Manipulate
Chapter Eight

Theo and I walk hand in hand back to the dorms. I don’t like him; I don’t like him. He is just a friend. That’s all, I think to myself. Theo is a nice guy. Honestly, he really is and he’s a nice friend to have.

“Are you good at archery?” Theo asks me.

“Yeah. I’m decent at it,” I say with a shrug.

“Could you teach me sometime?”

“Sure,” I say.

“Cool. Is it hard?”

“Not really. Archery is pretty easy after you get the concept down,” I say. “But you do have a weapon in your hand though.”

Theo’s lips curl up at my last comment. We get back to the dorm and I drop Theo’s hand at the door. Theo smiles, I just stare at the ground while blush creeps up my face. Theo opens the door with a bow.

“Ladies first,” he says adding a smirk.

I laugh and roll my eyes at his gesture. “Thank you,” I say quietly, so that Theo is the only one who can hear it.

“You’re welcome, Abhaya,” Theo says with a smile.

I go and replace a spot along the wall. Trey notices me when I sit along the wall. He nods when Theo comes in.

“Yes! We got two more players now,” Trey says. Everyone cheers at his announcement.

“Nick, truth or dare?” Trey asks.

“Dare,” Nick states.

Trey taps his chin. “Hmm… I dare you to run down to the cafeteria and back yelling at the top of your lungs,” Trey says.

“I’ll do it!” Nick exclaims.

Everyone wants to see this.

We all follow Nick out of the dorms and stand at the end of the hall. Nick starts sprinting down the hall like his life depends on it. Some of us start laughing. “Idiot,” I mutter under my breath. Within five minutes Nick comes back with sweat beading his forehead. He also has a red mark on his face. It looks like a handprint. He got slapped! I smile at the ground. He is such an idiot and stupid at the same time. I hate idiots and look at what just happened.

“What happened?” Trey asks.

“I got slapped by Max for running in the halls. He said that it’s ‘too childish of me to do that stuff,’” Nick says.

I look over my shoulder and see Theo talking to Peter. Peter rolls his eyes and laughs at what Theo just said. Peter whispers something into Theo’s ear. Theo nods and smiles at what Peter just said.

“Hi, I’m Mia. You’re Abhaya right?” A girl behind me says. I jump and turn my head. “Oh, sorry didn’t mean to startle you,” she adds quickly.

I realize that my mouth is hanging open. I close my mouth. “Yeah. Hi, Mia. It’s nice to meet you. “

Mia is a few inches smaller than me, with blonde hair, shoulder length hair and brown eyes. She smiles at me.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Abhaya,” Mia chirps.

Mia walks off to join her other group of friends. I walk back into the dorm and climb up onto my bunk. I lay on the twin sized mattress and wonder how Aj is doing. Could Donatella be hurting him or using him to clean the house? My blood runs cold at the thought. I yank the pillow from under my head and press it onto my face and scream into it. My screams are muffled by the cotton and soft foam.

“What are you doing?” A voice asks me. I take the pillow off of my face to see Theo standing on Nick’s bed with his arms keeping him balanced. He smirks at me.

“I was thinking,” I say.

“Then why were you screaming?” Theo says shooting up an eyebrow. I laugh.

“I don’t know. It seemed necessary to me.”

“Okay,” Theo says hesitantly and steps down from Nick’s bed as he makes his way to his bunk.

I throw the back onto my face and sigh. No one understands how much more freedom I have now since I’ve arrived at TID. I glance at the clock on the wall. It’s only two thirty in the afternoon. Here in TID it’s literally breakfast, lunch, then a long wait for dinner. Theo’s bunk is the next bunk from mine. A crash goes on outside and then laughter comes and silences out the crash. I roll onto my side and prop the pillow under my cheek. I pull the sheets up to my chest and snuggle into my bed. I close my eyes and drift off.

#

One girl corners me and the other holds a glass teapot in her hands. They both have smug grins on their faces. Both girls have milky chocolate eyes, with red curly hair and freckles that are evenly spread out through their face.

“Please don’t do it. Please don’t. I didn’t mean it!” I plead and wail.

Linda and Lillie roll their eyes at me. “Well, maybe you should’ve done our homework for us. Then we wouldn’t have to do this!” Linda spits out.

I get down on my knees, I clasp my hands together. “Please that was my great grandma’s. She loved that teapot. She loved so much that she gave it to my mom,” I beg.

Then, Linda brings the teapot to the ground. Crash! The china goes splintering on the ground. The glass shards scratch my arms blocking my face. Linda and Lillie run as the glass ricochet off the wall. Blood seeps into the carpet and onto my pants. I try not to cry. No one can know that I’m suffering in this house.

Aj comes darting up the stairs. His face is pale like he just saw a ghost. “Oh my god. Not again,” he says as he eyes the broken teapot then the blood coating my arms. “God no. What did they do to you!” Aj demands as he opens a closet door to get a dustpan and a broom.

I explain the whole story. I see Aj bite back an urge to swear.

I stand up. I lean against a wall for support. I look at my arms, blood coats them like frosting covers a cake. It’s thick and glossy. I stumble into the bathroom with Aj leaning against the door frame.

His face is still pale when I look in the mirror. I sigh and pull out a washcloth. I run warm water under the sink and drench the washcloth in water. I press the washcloth to my bleeding arm. I take in a sharp breath as the water stings the cuts on my arm. Aj takes medical tape and gently applies it to my arms as the washcloths soak up the blood.

“You need to get stitches Abhaya. If you don’t it’ll get infected and you’ll get really sick. Come on let’s go to the urgent care,” Aj urges.

“Fine.” I sigh.

Aj can still pick me up at six years old. He puts me on his back. Normally his piggy back rides are enjoyable and are filled with shrieks. This time they’re not. I almost hang limp from his back. My head feels dizzy and I feel my skin turning pale from the blood loss.

Our cousin, Will comes out of the kitchen with a package of crackers in his hand. “Wow. What happened?” He asks as he pops a cracker into his mouth.

“Linda or Lillie, I don’t know which one. But they threw a teapot at Abhaya. It shattered and cut her arms,” Aj explains.

“Oh. That’s bad. I’ll take her to the urgent care downtown,” Will says as he sits the crackers on a nearby table.

Will grabs our bus passes and we sneak out of the house. I close my eyes as the sun blinds them.

“Hang on, Abhaya. We’re almost to the bus stop,” Will says over his shoulder.

Aj sits me down on a bench at the bus stop. He starts peeling away the medical tape. I flinch as he peels off the tape and the crusty washcloth. Aj stops and quickly presses the tape back into place. The bus shows up a minute later. I stand up. I feel a wave of dizziness crash over me. Will picks me up and steps onto the bus’s steps with our passes. The bus driver nods as the three of us climb on.

Will sits me down on a seat. “I don’t know, dude, she looks pretty pale and bad to me,” Will says with a shrug.

A nearby middle-aged lady comes over. “Are you okay, sweetie?” She asks as she eyes my injuries.

I open my mouth to speak but Aj beats me to it. “She’ll be fine. There was an accident at our house and she got cut.”

“Oh. That’s terrible. Are you going to the urgent care down this way?” She asks.

“Yes, ma’am,” Aj says, nodding. The lady approves of his response and turns around to replace a seat.

The bus stops a block away from the urgent care. I stand up and lean on a pole. Once I regain my balance we get off. Will grabs my hand to lead me down the bus steps. I sway a little when I step off the last step. Aj gabs me and picks me up.

“I can walk. I’m just a little unsteady,” I say.

“That’s exactly why I’m not risking it,” Aj says, sounding a little annoyed.

Will opens the door to urgent care. Aj carries me in and sits me on a chair. Will presents his insurance card while Aj fills out the paperwork. Will sits on my left, I sigh and rest my head on his shoulder. Will strokes my head as I close my eyes.

“Abhaya,” a nurse calls.

I perk my head up and push myself out of my chair. I walk over toward the nurse.

“Hi, now if you could follow me please.” She motions toward the door.

Will slightly nudges me in the shoulder, motioning for me to move. Aj hands the nurse the paperwork as she weighs, takes my height and examine my injuries. I flinch when she peels off the medical tape and the crusty washcloths.

The nurse makes a face at the cuts and the crusty blood on my arms. “Oh.” She gasps.

“What?” Aj and Will demand at the same time.

“It seems that they’re already healing. And the cuts look pretty deep to me,” she explains.

The nurse leads the three of us into an exam room. She takes out her miniature scanner. She waves it over my arms. “They are pretty deep. I’ll just say, keep the cuts clean and cover them with a bandage and not washcloths and medical tape,” she says, emphasizing the last words.

“Okay. Will do,” Aj says with a nod.

#

I wake up around three o’clock. The dorm is eerily quiet. I glance around the room; it seems that it’s just Theo and me in here. Dinner won’t be served for another two in a half hour. I put the pillow back on my face and close my eyes.

I slide off of my bunk. I go and stand on the bunk below Theo’s.

“Theo. Theo!” I say as I poke him.

“What?” He says, half asleep.

“I don’t know. I was just wondering, where is everyone?” I say. “They’re probably off doing something real stupid with their lives,” he says. “I can see that happening,” I say.

“What are you doing anyway?” Theo asks.

“I was bored and some questions popped in my head,” I answer. Theo nods.

I step down off of the bottom bunk and head back to mine.

“Abhaya, how old are you anyway?” Theo questions me.

“How old do you think I am?” I say with a sly smile.

Theo smiles toward the ground. I see his ears turn pink. He’s blushing. “I don’t know. Seventeen. Maybe eighteen,” he guesses.

“Close,” I say.

“Sixteen,” Theo says confidently.

“Yep,” I say.

A smile paints it way over Theo’s face as if his face is a canvas. “Woohoo!” He cheers. I smile at him.

“Okay. Now that I’ve guessed your age you have to guess mine,” Theo says with a smile.

“Hmmm... I’m guessing that you’re eighteen,” I say.

Theo looks stunned at my answer. I laugh. “How? What? How did you? How did you guess that so easily?” Theo sputters out.

A smile creeps across my face. “I don’t know. I observe people.”

“Cheater,” Theo teases.

I laugh. “No, I did not. I swear,” I say, laughing.

“Fine. I believe you then,” Theo sighs.

We spend the next half hour talking and laughing. I sit on my bunk across from Theo’s while we talk about the stupid things we did as kids. I laugh at one of his.

“Oh my God. Are you serious about that?” I say in between laughs.

“Yes, I know I enjoyed running around in my underwear and a t shirt with cardboard wings, while yelling out, ‘I can fly!’” Theo says with a smile. “Now tell me something that you did as a kid that you consider stupid now,” he says while raising his eyebrows.

“Well, I did once do something that is pretty stupid to do. Even if you are a kid,” I start. Theo leans in eagerly to listen. I suck in a breath and laugh. “I might’ve ran through the store playing Marco Polo with my brother Aj. He’s five years older than me and I was four at the time.”

Theo looks stunned at me. He shakes his head at me and chuckles. “Oh my God. Abhaya, that is the weirdest thing I have ever heard. Especially from a sixteen-year-old girl.”

I laugh a little. “Hey, I was only four. So, take it as a joke.”

“Fine,” Theo says in surrender.

Just as Theo opens his mouth to say something, everyone else comes piling in along with Max and Alia following them. Max and Alia have scowls painted across their faces. I shoot a concerned look at Theo. He shrugs in response. Abi comes over with a pout on her face. Her arms are folded across her chest. Her bright and cheerful attitude has shriveled up and is gone for now.

“What happened?” I ask with a sigh.

“Max and Alia caught us in the halls. They saw Nick and Trey fighting and we all got in trouble for just standing there.” Abi sighs.

“Oh,” I say.

Abi pulls herself up onto my bunk. She lays her head in my lap. I stroke her head as she closes her eyes. My legs dangle over the edge of the bunk. Theo whispers to me, “you know, Abi is twelve and she’s been here for two years.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “Really? Who’s the youngest person here then?” I ask in a hushed tone.

“Abi is the youngest person who transferred. But there are other kids that were born here who are younger than her,” Theo explains softly.

I glance at Abi who’s still asleep on my lap. Abi is curled up into a tiny ball as she sleeps. Her hands are balled up into tiny fists as she sleeps soundly in my lap. I lean back carefully so I don’t wake her, I grab a pillow and prop it under her head. Theo hands me a small blanket off of his bunk.

“Thank you,” I whisper. Theo acknowledges my gratitude.

I lift Abi out of my lap very carefully. Abi sucks in a breath. I stop and look at her. I breathe a sigh of relief. She was only dreaming. Abi lays curled up in a ball on my bunk while she sleeps off her anger and sadness.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Theo asks me. I’m sitting next to him on his bunk. I look at him.

“What?” I ask, completely stunned

“Just us two. We could walk around and talk,” he explains.

I smile and punch his arm playfully. I get a small chuckle out of him. Theo looks at me with his deep ocean blue eyes. I feel the blood rush to my face. I can feel the heat from the blush creeping up my neck and onto my face. I look away for a moment.

“Do you want to?” Theo asks.

“Sure,” I say. “That’d be nice.”

Theo smiles. “Come on then.”