Weeks.
That's how long we watched search parties pass below our tree, looking for any clues as to where we were. It was quite easy to stay healthy. We stole food from the school at night (technically not stealing as the school feeds us anyway), and I used what I knew of nuts and seeds to feed us the rest of the time, and the tree was perfect. The birds and squirrels came and went, keeping us entertained. We even saw a few rabbits.
Then came the dogs.
They were police dogs, there to sniff us out. So, of course, they did. And when they started barking, the squirrels scampered, the birds took flights, and Chloe screamed. Heights and dogs. That's what Chloe is scared of. Though I must admit, police alsations are really quite scary. The ladders were there in seconds. And that's how I ended up stuck back here again.
Mrs Curtis, sitting beside me, is holding me tight to her and soothing me, like a mother would to her terrified and distressed child. Sometimes, when I cry, Mrs Curtis takes me to the snug in guidance and sits me down with her. She is doing that now, and she is listening.
She always listens. She only gives me advice when I really need it, or ask for it. Sometimes, it's nice to know that I can tell her anything and she'll keep it to herself. A secret. She does look after me. And she cares. She always cares. Sometimes, she can feel like the only one who does. But somewhere deep down, I know that Mrs Deets and Mrs Vord care too.
She is listening to what happened during the eighteen-and-a-half days that I had run wild, and she was surprised that I had heard her conversation that first night.
"I was going to come down to you, but then Chloe showed up and she brought my stuff and..."
My voice broke. And I broke with it.
Benny had wanted to see me cry since my first day here. She had tried relentlessly to break me and now I had snapped.
Mrs Curtis stood me up and took me, shaking, to Mrs Deets, who had had a class when they found us, but had insisted that I be brought up to her as soon as possible.
She hugged me as well, and I though I had hated hugs before, I found that they helped me now. Like I was being held together and protected.
"We have to fix your room. We have to remake your forest."
I nodded, and, for the first time ever, I hugged them both back.
We all pulled away, and Mrs Deets immediately began to get out the cement, clay, dirt, bark, glue, rubbish and paint needed to make one of my trees.
"You need somewhere to sleep. So I thought, temporary tree root, I mean, you want to do your room again, don't you?"
I nodded and she breathed a long breath of relief. Mrs Vord walked in and smiled.
"Are we going to get going?"
Her sleeves were rolled up and she looked kind of odd in a messy art apron. I turned to see Mrs Curtis putting one on and Mrs Deets was handing me mine. I put it on gratefully, and I showed Mrs Curtis and Mrs Vord how to make the long roots. They helped all the time that they could, but they all had a class at some point and only Mrs Deets was able to stay with me all day.
But I didn't stop there.
The lights-out bell rang and I stayed in art. They dawn broke and I stayed in art. The food bells rang and I stayed in art. Maths lesson came and I went to Mrs Curtis and did maths, then I went back to art. I gathered moss and mud from outside and got a root settled in and looking very realistic, and then I went back to art. I didn't sleep, and the only thing strong enough to distract me from my tree-making was maths.
I could see them all getting more and more concerned about me. I knew I had bags under my eyes, that I was messy and my hair was in tangles. That my clothes were covered in everything and my face was covered in paint and mud and dirt. But I didn't care. I wasn't going to rest. I could feel myself gettin thinner, weaker. But I didn't care.
Mrs Deets and Mrs Curtis made sure I always had a drink and they were currently feeding me by giving me cheese that I could slowly nibble on, a little at a time, like a little mouse. Grapes too. I ate grapes. Because they took seconds to chew and swallow. So I could eat and build at the same time. And Chloe snuck me vegetables from dinner. She knows I like green stuff. That and carrots. Mrs Vord made sure that there was a constant supply of other stuff, like coffee (if I drank such vile liquids) and "proper" meals, if I changed my mind. I occasionaly nibbled on one.
Chloe threw the beds out of the window and got away with it (I don't know how). She came with me to art when she could, which was every second she didn't have class, and finally, after four weeks, the first tree was finished and in the room. Packed up with mud, and with my favourite type of fork at the very top. I climbed up and sat in it.
And that, wrapped in my blanket and clutching my bunny, was when I finally went to sleep.
YOU ARE READING
Madness
Teen FictionThroughout her life Nessa has been abused, lived wild and been kept in an asylum. Now she's at a recreational school, where her only friends are the two teachers that are nice to her no matter what. Then a new girl and a new teacher come, and Nessa...