under my skin

1

    Eighteen months ago, Antigone Tahiri had been abducted and held hostage in a small room of a penthouse in downtown Gotham. Her captor was none other than the notorious Jerome Valeska, frontman of a band of psychopaths called the "Maniax". She had been chained up, locked away, and almost forgotten about by the authorities.

    Sixteen  months ago, Antigone Tahiri watched Jerome Valeska's murder right before her eyes. She had escaped his hold that night, and was finally reunited with her family and friends. As soon as they saw her, her parents, Arden, and Gabby all burst into tears, nearly suffocating her with hugs. Annie cried with them; months of no contact with the people she loved almost made her lose her mind. After a week and a half of being kept in Gotham General's ICU, with constant examinations from psychologists and health specialists, she was finally released to go home and resume her normal life.

    But her life would never be normal again. The moment she stepped outside the hospital, she was bombarded by flashing cameras and aggressive reporters all asking the same questions— "What happened to you?" "Tell us about your experience!"

    That was such a strange way to phrase it, she thought. Your experience. Her abduction? Her imprisonment? Her psychological torture? It was a nightmare, she wanted to tell them.

    Not long after the reporters came the cultists. Much to her shock, tens of people throughout the city believed in Jerome's "vision" and were obsessed with him. By association, they were obsessed with her, too. "That's the girl J loved," they'd whisper, "She's so lucky!" Lucky wasn't the word she'd use. The cultists tried to recruit her a handful of times. "Come on," one girl asked her. She was walking home from a small bodega a block away from her house one night, and she followed her out of an alley. "Just come to one meeting. Everyone would love to meet you. You're the closest they'll ever get to J! They'll worship you." Annie didn't want to be worshiped. She wanted to be left alone.

    "Leave me alone," she'd snapped. "I don't want to go anywhere your fucked up cult. I don't ever want to be reminded of him ever again."

    Eventually her parents decided that it was time for her to go back to school. Two and a half months of missed school would've ruined any other teenager's GPA, but her teachers were so moved to pity that they simply disregarded her absence and let her rejoin her classes without forcing her too harshly to catch herself up. After a few weeks of people turning their heads to her in the hallways, and the hushed whispers of girls at their lockers talking about her, the fuss died down, and things were almost back to normal. Almost.

    "Hey, Ann," Gabby greeted softly, sitting down next to her friend at lunch. Annie was busy poking and prodding at her salad with a fork and absentmindedly munching on the pretzels and hummus she got from the lunch line.

    "Hey, Gab," she looked up, smiling. It was difficult for Annie to adjust to life without Arden around, but the constant phone calls and letters from college made it a little more bearable. A few more of their friends—albeit, less close, but still considered friends— soon joined them. Caroline, Chloe, Maria, Paige, and Emmerson were soon gathered around the table as well and guided the conversation from there. "Hey guys," Annie greeted.

    "Hey girl!" grinned Emmerson. "How was English?"

    "Not bad at all," she responded, "We just had to read the next four chapters. It didn't take long."

    "Dope," responded Chloe. "Do we have art next?"

    Maria joined in. "No; we have math, then art."

    "Aw, shit," Paige groaned, "I didn't do the homework. Can I look at yours?" she begged Caroline.

    "Way ahead of you," she told her, already pulling her homework out of her backpack for Paige to copy down.