Trapped (Caged #2)(15)
“Maybe you should sleep inside tonight,” I suggested. “It’s cold out.”
Again, she didn’t say anything, but she did get up and crawl through her open window. I followed her inside the almost empty apartment with the bare twin mattress on the floor and went into her kitchen. There was exactly zero food in the refrigerator, so I grabbed a bowl from the cabinet, went back to my place, and filled it up with some of the rice and veggies.
“Eat,” I told her. I checked her garbage can and found a couple of those microwavable single servings of soup and macaroni and cheese, so she must have eaten something while we were gone.
“You don’t cook,” she said as she eyed the bowl.
“Tria made it,” I told her. “It’s good.”
She took a cautious bite and then quickly finished it all. I made a mental note to bring her some of Tria’s cooking more often. Maybe she’d stop looking like a poster child for anorexia.
While she finished up the food, I reached over and touched her greasy, stringy hair, which made her tense up. She was in serious need of some personal hygiene, but that was definitely not my department.
“Your worker come over this week?” I asked, but she wasn’t inclined to tell me. It was too late to call the office, so I’d have to remember to do it on Monday while Tria was in class. I went over to the little chart she had on the wall, which normally contained her list of doctors and medicines, but the pieces of paper that were usually hanging right above the phone were gone. I asked her about it, but she was no longer in the talking mood. I thought I had the social worker’s number at my place somewhere, but it was weird for the whole chart to be blank.
“I’m gonna call them,” I told her. “Sleep inside tonight, okay?”
She didn’t answer, but she didn’t head right back to the window either, so I thought she’d be okay. I went back to my own apartment and crawled into bed with Tria. I wrestled with the blanket a little, gave up, and then pulled her up against my chest for warmth instead.
*****
I hear the chiming of the seashells hanging from ribbons in the trees as Tria walks around the large circle. Nikki lies on a medical exam table with her feet up in stirrups in the center of the circle, and Brandon stands between her legs, f*cking her with quick, rough strokes.
He grunts and withdraws as another man comes up and takes his place. Brandon comes to stand by me and smoke a cigarette.
“There she is,” he says as Tria walks up to me and smiles.
When I glance back to the center of the circle, I see Keith moving up to take his position to f*ck Nikki.
“What the hell?” I ask.
“It’s tradition,” Brandon says with a shrug.
Keith’s hands move up the insides of Nikki’s legs, pushing them farther apart before he reaches down to release his dick from his pants. He steps up closer to position himself, and his head turns to look at me. As his eyes lock with mine, a cruel smile crosses his face. His hips shove forward, and I hear Tria cry out.
When I look to my left, she’s no longer standing beside me.
“You wouldn’t give her one,” Brandon says as he lights another cigarette and hands it to Nikki. “Always know what’s best for her, don’t you?”
“I didn’t…I don’t want…” I look over to the circle again and see Tria on her back with her feet in the air. Keith’s eyes are still on mine as he thrusts into her repeatedly. He wiggles his eyebrows and laughs, but I can’t move. I can’t even speak up.
“Try this. It will make it stop hurting,” an old woman says as she holds a cup up to my lips.
I reach out to take the cup and drink the liquid, but it is gone. Instead, my outstretched arm is wrapped with a piece of tubing at the crook of my arm. I watch the old woman slap at the inside of my elbow to bring the vein into view.
The sting of the needle is familiar, welcome, and comforting. I look up from the dusty floor where I’m sitting in the middle of an abandoned apartment building, the walls of which are half burned up. The girl off to my right is banging for the third time in an hour. It seems like too much, but she’s been doing it a lot longer than me. She’s gotta get some just to stay straight.
My head swims, and the pain is gone. My mind spins and swirls in majestic arcs, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, the past has just disappeared. It’s gone, and it doesn’t hurt. The images leave me as I float and swim inside of myself.
As soon as I start to fall, there is another needle. Another prick. Another high.
The girl to my right lies down on her side. Her face is a strange, unnatural color, but she’s still beautiful. I move over her, push up her skirt, and bury myself inside of her. The feeling is overwhelming and nearly spiritual, but I can’t come in her. I just keep f*cking her until I’m too tired to move anymore, and I have to roll over on my side…
I knew the entire time that I had been dreaming, but I still felt sick to my stomach when I woke up. I swallowed back bile and tightened the hold I had on Tria. I was glad to be back in our bed again; no uncomfortable couches or outlandish hotel rooms. Just our place and just us. Tomorrow was Saturday, and I would be able to get in a quick workout, and then spend the rest of the day just hanging out and watching her study.
Wait, no. I needed to take her out on a date.
I extracted myself from her arms and the bed as my mind started racing, trying to figure out what I could do for an actual date with Tria. Feet First was totally out of the question, and so was Fin’s. There were a few other substandard eateries and a waffle place down the main drag, but none of those were a good place for a date.