Ghost Bird Fanfiction: Sang's Lyric, The Story of Sang Sorenson's Mother

It Happened to Us, Too. Hero's Point of View

I stared at Leandra, feeling a familiar rage building in my chest. I took deep breaths, reminding myself of the lessons I'd been taught, and I slowly released the tension in my fists.

All right, I thought. No holes to patch in walls today. Success.

Leandra stared at me meaningfully, looking at the shower. She raised an eyebrow. And I raised one back. It wasn't the right thing to do, but it was the only thing to do. We've been there. Sometimes it was the only thing that helped in the beginning, washing away the memory. 

I heard a short sob and then nothing. Leandra winced, and crossed her arms. Her eyes fixed on mine.

I nodded. I know, I thought, this one is different.

The girls who came to Sheltering Arms were like us. They were tough, and they didn't follow rules, and they did drugs if they wanted, and fucked whoever they wanted. They also got the shit kicked out of them, and they got raped, and they got arrested. Some of us lied and some of us didn't. We may have been victims, but we were also perps. All of us had done stuff we weren't proud of.

This one? This one in the shower crying out her little marshmallow heart? This one was different.

Fucking shit, what was she doing here?

"That girl was raped," Leandra whispered. "And whoever did it? He drugged her, and he sure as fuck didn't use a condom."

I wanted to cry and smash something at the same time.

"Get her phone," I whispered. "Tell Ariel, she's in charge of tech. Someone's gotta be looking for her. I would be."


Leandra nodded, crossing her arms and sitting down next to the tub.

I opened the door an inch and looked out. "Yo," I said, getting the attention of a girl walking by. "Di! I need a uniform, tylenol, gatorade, and a mother fucking morning after pill."

Diana, the girl who could get into the drugs shook her head. "We're out," she said. "Been out since before Tish left. Jasmine was supposed to reorder but didn't."


"Fuck," I said. "This is a goddamn fucking nightmare."  I yanked on a curl and twirled it nervously.

"Calm the hell down, Hero," Leandra whispered. "How do you think she feels?"

I knew how she felt, that was the problem, and yet, had I ever been that innocent? I don't think so.

"Goddamn fucking nightmare," I repeated.