Adelia

[10]

"I'll sleep in Mia's room, I suppose, " Adelia had her arms crossed. She was still wearing that tattered blue dress and she wasn't smiling. I hadn't seen her smile in so long. What did they do to her.

I'm surprised she was so confident. I had never seen Adelia this confident. She would cower away from me when I offered to take her anywhere and now she's claiming a room in my house. 

"Okay," That was Mia. She was blinking really quickly.

"I want to sleep right now." When Adelia said that, she looked directly at me, with the most bitter look on her face. She was obviously avoiding my presence. But I could tell she hadn't eaten. Her eyes glistened with hunger. She had lost about ten pounds. Her collarbones were so effortlessly showing. One was bruised. And her cheeks were more hollow than before. Hell, her eyes were more hollow than before. I looked down to her feet, I could vaguely see her tattooed ankle. Mia looked with me. 

"Nice tattoo." Mia said, offering a forced smile. 

Adelia rolled her eyes. Literally rolled them. She had gotten so... unfamiliar. And then she started walking down the hallway and mid-step, she tripped on her dress and fell to the wood-paneled floor. I thought she would cry. I swore she would cry. But she just clenched her teeth. She clenched them so hard. Her eyes were watering. She tried to hoist herself up with her hands but she was too weak. 

I gently walked towards her and offered my hand. "I can do it, Goddamit!" She cursed, groaning in pain shortly after. No. She couldn't do it. And then she started crying. Slowly at first, and then she was heaving. Heaving sobs. Mia quietly whispered to me, "I can't watch this," and grabbed her cigarette pack from the counter and silently went out to the patio. 

I tried to pick her up and she kicked me in the stomach. Do you know how sad she looked after that? She looked like she wanted to hug me, but she was too stubborn to allow herself. Her eyes were red from all the crying.

"I'm sorry, it's okay now," she nodded solemnly, "you can pick me now. I promise."

"Want me to take you to Mia's room?"

"No. Yours."

And so I did, I carried her to my room and laid her down on the bed. She only cried a little bit on the way there.