Do My Scars Define Me?

Home Again

Nurse Kendra lightly taps my shoulder and pulls me out of the cat nap I was in. I open my eyes and she smiles as she sets the tray of food on the moveable table next to the bed.

"Lunch, honey." I nod. "I do have a question for you though." I nod and she continues. "What are you going to do when you get out of here? I mean, you weren't living on your own before now, were you?" I nod again and open up the little Jell-O cup, spooning out a small bite, to test how it will go down. Kendra splutters a little bit and I look up at her again. "How were you living on your own though?" I smile a little bit and jot on my notepad.

At 14 you can work in our country. I have a job at the library and another at the grocery store near my house. My mom paid off the mortgage before she passed, so all I have to pay is utilities, which really isn't that much, considering it's just me there. It's no big deal seeing as I've been pretty much living on my own for a year now.

Kendra reads over my note a couple times, looking slightly horrified as she reads it several times. She looks up and opens her mouth as if to say something, but a knock comes from the door into the room. We turn to the door and see a man in his maybe mid-thirties at the door. He has glasses and is wearing a suit, with his hair neatly parted and a kind look to his face. Kendra looks confused and apparently doesn't see the notepad he carries in the hand that holds his briefcase.

I smell a reporter.

"Can I help you, sir?" The man smiles a little and nods.

"Yes ma'am you can." He's got a big city accent to his voice, but I hear a slight lilt that hints to a country raising. "My name is Clark Kent and I'm from the Daily Planet. I was asked to interview the brave girl who survived the vicious attack by a career criminal a few days ago." He switches his gaze to me and has a slight glint in his eye. "I don't suppose you would know where she is?" I think I like this guy. He's pretty funny in his own backwards way. Kendra doesn't seem to get the joke as she puffs up her chest a little.

"Well, sir, if you haven't noticed, this is a hospital, not an interview room. So unless you have a reason to visit someone here....?" She trailed off, clearly trying to politely tell this guy to fuck off. I smiled at Mr. Kent and he winked at me so quickly, I almost missed it.

"Well, ma'am, seeing as I do have a press pass," He pulled a lanyard out of his pocket. "And it is authorized by Bruce Wayne and the head of the hospital, I guess that means I do have a reason to visit with someone here. That someone being..." He opened his notepad. "Sadie J. Chio. And seeing as the kind lady behind the counter out there said she was in here, I guess that means this is the room I should be in."

Ooooooh!! Sassy! I giggle to myself (silently of course), and look between Kendra and Kent, trying to see which would break first. Kendra stares at Kent for a moment before huffing and walking out of the room. She turns to be about a foot before she reaches Kent.

"I want you to eat most of that, okay Phoenix?" I smile and nod to her, assuring her that I will eat, before she walks out of the room, pushing past Kent. I bite my lip, trying not to smile to largely as Kent turns back my way. He smirks at me as he walks over.

"Oops. I really hope she doesn't go asking who told me you were here." I cock my head to one side in confusion and he chuckles. "I do have permission to be here," He continues, pulling out the lanyard and showing it to me. "Just not from the head of the hospital. More like my boss and a good friend who happens to contribute quite a bit to the hospital." I smile and write on the notepad.

So Bruce Wayne and the head of Daily Planet, just not anyone who actually works here. I got you.

Kent rubs the back of his neck a little sheepishly. "Yeah, maybe not the best gamble, but it worked." He smiles at me, a light seeming to shine from the back of his ice blue eyes. I smile back at him and think that this guy would be a fantastic father or uncle to some lucky kid somewhere. "So," He says, breaking me away from my thoughts. "The nurse called you something, Pheasant? Feather? What's up with that?" I reached for my pencil and wrote as clearly as possible (my penmanship can get a little sloppy sometimes).

I've asked the nurses/doctor to call me by my chosen name. Phoenix J. Johnson. Personal reasons for the choice of name, but I couldn't stand having to share a name with the man who did this to me.

Clark reads over the note and hands the pad back to me.

"What do you mean, 'share a name'? Wasn't the attack random?" I shake my head. Clark pales slightly. "Wait, share a name. Did... Did your father do this to you?" I scribble on my pad.

You mean you didn't know? It was all over the local news.

He shakes his head. "No, it just said that a man who had just gotten out of prison from a robbery charge who stabbed a girl who lived in his neighborhood. I had no idea he was your..." Clark trails off again and starts looking a little green. I reach out and pat his hand lightly and give him a smile. I write on my pad again.

Hey, it's okay. I didn't know what the news said actually. I just know what happened and what the nurse summed up when I woke up. It's no big deal, really. I'm here. I'm fine. Batman and Robin got Chio back in jail and I won't be seeing him again. Really, don't worry about me. You wanted an interview right? What questions you got Kent?

I smirk at him when he looks up and smile when he gives a shaky grin. He shakes his head a little.

"You're right. You're fine. My questions, however, can wait if you want to finish lunch first."

I shake my head and write on my pad.

It's okay, I can multitask. What's on your mind Kent?

"Alright fine." He pulls his pen out of his pocket and looked over his notepad. "Why don't you tell me a little bit about your past? It's hard for me to imagine you were raised by a career criminal."

I shake my head and begin writing, pausing every now and then to gather my thoughts.

Chio didn't start as a criminal. He was pretty decent for most of my childhood. He didn't get into crime until his brother, my uncle, died in a cop shooting. Not to say my uncle was innocent, he was into some pretty shady stuff, but Chio took it pretty hard. He went out and got caught up in some petty crimes that accelerated until he got a career out of it. I think I was about 7 when he started going down the drain. My mom and I were living with him and my older brother, Jayus, was enrolled in the local college at the time so he spent most of his time with his other friends. Chio mostly stuck to the little henchmen jobs, until Jayus got killed. Really it was Chio's fault, but he didn't see it that way. As far as Chio was concerned, it was Jay's fault for not getting himself out of the situation. Then it became Batman's fault for not saving him in time. I never really blamed anyone, neither did Mom, but Chio grew dark and got into worse and worse crime. When Mom died, he just snapped. He didn't care anymore. The night he-

I paused and felt up to the bandages around my neck.

The night he did this, was the night of the anniversary of her death. I saw the clock; Robin slipped in the window 2 or 3 minutes before Mom's death was declared.
And that's pretty much my life in a nutshell.

I look up at Kent and pass him the notepad and watch his face flip through the reactions. He looks back up at me and just stares for a second. A knock interrupts his trance.

"Mr. Kent?"

Oops.