Whipping Girl by L. Jacobs
Chapter 3 – Ally - 12 years ago
Dalia and Terri are my primary handlers in the girls dorms, I don’t mind Terri so much but Dalia is kind of mean, I don’t think she likes me very much either so the feelings are mutual. We’re having activity time right now and Dalia is mad at me. Again.
“Try harder.” Dalia says sternly.
“I am.” I insist, climbing to my feet, grabbing the bars again but I fall almost immediately. I think my arms are too weak, I can barely even pull myself up so I just keep falling! I wonder if the other girls have such a hard time with gymnastics. I’ll have to ask them next time we’re in the cafeteria together.
“We’ll have to strengthen her muscles a bit if we decide to continue this activity but I don’t think she likes it very much.” Terri says as she writes something down for my file. She usually talks about me as if I’m not here, that’s why I like her more than Dalia. “She liked the clay, we could continue that until we build up her muscles a bit.” I can’t help but smile at that, I didn’t just like the clay, I loved it and I’m pretty good at it too.
“She could do it if she really tried, I think she’s just a stubborn eight year old girl who likes to make trouble.” Dalia shoots me a glare but I ignore it, just like Alexander told me to. I’ve stopped complaining to him about how mean she is because he gets really angry, he talked to Ivan about it but Ivan just told him that my handlers have to treat me like this to further strengthen the bond that I have with my Guardian. I’m not sure what that means exactly but it didn’t make Alexander any less mad so I just stopped talking about it. The door opens and Ivan walks in, looking at all three of us before his eyes settle on me.
“Come on, whipping girl.” Ivan says, the corner of his lips tipped up slightly. I don’t know why he always calls me that, I’ve asked but he won’t answer, he just smiles like it’s a private joke so I’ve just excepted it as such. I hurriedly run toward him, if he’s here it means that I get time with Alexander.
“How long do we get this time?” I ask excitedly. It’s only been a week but I miss him like crazy.
“Four days.” He says, his brown eyes twinkling in amusement at my enthusiasm. I can’t wait to be out of the dorms. I like some of the other girls just fine but nothing could compare to spending time with Alexander in our little room. Ivan leads me down the white halls, if I hadn’t been down them so many times I would have no idea where we were going, this place is like a maze of boring white walls and bright lights. I smooth my hands over my black uniform, trying and failing to smooth out the wrinkles so I look my best for him, at least my hair is down today, Alexander loves to run his fingers through it when we talk, I think it helps to calm him.
Ivan opens the door to the room and I bypass him without waiting for his okay, I would never dare if it were Peter. Peter is weird and looks at me strangely, but Ivan is different, he thinks it’s funny when I’m so happy to see Alexander. I smile back at him after I’ve entered, waving as he closes the door behind me. When I face the bed my smile falls as I take in the scene. He’s lying on the bed, one arm behind his head and the other thrown across his stomach in a relaxed position but I immediately know something is wrong because his usually tanned face in now pale and slightly scrunched as if he’s in pain. His lips turn up at the corners when he sees me but even that seems to take more energy than he has.
“Alexander.” I walk quickly toward the bed, kneeling in front of it to search his face. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” My eyes well up with tears, hating the thought of something or someone hurting him.
“I’m alright. I just needed you here is all.” He scoots to one side of the bed, his dark brows furrowing with the effort. He pats the area in front of him -my side of the bed- inviting me to lay beside him in our usual spots. I start to lay down carefully, worried that I might hurt him but he grabs my arm and playfully jerks me down the rest of the way. “Stop it. I said I was alright.”
“I can tell when you lie to me, you know.” I curl into his side, laying my head on his chest. “Even when you hide your face from me, I can hear it in your voice. I know that you’re hurt.” I stop myself from asking more questions when I see frustration spark in his eyes, he won’t tell me. Either because he can’t or he doesn't want to, I don’t know. “I bet I know how to make you feel better.” I smile, lifting my head to look him in the eyes. “Dalia finally found something that I like, guess what it is? Pottery! I’m really good at it too, I made you some bowls and a vase that I think you will really like but it takes a long time so you probably won't get to see them until next time we’re together.” I take a breath. “Also, Terri thinks that I might be good at ballet because I’m ‘petite’ whatever that means, I’m going to be trying that next week, I’ll try my hardest but I don’t really like dancing.”
“I’m so happy you found something that you really enjoy, Angel. I have no doubt that I will love them. What else has been going on?” He’s smiling, his dark eyes sparkling even though I know he’s feigning the cheerfulness in his voice. I can see plain as day that he’s still hurting, sweat starts to bead on his forehead and his handshakes as he runs it thought my hair. Normally I love it when he does that but right now I’m scared.
“Alexander, you’re not dying are you?” I know it frustrates him when I won’t just take him at his word that he’s fine but I can’t help it, I’m afraid somethings going to happen to him. Tears well up in my eyes again, flowing over when I try to blink them away.
“What? What would make you think that? Stop. Come here and stop with the tears.” I snuggle in tighter to him and try doing as he says but they won't stop, his t-shirt below me becomes wet with them. “What would make you ask if I were dying?”
“Candace says that what you do can make people try to kill you. I don’t ever want that to happen.” I sob. “Nobody can take you from me.”
“Shh…” His hand steadies suddenly, then his whole body seems to relax further into the mattress. He continues running his fingers through my hair in long, smooth strokes for a few minutes before he speaks. “Candace should know by now that she needs to keep her mouth shut, I don’t know where she gets that stuff from. Nobody is going to take us away from each other, Ally. I’m not ever going to let that to happen.”
“They took me from my parents.” I whisper. It’s something that I don’t like to bring up because it always makes Alexander’s body stiffen up but I need his promise that it won’t happen again, that nothing will separate us.
“Your parents didn’t possess the skills that I have, Angel.” His voice becomes scary, more dark sounding. “They were also limited by the law and their conscious. I don’t have those limitations. Nothing will ever keep us apart, I promise.” Those words should seem really scary, but they’re not. To me they mean everything.
“I believe you.” I do. If Alexander promised then he means it, he’d never go back on a promise to me.
“Good. I love hearing you talk and I want to hear everything but would you mind if we slept first? I just need a few hours of sleep and then I’ll be fine.” I nod my head in answer. I’m still scared for him but it’ll be good for him to get some sleep, at least I’m here to look out for him.
He’s asleep almost immediately and I watch him for what feels like hours. His dreams must be bad at times because he makes noises and his long, black eyelashes flutter like the wings of a bird, it makes me sad that he can’t get peace even in his dreams. When my eyes grow heavy I lay my head back on his chest but when I place my hand on his stomach it feels like he has something under his shirt. Curiosity gets the best of me so I carefully pull it up, seeing a white cloth wrapped around him several times, there are small spots of red that have soaked through making me gasp. I look back up to his face to make sure that I didn’t wake him but his eyes are still closed so I pull his shirt back down gently, trying not to hurt him any more than he already is. Tears fall fast and heavy down my cheeks and I have to bite my lip so that I don’t make noise. Why is he bleeding? Was it the bad guys? Who would hurt such a beautiful boy?
I would ask him these questions when he woke up but I wouldn’t get any answers, Alexander never tells me anything about what he does while he’s away but I know it must be dangerous and scary, this isn’t the first time that he has been hurt when we’ve been together. Without knowing details, and more than sure that he won’t give me any, all I can do to help him is to make his life easier when we are together. Argue less, complain less, smile more. He seems to have so much stuff that weighs him down, he thinks that I don’t know that he’s not just a regular kid but I do, and I don’t want to add to his worry or be more that he has to carry. I resolve myself to try to be everything that he needs me to be, because he’s everything to me.
I miss T.V. on days like today, Alexander has been sleeping for a long time but I can’t sleep after seeing his injury so I go between watching him, fiddling with the heart necklace he gave me, and staring at the white ceiling. We don’t have much in our room, the bed, a table with two chairs and two doors, one goes to the small bathroom and the other goes to the hallways. We do have a tote underneath the bed full of books and other learning activities, I love when Alexander teaches me things. Except history, that's boring. There are also some pencils and crayons along with blank sheets of paper that we use to write each other letters and make up our own games, we usually have a lot of fun when he’s not hurt.
“How long have I been asleep?” I sit up and smile widely at his dark, open eyes.
“FOREVER!” I say dramatically, making him laugh then wince at the movement. The door opens then, Peter walks in carrying a tray with our supper on it, he doesn't acknowledge us in any way, just sets it on the table before walking back out.
“It’s dinner time? I didn’t mean to sleep so long, you should have woken me up.” He sits up beside me, rubbing the back of his neck to work out the kinks.
“I’m sorry, you looked like you needed it.” I avoid his eyes, walking to the table I lift the top off of our food but immediately replace it with a sigh. “Liver and onions. Again.” I wrinkle my nose causing Alexander to chuckle.
“It may not be your favorite but it’s good for you so you have to eat it, alright?”
“Yes, Alexander.” I say softly, sitting in my chair at the table. Alexander walks over and sits in his seat, eyebrows raised in surprise at my easy acceptance.
“No argument?” He narrows his eyes, searching my face. I squirm in my seat nervously, I hate when he does that, I think one of his superpowers is mind reading. “You saw.”
“No!” I say quickly. “I saw nothing.”
“Ally, I’ve told you on numerous occasions not to lie to me, you need to just give that up right now, you’re not good at it. Were you searching for something?” He asks, his dark eyes narrowing further on mine as he waits for my answer.
“I knew you were hurt. I felt something under your shirt and I lifted it. There was blood.” I finish so softly that I don’t know if he heard me. My tears start again, making me feel like a baby. I hate that I cry so easily, Alexander never cries even when he’s the one that’s in pain, I wish I was as strong as him. He sighs then stands, walking to my seat and kneeling in front of me, he pulls me into a tight hug, holding me like that for a long time and only pulls away after my tears stop.
“You shouldn’t worry about me, I’m a Super Hero, remember?” He bites his lips to keep his face serious. “I have super strength, super hearing, and super healing abilities.” I laugh, I know it’s silly but that’s what I picture from him when we're not together, he’s like Batman, Superman, Ironman and Thor all put together, at least in my mind anyway. My face loses its smile when I remember what we were talking about.
“Can you tell me-“
“No.” He interrupts. “I’m alright, that’s all you need to know.”
“Alright.” It makes me sad that he can’t share things with me but I don’t want him to get mad if I don’t let it go.
“I’ll make you a deal, if you eat all of your food then we’ll do whatever you want.” I smile wide at that, thinking of all of the girly stuff that I could make him do.
“Alright, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
We’re lying in bed that night after lights out when Alexander turns on his side to face me, I can barely see any of his features but I know his face is serious when he speaks.
“What do you see in our future, Angel?” I’m not surprised by the question, we talk about things like this all the time.
“Hmm... I see a big house filled with color, it will be somewhere quiet with trees surrounding it, oh, and it has to have a large porch.” I smile as I picture it in my mind.
“Keep going. What else?” He nudges me.
“We’ll have two dogs that will run to us when we come home and maybe an aquarium filled with lots of those bright colored fish, you know what I’m talking about?”
“Yeah, I know what you’re talking about. Any kids?”
“Of course. If we’re going to get married then we have to have kids.” I tell him.
“You want to marry me someday?” His voice tells me that he’s smiling as he asks and under the cover of darkness I blush, glad he can’t see me.
“You don’t want to marry me?” I counter quietly, holding my breath as I wait for his answer.
“I’m absolutely going to marry you someday, I was just wondering if I was going to need to convince you when the time came.” My face heats further but I don’t respond to his statement, instead I ask a question of my own.
“What about you, what do you see?” Now it’s my turn to nudge. He takes a moment to respond, probably thinking hard about his answer.
“Everything you just named sounds good to me, anything you want.” He says. Alexander is a great listener but he’s not the best talker.
“No, that’s not how the game works. I told you what I see, now you have to tell me.”
“I don’t really care what will surround us, Ally, because all I see in my future is you.”