The Devil Wears Yellow

32

"They tried to break me," Eden said while looking at Peter. Her eyes were still a bit wide with a somewhat blank stare. "They tried to make me less likely to fight back. I warned you. I warned you this place wasn't good."

"I know you did, but we can't go back to Chicago. They'll kill us," Peter told her and she shook her head.

"We are already dead," she said through gritted teeth. Peter was really concerned about Eden's well being. She didn't sleep at all last night. The bags under her eyes were prominent. She saw Al and Eric all night. Her parents even made an appearance. "I need to go."

"Eden, no," Peter said grabbing her hand but she ripped it out of his grasp.

"I'm just going to work out," she snapped and walked out of the shared apartment. She noticed that guards were always watching her and following her. It made her angry. She got to the gym and turned the music up loudly while counting out loud. She did pull ups quickly before transferring to sit ups and then back to pull ups and then sprints. All while counting. She could see her dead loved ones in the corner of her eye most of the time. When she pushed harder, counted louder, they disappeared. Over stimulating herself was the answer to the question.

The cuts on her wrist aches in pain. Every time she looked at the bandage, her vision got blurry. Every time she snapped her eyelids shut to avoid the gaze of Al or Eric or her parents the ache in her temples came.

"1, 2, 3, 4," she counted while running to turn the music up louder. Sweat was dripping down her face and bodies. Eden ignored the stinging in her eyes when the salty liquid dripped into them. She licked her lips and could basically taste the bitter salt on her tongue. Her hands were blistering from holding on to the bar so tight. Her core and legs aches from the constant exercise.

When Eden felt herself getting tired, she just moved on to the punching bag. She didn't bother wrapping her hands but just pounded the bag. Her knuckles bled but she didn't care. Blood spotted the dusty black punching bag as she hit it hard. Her pace never slowed as she kept on throwing punches and counting to a hundred. Eventually she threw kicks at the bag too. Hard kicks that made the bag swing. It hit her legs and punches even hard when it swung back towards her. Her knuckles were black and blue, smeared with blood.

She cried out as she threw a punch that busted the bag. It tore at the seams and the sand flowed quickly out of it and onto the floor. Eden just stared as the bag emptied its contents onto the concrete ground. She huffed and moved over to the next bag.

"Over stimulating yourself is temporary," Matthew said walking in. She shook her head and kept counting while punching the new bag. He saw the sand on the ground and the blood dripping from her hands. "I have something that can help long term," he said and she turned around to face him.

"What?" She asked. Eden was basically desperate to get the visions out of her head.

"You see them, don't you?" He asked and then Al and Eric appeared behind him. She turned around and went back to punching that bag while counting with her eyes shut tightly. "I can help."

"How?" She asked without stopping. Matthew walked over and held the bottle in front of her face.

"These," he said and she opened her eyes. Eden furrowed her eyebrows while looking at the pills.

"I don't want your drugs," she said and scowled while punching harder.

"It'll make the visions go away and help you sleep," he said and her punches slowed. She hadn't really slept in days. She tried but she never really got there.

"How do I know those won't kill me?"

"Just ask Caleb to look at one," Matthew said and grabbed her hand. He put the bottle in her palm and folded her fist over it. "They'll help," he said before walking away. Eden watched him leave the room before looking down at the pills. She took them and ran back up to the apartment. When she got in there, she saw Caleb at the table.