Chapter 7

Titanium

Amelia felt herself waking up slowly. She had lost consciousness due to the amount of blood she had lost, it was a surprise she was still even alive. Amelia half opened her eyes and just stared at the wall. Her back hurt so badly, it felt like it was on fire, in fact, it felt like her whole body was on fire. Her head hurt, her side hurt, all her muscles hurt, even het tongue hurt. Amelia tried to push herself up but ended up collapsing again. After lying there for a few more minutes Amelia forced herself up again. With a groan of effort she managed to get herself in a sitting position. The floor looked like it had been painted red and so did she. Amelia nearly blacked out again from sitting up but managed to stay awake. She then slowly crawled to the door on her hands and feet. Amelia reached up to the door handle and opened it. She left bloody handprints on the door and walls as she crawled to her dorm, which was luckily very close by. She then opened her door and crawled in before collapsing back onto the floor. The pain was unbearable; it was as if Mr. Lions had made sure that he hurt every nerve she had. Unable to move any further, Amelia just lay where she had fallen and cried. She cried for everything. For her family, which she now missed more than ever, for her friends, for her hunger and longing for good food. The burning sensation on her back hurt so bad the fires of hell couldn't compare. As Amelia lay there sobbing she had one ear to the floor and could hear people talking. She listened to what they were saying. By the sound of it, another child was getting adopted or put into foster care. She hoped it was Sebastian; he deserved a home after all he had gone through. Amelia crawled, on her stomach, to her bag and got out her phone. She phoned the bank to say that she had fallen ill and would have to stay in bed for a few days until she was better again. The director brought the lie and said for Amelia to get better soon and hung up. Amelia put down the, now bloody, phone and took in a deep shuddering breath. She really wished for all of this to end. She crawled to the first aid kit and took out two pain killer tablets and one fever pill. She swallowed the tablets and used the wall to help her stand up. After finding back her balance she, walked over to the door and to the showers. She had been out for the whole night because she heard the breakfast bell as she walked down the corridors. Amelia was not even close to hungry now. She entered the showers and put the water on. She made sure it was as cold as it could get before stepping under it, clothes and all. She whimpered quietly as she felt the icy drips of water flushing over her back. She still had not seen the extent of the injury but she was pretty sure it was not going to be a pretty sight. She carefully washed her left arm. She had accidently let it slip from under her body when she was getting beaten and it now had a deep bloody line across the top of it. After numbing it under the cold water Amelia opened it slightly so she could wash out the inside of it. She looked at her arm, she was definitely going to need stitches. She knew how to do stiches, the problem was that she needed both her hands and she did not have the right tools to do the procedure. Amelia then resumed cleaning and washing her back. As she was doing so she looked at her sore side. Amelia had been kicked there quite a few times and she saw it starting to bruise as the skin was turning a dark blue/purple color. She decided to just soak herself for a few minutes and sat down on the tiled floor. Amelia's back hurt a whole lot less than it did before, this was partly because of the painkillers and partly because of the cold, numbing water. She sat in the shower for a whole hour before getting back out. She took off her wheat jeans and socks and dried herself but she left her back wet. She then walked back to her dorm and put her wet jeans and socks on the radiator before getting the first aid kit and sitting in front of the mirror. She first took care of her arm. It was still bleeding to Amelia's dismay so she decided, because stiches were out of the question, to put a dressing and a pressure bandage on it. When her arm was ready she braced herself as she turns her back to the mirror. When she opened her eyes, she wished she had kept them closed. Her once, smooth, shiny back was now ruined. Parts of it looked like raw, beaten meat. It was still bleeding a little but most of it had already started forming scabs. She spend the rest of the time before lunch lying on her front, reading her book and listening to the song 'Titanium' on her small mp3 as she waited for her back to dry.