Page 36 of Petals and Strings
He saw me in a way I was struggling to see myself.
When I made it back to my room I tucked the image into the corner of the painting hanging over my bed.
I would look at it every day, remind myself that I was fighting to be that girl.
Not whoever Malik was trying to turn me into.
Chapter Thirteen
Audrey
Every step I took was torture. A week on the new medication routine and I was barely functioning. Nancy practically hoisted me out of bed and helped me walk to get ready.
She promised it was temporary.
I wasn’t sure I believed her.
At this point I felt like Malik saw us thriving and cut us back down. And I had only been here a few weeks, I couldn’t imagine what everyone else was feeling.
By the time she dropped me at the breakfast table and walked away, I was forcing myself to breathe through my mouth so I didn’t throw up and ruin everyone’s breakfast.
“Ah, Dr. Malik asked me to come check on you,” a voice I didn’t recognize said. It was a hollow tone, devoid of any sort of concern.
“Nausea. Headache. Dizzy,” I managed to croak out. He could take one look at me and see I looked like hell, but from his shrug he wasn’t concerned.
“Noted.”
That was all I got before he went off to another patient. Glancing around the room I realized the cafeteria itself had a somber mood. There was a sea of vacant stares and dazed movements.
We were a herd of zombies, barely coherent and completely submissive. He’d started slow, but worked on us all week to turn the entire facility into… this.
Kane walked in next, no smile in sight. Instead his lips were in a thin line and he looked borderline aggressive. His gait was stumbling as he walked toward the line.
When he made it back to the table, his face was a storm of fury and resentment. He didn’t give anyone a second look, his full focus was on his plate.
The longer I sat, the more worried I grew. A jittery feeling was taking over. My limbs felt restless as my mind raced with all the implications. My legs bounced, fingers fidgeting together frantically.
My blood felt like it was rushing through me at a strange pace, hyping me up with every pump of my frantic heart.
Every cell in my body felt like it was shifting, my insides vibrating at a frequency that made no fucking sense.
The need to move had me launching out of my seat and rushing to the line. Apparently, this new sensation was keeping the dizziness at bay long enough to spoon random portions of food on my tray.
When I turn away, I nearly run into Ansel. His face was gaunt, skin pale and drawn. Even his hair was limp instead of soft like usual.
“You, too?” I whispered. Okay, it was more like a hiss. He winced, but nodded, not needing to explain anything.
Not that he would. Ansel never spoke.
This was insane. They couldn’t keep getting away with this.
Was it a ploy to keep us docile, a way to keep bodies in the slots that were filled, not wanting to lose out on a payday… or something even more sinister?
A shrill, piercing sound had Ansel dropping his tray. The plates clattered to the ground as he folded in on himself, crouching down and putting his hands over his ears. I sat my tray down on a nearby table before crouching with him.
“Hey, it’s okay, let’s get out of here.” He didn’t protest as I helped him to his feet and toward the door.
There was a crowd forming in front of the door before we could reach it. Nurses barked out orders, refusing to let us pass.
