Sapphire Bones

Scald

Updated: April 5, 2019

*Image above is of Mia*

A/N: Mia is Tyler's sister. She was recruited by the Council to work for them. 

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L

Dipped in hot water and allowed to soak, my naked body shivered as it sank into the deep tub. Every pore filled with steam, rinsing collected dirt and grime saved up over months of a dingy cell beneath the compound. I lay my head back against the porcelain side. Half of my matted hair drank up the water while my scalp remained dry and itchy. Not washed, the strands atop my head cried for a gentle scrub down with the thickest of shampoos. Slowly, I sank further, my back slid down the tub as far as my jaw. Further I fell until my nose, eyes, and the tip of my forehead went under. The hot water engulfed my body in an embrace tighter than anything a person offered. My eyes fluttered closed. I brushed my fingers through my hair, untangling each knot starting with the one's inches from the base of my scalp. I pulled at the hair, but the bouts of pain meant nothing more than nerve spasms underneath the follicles. I kept going, the knots growing stronger the further down I went through the long unkempt hair on my head. It'd been months since Peter put a pair of scissors to my hair. He cut it once every couple of months. He cited the possibility of a closer trial but after escaping and recapture, Peter's favorite pair of shears went unused and covered in dust.

The bath coated my skin in a rose flavored layer. The steam and bubbles that misted above the surface of the water were thick with wafts of the flower. Ever since I went blind, my nose took over as my sight. My nose allowed me to smell what others couldn't begin to imagine. Mia's skin, the way her pores were covered in a mellow lotion, scented with lemongrass and lavender. It wasn't the best of odors but my nose took worse in the past. Concrete below the tub with dried stains that still, with a strong enough whiff, smelled of prisoners' past. The pain and tears. Blood that dripped from their broken skin as they stepped into the same tub I lay in. All this in a single gulp of air through my nostrils. The hairs on my arms, despite being glued down by a layer of water, stood on end with goosebumps holding them up.

My lungs screamed the longer I kept my head under water. A few bubbles escaped my lips but I held under for a few more moments. The state between life and death sent euphoria through my head. A chance to see the last seconds of my life, or at least experience what a blade through the neck would take from me – I shot up and took a deep breath through my mouth but that wasn't enough. My lungs screeched for more air and I caved and allowed all entryways into my lungs to do their jobs. Water splashed over the sides of the tub, rocking like the ocean plagued by storms. I took my hands from the tips of my hair and replaced them back at the scalp. Water ran down my forehead toward my eyes and below. I wiped the droplets away, mouth wide open to get as much air as I could.

Once my chest was satisfied, I shifted toward where Mia sat quietly. She didn't move from the seat she pulled up next to the tub but instead kept a hand on the side in case I didn't come back up for air. Her lack of attention to my inability to capture breathe didn't faze me, but it clued me in on her mental state.

"How does the water feel?" Mia asked. Those were the first words she said since undressing me and helping me into the water. Afterward, she spared me any noise and allowed probably the final bit of solace I had in my last hours, to be in silence.

"Scalding," I answered. Not a twinge or stutter came out with the word. I grinned at my response, the confidence I ran through earlier returned but I didn't expel it so quickly this time. I found bursts of energy with Mia in the room. Her aura of calm sent chills through my bones that fueled my assurance.