A/N:
K so, I know I was only going to give one update a day for four days, but I'm impatient and personally, it's easier to read of my ipod and edit when it's posted. So I'm giving you the next two chapters ahead of schedule. (the last one was also early I suppose..) Lucky you.
Holy shit. I just had like one of those moments where you see something happening in a future chapter, and it's like really an emotional moment for the characters, like the climax of the story. I don't know exactly when it'll happen, but like this one line screamed out at me from the show. Although it's like so sad, cause it's a bit of role reversal… (That's your hint… "role reversal…" Ten bucks if you guess the line, although you won't know until I actually write it…) (No promises, considering I have the annoying habit of changing my mind for the future when I finally get there…) (I think I said 'like' too many times…)
Chapter Three
(Previously…)
"I can help you… but, I need your help to do it."
"That sounds like a line right out of a movie."
"I imagine it's in several movies, regardless, it's true. You can either help me, help you, or, you can be another one of the girls who undeservedly get thrown around the system while the real criminals are let off the hook."
"I…"
(Currently…)
"Emily, please, you know you want to… just tell me the truth." The woman tried to give Emily the extra push she thought she needed.
"Don't tell me what I want to do." With that, Emily completely closed herself off from further conversation effectively by pulling her knees back up and hiding her face. Honestly, she wished she wasn't so stubborn, she wished she hadn't said that, she wished she were brave, but from experience, she knew wishes never got you anywhere in life, and neither did people who appeared to be promising heroes.
"Emily… don't do this… please." The woman's selfless pleas were useless, so she resigned being social worker for the time being and knocked on the door to get the guard back as well as the first aid to fix Emily up. When she was done, Emily's arm was plastered and in a sling, her cuts bandaged, her bruises iced, and her scars treated with cream to avoid any possible infections. (The nurse assumed Emily didn't take care of them properly; the way she had the intentions to keep them hidden meant she probably never saw a professional even for the very serious looking ones.)
Before Mrs. Sheffer left she broke the long silence with a few words, "I'm going to fight for you Emily. I'm not going to let you down like everyone else in your life has. I promise things will get better for you." She shut the door behind her, leaving Emily back in solitary confinement.
Emily had no idea how many times she'd done so already, but she cried again until sleep finally crashed over her and swept any of her worries and memories of broken promises away.
"Wake up, Fitch. You have a busy day ahead of you." There was a guard inside the cell now. Emily looked at her for a moment and realized it was a woman, unlike all the other guards. She was kind of happier it was a female because she had slept with her shirt up and her skin exposed because she had gotten very hot at some point during her sleep. (This however was a t-shirt given to her by the nurse because her original shirt had been cut up when it was taken off of her to treat her arm…)
Because of her sling being in the way, they had allowed her to go without handcuffs; Mrs. Sheffer had determined her injuries too fragile to possibly risk her bending her arms in the wrong way if they were restricted.
Oddly, for the first time in a long time Emily was able to feel the pain of all the bruises and scratches she had received over the years. Yesterday was when the numbness had begun to fade away and as a result she found herself too sore to lift herself up with just one arm. The officer had sympathy and helped Emily up, keeping the girl steady as she escorted her into an office.
Instead of cuffing Emily's arms the woman cuffed her ankles together and then attached them to a chair with another pair of cuffs. The tired girl sat there patiently and waited while the officer sorted some paperwork with the man at the desk before returning and unlocking the cuffs that kept her attached to the chair. She helped Emily up again and they walked through another couple of doors that had to be unlocked, loudly buzzing before they were opened and allowed to pass.
"Fitch, you need to get out of your civilian clothes and change into this." The officer walked them into a room filled with locked lockers and another door on the other side. She unlocked one of the various lockers and pulled out a small blue jumpsuit.
"What about my arm?" Emily asked. At the moment, her arm was resting in its sling, inside of her shirt, next to her bandaged skin.
"You'll just keep your arm out of the sleeve like you've done now."
Emily nodded sadly and tried to lift the t-shirt up with one arm. It proved to be too difficult, getting stuck around her head, her arm not long enough to pull it much farther up. Frustrated she let it drop back down; a new tear fell down her cheek.
"Don't cry…" The officer sighed, as she stepped closer to Emily. The small girl wiped away her tear and sniffed. She couldn't believe she was seventeen years old and had been constantly crying like a baby over the past two days, not cutting herself any slack based on the circumstances.
Emily reached down and unzipped her pants, knowing better than to turn away from the officer as she did so; they were supposed to watch her in case she had some sort of weapon concealed or something like that… She tried to shimmy her way out of them and ended up nearly falling on her face, luckily the officer was kind enough to catch her and help her upright again.
"That arm has got to be one hell of a pain in the ass…"
Emily found the humor that was intended in the woman's words and laughed weakly before the officer smiled and spoke up again. "Now you may say it's obvious that you aren't able to do this yourself, but I'm supposed to ask anyway… Do you need assistance?"
"Uhm, yes... please." Emily sighed, giving a slight smile in return. She found it comforting the way this woman had so far acted less about protocol and more about the point of the matter.
"Glad you are smart enough to not be stubborn like most others around here… But just so you know, if you try anything, I'm more than twice your size and definitely stronger than you. It would be incredibly stupid and not worth it in anyway to try and use my offer to help as some way to try and take advantage of the situation."
"My arm is broken, I don't think I'm in any position to try and overtake you."
"Smart, smart, girl…" The woman laughed light-heartedly as she crouched down and helped Emily get her pants off. She wasn't worried when Emily steadied herself with her working arm on her shoulder, just kept a professional, yet rational awareness of what could happen with her guard slightly down. With Emily free of her pants, the officer stood up again and helped Emily pull her shirt over her head. "Shit…"
"What?" Emily asked, and then noticed the woman looking over her wounds. "Oh."
"I'm so sorry, love..."
"Yeah, well. Sorry doesn't do shit." Emily assumed Mrs. Sheffer likely told the officer her suspicions. She didn't fail to notice the term of endearment though, it made her want to be a child again, let this stranger hold her and tell her everything would be alright. But that wasn't reality, and right now she had been given a set of instructions to follow. So resuming what routine she could, she passed the officer and grabbed the jumpsuit.
Emily leaned against the lockers for support as she slipped her legs through the holes. It took a couple minutes longer than it would take an average person but she managed to get it on and button it closed. The officer regretted her slip of professionalism, and tried to hide the sympathy from showing outwardly anymore than it already had. The small girl stood dressed in front of her, waiting for the next set of instructions.
"Mrs. Sheffer, was up all night fighting for you, she got you a place in a special unit while you await trial." Emily could sense that the officer didn't have to tell her that Mrs. Sheffer was up all night on her behalf. She knew that there was a reason she was being told; a reason that was likely solely for the purpose of showing Emily that she was worth something to someone, not some valueless rag meant for beating around. "A bus that is going to arrive in about...," she looked at her watch, "five minutes will take you there."
They waited in an empty room with a bench for few minutes before going outside into the fenced in car lot. She helped Emily climb onto the bus before chaining Emily's ankles to a special loop in the metal bar below the seats. Nobody else got on the mini-bus besides for her and the guard. It was just them and the driver for forty minutes while passing plain landscapes until they went through a couple more guarded gates in the front of a large facility. It happened to look much more like a modern apartment complex than the jail she had been expecting.
When Emily was released from the cuffs chaining her ankles to the seat, they weren't returned once they were off the bus. Essentially, she was free, however, the woman's hand on her shoulder assured her she wasn't going anywhere other then inside the building in front of them.
Similar to the previous place, the doors buzzed before they were allowed to enter, closing once they were inside. Emily found herself incredibly surprised when she saw leather couches and a reception desk with a friendly woman sitting behind it typing away on a computer. The doors here weren't metal, they were wooden; not built to lock away or keep people from running like the gates outside were…
"Emily Fitch, Number 0192395," the guard recited.
The woman behind the desk turned in her swivel chair and pulled a few papers out of a file in a cabinet. "Yes, her papers were shipped just under an hour ago… she's all set to check-in. Just need you to fill out a few things before I send her on back."
Emily stayed silent while the two exchanged official lingo which she couldn't understand as the officer signed the papers. It was only a few more minutes before she was being led through a glass door in the back. She watched the guard swipe a card through a little black box attached to the wall, a small light flashed green before they entered the door.
Short, yeah. But it's one in the morning and I need to go to bed… (and I just wrote the previous chapter as well… (and edited the first and second) so cut me some slack?)
Review my loves…
