I nodded. “I do.”
All the frickin time. Why had she done this to me?
It was obvious Betsy was getting tired; she pressed her forehead to my arm. “Guys,” I spoke again. “Time to go.”
“You go.” Sally shrugged. “I’m not done.”
All right… that was her choice. Betsy and I left, Dora and Casey right behind us. The snores of our drunk chaperone filled the room, with several others joining her. I climbed into bed. I never wanted to do that again. Not YouTube. My heart raced. I couldn’t see thePoor Relationever again. On one hand it was great it continued, it hadn’t been forgotten. On the other… what the fuck.
I closed my eyes.
When they found Sally asleep in Oates’ chair the next morning it went really badly for her. It would be a whole twoweeks until we would see her again, and when we did, she was bruised and couldn’t make eye contact with any of us. What had they done to her? She didn’t tell us. Just did her chores, took her assigned walks around the property. All the light was gone. That’s what this place did. It destroyed us.
2
It was head shaving day. A week after Sally had gotten back and she still wasn’t making eye contact with any of us. I sat down next to her.
“I put some extra cheese hidden in the back of the fridge where you can get it if you do kitchen duty tomorrow.” I squeezed her knee. “I thought you might like that.”
She met my gaze. The first time in a week. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Oates stood by the door, and a Ms. Jerald stood with the buzz cutter ready to dish out the act on all of us.
“How long does this take? It’s my first time.”
Sally touched her dark hair, what was left of it before she would lose almost all of it. “It’s fast. Did you love or hate having red hair?”
I blinked. Wow. She was actually talking. “I felt benign about it truthfully. I… I hated the frizz.”
“Well, no chance of that now.”
That was true. Maybe there was a small pro to this hell. Frizzless existence. We had three twelve-year-olds with us now. Two of them cried in the front of the room. They’d both madeit through solitary but still had tears to shed. That was kind of beautiful actually. Maybe they weren’t as broken as the rest of us.
“Will you still be my friend when this is over? I mean, I leave a month before you. I’ll wait for you somewhere out there on this island wherever we are. And, we can go somewhere together. Some place quiet. I’m a constant problem. I know it. I do it to myself. But I would like to be with you. And then Betsy can come. And Casey and Dora. We can go make a life somewhere.”
I nodded. “Yes. Wait for me and I’ll find you. Okay? You’re not a problem. You’re just human. We all are. Of course I’ll still be your friend.”
“Good.” She nodded and put her head on her knees.
Betsy sat on my other side. “Here we go.”
One of the twelve-year-olds was brought up. She was new. I didn’t even know her name, but they shoved her in a chair, and when they were going to shave her, she screamed. It was a gut-wrenching sound. I’d give her credit. Small she might be, but she was tough. She threw herself over. The girl wasn’t going to give in without a fight. They smacked her hard.
I jumped to my feet.
“Alatheia.” Sally tugged on me, but I couldn’t hear her right then.
Who went around hitting twelve-year-olds? “She’s scared,” I shouted. “Don’t do that to her. Don’t hit her.” I stormed forward. “She’s frightened.”
I was yanked back by two of the teachers as they managed to get the twelve-year-old—I really needed to learn her name—back into the chair. Oates stared at me; she almost looked bored.
“Take her to the clinic.”
I kicked one of the women holding me. I had never been violent, but maybe they needed a touch of their own medicine. I got her right in the shin.
That made the other one yank me harder out of the room and away from everyone. We rushed down the hall, and before they strapped me to the table, the one I had kicked—Mrs. Rowing—smacked me hard. So hard I tasted blood in my mouth.
