exist.

The last few days had been just as empty, just as unfeeling. In the beginning, the first night away from Thorne, she had cried so hard they were forced to gag her to make the hotel manager stop knocking on their door. His kiss burned through her, along with his betrayal. It was still impossible to understand. Cress feverishly ran through their weeks together, desperately trying to figure out if her captors were lying. They had to be, it was a habit for them now. But...if that was true, and it had all been to hurt her...why hadn't Her Thorne fought for her? Why hadn't he cried out and comforted her, telling her like he had moments before that everything was going to be okay? Why hadn't he acted the way he had when she thought they actually had a chance together?

But he wasn't hers, was he. He was just a boy who'd bought her a train ticket.

He was just a boy who'd lied.

Just a boy who'd pretended to care.

A boy who'd stolen her first, and second, and third kiss.

Her heart began to physically convulse around 11 at night. It had been so painful she lost control of everything else in an attempt to end it. She'd thrashed and flailed until her wound tore so badly, Mr. Le Courtier had to call in the family doctor and bribe him to keep quiet as he stitched up the wound. Cress had hoped for a moment it was out of concern, but deep down she knew better. They couldn't be seen with someone as brutally damaged as her. That was why they were together in the first place. So she waited until the doctor showed up before panic arrived again.

Cress hadn't known agony before the alcohol hit her ripped stomach. Everything from that night was nothing but a blur, needles and blood and the doctor's sweat. They made sure she was alright by forcing her to stand, which is when they found out about the crushed ankle. The doctor was so appalled he didn't accept the payment for the operation. Apparently the ankle bone itself was nothing but bone fragments, and healing would take years, if ever. She had been tempted to tell him the truth; it didn't matter if she could walk, because she wouldn't have a need to breathe soon enough. Cress didn't feel like confusing him any more than he already was, so she kept quiet. Eventually her body gave up. She didn't wake up for two days.

When she finally did wake up around noon on Thursday, still somehow exhausted and about ten pounds thinner, Cress found herself dressed in a tight mahogany gown, a thick bandage around her middle and chest to hide the fact that she was really nothing but a skeleton now. Her constantly freezing feet were wrapped in pointed, shiny boots. They made her want to gag. Images of the newsies, starving with nothing but rags and cotton to keep them from dying. Children who were happy and grateful for anything they could get their hands on. Her family.

And here she was, the girl with the prettiest handcuffs. That's really all these accessories were.

Her hair had been washed and combed, (by an assistant of course) and hidden under a heavy wig of straight brown locks that hung down her back. A lipstick and rouge had been applied, along with a foundation that covered the scratches and made her cheeks look rosy instead of hollow.