Breaking the Silence

Fourteen

The next time I woke, I was alone. My only company being the steady beeping of the heart monitor.

I blinked to clear my eyes and sat up. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt that time. I scanned myself over and found an IV in my right arm, a clear-ish liquid flowed through it. That must've been what was stopping my pain.

I was also covered in bandages. One was around a cut on my leg and when I lifted my shirt a little, I found out wrapped around my mid-section. Band-Aids covered the smaller cuts on my arms, legs, and face.

Though I remember a lot of that process. After my tears dried, Holly took me for an X-ray of basically my whole body and then she started wrapping me up. My left arm had a hard cast that went from my thumb to my elbow and was dyed purple. Holly added a little heart on it in sharpie and seeing it now lifted my mood and brought a hint of a smile to my face.

I leaned against the wall and brought my knees to my chest. I thought about Jack finding out I was gone, that I never came home from school. The image brought a shudder down my spine to my toes. I shake the fear from my mind. I'm here now, away from him, with those that I might be able to call my friends. I'm safe right now, and that's what should matter.

As if my thoughts had summoned them, Holly and Scary Guy appeared from down the hall. On instinct, I shrunk back, not wanting to see anyone at the moment. I just wanted peace with my thoughts now that I was awake.

It wasn't until they stopped at the foot of the bed that I noticed a third person with them: Evangeline.

She gave me a small wave and I returned it with a small smile. I hadn't seen her since my meltdown in the bathroom at the beginning of the week.

She slowly walked around the side of the bed and sat down facing me. I held her gaze the entire time, and didn't drop it when she carefully reached out and grabbed my hand. I let her, thankful for the gesture.

"Eirenae, can you tell us what happened to you? I promise we only want to help you. Whoever did this to you, we won't make you go back there." Eva said softly.

I sighed. I definitely wasn't comfortable using my voice. Not yet, and possibly not ever. But I trusted Eva and I knew what she said was the truth.

My eyes flicked over to the doctor and Scary Guy, a question in them. Eva picked up on it and smiled. "They don't have to be here if you don't want them to be."

I shook my head, telling her I didn't want them there. But I almost took it back when I saw Scary Guy's face fall.

I looked at Eva, trying to figure out how to communicate with her. I was wondering where Jaycee was. I think I trusted her as well, she was just a little bit wilder. After a few moments, I decided to use my hands to sign sister, hoping she'd understand.

Surprisingly, she did. "Sister?" I nodded and pointed to her. "Oh, my sister? Holly, will you go get Jaycee?" She looked back at me, "Sydney?" I shook my head, she wasn't particularly that friendly all the time.

Holly dragged Scary Guy away and they disappeared around the corner. When they were gone, Eva took my hand again. "Jaycee will be here in a minute. Are you going to tell us what happened? You can sign to us if you want, I know."

I shook my head. I didn't really know sign language, just bits and pieces and random words I've picked up over the years. I lifted my hand and used my other hand to "draw" on my palm.

"You want to write?" I nodded and she jumped up, startling me a little. She mumbled an apology and began searching for a notepad. She gave a shout of victory when she found one, making me flinch.

She sat back down and handed it to me. A moment later, Jaycee walked up to us.

"Hey guys. Can I sit?" I nodded and she plopped down on the other side of the bed as her sister. "Are you feeling better, Eirenae?" I shrugged, the pain meds stopped me from feeling anything. "Are you going to talk to us?" I shook my head and held up the pad and pen. She nodded in understanding.

"What's your favorite color?" Eva started randomly and I almost laughed at how simple that was. But I was glad it was the easy stuff. I wrote down: Aqua-Marine

Jaycee clapped her hands together. "Ooh! I love that color! Mine's personally purple though."

Eva nodded. "Mine's dark blue. What about food?"

"Hey!" Jaycee interrupted, "let me ask some!"

And that's how it went for a while. They would call out random questions and I would write simple answers. I noticed the questions got deeper, though, more personal and less random. When they started asking about my family, I froze up, not knowing what to tell them.

"So, you live with your dad, right?" I nodded, looking down. "Is your mom living with you guys too?"

I blinked back tears and shook my head. It took a lot of effort to write down: Gone.

Jaycee sucked in a breath. "Gone? As in... passed away?"  I nodded and she reached out to give me a hug. "I'm so sorry, Eirenae! That must've been hard."

I nodded and was about to write something down when I remembered something. My box!

It was still at Jack's, I'd taken it out of my backpack because I didn't want to carry it around with me at school. But this meant Jack could've found it, which would result in all my photos would be gone. And the letter and the necklace.

I had to get the box back! I just didn't know how.

I ignored Eva's question and dropped my notepad. The sisters stared at me, confused, as I ripped the IV out for the second time and stood up.

"Eirenae!" Jaycee cried, standing up as well, looking ready to catch me if I fell. Eva stood up as well, concerned.

I ignored them and climbed over the bed next to mine to get passed Jaycee and ran down the hall, the opposite direction as last time. I went the same way I'd seen Holly and the boy disappear to until I came to a set of doors.

I blocked out Jaycee and Eva's calls for me and swung the doors open, to find a lobby of some sort. I rushed passed the chairs, the front desk, and a couple of nurses, ignoring everyone shouting after me. One thing was on my mind: I had to get out of here. I had to get my box before Jack found it.