Extraordinary IV: From a whisper to a scream. (PROLOGUE)
Feb 14, 2021 2:00:58 GMT -5
Karlie Nash, CJ Phoenix, and 9 more like this
Post by Lissie Hope on Feb 14, 2021 2:00:58 GMT -5
It wears her out;
It wears him out;
It wears me out.
It wears him out;
It wears me out.
| December |
“Esmé? They’ll be with you in a minute.”
Mae nodded her head and folded her arms, tucked behind her skinny knees. She raised her legs up on the chair, her horizontally-striped socks tucking out from her bottoms of her jeans. The curtains were drawn, letting in the sunlight, the plants with an infinite lifespan decorating the windowsill. Mae scoffed, wondering why she’d seen a custodial worker picking at the leaves earlier.
“That’s a fake plant, isn’t it?”
The clerk’s eyebrows raised from the computer screen. She smirked, continuing to type on her keyboard. Mae felt uncomfortable when she didn’t receive a response, but even moreso when the clerk’s phone rang, and her eyes trained on the young girl sitting alone in the office. The clerk nodded her head and motioned with her finger for Mae to come towards her.
“They’re ready for you.”
Mae thanked her and marched towards the door the clerk pointed towards. She thought about turning the handle, but knocked lightly instead, hearing a booming voice from inside.
“Come in.”
Mae entered the room; she observed a large man in a fitted long-sleeve white shirt erasing the writing on the large whiteboard. He turned to face the diminutive Mae, his tattoos poking out from underneath his sleeve, the shirt stretching over his large upper body. His eyes were haunting, his glare intimidating. The other man was seated behind his desk, a neat folder at his fingers. He was a little more inviting, but still, the isolation Mae felt in this moment reminded her of painful memories. She inched forward, taking a seat in the chair opposite of the seated man, once again lifting her legs up to her sternum.
“Sit.”
The towering man said, his boisterous voice echoing in the scarcely-decorated office, causing Mae to flinch in her seat. The seated man motioned towards the tall one to be quiet.
“I’ll do the talking.”
The man with the kinder eyes smiled, assuring Mae that she’d be okay.
“What brings you here, Esmé?”
“I spoke to someone who knows my friend. He recommended that I speak to you, because he said you could help me. Or… not me. But you could help my friend.”
Mae was nervously stumbling over her words. The last time she’d been in a meeting like this with a man she sought help from, he manipulated and gaslit her into doing things she’d never intended. Shameful acts that carried on in the back of her mind, despite all efforts to forget them. One by one, each photo of her exposed and vulnerable crept into her mind.
“Your friend… Lissie.”
Mae nodded her head, shaking out the painful memories. The seated man began flipping through his folder, but Mae’s attention went back to the behemoth, who was now staring out the window. He fidgeted with the leaves of another artificial plant, bending each leaf till it looked perfect. She jumped in her seat when the door opened and the clerk walked in, carrying a pitcher of water and several coffee mugs. She placed one in front of Mae, grimacing in pain as the pitcher shook in her aching hand, rattling ice cubes and spilling water drops on the table. Mae noticed the man’s brow furrow, and quickly ran her sleeve over the spillage, as to avoid any awkward chastising.
“Everything’s fine. Tell me, how can we help your friend?”
“I was hoping that was something you could tell me.”
“Is she still in the hospital?”
Mae nodded her head, but then felt a sudden uneasiness.
“Wait… how did you know that? Who are you? What do you do here??”
Mae shifted in her seat, coming closer to the desk. Challenging him.
“You came to us. You sought us out. Remember that, young lady.”
“I… I know. I’m just confused.”
His stern expression softens again.
“How do you know Lissie? I’ve never seen you around.”
“Well… I haven’t actually, y’know… met her before. I just care about her.”
The big man in the window huffs, attempting to hold in his laughter. The seated man flips the page and turns it towards Mae. It’s a screenshot of the Lissie Hope Fan Club, a tweet of support signed with the name Mae. Her name is circled.
“Is this you?”
Mae sits in silence now, shocked and overwhelmed with their knowledge and preparedness. The clerk stands in the doorway, smirking. Unable to look away from the tension.
“Do you have any idea what your getting into? You’re out of your depth here, little girl.”
Mae shakes her head and starts to remove herself from her chair.
“I… I’m sorry. I should go.”
Mae tries to scurry past the assistant.
“We will help Lissie.”
This draws her attention again before she leaves.
“She needs some direction, right? Someone to believe in her? Someone to give her support as she recovers? Well, we can do that.”
Mae nods her head in gratitude, but still maintaining a sense of suspicion.
“What do you want from me?”
The large man bellows loudly, unable to contain it now. He quickly realizes how uncomfortable he made her feel, and turns back towards the fake plants in the window.
“We don’t need anything from you. Thank you for coming in, Mae. We’ll take good care of your friend.”
Mae thanks them silently and finally gets past the assistant, leaving the office behind.
She lives with a broken man;
A cracked, polystyrene man;
Who just crumbles, and burns.
A cracked, polystyrene man;
Who just crumbles, and burns.
I can see again.
The colors are vibrant, the brightness from the golden orb burns my eyes. But it luminates the crystalline blues of the water, and I allow the waves to wash over me. All of my regret, and my shame, is absorbed in the undertow. I grab the granules of sand and squeeze it in my hand, watching it wash away with the tide. I can see the greens of the trees, my body cooled with the shadows of the tall leaves dancing in the wind.
I hear his voice.
Are you ready?
I can feel again.
My stomach is in knots. I can feel my throat tightening up, the taste of acid on the back of my tongue. I look down at my abdomen and find the muscles deteriorated; the skin holding my innards, once taute and formed, now loose and sagging off the bones of my ribcage. I feel the bruises on my wrists, the vessels of blood bursting - burying the scars that remained of the dagger.
You have to do this.
I can breathe again.
But I don’t want to.
Because it hurts. Everything hurts now. My head is pulsing, as if my brain is being shook inside my cranium, bouncing off the walls like a kid on a dancefloor. My lungs take in the oxygen. And it burns.
I can’t go.
You have to.
I’m happy here.
They’re waiting for you.
I can hear again.
The sounds of the waves morph into the shuffling of footsteps. The shrill glide of a chair over the floor. The rhythmic pulse of a metronome, keeping the same pace of my beating heart. I can hear the whispers now.
“Lissie?”
I feel like I’m lying on a bed of clouds, the soft fibers cooling my body. The cotton supporting the arch of my neck.
I’m not ready.
They need you.
I need you.
“Can you hear me, Lissie?”
The features of his face dissipate, and I’m staring at a blur. His body is still there, but he’s translucent. I throw my hands around his neck, but he crumbles in my hands.
No.
Robbie, no.
“Lissie. Wake up.”
I turn and run.
As fast as I can.
Until the bottom drops out from under me.
But gravity always wins.
Lissie’s eyes slowly begin to open, and the world is blurred. She hears the beeps of the heart monitor, and she feels the tubes jammed into her nostrils, restricting her breathing. She tries to move her hands, but they’re shackled to the frame of the hospital bed.
She tries to scream, but nothing comes out.
She feels the soft touch of a finger, cleaning the tears from her cheek.
She looks over to the source of her companion, and it doesn’t register.
“Welcome back.”
The woman rises from her seat and walks over to the windowsill, fixing the leaves of the artificial tree. Lissie’s words come out broken, stuttered, and confused.
“What are you doing here?”
She never turns back towards Lissie.
“I’m here to help you.”
If I could be all you wanted;
All the time.
All the time.