Chapter 10
Asoft knock on the door sets Liz on edge.
She quickly sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, swollen and red from crying.
She glares at the door, not ready to face the man on the other side.
He knocks again. Thinking it’s Riley waiting to dish out her “consequences” after the outburst, she stands and slowly opens the door only to see Mikey on the other side.
“It’s after noon, darlin. We let you sleep all day. Time to eat,” he says to her with a smile.
“You let me sleep for an entire day?” she asks, shocked.
“You needed the rest. Now, you need to eat, go shower, and I’ll make you a plate.” He turns, leaving Liz standing in the doorway, dumbfounded.
Liz closes the door, re-locks it, and double checks it’s locked before walking into the small bathroom. She makes sure both bathroom doors are locked, jiggling the handles three separate times to be sure.
In the mirror above the sink she can see her hair is a matted mess, the bruises on her neck and shoulders fading to a disgusting shade of yellow.
The fresh bruises on her face have bloomed into a bright purple and the split in her lip is starting to heal.
She pokes at her lip, wincing as she does.
Blowing out a breath, she turns to the shower, reaching in and turning the handle.
The shower clunks and water sprays out of the shower head.
She keeps turning the handle, hoping to get it hot enough.
Once steam starts to form behind the glass door, she strips out of the borrowed clothes she’s been wearing for days and trembles.
She hates how scared and vulnerable she is, heart racing, eyes darting around the small room, waiting for someone to come in and watch her.
She shakes off the thoughts, checks the locks one final time and tries to focus on getting clean.
Liz lets the burning water wash over her.
With her head leaned forward, she watches the mix of blood, dirt, and water swirl around her feet.
Quickly remembering she has nothing of her own, she grabs the first bottle of soap she sees and squirts some into her hand.
She scrubs her hair as hard as she can stand, nails digging into her scalp, trying to get the dirt and blood out of her hair.
When she can’t take anymore, she moves on to her body, lathering up her hands, rubbing the soap all over, and getting herself as clean as she can as fast as she can.
She steps out of the shower, looks around, and spots a black towel on a rack leading to Riley’s room.
Snatching it, she gets just dry enough to put clothes back on.
She wraps her soaked hair in the towel and bends to grab the clothes she has been wearing when she sees a folded pile on the sink.
She stares in disbelief. Riley must have left them for her.
Tears spring to her eyes when she sees the black shirt sitting on top of the pile instead of a white one.
She grabs the clothes and puts them on, then it hits her why the apartment smelled so familiar.
She picks up the old clothes and puts them up to her nose, breathing deeply.
Her nose crinkles and she throws the clothes back down.
It’s hidden under the smell of being worn by her for days, but there is still a faint scent of sandalwood and cardamom, just like the clothes she just put on.
The tears she was fighting back start to fall, touched he would give her his own clothes.
She grabs the toothbrush, ripping open the box, needing to focus on anything but the man whose clothing she’s in. She globs some toothpaste on the brush and starts scrubbing.
When her mouth finally feels clean, she takes down the towel from her head, looking at the tangled mess in the mirror.
She looks around for a brush, anything she can use to tame her hair.
When she finds nothing, Liz rakes her fingers through her hair in an attempt to get the tangles out.
Realizing it’s no use, she picks up the old rubber band and reties her hair.
Before leaving, Liz cleans up after herself.
The towel gets rehung where she found it, and she folds the dirty clothes before placing them in the small hamper.
Mikey is sitting at the table eating lunch when Liz finally leaves her room.
He looks over at her, not expecting her to actually come out.
She looks around, a look of disappointment flashing across her face when she doesn’t see Riley anywhere.
She may not trust him, but he has been kind to her and she has spent more time with him.
Mikey gives her a knowing smirk before getting up and pulling out a chair for her.
“Still wearing Riley’s clothes?” he says, confirming the thoughts she had in the bathroom as she walks to the table and sits.
“Is there something else I should be wearing?” she asks. “I can go put on the scraps I came with if you want.”
Mikey stifles a laugh, just happy she’s not a walking corpse like the last few times he’s seen her.
“I’ll talk to Riley about getting you some clothes,” he says, eyeing her bare feet. “And shoes,” he adds.
Mikey stands and pulls out his phone, punching in a number before walking to the other side of the living room, just far enough for Liz to not hear him. She sits at the table, quietly picking at the small pile of food he set in front of her.
“Hey! What’s your shoe size?” Mikey yells from across the room. She stops chewing and looks at him with a puzzled look.
“Um, seven, I think,” she says, going back to her meal.
She watches as Mikey keeps talking to whoever is on the other end of the phone. He hangs up and walks back over, sitting on the couch in front of Liz. She glances at Riley’s bedroom door, wondering if he’s in there. Mikey is quick to notice where her attention goes.
“He got called to the general’s office,” he says to her with a smirk.
She quickly averts her eyes back to the food in front of her. “Thanks, I was so worried,” she mutters sarcastically into her food.
“Joke all you want, but I see how you are with him. You think I don’t see your guard slip when he’s around you? I can see it in your eyes, you know you’re safe with him.” He chuckles again, lying down, propping his feet up on the arm of the small sofa.
“Or, heres a wild fucking thought, I was locked up by men who beat my ass for breathing wrong, and i’m trying to avoid that happening again,” she shoots back, ignoring the truth in his words.
“You know damn well he would never do that.” He states, leaving no room to argue. Mikey doesn't shout, doesn't get up to defend his friend or intimidate her, simply states what she already knows.
“Okay, so Stockholm syndrome then,” Nothing could explain why she feels the way she does, but Mikey is right.
Some tiny piece of her knows she is safe with Riley, some inexplicable feeling she refuses to acknowledge.
He lowers himself back down with a huff.
Mikey knows she is lying to herself, but it's up to her to admit it.
“You still mad at him?”
Liz thinks for a minute. Was she ever really mad at him or just mad at the situation? She picks up her empty plate and brings it to the trash, dropping it into the black bag, thinking of how she can answer him.
“That question was fucked up,” she says to him, unsure of what she should be doing now that she’s done eating.
“It was,” he agrees, “but he just wants to understand you so we can help.”
“Maybe I don’t want his help. Maybe I just want to leave.” She walks into the living room, looking at the empty seat on the couch, and debating if she should sit or not.
“Doesn’t matter, darlin. The general is a huge dick, and Riley is your only shot at getting let go,” he says, watching her pace.
“That’s why he’s with the general, the second you said you have a family he’s been pushing to find them so we can get you home.
I think that’s the only way the general will agree to let you go. ”
She stops her pacing, looking at where he’s lounging on the couch. “Is Riley going to be in trouble if no one can find my family?” she asks, a small pang of guilt going through her.
Mikey eyes her as he sits back up. “That depends, did you lie about having a family?”
She stays silent for a while, wrapping her arms around herself before silently walking to her room. She stops, taking a deep breath, and forces herself to say one more word before closing her door.
“No.”