Page 31 of Through The Woods

Chapter Nine

One week later…

I waited until the last of the motorcycles faded from view. They were gone for the day, leaving me to complete my chores in peace. My side appeared to be healing the way Doc wanted and I’d been given the okay to resume cooking and cleaning.

Charm always left two prospects behind to guard the clubhouse while also watching me closely, as if I was in any sort of shape to run away. Axel was nice enough; the other guy hadn’t spoken a word to me since I arrived and responded to any of my questions with grunts.

Once I was sure that the two of them were preoccupied with biker things, I pulled my hair back into a high ponytail and threw on what was quickly becoming my favorite outfit— Charm’s sweatshirt and a pair of black sweatpants. I couldn’t seem to stay warm even though it was the middle of July. I just didn’t have enough body-fat, no matter how much broth and Ensure I drank.

Doc had assured me that I would put weight back on in time; I’d just been hopeful that it would’ve been a faster process.

I hurriedly cleaned the rooms, finding that I didn’t need to pause for breaks as often. As often—meaning that these men were surprisingly still capable of destroying bedrooms and bathrooms in less than twenty-four hours.

Amongst the mound of tissues on the dresser in PD’s room, were several condom wrappers and I stared in confusion at them for far longer than was necessary.

“There are no women here!” I exclaimed with a small giggle. “But, at least we’re all practicing safe sex.”

I had to be losing my head. Charm had specifically stated that they weren’t that kind of club, hadn’t he?

Did the whores just show up on specific nights?

I tried not to dwell on the fact that I would’ve heard someone having sex from down the hall and pushed on until I got to Charm’s room.

I’d sworn I wouldn’t look again, but after a cursory sweep with the duster, I found myself digging through the top drawer of his nightstand and sinking down to the carpet, needing answers.

Matt’s old man broke his arm today. Then, he took him out to one of the cabins back in the woods and left him there. Said he could come back when he learned how to use his voice, like a man. Us kids were told to not even think about helping him get food or water either.

She came to me in the middle of the night, shining a small flashlight in my face. “We can’t leave him to die out there. You and I both know that he ain’t ever gonna be able to talk.”

I tried to tell her all the reasons we couldn’t when she said, “Please. We already lost Bones. I can’t lose Matty too.”

I hadn’t been able to tell her about what really happened to Bones. Instead, I told her that he got off his rope and ran away. She still looked for him every day and often sighed that she hoped someone nice had found him.

I knew she was right, so we waited until the bikers left the next day before hitching a ride into town for supplies. As usual, the other guys caught up with us when they figured out our plan. She disappeared while we snagged food and water, but showed back up when it was time to leave.

By the time we got out to him, Matt was rocking in a corner, his broken arm clutched to his chest. Sweat ran down his face even though the room was freezing. Vic felt his head and nodded. “He’s got a fever—probably from infection. I’m going to have to reset the bones.”

Most kids wouldn’t have known the first thing about fixing broken bones. Most kids weren’t us though.

Vic set it while AJ and I held him down.

If ever there was a time for Matt to speak, it would’ve been now. His mouth fell open and he tried to fight us, but no sound came out. I knew then that it wasn’t a matter of him not wanting to talk. His voice just didn’t work. Eventually, he passed out from the pain and Vic got it done.

Rocky showed up with a syringe and proceeded to inject antibiotics into him after disinfecting the skin around his hip. “What? I’ve seen my ma shoot up hundreds of times,” he’d explained as we all stared at him in awe.

Vic stepped back and looked Matt over. “I wrapped it the best I could, but his arm isn’t going to be perfect. He went too long with it broken.”

Bobby and Billy carried him over to an old bed in the corner and wrapped him in blankets. I thought we were ready to leave him for a little while when she went over and sat next to him, patting his hair until his eyes opened.

“Matty, I got us another book at the library. You wanna read it with me?”

He nodded, but winced when he tried to move. We could’ve stolen pain medicine, but they would’ve found us out for sure then. She climbed under the blankets and opened to the first page.

“Today, we’re going to do an easy one. Thank you.” She put one hand up to her mouth and then down to rest on the palm of her other hand. “Now, don’t use your bad arm. Just do what you can.”

He did exactly as she showed him as we all stood along the wall like some dummies. She’d been teaching him sign language. While we’d all been fine with messages scribbled in the dirt or written on scraps of paper, she’d wanted him to communicate with us.

“Now, don’t y’all go running off. I’m gonna teach you next.”

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