Broken Wings

The Next Test-Chapter 4

Once, when I was eight, and Mom wasn't pregnant yet, I had considered running away. Well, really it had been the beginning of a long line of thoughts about running away. The first time had been when she had started working back at her old job.

I had hated the thought of her back there. When she worked there, I was home alone until she finished after midnight. I ate only microwave meals and when Mom came home, she would sit in her room and cry until she fell asleep. She never woke up before eleven the next morning.

I prepared everything. I filled my backpack with all the food I would need. Marshmallows. Twinkies. Chocolate pancakes I had stolen from the freezer. We could afford stuff like that now that Mom had a new job.

I planned to leave at night. I would wait until Mom came home, and then I would sneak out my window. It was right at ground level. I left my bike outside so that I didn't have to wake Mom with the sound of the garage door opening. From there, I would ride into the forest and down to the creek I had found. Using that place as a camp, I would fend for myself. It was perfect.

Except, Mom didn't come home that night.

I waited all night, but she never showed. In fact, when I woke up from my unwilling sleep to the sound of my alarm the next morning, Mom still wasn't home. Forcing myself not to panic, I went through my day like normal. Maybe she just went back to her old job and had to come in early. After school, I came home and fell asleep on the couch.

In the morning I was in my bed and Mom was home. She cooked me some chocolate pancakes again that morning, as though nothing was wrong. I did my part, being a good daughter and pretending that I couldn't taste the salt of her tears in the batter, or see the smearing of her makeup. For the next couple days, I considered running away, but something always stopped me. Mom had brought my bike in. My food had gone bad. It was one delay after another. Mom was sick.

And then we found out the big news. Mom was pregnant.

After that, there really was no way I could run away. Mom kept at her job for as long as she could, but when she started showing, she was fired. She went back to her job at the department store, and I helped get everything ready for the baby. I was fully committed to helping the little boy or girl.

But, of course, I still thought about running away.

Years passed. David was born and started growing up. Mom went back to working at her old job along with the burger joint-now that there were three mouths to feed, we needed the money. Life went on. I started to realize what a foolish plan it had all been. No real food. No shelter. But my biggest revelation had come much later on. It was when I realized that night wasn't the best time to run away. No, you want to run away in the morning.

In the morning, if you see a kid running away, you just assume that they are walking to school. By the time that excuse wears thin, you've got a new one. They must be one of those lucky kids who goes to schools that let you out for lunch. After that? School let out early. And Mom won't even notice that you're gone until she comes home, late that night.

And with that realization came many more attempts to run away. Every time, it was David that held me back. Always David. How could i leave him to look after himself? He needed someone to look after him and Mom really didn't have the time. He was my only reason left to live.

Now, I realized that Mom probably didn't know that I had been kidnapped. I wondered if Jasmine had taken David home. I wondered if somebody noticed the little boy refusing to leave the bus stop until his sister showed up. Because I made him promise.

I felt tears spring up behind my clenched eyelids and forced them back. Shoved them back into the recesses of my head with Pain and Dizziness. They would come later. For now, I had cried enough. I called upon Resolve, and with her help, I was soon on my feet. I made sure to keep my eyes closed, hoping it would block a little of the light, dispel a little bit of the pain.

I really shouldn't have done that.

The arm that slammed into my face flipped me back onto my bed and forced my eyes open. Blood spurted out of my nose and covered my face, making it hard to see. Luckily, blood didn't bother me. I'd always been an easy bleeder. Especially through my nose.

"What'd'ja do that for?" The words that flung themselves out of my mouth stung like knives. I bit my tongue immediately afterward, but it was too late.

"What did we do that for?" The voice that responded had a thick southern accent marring it, and it was filled with outrage. I swiped a hand across my face and tried to whisk off some of the blood. One of the woman-Hulks was standing over me, looking mad enough to spit. "You 're th one who got off th table with yah eyes closed like some kind o' maniac. Did yah expect us to jest sit by an' watch?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I needed permission to stand up in this place." The sarcasm in my voice was so thick you could choke on it. I was shocked when the woman nodded knowingly.

"In this place, yah need pamishon to do anathing." I glanced at her again; making sure this wasn't some elaborate joke. It wasn't. I was about to shove myself up and get off the table again, just to spite this woman-Hulk, when I looked down again.

"WHAT THE HECK?!?" I was naked. Again. "Do you people get some kind of sick satisfaction from taking away my clothes?! What do you even accomplish with this?" I felt like crying. These people couldn't even leave me with my dignity. And then I realized that this was probably right. This might be the test. They were taking everything away from me, humiliating me, and probably watching right now to see how I responded.

Well, let's just see how well that worked out for them.

I regulated my breathing first. It in turn slowed down my heart rate. Because I had no doubt that the people watching me had ways to monitor things like that. I looked the woman who had yelled at me earlier right in the eye, and stepped slowly off the table, trying not to make any sudden movements. The next part was the hardest. I forced my face to remain expressionless. Emotionless. No need to be embarassed. They had already seen everything. Carefully, I reached up to my nose and tried to assess the damage. I brushed off the blood and prodded it a couple times.

At least it wasn't broken. But gosh darn it, it hurt.

I walked over to the wall through which they had been watching me earlier. I tapped on it. "Okay. I'm done. That's the whole show. I'm not going to do anything else interesting, so can you please just let me out now?" I waited for a few minutes, and then I sat down and leaned against the wall. The two woman-Hulks were still in my room. I looked at them. I stared until they stared back, unnerved. "So, it seems like it's just going to be us for a little while."

And then we waited.

AN: Okay, so I'm now officially done with my editing process (I think). All the chapters after this should be entirely new. Thanks everybody for your patience. Have a good day everybody!

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