(A/N: I am so sorry! I didn't realize I'd uploaded the wrong chapter! Sorry! Okay, here's the real deal!)
Reya didn't quite recall what she had been doing the previous night. She had been upset after argueing with her parents, went upstairs for bed, found a pair of scissors, and now it was five in the morning and she was filling a bathtub with warm water. Her whole body stung. How late had she stayed up cutting? She didn't remember. The water was high enough and she shut it off, surprised at how quiet it was now without the water running.
She stripped out of stained pajamas, very slowly because her body felt like it was on fire, and slipped into the water, gasping in pain as the water filled the cuts. Reaching for the srubbing puff, she put a big drop of body wash on it and began cleaning herself off, gritting her teeth and letting tears fall down her face from pain. There was dried blood on her legs, arms, some of her chest, her stomach, and even her back, where she had been able to reach anyways.
It hurt. Oh god it hurt. But eventually she grew accustomed to the feeling until she was pleasantly numb, and allowed herself to sink under the water for a few seconds.
When she finally climbed out, she dried herself off, snuck the towel into the washing machine to wash off the blood before it could stain, and then got back into her pajamas and back into bed, drifting off to sleep slowly.
She stayed home 'sick' that day, greatful to have the house to herself and have a mental health day. Her parents knew something was wrong with her, but she never told them anything. They didn't know she was a cutting monster, and she wanted to keep it that way. They wouldn't be able to help her, they'd make it worse. They'd make her feel worse, and then the cutting would get worse.
"It's what you deserve!" Jerry Springer seemed to be shouting to her from the TV. "You filthy little brat! You've got it so good and this is how you repay your parents! If I were them I'd throw you out on the streets myself!"
Reya had tears in her eyes and she flipped the channels. Nothing good was on so she put in a movie. Beauty and the Beast. She missed the days when she was little and used to be happy. Now everything was too hard. Everyone was wanting too much from her, expecting too much, things had gotten too hard too fast, and it felt like everyone was moving ahead while she stayed behind and got worse.
"...for who could ever love a beast?"
She turned over, her back facing the TV, and she fell asleep, not having any dreams.
-
The smell of chlorine from the pool was everywhere in the room, as Reya swam laps after school. It was the next day, and she had stayed after to swim as she had done every day since they had started the swimming unit in gym class. She was always self-concious in a bathing suit, but now that she had cuts to hide, she knew she couldn't be seen getting dressed in the locker room. Almost no one stayed after so getting changed where no one could see was not that difficult. To be safe, she wore a long sleeved white T-shirt that wasn't very long. For her excuse for the longsleeves, she said it was winter and she was freezing.
On this day, no one else had stayed after, an it was the same routine. Swim laps back and forth for fourty five minutes, taking five minute breaks when needed, and just do what the teacher said. The water was at a pleasant temperature for a change, and she glided through it back and forth over and over again, her legs gradually becoming sore. The cuts on her body did not sting, much to her surprise. She thought chlorine would've set them on fire, but it hadn't, and they felt just as painful as ever.
The fourty five minutes were almost over, and her gym teacher had left a long time ago, already knowing she'd do the swimming. Reya felt like a goody-two-shoes at times. She did what she was supposed to, even though at the moment she could name about five people who would've just changed and left. She was in no rush to go home, and found it easier to do the laps with no one there. IN her mind she imagined she was racing against someone, trying to win, with everyone on the sidelines cheering.
When she reached the wall on the deep end, she stopped, catching her breath and allowing her legs, which were threatening to cramp up, to relax for a moment. There were footsteps in the room, and she looked back to the large blue doors to see a familiar funny man walk in.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, not really that surprised to see him. "Do I have a candy man for a stalker?"
He was smiling, and strolled over, the bottom of his cane tapping the tile floor as he walked, and he kneeled down in front of her, pulling something out of his jacket pocket and handing it to her. Reya's eyes widened and she held it with her slightly wet hand.
"My cell phone?" she asked in shock. He nodded. "You fixed it?"
"It wasn't so much of a challenge compared to building the machine for my Everlasting Gobstoppers," he said with a grin.
"Wow, thanks," she said, smiling. "Can you set it on the bench for me?" He nodded and did so, setting his cane to the side with it.
"So, do you always swim in your clothes, or did you forget the other half of your bathing suit?"
"Oh yes, I forgot the other half of my one piece bathing suit," she said, giving him a smirk. "No, actually, I just don't like the way I look in a bathing suit, that's all." He looked around.
"But there was no one else here, my dear."
"The gym teacher was here earlier," she said, shrugging. "Besides, this shirt's warmer." He nodded, but she knew he didn't fall for it. She turned her back to him, allowed herself to sink a little under the water, and then kicked off the wall, breaking into a crawl stroke once she had surfaced. Willy walked along the edge as she swam, and stopped when she did.
"I understand you're on the drama club," he said when she surfaced.
"Huh?" she said, shaking the water out of her ears. The question replayed in her head and she nodded. "Oh, yeah. What about it?"
"What's the dates for the play?"
"Uh, there's like a huge sign in front of the school you could look at. But I think it's the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth. Seven thirty for each of them. Yeah, it's something like that. Why? You coming?"
"I hope to," he answered. "I loved the play the school did last year, so I hope I'll have the time to see it. Are you acting? Or are you on stage crew?"
"Stage crew. I can't act for beans."
"You seem, to me, the dramatic type," he said. "You have a definitive way of expressiong yourself through clothing. Acting shouldn't be too much of a challenge."
"We always do two plays each year. I might audition for next time." Assuming every inch of me isn't covered in cuts by that point, she added in her mind.
"You should try out. You may have a hidden talent you didn't know about." She smirked.
"Yeah, I'm gifted alright." She chuckled and shook her head. "Are you paid to try and give people self esteem?"
"Why? Do I make you feel better about yourself?" She laughed.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but that'll take a lot of work, Wonka."
She kicked off again, this time doing a back stroke so she could watch him following her.
"So what brought you here? Just the cell phone?" she asked.
"I wanted to see how you were doing. Make sure you were feeling better." She bumped her head on the wall, and grabbed it with one hand and rubbed her head with the other.
"Oh yeah, just peachy," she grunted.
"How long do you have to swim for?" She glanced up at the clock.
"Oh! Crap! I was supposed to be done ten minutes ago." She pushed herself up on the wall and climbed out, water splashing off her and on the ground. Some of it getting on his shoes. "Sorry," she said. "I'll be back." As she walked off he turned and noticed a small, but visible red line on her back where her T-shirt had gone up and her bathing suit didn't cover.
When she returned, she was in jeans and a dark blue sweatshirt with a picture of Bob Marley on it.
"No black?" he asked.
"I need to do my laundry," she said. She hadn't even bothered to brush her hair out, mainly because she was just going to wash it when she got home. So instead it was pulled back in a messy ponytail (one of those ones where you don't pull the hair all the way through. I don't know if they have a name for it.).
"Do you need a ride home?" he asked.
"No, actually. I can walk, it's not that far." She looked at her watch. "In fact, my parents are going to be working late tonight, so no one's home and I don't have a key. Can't go home, dang it." She felt in her pocket and found some money. Twelve dollars to be exact. "Guess I could go to Aunt Cookie's sub shop. Want to come with? My treat."
"I'd be delighted," he said kindly. "In fact, I've never been there before." Her eyes widened.
"You've never been to Aunt Cookie's? That's beyond sad. Holy crap, that's sad. C'mon. We need to fix that." He didn't take offense to this, but merely smiled, knowing she was a firm believer in joking around when she wanted to, but never to insult anyone.
They left the pool area, and he followed her to her locker, where she fought with the combo for a few minutes. When it did open, a binder lept out at her and hit her in the face. She rubbed the spot with a groan, and looked at her little magnet calander. "Nope, not a monday. But it sure as Hell feels like it." He snickered, and she loaded up her backpack, and as she went to zip it, Willy dropped something in there. Actually, two things. One being her cell phone, which she had forgotten about completely, and the other being a Wonka bar.
"Thanks," she said, snickering, and zipped up the rest of her bag.
They left the school, and she walked with him over to Aunt Cookie's, which was only a block away. It was a small, old fashioned building painted blue, with the words 'AUNT COOKIE'S SUBS: COME AND TASTE THE BEST SUBS IN TOWN' in big white letters in the window. They stepped inside, and she walked up to the counter. Behind them was four booths, and a window perch. In the back were two arcade games, one boxing, the other one Simpson's Bowling, and a pinball machine. There was a dry erase board on the counter leaned up against the wall, with words writting in three different colors saying, "Aunt Cookie's Subs. We warm your buns," which had always been a joke to her and her little sister.
A lady stepped up to take her order. "Six inch sub please on and Italian roll. Salami, provolone cheese, mustard, mayo, and lettuce." The woman jotted it down on a small square of brown paper and looked up again. Reya turned to Willy. "You want anything?" she asked.
"I'll have a ham sub, my dear lady. Sesame seed roll please, with, let's see, oh just put everything on it, except for onions. I do despise them with a passion. And one of those bags of barbecue chips."
"And a bag of sour cream and onion for me please," said Reya, noticing them for the first time.
"Okay, your total's ten fourty five." Reya handed her eleven dollars and the woman gave her back the change, and they waited for their subs. Reya found two extra dollars in her backpack and bought herself a Mt. Dew from the machine, and then gave Willy the change to get whatever he wanted. She watched as he walked over to the machine and held back a laugh. If anyone were to tell her a week ago that she'd be having subs with the great Willy Wonka himself, she'd have told them to take a hike.
"So do you always go here, ma'am?" he asked, returning with a root beer.
"Whenever I have the money to," she said. "Which is sad because this place isn't that expensive. I'm dirt poor, I swear."
"Do your parents give you an allowence?"
"Yes, but the funny thing about that is you have to work for it, which doesn't help me very much. I'm too lazy." He snickered, and she sighed, smiling a little. "I sleep a lot. My mom says she wonders if I'm still alive at times."
"Are you a sound sleeper?"
"Yes," she said laughing. "Oh, it's terrible. I've been known to sleep walk, and my parents found me walking around in the living room one time."
"Subs are up," called the woman behind the desk.
Reya started to get up, but Willy signalled her to stay seated. "Allow me," he said in a polite tone and she let him. At least he was a gentleman. He came back, handing her one sub and holding on to the other. "I'm not sure which is which," he said unwrapping his.
"This is yours," she said, swapping with him. She took a big bite out of her sub and washed it down with a large mouthful of Mt. Dew. "Oh, this is so good," she said softly. "I love how they toast the buns a little so they're warm."
"Wow, that is good," he said with a partial mouthful.
"Told you," she said. "I didn't eat anything today, so I'm sorry if I'm acting like a pig."
"Why didn't you eat?" he asked, seeming appalled.
"I never eat breakfast because I get up at five and leave around six thirty, but it's too early to eat. I get so sick when I eat that early. And today's lunch in the cafeteria was dog food nuggets, so I decided to wait."
"I doubt it was dog food," he said, smiling a little in amusement.
"Oh that's right," she muttered. "You didn't go to a public school. You didn't get to discover the wonder of cafeteria food." She shuddered. "They just meet FDA requirements."
"That's a dreadful thought," he muttered. She nodded.
"It's more dreadful to taste." She took another large bite, and wound up with mustard on her cheek.
"You have something right there," pointed out Willy, gesturing to his own cheek. She wiped it off, and smiled.
"Thanks," she said. "Be thankful it's not spaghetti. The sauce goes everywhere when I eat it."
"It's more fun that way," he said laughing. She nodded.
"That's what I said." Her sub was nearly gone by now, and she drank down two more large gulps of Mt. Dew. "So you're thinking about coming to the school play?"
"I hope to," he said softly. "They're usually pretty good."
"It won't be next year," she said sadly. "All the good actors are leaving because they're seniors like me, so all that's left are one or two younger students who can sort of act."
"You'd better try out for the spring play," he said, smiling. "I bet you'd do good." She sighed and looked out the window, nodding to herself.
"We'll see," she said softly.
"Indeed we shall." He pulled out his gold pocket watch and gasped. "Good gracious! Is that the time? Sorry, my dear, but I must be off. The oompa-loompa's get nervous if I'm gone for too long."
"Sounds like my parents," she muttered.
"They're only looking out for your best interest," he said, surprising her because she didn't think he'd heard her. "I hope to see you again sometime."
"You always do," she said, chuckling. She waved as he left, and he was waving to her and walking backwards at the same time. Since even he did not have eyes in the back of his head (though he probably would've liked that), he bumped into the door, making her laugh a little. He merely smiled, tipped his hat, and left.
"Oh goodness," she muttered. "No wonder they worry about him being off on his own."
-
(A/N: Thanks to those of you who are reading and reveiwing. My world would end if you stopped! I love y'all, DNQ.)
