Time had gone by. She never really celebrated her birthday- Finch always managed to get (meaning steal) her something. The year of her twelfth birthday was no different.
She stood in the shower room and stared at her steamed reflection.
Recently, Finch and the other boys had started looking at her different. They had even begun touching her in some way as she walked by. Oh, nothing bad, but it was a brush on her hand, her arm, anything. Finch, however, was bolder. He had taken to cupping her butt and grasping her chest.
Mimi was the only one in the orphanage with blonde hair. She didn’t really understand why. That was the only thing that she could think of that would make the focus fall onto her. She brushed said blonde hair from her face and gave a small smile- something that she didn’t do much of. Not a real smile, anyway.
She had developed a signature smile that everyone knew meant that she was starting to get angry and she was giving them one last warning. In her time since she was five, she had developed a bit of a reputation. No one in the orphanages messed with her, and, if they did, they didn’t for very long.
As it were, she and Finch (but mostly her) had a group of…followers would be the best word. They looked past her limp.
She almost felt like she belonged.
“Memory,” a low voice said from the doorway.
Mimi spun around to face the head of the orphanages, not liking the way his eyes wandered over her towel-clad body. “Mr. Nathan,” she answered, trying not to let her nervousness show.
Nathan slowly made his way to her and laid his hands on her all-but-bare hips and turned her back around so that she was facing the mirror again with him standing close to flush against her back- a bulge pressing into her back.
“You are absolutely beautiful,” he murmured, running one hand up her side and finally met bare skin under her arm. “You’ve really grown up.”
“Mr. Nathan,” she all but whimpered in fear, trying to step away from him. Unfortunately, his hands kept her in place. “I don’t-“
“Quiet now, girl,” he snapped, turning her around and pressing her back against the cool stone of the wall. “I’ve made sure you’ve had what you’ve needed for years. It’s about time you paid me back.”
One of his large hands wrapped around her throat as he pressed his lips against hers and forced her mouth to open.
She couldn’t breathe. She understood enough to know what his intentions were.
There were no options that she could think of. The last time a full-grown man had messed with her, she had a knife in her hand and she was able to put a permanent stop to him. She didn’t have anything close to sharp anywhere near her this time. She was naked save for a towel.
The sound of his zipper was enough to get her brain moving in over-drive.
His tongue was still in her mouth, so she bit down as hard as she could, tasting blood. He yanked back, his hands instantly going to his mouth. She gave him her practically patented Shepard Smirk. Stepping forward and snapping her knee up into his groin.
“How’s that for payback, asshole?” she sneered as he fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
Grabbing her clothes from where she had sat them on the ledge of the sink, she darted out into the hall as quickly as she could and ran promptly into Toby who grabbed her by her upper arms. “Mimi, what the hell?”
She gasped and pulled out of his grip. “I’m leaving. I’ve got to leave. Nathan…Nathan….” She found herself struggling for breath. Toby simply nodded and pulled her into the girl’s dorm.
“Get dressed,” he ordered. “We’ll leave as soon as you’re finished,” he informed her matter-of-factly.
She quickly pulled on her clothes- struggling somewhat with her pants as she always did and ended up falling into Finch’s back. Stumbling forward, he made a small growl and turned around to help keep her steady.
Of course, that didn’t actually require him to stare at her bra-covered chest.
“Get your shoes on, Mimi,” he ordered, grabbing the pair of earrings that he had just given to her.
As she pulled her boots on, she stated, “You don’t have to come with me. This is my problem, Toby.”
He helped her to her feet and pressed a kiss on her temple. “Mimi, you are my problem.”
Well, for that, she had no response.
Toby pulled her quickly through the halls towards his secret exit. “Where’re we going to go?” she asked quietly.
“Does it matter?” he demanded. “Won’t anything be better than here?”
He had a point- one that she couldn’t even argue.
“Let’s go.”
