The Beautiful and the Psychotic

Chapter Eleven

Alexis's P.O.V.

In the end we had two weeks of recovery. Most of that was spent in the injury wing talking, eating and sleeping. Both David and I had second degree burns, which hurt like hell. We were visited by Bella and Ruby, as well as some of David's friends I didn't know. On one of our last nights there, I lay on the uncomfortable cot, trying to fall asleep, when I heard David's low voice from the other side of the room.

"Do you blame me? For this? Being here?"

I was surprised by the question. "Of course not. Why would I? You didn't mean to hurt me."

"Well, no," he responded, "but if I hadn't, you wouldn't be here, nor would you be burned. You would still be with your family."

I sat up and opened my eyes to look at him. "It's not like you had a choice."

"I guess not."

I laid back down, about to fall back asleep, when he spoke again. "You know, you'll have to go soon, as part of your training. You have to pick someone up."

"What?" I said, incredulous. "Seriously?"

"Yup. Whenever we drop below ninety people, we have to have newbies go on pick-up runs until we have at least 120."

"Did you have to?"

"Not when I came, but I had to do it twice after that. The second one was yours."

"Oh. Okay."

Sienna's muffled voice came from behind the door to her bedroom. "Go to sleep, guys."

It wasn't long before I drifted off to sleep.

I was moved back to my room after my recovery. My training was to be extended by at least a week, until my burns were healed and able to be covered up. The scars would take a year to fade completely, but apparently Bella would give me another fake tan to cover them once they closed.

I flopped onto my bed at 2 in the afternoon (14 o'clock for you 24-hour-clock people), sighing into my pillow. That day I was exempt from working or training, free to do whatever I chose. I sighed and changed my clothes, switching to a white sundress perfect for the summer and my thongs (once again, thongs are FLIP FLOPS, non-Australians) and walked out of the room, closing the bars behind me. The hallway was empty, everybody else working. I walked down the halls, wandering past doors I didn't recognise, turning around when I came upon B403 and B500. I was looking for somebody I recognised, just for something to do.

I found B122, where Bella was cutting somebody new's hair. It was a guy this time, maybe 20, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a long face. 

"Hi Bella, do you need any help?"

"Oh, hey Lexi. It's good to see you're better now. Well, thanks for offering, but I'm fine here."

" 'Kay. Just looking for something to do today."

"Huh. Well, if you go find B318, maybe you can help with overseeing the workers, you know, making sure they're doing the right thing."

"Alrighty then, sounds okay. Bye," I said, giving her a hug, careful not to slice my wrist on her scissors.

"Seeya."

I wound my way through several hallways, wandering the hotel trying to find B318. It took me a long time, but by the end of my frustrating journey, I found it.

The room looked like an FBI survelliance van, with screens on every wall and people seated around them, watching the many workers, eyes focused on the screens. Some were typing on keyboards, a few others chatting among themselves as they watched.

Ruby was there, the first person to notice me. She walked up and hugged me, asking me if I was feeling better.

"Yeah, I'm fine now," I replied with a smile. "Bella suggested I come here to help."

Ruby smiled. "Okay. Well, you need to talk to Isaac."

Oh no. I really didn't want to have to deal with him. But now that I'd talked to Ruby, I couldn't leave.

I sighed and found Isaac, reluctantly walking towards him. He spun his chair around to see me. His expression switched to surprised as he stood up and pulled me into a corner with a mumbled "I need to talk to you".

Surely he wouldn't try anything with all these people here? He spun around putting his hands on my shoulders. I brushed them off as he leaned towards me, his voice low. "Hey, I'm sorry for what I did on your birthday," he said as I just glared at him. "I was drunk, okay?"

"Don't touch me," I whispered harshly, slapping his hand as he tried to put it on my arm again. "Just leave me alone, all right? I came here to help, not to deal with you. Do you need my help or not?"

Isaac looked taken aback. "Well, I guess you can help. Just go talk to Harper," he said, pointing at a redhead girl sitting by one of the many screens, sipping a coffee.

Harper directed me to one of the screens that wasn't being watched. It was one of the hallways, which was currently empty. It was extremely boring, with nobody walking past. In the end I switched my focus to a different screen, where several people were watching a fight between two guests.

Suddenly I realised one of them wasn't a guest.