Bending Reality
Chapter Three – Blood, Paper and Family
The air was sucked from her lungs and Lorna stumbled on her feet as something collided with her back,
"Oh, so sorry" a voice from behind her said,
"That's okay no problem" Lorna replied readjusting the heavy bag on her back. The girl surged passed her pushing her slightly to the side again and Lorna sighed as she felt the exhausting day catch up with her. As she peered upwards, squinting in the sun, she breathed in a sigh of relief as she spied her bus, more than ready to get away from the school grounds.
"Excuse me" she said when she was unable to squeeze through the crowd,
"Excuse me!" Lorna felt her heartbeat quicken slightly as she saw the indicator for the bus switch on and the line of students filing in the door shorten,
"Please, that's my bus" she said and it was only a moment later when the bodies in front of her turned that she realised the bus leaving was not her most immediate problem,
"Is it your bus though?" Pippa asked with an eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip. Lorna remained silent watching the girl for a moment before turning to go around the group at the edge of the road. She began to sweat when several more girls stepped up beside Pippa,
"She probably just thinks it's her bus" Chyonne sneared,
"Are you sure it's your bus Loony Lorna" Pippa asked again,
"I know that you can get confused sometimes…we're just trying to help" the tall girl said with a kind smile that looked cruel when paired with the malice in her eyes,
"Chyonne's right Loony you're probably just confused. That's not your bus"
"Yes, it is" Lorna said between gritted teeth feeling her frustration spike,
"No it's not" Pippa said forcefully, stepping towards her as her face hardened. If Lorna hadn't been so carefully watching the girl she would have noticed the students around them backing off and away from them, not wanting to be involved,
"You think it is but it's not Loony, it's Bella's bus not yours…I know you get confused sometimes because you've been following her around for so long like a pathetic little stray but what's hers is not yours...take a look see…" Pippa raised a hand and Lorna felt her heart sink when her eyes followed it. She watched her bus drive by them and felt her eyes sting and forehead crease as her ex-best friend waved to her out the window with a gleeful smile from the back of the bus. Lorna turned away quickly,
"Better get walking Loony it's a long way to the slums"
Lorna's eyes snapped open and she cringed as she felt her head ricochet off the brick wall,
"Whoa jumpy" Mercy said and Lorna sucked in a deep breath as her eyes came into focus,
"You okay?" she asked and Lorna nodded,
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. You looking for Boo?" Mercy nodded but still kept an eye on Lorna,
"No I just thought I'd wake you up cause breakfasts about to start. Boo said you didn't sleep well last night so we let you sleep but the CO's will drag you outta here soon" Lorna forced her lips to curl upwards as she attempted to ignore her thundering heart,
"Thanks Mercy that's really kind of ya" the girl waved it off with a smile,
"I'll see you at breakfast then" Lorna nodded and waited for Mercy to leave the cube before letting herself flop back down on the bed. Her chest rose and fell with a quick pace despite her best efforts to slow it and Lorna wasn't sure if the white spots dancing in her vision were caused by how hard her head had hit the wall or the lack of oxygen making its way into her body.
Lorna felt the tears build in her eyes as a yawn stretched her jaw open. She'd barely slept...kept up by her swirling, chaotic, crazy mind that would not shut the hell up. She'd still been awake when the room began to lighten that morning but must have passed out at some point. Her body felt exhausted and heavy, like it was going to be impossible to move though Lorna didn't fancy the idea of being carted off to SHU when the guards found her. She'd lasted in Litchfield up until now without getting stuck down there and having to deliver and pick up everyone who visited only increased her desire to never ever end up there.
"Morning sunshine" Lorna let her heavy head roll sideways as a different yet familiar voice piped up from the cubes entrance and she smiled at Nicky who was leant against the wall casually,
"You okay kid? Mercy said you were looking a little peaky and I don't think I've ever known you to sleep this late" Lorna smiled and nodded as Nicky walked towards her before plopping down on the edge of the bunk. Lorna could feel her against her hip and tried to pay attention to the sensation of Nicky's fingers as they swept the hair off her face and then pressed firmly against her forehead,
"You're burning up Morello, you think you're coming down with something?" Lorna nodded as soon as she heard the words and felt a wave of gratitude towards her wild-haired friend who had unknowingly provided her with an out,
"Yeah, I think so not feeling too great is all" she felt bad, lying to Nicky, especially when she saw the concern swirling in her eyes.
"Well I'd love to let ya sleep kid or better yet climb in there with you" she grinned and Lorna couldn't stop her lips from quirking upwards,
"But it's breakfast time and you should probably get something into you" with that Nicky stood and watched as Lorna sighed before pushing the blanket down and throwing her feet over the side of the bunk. The concrete floor felt cool on her feet, a welcome relief to the hot prickling of her skin.
"Whoa" Nicky said, stepping forward and placing her hands at Lorna's waist when she stood and immediately began to sway on her feet,
"You need to sit?"
"No, no I'm okay!" Lorna said shaking her head and then cursed the thumping that started up in it. She held onto Nicky's arms for a moment as the dizziness began to fade,
"Christ Morello what the hell happened?" Nicky asked her voice louder than before causing Lorna to wince,
"Just a bit dizzy is all"
"No…with your hand" Nicky clarified pulling back slightly to take Lorna's left hand in her own. As she looked down Lorna's eyes widened as she took in the bloody mess that was her hand. In her exhaustion, she hadn't bothered to change her top the night before and the blood-soaked material appeared a dull red while the cut itself looked terrible, tissue paper embedded in the long laceration,
"Oh…I forgot" she said almost in surprise as she stared down at it,
"You forgot? Must hurt like hell. We need to clean that out…what did you do?" Nicky asked, the words laced with worry that made Lorna want to dive back in the bed and ignore the day,
"On the tap downstairs, yesterday…it's fine don't even worry about it, it's just a scratch" Lorna promised, nodding and pulling away from Nicky slightly, she didn't want to worry her anymore,
"That's not just a scratch Morello…and it's getting infected" Nicky persisted, refusing to let go of her hand,
"Let me help okay" she added softly making Lorna look back up to her. She nodded a moment later and Nicky pulled at the bottom to he shirt and helped her pull it over her head while avoiding her hand. Nicky hovered as she got dressed and Lorna could feel the concerned eyes on her,
"It was stupid of me that's probably why I'm feeling so bad this morning you know…cause it's getting infected and I forgot to wash it out...just got distracted ...such an idiot" Lorna said throwing Nicky what she hoped was a light smile,
"You're not an idiot Lorna" Lorna paused as she looked in the mirror her lipstick poised in one hand while she cradled the other against her body carefully. It wasn't often that Nicky called her by her name, after all she went by Morello in Litchfield and Nicky only usually swapped it out for kid. She was unsure what to say, caught off guard by the genuineness she heard in the comment. Instead, Lorna pursed her lips and painted them before pulling her hair off her face knowing they didn't have long to get down to breakfast.
They headed out of the cube together once they were done and Nicky steered her towards the bathrooms when she attempted to head towards the dining room,
"Got to flush that out now kid, come on." With her hand cradled in Nicky's Lorna sucked in a breath through her teeth as the cold water spilled over the cut. She watched the blood, dirt and paper swirl down the drain and tried to focus on Nicky's body beside her as she felt herself becoming slightly lightheaded.
"Oh god what happened?" Lorna looked up to see a concerned Piper in the mirror peering at her worriedly, eyes widening at the sight of her hand,
"Sliced it open on that stupid broken tap downstairs yesterday" Nicky replied without looking up, focused on angling Lorna's hand to get it as clean as possible.
"Silly me" Lorna said flippantly, throwing a smile towards Piper who began to rub her back,
"Looks deep, you should probably get a tetanus shot" Piper added and another, deeper voice snorted from behind them. Lorna turned to see Alex exit from the same shower stall Piper had appeared from before she hoisted herself up on the sinks,
"Yeah, I'm sure they'll have plenty up in medical just waiting for Morello" she said cynically causing Piper to roll her eyes though they all knew that medical rarely had anything important stored up for them, regularly running out gauze and saline.
"Red will have something" Nicky said as she stood back up and pulled Lorna's hand out of the water. The cut looked long and deep but clean. The skin around it was red and swollen and Nicky muttered a quiet apology before placing another paper towel over it,
"I'll get something proper from Red in a minute" Lorna nodded and thanked her ignoring the sting beneath Nicky's fingers.
"You should still just ask for a tetanus shot, you never know they might have one" Piper said and Alex laughed, fondly shaking her head, before wrapping an arm around Chapman's shoulder. Nicky met Lorna's eyes in the mirror before turning to press a kiss to the side of her head knowing she was in pain,
"INMATES WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE. THAT'S A SHOT FOR EACH OF YOU. GET TO BREAKFAST" Pornstache's booming voice made Lorna jump and both Nicky and Piper reached to steady her as she swayed but they moved quickly when the guard threatened them with another shot each. The four walked together in silence feeling like cattle being herded by a smirking Mendez. Nicky wrapped her arm around Lorna's waist as she observed her stumble several times pulling her flush against her side.
As they entered the loud dining hall Lorna felt her headache intensify and knew that she probably had a bump on the back of her head.
"You sit, I'm gonna go see Ma" Nicky instructed as they arrived at the familiar table. De Marco who sat across the table spoke first,
"You okay Morello you're not looking too hot"
"Oh no I'm okay just a little tired you know" she said but didn't bother to fight Nicky and slid along the seat,
"We'll get you both some breakfast" Piper added before she and Alex headed towards the line of inmates and Nicky followed them after squeezing her shoulder gently. Lorna hated the looks of concern that turned her way from the people sat around the table – even if they were her family, especially because they were her family – she hated making people worry.
"You okay son? How's the head Mercy said it took quite a knock" Boo asked from the other end of the table and Lorna forced a laugh,
"Yeah, it's fine I was definitely out …I was having this great dream about the wedding actually" she laughed,
"That why it was so hard to wake you up?" Mercy laughed from between Boo and Tricia.
"Yeah you know me always dreaming" Lorna laughed.
"Should we invite her over do you think?" the calm voice of yoga Jones asked and Boo laughed before Lorna could even look up to see what the yoga teacher was referring to,
"What do you think Morello, you ready to make nice?" when she followed Boo's gaze Lorna felt the lump that had been stuck in her throat all night as she had lay awake until the early hours of the morning return. Isabella…Lombardi in Litchfield, she reminded herself, stood at the edge of the tables eyes searching the room.
"Why not? She's a nice girl" De Marco commented,
"A little quiet but I would take that over chatty cathy any day" the older Italian said distastefully and Lorna forced her eyes back to the woman,
"All that Jameson kid does is talk…more than she breathes I swear…she likes you very much Morello I think you're going to have a shadow today" she warned and Tricia laughed,
"Yeah, she's asked about you like three times this morning, we agreed we wouldn't mention it to Nicky…she'd probably shiv her in the night or something" Tricia teased and Lorna rolled her eyes despite the chuckling around the table,
"She's just scared…it was her first day, first days are always the hardest" Lorna defended...ignoring the comment about Nicky, it's not like they were together.
"Here, you should eat" Piper said gently placing a tray down in front of her and Lorna thanked her moving over so the pair could sit down beside one another. As DeMarco stood Lorna felt a wave of nausea and panic wash over her but she couldn't open her mouth. What would she say any way? Still Lorna wasn't sure she could quite stomach sitting at a table with Isabella Lombardi, what if she said something, what if she did it all over again? Lorna could see her world being torn apart at the hands of that girl just as it had been before. No, no, no, no she couldn't let that happen. The growing throbbing in Lorna's head made her wince. She loved these people, they would hate her…if they knew. She could hear Alex and Piper beside her chatting quietly between themselves, the others chatting over breakfast, she couldn't lose them. She caught sight of Nicky talking to Red in the kitchen and felt a wave of nausea wash over her,
"You look like you're going to puke" Alex said suddenly from her left but Lorna's gaze was caught by Pennsatucky who had linked arms with Lombardi before leading her towards her table with Leanne and Angie.
"Well she made friends fast" De Marco commented before shrugging and retaking her seat. As she did, Lorna moved slightly so that she was in line with Piper and Alex, she didn't want confrontation, not that soon, she needed to get a handle on her head, and her thoughts first, then she would work out how to deal with Lombardi.
"You're not going to puke are you?" Piper asked a moment later and she frowned at the blonde for a moment before she managed to catch up,
"No…no I'm good"
"Cause if you do I will" she said seriously and Lorna smiled,
"I'm good Chapman, really" she promised and sighed in relief when her friend turned to ask Jones about the change with the yoga class space…something about AA not having enough room. Lorna quickly tuned them out but Nicky sliding into the space beside her quickly got her attention,
"Red said to come to the kitchen after you've eaten something and she'll fix up your hand" she said turning to her and Lorna shook her head quickly,
"She doesn't need to do tha—" the words faded out at Nicky's knowing smile,
"She also said to tell you to shut up and do as your told" she continued and Lorna smiled looking towards the kitchen only for Red to give her a stern look.
"Eat babe…you need to eat" Nicky added before thanking Alex and Piper for her own tray and placing a comforting hand on Lorna's knee.
Thank you so much for you reviews. As soon as I got home and read them this chapter happened! Not much happens here I know but more will be revealed soon! Hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think! :)