"So, you're going to be staying with the lawyer lady and her family. They seem like good people." Tammy said as she came in to give Paige her medication before dinner.
"They are good people." Paige said, not looking at Tammy, but rather looking out the window.
"Something bothering you?" Tammy asked, stepping into Paige's line of sight.
"What do you think?" Paige asked.
"You really want to know?" Tammy asked.
"Yes." Paige said.
"I think you are being a little rude." Tammy said.
"Excuse me?" Paige asked, taken back.
"People want to be there for you Paige. They want to help you. That Emily girl, won't go home. The lawyer lady, Veronica, she has been working at the nurses' station nonstop, on the phone and on her laptop, just to make sure that you get all the help you need. Her daughter is often with her. I know you have gone through something terrible. I don't know what is going on in your head right now. What I do know..." she paused and grabbed Paige's hand, making sure the girl was looking at her. "is I have been doing this job for 42 years. I have helped and worked with thousands of patients. Cancer patients, rape victims. Folks who have lost loved ones, hundreds of which were newborns. But not once, have any of those patients had a support system willing to work that hard for someone. Not once Miss Paige." She dropped Paige's hand and turned to walk out. "But what do I know? I'm just an old lady."
"Tammy?" Paige asked.
"Yes?" She said as she turned to face Paige again.
"Can I have something to help me sleep tonight?" Paige asked.
"Yes." Tammy said, eyeing the girl.
"And can you send Emily in?" Paige asked.
"Yes, Miss Paige." Tammy said. "She is asking for you. Go ahead in, I'll be back with her dinner and something to help her sleep."
"Hey." Emily said as she peeked her head into the room.
"Hey. Come in." Paige said, moving over in her bed so that Emily could sit beside her.
"How are you feeling?" Emily asked as she sat down beside Paige and took the girls hand in her own.
"Sore." Paige said, looking down at their joined hand.
"Ok. So, you're going home with Veronica tomorrow?" Emily asked.
"I guess I am." Paige mumbled. Emily raised her free hand and placed it on Paige's face, running her thumb over the few stitches above her eyebrow.
"This is going to scar." Emily said.
"Probably." Paige mumbled. After a moment, she turned her attention from the window to Emily. "Tomorrow is Monday."
"Yes." Emily said with a questioning look.
"You have to go to school tomorrow." Paige stated.
"I don't have to. We only have a month and a half of school left." Emily said.
"Emily, you need to go to school tomorrow." Paige said.
"I will come over to Spencer's as soon as I get out." Emily said.
"I know you will" Paige said.
"Ah, nice to see someone else in here." Tammy said as she entered the room, holding a dinner tray. "I brought dinner." She set the tray down on Paige's tray table and slid it in front of her. She then took a syringe out of her pocket and used her I.V. port to administer it. "Eat up before this puts you to sleep. I'll be back in a few to check on you."
"Let's see what she brought you for dinner." Emily said as she took the cover off the tray. "Chicken salad."
"I'm not really hungry." Paige said, already feeling the medication making her eyelids heavy.
"Paige you need to eat. Nurse Miller said you haven't ate since they brought you here." Emily said, unwrapping the silverware.
"I'm not hungry, Em." Paige said, closing her eyes and leaning her head back into her pillow.
"Paige…." Emily started to protest but stopped when she noticed that Paige was lightly snoring. She looked at the girl's face, noticing that the dark circles that were under her eyes the first night that Emily saw her, had someone become a shade darker. The bruise around eyebrow and stitches had turned a deep purple, with blue and green mixed in. She looked down at the hand she was still holding and noticed the bruises and small cuts on it. She turned the hand she was holding over and noticed the scar on her wrist. She ran her finger over it, recalling the night that Paige had told her about it.
"Hey babe!" Paige said as Emily came through the front door into her house. Paige walked over to her and pulled her into her, giving her a passionate kiss. "Mom and Dad just left."
"Hmmm. House to ourselves." Emily said as she put her arms around Paige's neck, pulling the girl closer to her.
"Yea." Paige said as she pulled away, grabbing Emily's hand and pulling the giggling girl up the stairs.
"Well, well, Ms. McCullers, are you trying to make a move on me?" Emily asked as Paige backed her up against her bedroom door.
"Depends on if its working or not." Paige said, placing small kisses on Emily's neck.
"Oh yea, it always works." Emily said as she pushed Paige towards the bed.
"What about this one?" Emily asked about the scar on Paige's shoulder. They were laying in Paige's bed wrapped in a sheet. Paige was laying on her front and Emily was dropped over her back asking about scars she would find on the other girl's body.
"My cousin hit me with a toy when we were little." Paige said.
"What about the one I saw on your lower back, right here." Emily said as she ran her hand over the scar that was just above her left cheek, between her back dimple.
"I actually fell off a horse, like four years ago." Paige said after a shiver went through her body and the touch. "Remember, freshman year when I had to sit out a few practices and a competition race? That is why."
"I didn't know you rode horses." Emily said.
"Well, not anymore. After missing some swim practices, Dad put an end to that." Paige huffed out.
"Well, based on the size of the scar, that was probably a good thing." Emily laughed out.
"Hey! That was a one-time thing." Paige said. They lay there for a few more minutes in silence. Emily was running her hands down Paige's arms, relaxing the other girl to the point that she was almost asleep. Then she felt a small scar there. Right over her pulse point. A solid straight line.
"What about this one?" Emily asked. She felt the girl beneath her stiffen as she ran her finger over the scar.
"Uhh…" Paige stuttered.
"You don't have to tell me about it, but I want to know if you feel like sharing." Emily said as she crawled off Paige and played in front of her.
"I want to tell you. I don't want there to be secrets between us." Paige said. "This one is just a little harder to talk about."
"Take your time." Emily said.
"It was one that I did to myself, when Alison was still around and making my life hell." Paige said. "I didn't know how to deal with it, but this…" Paige said as she covered Emily's hand with her own, that was still on the scar. "I could control this feeling. For the first time in a while, I controlled what I was feeling. Even if it was small and only lasted a little while. And then Alison disappeared."
"And now she is back." Emily stated.
"Yea." Paige mumbled.
"Paige." Emily stated.
"I'm fine, Em." Paige said, running a hand over Emily's face. "When Alison came back, I went back to therapy. I never stopped taking medication for depression. I just stopped the therapy sessions when I got a hold of things."
"Why didn't I know that? Any of that?" Emily asked as she sat up, pulling the sheet around her body to cover herself. Paige followed and sat up to.
"Well, to be fair, when it started, we weren't close. We weren't even friends." Paige said.
"So when did it start exactly?" Emily asked.
"Eighth grade. When we came to high school and I joined the swim team, it let up a little. Then that whole fiasco with Alison finding that letter I wrote to you... That is the day I did this." Paige said as she held up her wrist.
"So that night when you came to my house in the rain?" Emily asked.
"What was one of my bad days." Paige said.
"So how is therapy going?" Emily asked.
"It is going good. Same as last time I went." Paige said.
"Knock, knock." Veronica said from the door. "Can I come in? I just have something to run by Paige."
"Sure, but we will have to wake her up." Emily said.
"Well I can just go over things in the morning before the therapist shows up." Veronica said.
"Therapist?" Emily asked.
"She has to talk to a therapist before she can leave the hospital, given her mental health history. It will be her regular therapist. She will let us know how Paige is doing and what we need to do to help her go from here." Veronica said as she placed a hand on Emily's shoulder.
"What time is all this going to happen? I want to be here for that." Emily asked.
"Your mom will be here, Emily. You and the girls need to go to school. You have already missed three days last week." Veronica said. "You can come over as soon as school is over. You are welcome in our house to be with Paige whenever, and however long you want."
"Ok. Ok. If she can get out of here." Emily said, running her finger over the scar on Paige's wrist.
"She will." Veronica said, taking a seat in the chair by the bed. "Now, the trial will begin a week from tomorrow. So, Paige will be visited by the detectives and be interviewed by them and me. They want to find this place Paige was at and shut it down as soon as possible. They tried to give her some space to settle, but it is time to shut it down." Veronica stared at the foot of the bed and took a deep breath. "Emily, does Paige have a tattoo?"
"A tattoo?" Emily asked.
"It is important to the case." Veronica said.
"She has one." Emily said, looking at Veronica.
"Where?" Veronica asked.
"Umm…."
"So I have a surprise to show you." Paige said to Emily. They were sitting in the window seat at Emily's house one night after swim practice.
"Oh yea? What is it?" Emily asked, excitedly. Paige stood up and started to take her shirt off. "Ummmm…." Emily stopped talking and let her mouth hang open when she saw what Paige had lifted her shirt for. There under Paige's left breast was the single word, "stärke" written in beautiful cursive. Emily lifted her hand and ran a finger over to word.
"So what do you think?" Paige asked, worried that Emily was going to be mad.
"What does it mean?" Emily asked.
"It's German for "strength". The last thing my grandfather said to me, before he passed was, "you have so much strength in you Paige, more than you know. So, I wanted something that would remind me of that. The German is for him." Paige said. "Do you like it?"
Emily started to stand up, stopping when she was at eye level with the tattoo, examining it. She leaned forward and out her lips to it before pulling Paige into a kiss.
"Stärke." Emily said when she pulled back from Paige. "It is perfect and I love it."
"It is under her left breast." Emily said, feeling her face heat up.
And that is the only one?" Veronica asked. "No number?"
"Number?" Emily asked.
"The doctor noticed something on her ankle yesterday, he didn't notice it at first with the bruising and swelling. It must have been covered by the ankle chain." Veronica said as she lifted the cover off Paige's damaged ankle, revealing the tattoo she was talking about to Emily for the first time.
"32." Emily said. "She didn't have that when she left here."
"And you are positive?" Veronica asked.
"I know everything about her b..bo..body." Emily stuttered out as she realized who she was talking to.
"It's ok Emily, I was young once to." Veronica said with a small laugh.
"What does this have to do with what happened?" Emily asked.
"The detectives think that it is linked to the case. Apparently, a kid turned up here the day after Paige, not in such bad shape. But the doctor said that the kid had a 26 tattooed on his ankle too. With the same wound on it as Paige. Detective Smith thinks they branded people they brought in. And if that is the case, Paige was one of thirty-two people, kids, that this place she was in has or has had. She is our key, to finding the building, if she remembers where she ran from."
"What happens if she can't remember?" Emily asked.
"We'll find them. We're going to make everyone involved in this pay, not just Nick." Veronica said as she stood and walked out of the room.
