Chapter 9
Day 60
“Boo!”
I shrieked and sat bolt upright. I glared evilly at the boy I recognized only from my own drawing. It appeared that Bob has arrived. “Go away.” He looked so innocent with his crazy girls and bright blue eyes that it didn’t seem to fit with the boy I’d imagined, yet by his wake up style I knew he would be.
“Bob,” Jeremy whined. “It’s like two AM. I’m tired.”
The boy grinned, “I know. I’m bored. Let’s do something fun or exciting.”
“No,” I said at the same time as Jenny. “We are not doing anything. Go. To. Sleep.”
“But Syd,” Bob whined, “I want to do something.”
“To freaking bad,” I said covering my head with a pillow. I was falling asleep when I felt something hitting my back repeatedly. I sat up and glared at Bob where he was throwing airplanes at us.
“Do you take pride in being a jerk?” I asked. He nodded, “I swear you make me want to strangle you.”
“Sydney,” he said gasping. “I feel so wounded, like my heart is being ripped from my chest and crushed before my very eyes.”
“What heart?” I asked.
He gripped his chest, “Wound me!” He yelled. I cringed at the loud noise.
“Good,” I yelled. “I feel pissed. I want to go to sleep.”
“I want to break out of this joint,” He said. “And I think I’m right.”
“I swear I’m gonna kill you, go to sleep,” I groaned.
His grin widened. “Did I mess with little baby Syd’s sleeping pattern?”
“I swear,” I muttered shaking my head, “Could you be any more infuriating?” I put my hands on my temples and tried to soothe away the headache I felt growing there.
“Challenge accepted,” He said smirking.
My eyes widened and I leaned my head back until it hit the headboard. He was just so frustrating and it didn’t seem to matter what I did, he’d just get worse. I wanted to strangle him, “Could you maybe just go to sleep?”
“Nah,” He laughed and got off of the bed. He began smashing things around the room and being even louder. I jumped up and grabbed a roll of duct tape.
“Bob,” I said sweetly. Go to bed or else,” My voice was extremely quiet. Jenny got up and nodded. We caught him between us. She held him down while I wrapped the duct tape around his wrists in front of him. Then I put a layer around his torso and the mattress. I taped his legs down and his feet together before placing a final piece over his mouth.
“Night Bob,” Jenny said collapsing into her bed. I rolled my eyes and did the same.
The morning seemed to go by with ease. He slept through sunrise relaxation, so I actually got to relax. With breakfast I took an Advil that got rid of my slight headache. The food was fabulous and I ate happily.
I was thinking this might not be as bad as I had originally anticipated. Of course that should have been a sign. Whenever things started to look like they’d get better they’d get worse again. That afternoon was Christy and me’s turn to be outside.
We headed outside right after lunch and I could sense the problems brewing. I glanced back to where I thought Bob would be and didn’t see him. I turned forward again and saw him running towards Christy. I quickly caught up and tackled him to the ground.
“Bob, this is not the time or the place! Leave Christy alone. She is off limits.”
“I don’t believe in limits.” He said.
I glared at him with a look that should have killed him. “Well I do. You are not allowed to mess with her.”
“Sydney, Sydney, Sydney,” He tutted, “Maybe you should do it then? I’m sure you want to.”
“No,” I yelled. “She scares the living crap out of me.”
“All the more fun,” He said waggling his eyebrows, “Extra adrenaline rush, since you’re more afraid.”
I slapped him as hard as I could, “We are not having this conversation. I’m going to go play with Jeremy and Jenny and Kelly.”
“Fine boring,” He said rolling his eyes and following me.
He touched Christy’s back as we walked by and then ducked behind me. I looked over and noticed her stumble lightly.
“You pushed me,” She yelled swinging her small fist at my face. I ducked just in time, but I wasn’t able to dodge her foot that hit my shin. She was tiny, but extremely strong. The feeling when her foot collided with my shin was awful and I felt my leg collapse under me. I shifted my weight onto my other leg and swung my own fist back at her. She ducked and bowled me over by rolling into my one good leg. Once I was on the ground she leaped onto me and began unleashing her fury by swinging wild punches against my face. I tried to get my arms up, but she was like the Tasmanian devil. I could barely move underneath her. She had me pinned tightly. I heard Bob snickering behind me and Jenny reaming him out.
“That wasn’t polite!” She yelled at him. “Look what you caused. God Bob, you’re such an imbecile.”
“It was pretty funny,” He said.
Finally the guards pulled her off of me and sent me into the nurse. Jenny, Jeremy, Bob, and Kelly all went in as well.
“What happened?” The small woman exclaimed as I was carried in.
“Christy,” The guard said.
She tutted, “That girl has done nothing but cause problems around here since she arrived. Honestly! Two thirds of my patients are her victims. Something needs to be done about her before we end up with problems we can’t even fix. How long before we have a death by that child’s hands? I mean they just keep getting worse. That poor girl who got stabbed in the eye a few weeks ago was awful. Now we have this one who has a broken nose, a black eye, and a nasty bump on her shin.”
“I know, but she’s a patient as well Susan.”
“She’s evil. I want her out or kept away from other patients. I’ll talk to Adams about it later, but I’m through with her.” She said before turning to me. “You poor thing. I’m going to have to set your nose. It may hurt a bit.” She did it and then helped me to get the nose bleed to stop. Then she handed me two ice packs, one for my nose and one for my eye. I stayed there for a while and she’d change the ice pack every fifteen minutes. I rested and even napped for a little while. She kept checking on me and it was kind of nice and kind of annoying.
“You need to come back tonight so I can check on your nose.” She said. I nodded.
I finally went back into my room and slammed my fist into Bob’s face as he slept. He jumped up and I pinned him down on the floor. He tried to wriggle out of my grasp, but I had a good grip on him. I punched him a few before I gave up. I stepped back, “You’re a real jerk. Go the hell away and don’t bother coming back.” I spat going over to my own bed.
“What the hell?”
“You got it done to me. It’s called payback. Remember that next time!”
He shook his head and left the room. I washed the new blood off my knuckles and sat in my bed. I fell asleep briefly and woke up in time to go to art.
That afternoon I unleashed my frustration with the project we were doing. It was a great project and Erin couldn’t have chosen a better day.
Afterwards I took out my paints and started painting the ocean. It was just for fun. I had only been once, but I loved it there and so I painted it all the time. It just made me feel better. I didn’t notice Bob coming in until I felt cold paint sliding down my back. I yelped and threw my palette at him and it slid down his body smearing the shades of yellow and brown I’d been using to paint the sand down his body. He smirked and threw the canister of red paint at me coating my body and hands before dashing out of the room. I ran after him and was almost immediately tackled by guards and dragged in front of the therapist.
“Sweetheart, why are you covered in blood?” Dr. Adams asked gently.
“What,” I asked confused. I realized what he thought quickly. “You mean the red paint?”
“Red paint,” He began to chuckle. He gestured at the guar
ds who dragged me in, “Did you think to check if this was really blood?” They shook their heads. “Alright kid. How’d you get covered in paint?”
“Bob,” I said darkly. He nodded and let me leave. I went into the room and slapped Bob upside his head before hopping into the shower and trying my best to get as much of the now dried paint out of my hair as possible. After an hour I gave up and dried off. I decided my next hope was that more of it would get out when I combed my hair.
When I came out Kelly was sitting on my bed waiting for me. “Syd!” She called. I picked her up and sat her down on my lap.
“What’s up baby girl?”
“I’m sorry bout Bob. He’s a meany.”
I giggled and nodded, “Yeah. It’s okay kiddo.”
“I don’t like him,” She said.
I nodded in agreement, “Neither do I kid. He’s not a nice dude, but he’s here now. I guess we have to make the best of the situation.”
“What’s that mean?” she asked.
I smiled, “It means we are nice to him even though he’s a mean dude and we try to forget that we don’t really like him at all.”
“Why?” She asked.
“Cause we are awesome, and that’s what awesome people do. They are nice to mean people,” I informed her.
She sighed, “I wish everyone was nice.”
“Me too sweetheart,” I said. “Me too.”
“Can we go get dinner?” She asked. I nodded and helped her onto my back. I carried her gleefully into the dining hall and grabbed her a grilled cheese and myself a burger. We finished our food before most people even came in so I took her to the art room. I handed her paints and watched her finger paint for a while. I cleaned her up and put her in pajamas before tucking her in.
The others came back later and I was reading a book. They all went to sleep first and I finally finished the book. It was fantastic and fascinating for me to read such a hysterical story. When I slid it onto the book shelf and turned out the light I was expecting to sleep easily that night.
The reason for that was that I expected the voice to have gone. I’d always assumed it was Bob, and I wasn’t really sure why. I practically leaped into the air when it started again.
You and your friends are in danger. You’ll never be safe. I am stronger, greater, and more powerful than you. You haven’t even seen the start of what I can do.
I sat up and looked at Bob, to see he was genuinely asleep.
You mistook me for a fool, but I have real power. I have the ability to do things you can’t even imagine. Nothing is safe, and nowhere is safe. I’ll win in the end. You’ll see. You are nothing more than a silly little girl. I have real power, power that you couldn’t even dream of.