Run (#Wattys2016)

24

2 months, 20 days, 10 hours, 7 minutes, 43 seconds.

The Bible says numerous times to love your enemies. Jesus said it himself. Aaron made this commandment hard to follow. 

I leaned my head against the wall, trying to contain my shaking body. It was no use. The chains rattled, I was shaking so much. Sweat ran down my face, running into my eyes, making me wince. But I was freezing. Emily had told me multiple times that I was burning up. And to top it all off, I ached all over. Stupid Aaron giving me drugs and making me go through withdrawals. It’d been about two days since he’d given me the last dose. 

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us,” I quoted over and over. The girls must’ve thought that I was going through fever hallucinations. I closed my eyes. Just make it stop...

Soft footsteps pattered closer. A hand felt my forehead. Wherever their skin touched mine there seemed to be a fire raging. I kept quoting the verse; reminding and distracting myself.

The person took their hand off my forehead and sighed, “Why won’t you get better?” I opened my eyes slightly at Emily’s voice. She should know why I wasn’t getting any better. Didn’t she know the symptoms of drugs? Maybe it was just a general question. ‘No’, I realized as tears started to gather in her eyes, ‘it’s a helpless question.’

“Hey,” I croaked, placing my shaking hand on her cheek, “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. You just worry about yourself. Okay?” She took my hand and held it there. Tears were streaming down her face, soaking her cheeks.

“You’re not fine, Lekia,” she sniffed.

“Shh, no. Don’t cry. Really, I’m fine,” I replied. Like heck I was fine. Even I couldn’t kid myself that I was. But I had to make an effort to make her feel better. She was physically fine, besides the tortures of the day anyway. So were the other girls. That was all that mattered. 

“How can you stand it?” she asked, sniffing some more.

“An extreme human stubbornness. That and I know God is here,” I choked. I sucked in a breath and closed my eyes again. The burning sensation in my chest got worse. ‘You can breathe, you’re not underwater. You’re gonna get through this....’

My eyes opened slightly as the door opened. And Aaron walked in. Great. I went back to my quoting. Aaron closed the door and came over to crouch in front of me.

“Feeling a little under the weather?” he whispered as he fingered a strand of my hair. I let out a dry laugh.

“You’re funny,” I groaned.

“I thought it was,” he smiled, “Scram Emily. I need to talk to my special girl alone.” With a worried glance back at me, Emily got up and left. Once Emily was out of ear shot, Aaron scooted closer.

“Any special requests?” he asked smiling evilly. An idea popped into my head.

“Yes...actually,” I breathed, looking him in the eye, “I would like a Bible.” His look faltered with this.

“A Bible?” he asked, “A Bible...” His eyes lit up, “There would be a price.”

“Name it,” I smiled. Do your worst.

“You’ll have to forfeit your dose for being a good girl tonight. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” he started to toy with my hair again, “That’s my only offer.”

“I’ll take it,” I moaned without hesitation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We all sat in a circle. Emily sat across from me holding my Bible. Yeah, you heard me right. My Bible. The one my Grandpa had given me when I was five. The one that was worn beyond belief. The one that had so many highlights in it. My Bible.