Escape ~ S.Harrington

4} Basement Buddies and Broken Promises

The group sat in the Wheeler's basement, all circled around the new child they'd just rescued from the woods. Jenna sat next to her on the couch while the boys sat in front of them, staring in awe. Since they'd found her, the girl took a liking to Jenna due to her kindness and willingness to take her in without a second thought. She'd never had anyone do that for her before. She felt safe with Jenna. Safe for the first time ever.

"Is there a number we can call?" Jenna asked the girl calmly, "For your parents?"
"Where's your hair?" Dustin insensitively pointed at her shaved head, "Do you have cancer?"
"Dustin shut the fuck up, that's rude," Jenna scolded her stupid brother.
"Did you run away?" Lucas questioned.
"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Mike asked with a concerned tone in his voice.
"Is that blood?" Lucas tried to touch the side of the girl's face.
"Stop it!" Mike exclaimed, "You're freaking her out!"
"She's freaking me out!" Lucas frantically replied.
"I bet she's deaf," Dustin commented as he clapped his hands in front of her face, "Not deaf," He concluded when he saw her flinch back from the noise.

"God, guys! Leave her alone. She looks like she's been through a lot," Jenna tried to get them to back off.
"Jenna's right," Mike agreed, "She's just scared and cold."
Thunder and lightning continued to boom and crackle in the background while it down-poured even harder than it had while they were out looking for Will. The girl jumped back at the sound. Jenna tried her best to comfort her without scaring her even more.
"Here, these are clean. Okay?" Mike handed her a fresh, clean outfit for her to change into.
She took the clothing hesitantly and examined it slowly. She started to rub it slightly on her cheek, almost as if she hadn't felt fabric that soft in a while; or ever.

She stood up and slipped Jenna's jacket off her shoulders, starting to lift her wet shirt off.
"No, no, no!" The group freaked out while shielding their eyes.
"Oh my god! Oh my god!" Dustin started to repeat as he walked away from the scene dramatically.
"See over there?" Mike pointed to the bathroom in the corner of the basement, "That's the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?"
The girl looked at Mike with a confused expression, but went along with it. She grabbed her clothes and quietly padded her way over to the bathroom. Mike and Jenna followed closely behind her. As he started to close the door for her, she stopped him from closing it all the way.

"You don't want it closed?" He questioned.
"No," She responded as she looked down at her feet.
That was the first word she's uttered to anyone in the group.
"Oh, so you can speak," Mike commented.
"Here," Jenan interjected, "Would you feel better if I went in with you?"
"Yes," The girl hesitantly nodded.
Jenna shooed Mike away and closed the door to the bathroom, only leaving a small gap so the child didn't feel uncomfortable and trapped. Jenna turned away so the girl could have privacy while she changed, but almost right after she turned around, the girl tapped Jenna on the shoulder. She'd already taken her shirt off and was having trouble with her pants. Jenna could tell she wasn't used to tying drawstrings or undoing the buttons on jeans. She wondered if she'd ever even worn proper clothes before.

"Here," Jenna offered, "Let me help with that."
Jenna helped the girl get out of her soaking wet jeans and proceeded to help her change into the clean, dry sweatpants Mike gave her, "Now, lift your arms up for me," She slipped the shirt over the girl's head and smoothed it down. Once satisfied with her makeover work, Jenna smiled kindly at scared little girl in front of her, "There you go. All better, right? All nice and warm and dry."
The girl shot Jenna a bright smile back. The girls walked out of the bathroom and sat back down with the boys. Jenna guided the girl back to the couch before she joined the boys in their discussion on what the hell they were going to do.