Thin As Water

11.

TW: This chapter makes allusions to child abuse, you have been warned.

"Lilian, you've got to come quick!"

Lil jerked her head up. It was yet another Monday morning after yet another weekend at home. Lil was standing in the library, though she hadn't gotten though a single page of the book she was looking at, despite being at it for 10 minutes.

"Alivia? What is it?" Lil didn't really know Alivia Jones that well, besides the fact that she was a cheerleader and hung out with Alissa's group, but she'd always been pretty quiet and unobtrusive.

"I think there's a little girl locked in the boiler room, I was talking with my friends when we heard a scuffle and the door banged shut. It's usually propped open a little because it locks when it's closed all the way. Do you have a key?" Liv's eyes were wide and she spoke very quickly, and Lil set down her book in concern.

"I probably do, most of the locks in this school are the same key. Is it the door I'm thinking of?" Lil fished the keys out of her blazer pocket.

"I don't know, I'll take you there. Let's go!" Lilian and Alivia hurried out of the library and Alivia led the way to a wooden door at the end of a hallway near the quad.

"There, that one. We were just around the corner in the quad when we heard it. It sounded like something fell and there was crying."

Lil pressed her ear to the door. "I don't hear anything. Is anyone in there?" 

There was only silence.

Lil tested the key and unlocked the door. It was dark, so she opened the door wider and took a step inside.

Suddenly, she felt several hands on her back and before she could turn around, she was shoved inside and the door was slammed. She reached out to catch herself on something but the room was bigger than she expected and she fell to the concrete floor hard. She let out a yelp as pain shot through her already sore body. 

"Now someone's in there." Lil heard a different voice on the other side of the door, a sneering tone she recognized all too well. Alissa!

Lil pushed herself up and went to the door, but froze as the handle didn't turn. With a sinking feeling, she realized that this was the type of door where you needed a key for both the inside and the outside, and the key was currently sticking out of the other side of the door, or more likely, in one of the girl's pockets.

"Let me out!" Lil shouted to the other side.

"We will." A new voice chimed in. Katherine. "But the bell for class rings in a minute and we can't be late. We'll come back."

"Maybe we'll even take notes for you, wouldn't want to mess up your perfect grades, would we?" Alissa spoke in a voice dripping with mocking kindness.

The girls laughed and Lil's eyes widened when she heard Tina's laugh join in.

"Come on, we'll be late!" Alivia prodded and Lil heard them leave, the bell ringing a minute later.

Lil backed away from the door slowly, breathing heavily. Wouldn't want to mess up your perfect grades, would we? She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the bruises on her back, and her breathing quickened.

What do I do? How do I get out?

Lil got up and ran back to the door, banging on it and shouting for a minute before slumping to the ground. Everyone's in class now anyway. No one cares.

The darkness seemed to creep in around her, and the smell of gas from the boiler made her head spin. She breathed even faster, trying to push air to her brain fast enough to push out the thoughts of the last dark room she'd been locked in.

Stop your fucking crying, you little bitch.

Lil sat on the ground, silently hyperventilating into her knees. Eventually sitting up hurt too much, so she allowed herself to fall onto her side.

With a yelp, Lil sat back up. Something had stabbed her in the side when she'd laid down. Quickly, she snatched it up and then breathed a huge sigh of relief.

My pager!

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

"I'm sure this is an interesting story, Miss VanGrayson."

Lil stepped into the light of the hallway and blinked rapidly, hey eyes adjusting. "It is, ma'am."

The headmistress nodded. "I am not quite sure of all your habits, but I don't think one of them is locking yourself in dark closets, is it?"

"It is not, ma'am." Lil felt a smile tug at her lips.

"Then this was not by choice?"

"No, ma'am. It was definitely not by choice."

"We can go through the security tapes, if need be."

Lil smirked. "I appreciate it, ma'am, but I heard their voices and one of them actually led me down here, under pretense of course."

The headmistress nodded. "Would you like me to deal with it?"

Lil considered. "No ma'am, I'm going to go shower to get the smell of gasoline off of me, and then I think I can deal with it."

The headmistress smiled. "Excellent. Good luck, Miss VanGrayson."

"Thank you, ma'am." Lil turned and headed for her room. She would deal with it.

And she would enjoy it.

AN: So now we have Lil, Lia, and Liv. I really need to start thinking of different names that don't all end up with the same nickname. Next up, why it's not a good idea to mess with an already pissed off Lil, part who knows what.

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