The Drowning Girl

two

The sound of beeping is what roused me, as well as the slight burning pain in each of my wrists. I winced at the familiarity of the pain, settling slightly before my eyes snapped open. This wasn't my bedroom, nor was it the woods behind my home. This, this smelt too much like antiseptic and not enough like sage and smoke.

I sat up slightly, my eyes flickering from the thin hospital gown I wore to the machine next to me monitoring my heart rate. How was I going to get out of this? I sighed before looking to my right and doing a double take, my eyes wide as I stared at the knocked out figure of one of those guys at school.

Who the hell was that?

It was a guy with brown hair, blonde bits in the front. His ears looks like they were pierced multiple times, my eyebrows furrowed as I glanced over his tight orange sweater and jeans that cling to him. Attractive, yes, but not my type.

I inched forward and loosely grabbed his hand, moving slowly to pull his hand onto my bed. I touched my heart monitor on the tip of my finger, breathing out slowly before moving quickly and transferring it from my finger to his. The machine beeped loudly once, causing me to wince again as he moaned and moved forward to rest his head on the bed this time.

Okay, time to go.

I slid out the IV currently in the crook of my elbow, gritting my teeth as I slid out of the bed. Old scars were jostled, the new scars burning with every bit of weight I put on them. I eyed what looked like sweat pants and a crew neck folded perfectly against the wall, my eyes flickering back to the guy that was still asleep.

I grabbed them quickly and peeked out of the room, the cold air making me realize just how exposed I was to the world. I didn't want anyone seeing the scars on my hips, or the bruises I had from a week ago. The doctors here undoubtedly already saw it, but I can run from them. My name wasn't real, they had no way to find me.

The address the school had, the phone number, all fake. Everything was fake, including this fucked up life I lived. All I had to do was make it, eventually I'd make it. Just, a little bit more, and I'd be okay. I'd find a job, go to school somehow, maybe even meet someone. I'd be normal, finally normal.

I skirted across the empty hallway to a public restroom, well, the men's public restroom, and peeked under the stalls to find them all empty. I walked into one quickly, tugging my gown on and the pants up. I let out a ragged breath, grunting slightly as I brushed against my skin. God fuck, this fucking hurt. And I deserved all of it.

I tugged on the top when the door banged open, my eyes widening as two sets of footsteps came in. "I don't understand why they needed Corey, Victors perfectly capable of finding all of that information out himself."

I cocked my head at his voice, a southern accent indicating he was from here and a deep baritone dip that sent chills through me. "Victor had a, bump, in finding the information. Something about it all being false, and when he tried to hack into something it shot him back out."

My eyes widened, the smoky tendrils of that voice practically screaming at me. Holy shit, I had to leave. And I didn't mean just the hospital, it was time for me to run. Dad wouldn't even blink an eye if my stuff left, as long as I found a job and sent him money I'd be fine. He wouldn't look for me, and I'd be safe.

"Okay, then why are we here?"

It was silent as I stood, trying to cover my breathing with my hand as I listened to them breath. The first one that spoke, he sounded so angry? I couldn't understand why he was so angry at just being brought here.

"Phil, he thought it'd do us good to help them out. Get us out of the apartment or something like that." The smoky voice made my stomach drop as just how, sad and dejected he sounded. It physically hurt me, my eyes squeezing shut. I knew that feeling, mostly because it came for me every day.