Turn Against

Explain

First thing first I need to buy new clothes.

The more I think about it I must change the way I look.

Just when I was getting used to my simple wardrobe and hair. Oh well.

Tyler arrived back some hours later with food and an arsenal of shampoo, soap and weird sponge things. He also went out of his way to buy me my own towels and a blanket. All of it pink.

"Uhh thanks.. You didn't have to go through all that trouble"

I'm glad he did I hadn't thought of shampoo or anything to keep me somewhat hygienic which seems gross but I was in a hurry.

"It was no problem honestly. I did receive weird stares when buying the coconut and shea butter shampoo though. And all of the pink things raised a few eyebrows but it wasn't that bad. I figure you might want to clean up a bit and you might not be comfortable using a guy's stuff. You used to mind a lot." he chuckled at my old girly ways.

"Thanks" I took the stuff from his strong hands and put them into my smaller but just as powerful ones.

His bathroom was fairly neat besides an overflowing hamper.

I turned on the shower head and took off my clingy jeans and shirt stripping to my bra and underwear.

I looked into his chipped mirror at the tattoos tracing my side. They wrapped around and up my arm onto my shoulder. My jacket had covered them earlier.

The shower was hot and steamed my vision. When I had washed my hair and wrapped it up into a bun I stepped from the stall and dried myself.

His medicine cabinet stood slightly a jar which I hadn't noticed earlier. A bottle of aspirin half empty and some pepto were the only things visible.

A closer inspection revealed a single condom covered in dust. A warmth spread through my stomach at the discovery. I could feel my face heat in embarrassent.

When I walked into the kitchen my nose was hit with a strong scent of garlic and parmesian.

" Hope you're hungry! I made spagetti" his childish smile faded when he seen me.

My short sleeves revealed the swirling colors cascading up and down my arm. They appeared to be at random but if you looked closer you could see the pattern in it.

"Didn't seem like a tattoo girl?" I asked with seriousness in my voice.

If this was to work he had to trust me again. I had to have him know mostly what he was going to get himself into.

"Huh? No-I mean you just have changed so much I just umm it's good I guess just... different" he stepped closer until his minty breath was cool against my face.

My eyes were stony. He didn't understand. As if reading my mind he spoke.

"I don't understand what has happend to you but I think now is a good time to talk about it." he walked to the fridge and grabbed two beers.

"I don't drink" I quickly stated.

Alcohol clouds judgement. A fatal mistake.

"Who said one of these was for you?" he poured pasta onto two plates and sprinkled a layer of cheese onto his meal.
At The Center they provided non- fattening things. They couldn't afford for us to be unhealthy. We were to stay at our peak.

He sat the plates at the bar, popped the lid from one of the bottles and then patted the stool next to him beckoning me to sit. I followed his instruction.

"So start from the beginning" he said filling his mouth with the steaming carbohydrates.

"One day on my way to school a black van pulled up to me. Before I could react they pulled me in and injected me with something I later understood was a concoction of sedatives that were supposed to work as an eraser of sorts. It was to block my memory. I woke up in a room that was cold. I remember the cold. It lasted the 5 years I was there. They trained me, and beat me when I wasn't following commands. They trained me physically and mentally.They enhanced me." I stopped and waited for the questions I knew would come.

I would leave out why they trained me. He would learn later anyway.

"Mer I had no idea..." his eyes lowered.

Good he felt sorry for me.

"We looked everywhere, there were so many press conferences... we tried...." his voice held something close to guilt in it.

"There isn't much you can do when it's your own government." I laughed at the irony of their efforts.

His eyes shot up and landed on mine.

"What did you just say?"