Her pitiful attempts to escape proved useless and her soft, yet heart-wrenching screams fell on deaf ears.
--
Chapter Ten: The Anger, The Shower, The Horror, The Compassion
Galinda froze in horror as the door was opened with such force that it slammed against the wall and left a small dent. The lights were flicked on and Fiyero all but rolled out of bed… the only thing that kept him from the floor was the tangled sheets around his and Galinda's naked bodies.
"Get out!"
The roaring voice shocked both lovers and Fiyero soon found a green hand on his arm that ripped him out of the bed and he landed, with an audible thud, on the ground below. His clothes were thrown at him with such a force that he was almost knocked backwards.
"Elphaba!" Galinda shrieked as she sat up, wrapping her sheet tightly around her body. "What in Oz are–" The blonde faltered mid sentence as she made brief eye contact with her roommate. Blue eyes met brown, red-rimmed eyes and Galinda could clearly see tear streaks on the green girl's face.
Tear streaks that were burning the green skin.
"Elphaba…" Glinda whispered but her roommate ignored her and returned her attention to the still naked Fiyero sitting, dazed, on the floor.
"Get out!" Elphaba screamed, again, as she yanked him up by the hair.
He let out a small yelp but Elphaba ignored him and, instead, pushed him out through the still open door and threw what clothes he hadn't managed to grab on his own towards him. "Get out!" she repeated. "And learn to keep your fucking dick where it belongs!"
A faint gasp could be hear from inside the room at Elphaba's all but ladylike matter of speech but neither the green girl nor the prince really registered the sound.
"I know you were in on this!" Elphaba screamed, fully aware that she could potential awaken the whole floor. "And tell your little friends that they're damn well lucky they drugged me or else they all would be dead right now! And the next time they can't keep their dicks in their pants I will kill them… drugged or not!" The door slammed shut with the same force it had just previously been slammed open with.
"Elphaba…" Galinda said, worry colouring her voice. "Elphaba… what happened?"
"Drop it," the green girl replied, her voice shaking from barely suppressed sobs.
"But…"
Suddenly Elphaba whirled around. "Maybe ask one of your little friends!" she screamed. "I'm sure Pfannee and Shenshen know! Surely Fiyero does, just ask him!"
"I would if you hadn't thrown him out!"
"Shut-up!" Elphaba's voice reached an octave that Galinda didn't even know it could.
"Elphie…"
"Don't Elphie me! I'm just your roommate, remember? The green-skinned freak! Don't try to act like my friend just because I'm upset!" With those words Elphaba turned on her heel and stomped her way over to the bathroom before Galinda even had the chance to register what had just been said to her.
The soft click of locks sliding in to place told Galinda that her roommate had effectively locked herself in the bathroom. A few moments later the sound of running water reached Galinda, who had managed to shrug her discarded nightgown back on. The blonde figured that her roommate must be taking a shower to calm herself down.
"Wait," Galinda said to the empty room. "Elphaba's allergic to water, isn't she?"
Sudden realization of what her roommate was doing dawned on Galinda and she practically sprung up from her bed and bolted over to the bathroom door. She tried to open it but it was useless, the door was locked and held firm.
"Elphie!" Galinda called, frantically banging on the door. There was no response. "Elphaba!"
Realizing that her roommate either wasn't going to open the door or was incapable of opening the door Galinda took matters in to her own hands. She took a few steps backwards, lowered her shoulder, and ran with all the strength she could muster straight at the door.
It burst open. Galinda stumbled, her shoulder aching, into the bathroom silently thanking the Unnamed God for the badly built dormitories at Shiz.
"Elphaba?" Galinda questioned and the only response was small, almost inaudible, whimpers.
Not finding the green girl in her immediate surrounds Galinda took a deep breath, prepared herself for what she would find, and threw open the shower curtain. A sharp intake of breath and a strangled gasp were the only sounds able to escape the blonde's mouth.
Elphaba sat, in the fetal position, on the floor of the shower. Water, burning hot water, sprayed against her and each droplet that touched skin left a fiery red welt. Her skin was literally burning up as it was soaked with water. To Galinda it seemed as if her roommate was melting.
The blonde quickly regained her composure and managed to force herself to reach under the water to get to the shower taps and shut them off. The water stopped and Elphaba visibly relaxed as her skin, though it still burnt, was no longer assaulted by the deadly substance.
"Elphaba…"
"Go away," the green girl muttered, her voice slightly muffled by her knees.
"I don't believe you're in any condition to be alone right now… roommate, friend, or freak." Galinda stepped over the threshold of the shower and lowered herself so that she kneeled in front of the huddled form of Elphaba.
"I'm fine."
"You just tried to kill yourself!"
Elphaba's head snapped up at the accusation and red-rimmed, puffy brown eyes met wide, concerned blue ones for the briefest of moments before Elphaba turned her head to the side and stared at something on the shower wall. "I wasn't…" she whispered. "I… I just needed to… to feel clean."
"You're not making any sense!" Galinda let out a frustrated sigh. "Maybe if you just told me –"
"It's nothing Galinda," Elphaba interrupted. "Really. I'm just overreacting."
"Elphaba Thropp does not overreact," Galinda said with a small smile. "And you know that."
"Galinda Upland does not mind her own business," Elphaba replied with her own small, though far more sadder, smile. "And you know that."
The two roommates fell silent and Galinda noticed, for the first time, the poor condition of Elphaba's already distressed clothes. The thick, black, floor-length dress that she wore was torn in many spots and the collar had been stretched so far that a person could fit a hand down there.
"My Oz, Elphaba, you look horrible."
The green girl let out a strangled laugh. "Well now my clothes are soaked too, so that can't make them look any better."
Galinda frowned as she slowly straightened up and stepped out of the shower. Elphaba watched the blonde quizzically as she busied her self in the bathroom. A few seconds later a couple towels were haphazardly thrown in the green girl's direction.
"There must be something that you have for those burns," Galinda muttered more to herself than to her roommate.
"Bottom right drawer," Elphaba replied as she bit her bottom lip in pain.
The green girl tried to dry herself but whenever she moved her wet clothes rubbed against already opened sores on her body and burnt her painfully. Galinda turned around, the bottle of oil she had been looking for proudly in her hand, and laid eyes on her struggling roommate.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Galinda asked, her voice a mere whisper.
Elphaba looked up but grimaced at the pain her wet hair caused on her exposed neck. "More than you could ever know."
Galinda sighed and turned back to the cabinet. A few moments later she had found what she was looking for and had returned to Elphaba's side. Before the green girl even knew what was happening Galinda was cutting her wet dress off of her.
"What… what are you doing?" Elphaba tried to wriggle her way out of the blonde's reach but the pain limited her movements.
"Your dress is already torn beyond repair and I figured the easiest way to get it off would be to just cut it."
"I'm amazed," Elphaba said with a smile. "Even Galinda can have good ideas."
"I'm a very good thinker under pressure Elphie, you've just never had the chance to experi–" Galinda's words trailed off as Elphaba's dress was cut away from her upper body.
Angry red welts covered almost every inch of skin and Galinda let out a strangled gasp at the sight. "Oh Elphie…" she whispered.
"It's nothing."
"It's so unfair," Galinda muttered as she continued to cut away the dress. "It's just water and yet… it's just so unfair!"
Elphaba sighed as she slowly picked up the bottle of oil from where it had been discarded by Galinda on the shower floor. With as much gentleness as she could managed the green girl began to spread the healing oil over as much of her upper body as she could reach.
"Elphie…" Galinda's tone of voice suggested that the blonde wished to ask something of her roommate but had no idea how to go about it.
"Just spit it out."
"Do you not wear a bra?"
Elphaba's hand stopped it's soothing circular motion on her skin and she adverted her eyes away from her roommate. "Well… it's just that… well…" Elphaba sighed. "I… I usually do."
"Then why are you –" Galinda's voice trailed off, for the uncountable time that day, as everything that had happened in the span of the last few minutes clicked in the blonde's mind and realization suddenly struck her in full force. "You… you were… that's why… they… you were raped!"
"Galinda… please…" Elphaba's voice was shaking again as the green girl desperately tried to suppress the new wave of sobs threatening to assault her.
The scissors echoed loudly in the now silent bathroom as Galinda's shaking hands dropped them. The blonde girl had no qualms about sex before marriage for herself but she knew what her roommate thought on the matter. After all, Elphaba had never had any qualms about expressing her disgust at Galinda's sexual endeavors. Especially when the green girl would accidentally walk in on Galinda and her lover, whomever that lover might be at the time.
"Oh… oh Elphie… I'm so sorry," Galinda managed to stutter out between her own barely suppressed tears. "I… I know how… how much you never… and… well… sweet Oz! I'm so sorry!"
"Galinda… please… just drop it." Elphaba quickly wiped away her tears before they had a chance to burn her skin too badly.
"But Elphie! You have… you have to talk about this! What… what in all of Oz happened? And how!"
"Galinda… don't… just don't…" Elphaba shrugged off the comforting hand that Galinda placed on her shoulder.
"At least tell me who," Galinda whispered.
Elphaba shook her head but the action caused her soaking wet hair to rub painfully against her now bare back. She let out a small hiss of pain. "There's… there's nothing that you need to know. Just drop it."
Galinda nodded, though her roommate couldn't see the action for she wasn't looking at her. The blonde noticed how Elphaba's long hair was soaking wet and seemed to be burning her back even further. Taking the initiative Galinda carefully pulled her roommates hair off of her back and twisted it into a tight bun as gently as she could. She pulled the hairpin from her own hair and used it to pin the thick black bun in place.
Silently Galinda retrieved her scissors from the floor and returned to the steady work of cutting Elphaba's soaked dressing and carefully peeling it away from the burnt green skin. Elphaba slowly returned to rubbing the oil over her body in an almost useless attempt at relief.
"Elphie?" Galinda whispered as she reached the hips of her roommate. "Do… well… would you rather I didn't cut any further?"
The consideration for her feelings shocked Elphaba. Never, in all her dreams, would Elphaba had ever thought that her blonde roommate would have such a capacity for compassion and understanding.
"I can't do it on my own," Elphaba murmured and though her words were not a complete confirmation they were enough for Galinda to continue.
The blonde helped Elphaba stand up and the green girl found herself unable to support her own body weight without leaning heavily on the shower wall. Galinda slowly cut away the bottom of the dress from behind and carefully peeled it away from the green skin. Throughout the process Galinda was cautious of touching Elphaba and kept her eyes adverted as much as she could to try and keep her roommate as comfortable as possible in such a situation.
Something red and thick had pooled on the shower floor and Galinda, in concern for her friend, followed its trail to find it's source. She adverted her eyes, her cheeks turning red in embarrassment, as the very source of the blood was the very source of Elphaba's troubles.
"You're bleeding," Galinda whispered as she picked up one of the discarded towels and gentle patted dry Elphaba's back. "I need that oil."
Elphaba tiredly handed the small bottle to her roommate as she let her eyes drift closed in exhaustion. "I know," she replied. "About the blood that is," she quickly clarified.
Galinda made a small throaty noise meant to be a confirmation of Elphaba's words but turned out to be more of a half-suppressed sob. The blonde poured a little of the oil on her hands and rubbed it on her roommate's back as softly as she could. Despite Galinda's best efforts at being gentle the green girl still hissed in pain as the oil touched raw, burnt skin.
The blonde finished administrating the oil on Elphaba's back and legs and then handed the bottle over to her roommate. "Do you want to do the front yourself?"
Elphaba nodded slightly, the motion sending a few drops of water from her tightly wound hair to cascade down her neck and back but she hardly noticed.
"Will you be okay by yourself?" Galinda asked, concern colouring every syllable of her words.
"I'll be fine."
Galinda nodded as she carefully stepped out of the shower. "If you need anything… anything at all… please, don't hesitate to ask."
Elphaba nodded silently and Galinda sighed at her roommate's silence. The blonde quietly walked across the bathroom, taking a few more towels out of the drawer and placing them on the counter just in case her roommate needed them.
"Galinda," Elphaba whispered and the blonde paused at the door of the bathroom.
"Yes?"
"Thank… thank you."
Galinda turned slightly, making sure to keep her eyes up and locked onto Elphaba's so that her roommate knew that she was not looking at her naked body. "Well, that's what friends are for," she replied with a smile before turning around and leaving the bathroom.
The door might've been knocked down but Elphaba noticed that Galinda had retreated to the far corner of the dormitory so as not to be in view of her and the bathroom. Again, the blonde's capacity for compassion surprised Elphaba and she allowed a small smile to grace her exhausted face.
Nearly an hour later Elphaba managed to stumble her way out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped lightly around her burning skin. The oil, though soothing, was not doing as much for the deep burns as Elphaba would've liked.
The green girl noticed that her thinnest and largest nightgown had been carefully placed on her bed and that her sheets had been neatly folded back so that Elphaba would have as little need of movement as possible to get into bed. A quick glance behind her assured the green girl that her roommate was asleep. Elphaba let go of the towel and it dropped lightly on to the floor. It took some time but eventually she managed to struggle her way into her nightgown with a very minimal amount of pain. Carefully she slipped into her bed and pulled the covers tightly around her.
After all sound ceased Galinda finally dared to open her eyes up and peek across the dark room to the bed across from her. She had faked sleep so that Elphaba would feel more comfortable and so that she would be able to assure herself that her roommate was okay. Well, at least, as okay as she could be considering her situation.
Galinda had to squeeze her eyes shut to stop her own tears as she heard the faint sounds of muffled sobs reaching her ears.
Elphaba Thropp was crying, unchecked, into her faded pillow.