Bonnie and Lies

Thank you.

Chapter 6

Bonnie nodded her head frantically, her face was stained with tears and blood was spilling at the corner of her mouth. She felt as though she was in danger of passing out, she never had this much pain inflicted upon her by another human being before and it was both terrifying and eye-opening as she finally realized the gravity of the situation she was in.

"Good," Zara said with a cruel smile. "I always love that 'Eureka!' moment when people like you, all sarcastic and cracking jokes, come to me and finally realize exactly what they're stepping into. This is not a game, once you're in, the only way out is death. If you prove your loyalty, you can be family to us, but as of now, you can't be trusted and we need to know what threat you bring and how serious you are about joining. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Bonnie said weakly.

"Great. Shall we get to business?" Zara said while she ignored Bonnie's near inaudible crying, clearly used to the sound. This was evidently not her first time torturing someone. "Can you defend yourself?"

"I have some basic fighting skills."

"What other skills do you have to offer?"

"I have a Bachelor in nursing, I know my way around a gun and I'm a quick study."

"Alright. Go get cleaned up and dressed, your fate will be decided tomorrow night," The woman stepped away from Bonnie, but not before giving the girl an assessing look clearly looking for weaknesses or maybe strengths. Yet her large brown eyes felt as hard as they looked on Bonnie's skin, not even a ghost of a smile could be found on her face, so whatever she was looking for she found and wasn't pleased by it. Breaking eye-contact, Zara looked up and shouted for the guards just outside. "Boys! Get her to a guest room and make sure there's a nurse there for her,"

Bonnie was untied from her chair and immediately grabbed and raised from her seat by two well built men. She gasped and groaned due to the quick and non-gentle movement of her body. Her ribs ached and she could feel her stomach already starting to bruise.

"Fucking ow, wait!" Bonnie found it within her shout to get Zara's attention, unsure of what just happened. "Wait, Zara! What happens tomorrow? What do I do tonight?"

"You'll see," Zara said walking towards the exit on the opposite side of the door that Bonnie was being dragged out of. Her black combat boots never stop moving and she didn't even turn to look at Bonnie while answering her question. Zara's high dark brown ponytail bouncing with every step, was the thing that thing Bonnie saw before blacking out.

Once Zara was out the door, Lyann was already waiting for her with a look of poorly masked anger. She had been watching the whole thing from the one way mirror located on the front wall of the windowless room where Bonnie's interrogation had taken place, and she was not pleased.

"Was all that really necessary, Zar?" Lyann's voice betrayed the emotionless front she trying to portray, as to not cause a scene or to seem as though she cared more about Bonnie than she should.

"Walk with me now. We'll talk when we reach my room," Zara said sensing the impending argument.

They walked silently, side by side, until they reached the room entered and locked the door.

"Fuck you, Zar. You know that wasn't needed."

"You know that it was, she needed to learn her place. It's better that I teach her that than one of the less forgiving Capos or-God forbid-a power hungry soldier looking for some fresh meat. At least I exercised restraint, not many Capos would have stayed away from her face or resist breaking a bone or two while proving their point. I had to show her I was to be feared and respected. That there is no favoritism, and she's going to have to train just as hard as the other soldiers, no matter how much you like her."

"Fuck. Alright, fine. You know what, you're right. I'm sorry, it's just that-"

"You're starting to like this girl already. Didn't you just meet her yesterday?"

"Yeah, I know it's dumb but it's just something about her, you know?"

"No, I don't know, and I don't care to know. Just..just don't fuck it up and be careful."

"Thanks Zar."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up," Zara looked at her best friend since childhood and how's she'd grown, her hair was cut to shoulder length and looked like it hasn't seen a brunch in couple days, her skin a was darker olive than it was when they were young t was almost tan. But what hadn't changed were her eyes, they were brown, almost black, and still filled with mischief and youth.

"You should go check on her, Lyann."

"Yeah, make sure she doesn't scar up too bad," Lyann said with a goofy smile in a sort of joking but also not tone. As she turned to walk to the to the door, her hand touched the doorknob, but was suddenly pulled away.

"I forgot to say thank you, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did."

They both laughed at the age old inside joke. It was the cause of their friendship.

They had first met in preschool, it was after recess and Zara asked to hold the door open for everyone to go back inside and did so with pride. As everyone else went back inside they said 'Thank you' as they walked past but Lyann had not. This, even though Zara was only four years old and hadn't had the slightest clue as what disrespect meant she certainly felt it then. Thus caused Zara to vow to herself to get revenge and she spent the following months torturing Lyann until she had enough.

"Why are you doing this to me?!" the young girl said pushing Zara away from her, knowing she was trying to spill her crayons. "I haven't done nothing to you!"

"It's: 'I haven't done anything to you' not 'I haven't done nothing to you', stupid," Zara corrected matter of factly.

"Zara! We do not use the 'S' word in this class. Say sorry right this moment!" Mrs. Wright had said, but she was completely ignored.

"And you know what you did!"

"NO, I DON'T," Lyann exclaimed with her voice filling the room. "I really don't."

"When I was holding the door open for everyone after recess, everyone else said thank you, but you didn't. Why?"

"I forgot," Lyann shrugged. How was she supposed to know to say 'Thank you'? No one ever said anything, she didn't mean anything bad when she didn't say thank you. "If it helps, um, thank you."

Zara sighed, finally the "thank you" she had been waiting for, "You're welcome, Lyann. You're so very welcome."

Zara threw her arms open and hugged the little girl.

"Oh, okay," Lyann said before hugging the other girl back. "Are we friends now?"

"Yes, but don't forget to say "thank you" when someone does something nice for you."

"I won't."

And they had been friends ever since.

"Now, go look after your girl, Lyann."

"Thanks, and she's not my girl...yet."

"But she will be soon. Might as well get ahead of the game," Zara replied and Lyann made her way out the door. Zara smiled to herself and walked over to her desk and started to work on the money transfers she'd been procrastinating on doing.

Those two will be the death of me.