The Unbreakable Lily Rain

Chapter Eight

As it turns out, Tessa was okay. She was bruised, humiliated, and past the point of muscle failure and exhaustion.

But she was okay.

For four weeks the three of us kept our heads down. We didn’t argue with the seniors; didn’t snap back when the boys in our company would make rude remarks or disrespectful gestures.

I wish I could say I didn’t let it bother me, and that I handled it just as well as Tessa or Jo, but there were more than a few times when the two of them had to hold me back. As the weeks wore on, my patience grew thin. Even the birds seemed to mock me at the end of each workout. They would stare at us with their beady little eyes from atop the balcony. In my head, I took my anger out on them. I would curse them all and swear that one day, when I was no longer a plebe, I would go out of my barracks and shoot every one of them off their perches.

How could they possibly sing when all of us were on the ground, battered and bruised, struggling to breathe?

It was our twenty-first sweat party at 20:00 hours. We had already been working for an hour. My shirt was soaked through with sweat, and my arms shook with every pushup. My lungs burned from running, and every second I prayed for some mercy by the seniors.

As usual, Cassius gave me his undivided attention. I don’t know why he was so focused on breaking me down, but he hadn’t left my side since day one. A low moan of pain escaped me as my muscles gave out for the tenth time that night and I landed on the cold tile.

“Get the fuck up Kellen! Did I say you could stop? DID I SAY YOU COULD STOP?”

“No sir.” I gasped, my voice coming out as a whisper as I pushed myself to my feet. He spit out another set of orders, and I sprinted back and forth along the entire length of the quad, my lungs screaming in agony.

I was on my fifth sprint when I saw him.

It was a boy in my company. I didn’t know much about him, only that his name was Jordan, and he tried to keep a relatively low profile, being quiet. He was astoundingly well built, and had been able to keep up with the workouts with virtually no problems. There was just one issue.

He had asthma.

Every sweat party, he was permitted to keep his inhaler with him, though I had only seen him use it twice. Now, I saw him fumbling with it. His breaths were short as his hands shook, and he tried to wriggle it off of his belt loop. The senior beside him continued screaming in his ear, and Jordan jumped. I watched as the inhaler fell to the floor, and with one, cold, merciless stomp, the senior crushed it to pieces. The shattered inhaler now on the ground and useless, Jordan looked up with a horror ridden expression. He tried to mouth something to the senior, desperation evident in his features as his breathing became more labored.

Pushing Jordan to the ground, he demanded another set of pushups. I saw the boy writhing on the ground, wheezing as he tried to push himself back up. The officer rested his foot on Jordan’s back keeping him down and promising that he would never get up until he complied with orders.

I looked around in shock. Nobody moved to help him. Fear built in my chest for the life of my classmate, my own breath becoming erratic as I realized Jordan’s face had turned an ugly shade of blue.  

My mind appeared to flat-line as all logical thought was lost. Not fully thinking, I strayed off the course Cassius had set me on, instead sprinting to where Jordan lay on the floor and the senior grinned wickedly down at him.

“Stop!” I shrieked, my voice coming out in gasps. “Stop it! Please! You’re going to kill him.”

The officer over Jordan looked up, momentary confusion flickering across his face before his eyes settled into a hard look of rage.

“Who the hell told you breaking ranks was okay?”

I almost breathed a sigh of relief as he took the weight off Jordan’s back.

But my relief was short lived as the officer knocked me to the ground, his face red with fury. The wind was knocked out of me as I hit the ground hard.

“WHO TOLD YOU, BITCH? WHO TOLD YOU THAT WAS OKAY?” My ears rang as his voice cut through me. My forehead throbbed with pain as I felt a migraine coming on.

“Can’t you see he couldn’t breathe? He’s going to die! You have to help him!”

A boot knocked into my ribs as he delivered a kick that made me see stars. “That’s sir or Officer Greene to you, dumbhead.” He seethed, looking down at me with pure hate.

Despite his rage, Greene looked back at Jordan to analyze his physical state.

He was still lying on the ground, and I could barely see the rise and fall of his chest as he twitched.

Disgusted, Greene looked towards Cassius, who watched me disapprovingly from the sidelines.

“Let’s move him out.” Greene conceded. Several seniors rushed to grab Jordan, who was carried off to the infirmary.

I started to struggle to my feet, still holding my side in pain.  

I yelped as Greene’s hand grabbed my collar and I was shoved back to the ground.

“Not yet, plebe. You’re still mine.” He hissed, pressuring into my back with his foot.

I couldn’t move. Every part of me ached, and my muscles were failing me.

“Either you take that boy’s place and finish his workout for him, in addition to yours, or I go to the infirmary and get him.” His voice was laced with malice and cruelty as he looked at me without a hint of humanity.

I squirmed. He expected me to give up. I could tell. He wanted me to admit defeat with every fiber of his being.

I didn’t have plans to give him that kind of satisfaction.

Hissing in pain, I got to my feet.

“What do you want me to do, sir?”