I sat on the clinical floor, picking at the skin around my nailbeds. "Don't do that, you'll bleed and Mommy isn't here to give you a band-aid and kiss your boo-boos," Lee commented, a jeering grin on her lips.
"It's a habit, okay?" I said, my plain jane brown eyes sparkling with a soft tease. I stood up, dusting off my jeans and walking to her. "Were you born a hardass?" I teased, tugging at a lock of her garnet hair with a smirk that mimicked hers.
"Were you always a candy ass?" Lee replied, whipping her leg out so I fell to the floor. She cackled lightly as I sat up with a wince. "I guess so, you always leave yourself open." The woman commented.
"What are you talking about?" I said, raising an eyebrow to her.
"Fighting. You leave your defenses open. You'd get your ass kicked if you got in a fist fight." Lee exhaled, rolling her eyes. "Even if you're the strongest guy in the world--The actual one-- if your defenses are open then anyone can beat you. It's not always about Strength and endurance." She created a bridge with her body, her palms flat on the ground. Lee then sprang from there, landing balanced on her feet. "Come on." She pulled me up. "Try to hit me."
"What? No. Lee, I'm not doing that." I put my palms up to object. "I'm not hurting you."
Lee rolled her eyes. "Just trust me." She said, raising her eyebrows and widening her eyes.
I took a deep breath, shaking my head before balling my fist and hesitantly throwing a punch in her direction. She wrapped her powerful fingers around my wrist and slammed my forearm to my back. The experienced women then kicked my legs from underneath me and slammed me to the ground, lightly putting pressure on the small of my back with her knee. I groaned in pain, and she exhaled amusingly. "If you didn't have your defenses open, it would've been me who is laying on the ground. You have a lot to learn." Lee released me, standing up and pulling me back up. I rolled my back, popping everything back into place.
"Damn, you're skilled," I said, smiling. I brushed the hair that had fallen into my face out of my eyes.
"That? You think that was a 'skill'?" Lee said with a scoff. "That was nothing." She bragged, pulling her hair up to a ponytail.
"Yea, I know, I suck," I said with a grin. She shook her head, then the cylinder popped down from the ceiling. This time, Lee didn't seem to know what it was.
"The hell?" She jogged over to it, her combat boots clunking with every step. I followed her, seeing an old TV and a tape sitting on top of it. "What is this?" Lee thought out loud. She put the tape in the TV, and it crackled to life with an image of a little girl sitting at an interrogation table. "What is this?" Lee asked, more persistent. I glanced over her features, tears welling up in her eyes. I drew my eyes back to the screen to watch what this video was.
"Thanks for talking to us, Sofia." The officer that sat out of frame greeted and a warm smile spread against her lips as she waved. "Hi!!"
The officer chuckled humbly and gave her a package of cookies, then asked: "Does the name Leona Handel ring a bell for you, Sofia?"
The girl tilted her head to the side, opening the package. "Sounds familiar, i don't know why...." She pondered, then went back to her cookie.
"Maybe this will jog your memory..." The man slid a picture of Lee on the table. The girl's eyes lit up, and she started bouncing up and down.
"That's my momma!" She practically screeched. A small smile appeared on Lee's lips, as tears threatened to spill. She swallowed, trying to keep a hard facade up.
"Yes, that's it. Do you know where she is?" The officer asked Sophie, and she shook her head. "No...Can I see her? I haven't seen in her in a while!" The officer tutted, and the way the girl's face fell eluded to the officer shaking his head no. "Why not?" Sofie asked, and the officer tutted.
"I really wish he, she, Or whatever the fuck would stop doing that," Lee commented. I could tell that she was hurting, but hiding it. I don't know if I'm just great at reading people or if she isn't hiding it well.
"She's in a place that bad people go to for doing bad things." The officer responded. Sophie's eyebrows furrowed for a split second before she said: "But my mom isn't bad..." She responded, and a quiet sob escaped from Lee's chest. She attempted to keep her crumbling composure.
"Your mother killed a man." The officer said, his voice hardening. A boring silence filled the room, before a woman that I can only assume is the superintendent barged in. "That's enough. Here, Sofie, let's go to Auntie Carey." Sophie looked at the officer with vague distaste before hopping down from the chair, snagging her cookies and wobbling over to the tall woman. The woman sent an unapproving glance to the officer, who sighed before getting up and turning off the camera.
Lee immediately stood and walked to the trays of food, taking a small sip of water. Why is she so...casual about this?
"Are...you okay?" I asked her, and she looked at me. Her grey eyes bore into my soul, contradicting her statement of 'I'm Fine.' I didn't feel like pushing her about this was appropriate, but I didn't know what else to do.
I laid down, watching her as I closed my eyes. Shortly after, Lee started talking to herself. "I'll do anything...Please just let me see her in person. Let me hold my daughter. It's been 4 years... I'm begging you. Let me hug her again, please." Small sobs wracked her thin body as she sat, begging everybody and anybody for the luxury of meeting her daughter again.
Eventually, both of us fell asleep. We woke with the white cylinder down again. Lee tiredly walked to it, Picking up the white envelope.
"Leona,
We will fulfill your wish. You will be transported to the real world where you will be bathed, fed, dressed, and then brought to see Sofia Handel. Do not misbehave, this is a gesture of friendship."
Lee grinned ear to ear. "I get to see her!" She screeched. I clapped, smiling.
"I'm happy for you." I grinned and looked in the cylinder to find my own white envelope.
"Erin,
We will fulfill your wish. You will be transported to the real world where you will be bathed, fed, dressed, and then brought to management to find out the exact reason that you were banned from existence."
"I get to figure out why I'm in here," I said with a grin. Lee nodded, clutching the white paper to her chest. The white cylinder ascended back, and a larger white tube ascended. "What is for?" I asked, looking inside it. "Get in..." I read out loud, then motioned to Lee, who ran over. We both stood in the tube as we ascended up to a white office. On the right, there were showers and clothes. Lee ran over to one of them, climbing in and shut the curtain before stripping and turning on the water. She groaned with pleasure, and I went and took a shower in the other stall. Four days without showering? No thank you. But, Lee hasn't had a shower in 4 years? I waved off that thought and washed up, reaching out and grabbing a towel before toweling off and getting dressed.
We were then led by a man of color in a white jumpsuit to a dining hall, where we were fed. Lee surprisedly had table manners, as did I. The same man that brought us to the food took Lee down a hall, and he allowed me to come with. I stood in a corner as Lee sat, waiting patiently for Sofie.
YOU ARE READING
The Nonexistence Or Something
Ficção Geral"How is that even possible?' I stood up, brushing invisible dust off my ripped jeans and started walking. I was greeted with another white envelope, which in the same handwriting as the first. "There is no end or beginning to this place. Food and wa...
