10 Chapter 10

I wake up the next day and stretch allllllllll the way up will I feel my back ache. Pain shoots down my entire spine and I groan. Oh great, there were bruises all over my back. I ignore it as I wake up in an oddly good mood for some reason. The party was...I rather forget the party. The sun peeked through my blinds and shined on my face. It was early in the morning. Saturday mornings used to remind me of the orphanage. When all the kids would rush down the stairs for breakfast and cartoons. You can hear all their feet going down the stairs in a sudden rush whenever the breakfast bell rang. I never really got to participate because I was always on "escalated timeout". Because of how much I used to fight. It was so many fights, I remember one time I hit a kid so hard, he lost like 3 teeth. That's when they put me in Escalated Timeout for the first time. They put me in a straight jacket and a very small all white room, almost like a cell. They blindfolded me and would just play white noise over and over on a loudspeaker. I used to hallucinate and see colors all the time. In little swirls too. This was their way of "breaking in the child."

It had gotten so bad that I started to see my parents in the corner of the room. I saw both which was strange, I only cared about one and that was my mom. She was perfect. My dad was the problem. Anyway, I met Ms. Elrich, the administrator of the orphanage, after I got out of Timeout for the last time. My brain felt like it was fried and I was in a haze for a few days. She came up to greet me after a few days so I was my normal self. I actually tried to fight her when she came up to me and all she did was crouch down and look me in the eyes. She had her black glasses on and her hair was slicked back in a tight bun. I tried to punch at her long thighs under her dress but she didn't seem phased. She grabbed my arm tight and bent down to my level. She didn't do anything as I tugged and tugged, trying to get my hand back.

"Oooo, I like your spirit, kid." She rubbed and caressed my face. "I like it a lot. What's your name?"

Rile-no, Xena." This is where the fighting began.

"Well nice to meet you, Xena."That's how I met her. From that day forward, she would do small things for me like give me an extra Honeybun or sneak me out past my bedtime. Small things. One day, she had brought me and one other child into her office, a kid I had gotten into a fight prior to Timeout. She had given this kid a glass of apple juice but the juice was spinning inside, kind of like someone was stirring it prior. She would never give me any though. That's when she would close her door and teach me all sorts of things...

The child that she gave the Apple juice to ended up falling asleep within 2 minutes of drinking it. That's when she would take her glasses off and everything just switched. It was like I was looking and a whole new person. Her Aura has completely changed. She looked at me with piercing and wide brown eyes. She was smiling so wide it made my stomach feel funny. She would clear her desk of everything completely and put plastic over it. She would take the child's body and strip them completely naked then lay them out over the plastic. Her tools were in a locked drawer behind her desk and she would take them out, gently laying them before her. She looked at me one last time. It was the weirdest thing. I wasn't scared, just intrigued by what she was doing. It was pretty clear after she started to cut the kid open what she was doing....

Anyway, I'll think about that later. I get up and stretch and touch my toes. I go downstairs to the kitchen and pour myself a bowl of cereal. I take my breakfast down to the basement with me and while I open the door, the sounds of screaming starts to leak throughout the house. Oh okay, so it is sound proof. Cool. It was Ezekiel screaming over and over for help.

"Hey!" I interrupted him as I sat on the step and looked at him in the corner, "can you stop?!?"

"XENA LET ME OUT!" He pleaded and pleaded.

"What? No." I start to crunch on my cereal, " we gotta have a talk."

"What talk? Talk about what?" As he struggles to break free "There is nothing to talk about, let me fucking go!!"

"Why did you come to my door in the middle of the night looking for that Psychopath that I call an Aunt?"

"She's the psychopath but you're the one who knocked me unconscious and locked me up in your basement?"

"I'm the psychopath but you're the one who should go up to my house in the middle of the night drunk or high or even both, screaming a woman's name that I told you left and also with the intention to hurt an underage girl?" I look at him with the blankest expression I can possibly make.

"Xena I know you did something to her." His voice was low and somewhat raspy, probably from all the yelling he was doing.

"You don't know shit Ezekiel. Just tell me why you wanted her so I can give her the message. But about my questions. What were you on last night? Where is your family? And why do you want my Aunt so bad??"

"No. Show me that she's okay first. Then we can talk."

"Are you really in the position to be making demands right now? No."

"Show me her, then I'll talk."

I finish my Cereal and stand up."You obviously aren't getting that you aren't in charge here. I'll be back in five days to give you some water."

"Xena, no. Don't leave me, please. You can't do this! I have rights too, ya know!

"Later Ezekiel." I close and lock the basement door. He'll come around. Sooner or later. I go back to my room and get dressed for my plans with Alex today.We're going out to buy Christmas gifts and since I have no family, this should be easy....wow. I have no...family.

I'm going to be alone on Christmas Day.

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