Jenny

Chapter 2

  Jenny stood by the fire in her favorite hoodie, jeans, and converse. Around her was buzzing with conversation and laughter. On the other side of the fire kids were playing and laughing. There was music and some people dancing, all of the teenagers huddled in a massive group. She liked the way the bonfires made her feel, as if the air was lighter and happier.

She stood a little closer to the fire than anyone else. Every now and then the heat would roll up to her face and she'd try to soak up every bit of it that she could. She never wanted to be without heat. Though now she knew she never would, she, unfortunately, knew what it was like to not have it, to be so cold you go numb.

John's favorite punishment for her was to make her go outside naked in the cold. When it wasn't snowing, he'd spray her down with the hose. At first, Jenny had found a little space under the back porch that was slightly warm. She'd hide under there away from the wind or rain and would press against the house, then he figured out what she was doing. So he chained her to the-

"Hey, you okay?" Tony, Jenny's younger brother, had interrupted the horrible memory.

"Yeah I'm good. Just thinking is all."

"How are you standing this close to the fire? I feel like it's going to burn my hair off," Tony pushed his hand through his hair. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. He had been growing out his hair into what he and his friends called a 'flow.' It was ridiculous.

"If you ask me, it would be doing you a favor," Jenny teased.

"And here I came all the way over here to see if you were okay," Tony said, feigning hurt. "I was just trying to be a good brother."

"Yeah I thought about that and then I remembered when I went to eat my left over mac and cheese yesterday only to find out it had been eaten by someone else."

"Now who would have done that? Whoever that is, is probably a horrible person," Tony backed away, putting his hands up in fake innocence.

"Yeah and they probably have bad hair."

"Whoa, I wouldn't go that far."

"Who has bad hair? I mean other than Tony, of course." Eric walked up on Jenny's other side. She broke into a laugh and Tony stared at Eric.

"You know what? You smell like iguana toes," Tony turned and walked away. Jenny couldn't help but laugh even harder. Tony had a knack for coming up with the weirdest and funniest insults. Most of them didn't exactly make sense, but they made her laugh.

"What does that even mean?" Eric said, dumbfounded.

"If I'm honest, he's not wrong," Jenny couldn't contain her laughter, and Eric laughed as well. "I just don't know where he comes up with this stuff."

There were a lot of things Jenny had to learn when she had been found, but nothing was as hard as learning to be someone again. She didn't know what it meant when people told her to 'be herself'. Who was she when she wasn't with John? She had never been able to think or speak for herself. Her whole life up to that point in the woods, all she concerned herself with was: what would make John happy. Which, when she broke it down, was just, what would help her not get punished?

Her brothers had taught her how to be a person. They didn't care that she was in a fragile state or that her past was one of horrors. They teased her like, what Jenny believed, normal siblings would, which eventually made her stand up for herself. They watched movies with her, invited her places, and never let her think that she wasn't a part of the family. In them, she found herself. Things she liked, things she didn't. How to have fun and let go. Yes, they could be undoubtedly annoying, but she was so grateful to have them.