Caged (Caged series Book 1) Page 2

  Confused, I told her my favorite color, "red."

  "Why red?"

  "Why orange?" I couldn't read this woman at all.

  "That's the color of the sky when the sun is setting. You?"

  "It's the color that leaks from peoples noses after I punch them."

  Miss Shy wasn't fazed. She didn't drop her smile even a little. I was starting to make it a goal to break that smile, just because she wouldn't.

  "Aren't you gonna write that down on some paper under troubled child?"

  "No, that’s not really something you could forget," she laughed. I almost cracked a smile, but didn't want to seem like I was giving in. Miss Shy sat back in her chair, "So what’s your favorite food?"

  I sat back as well. What is her game? "Mac and cheese."

  "Same here. Anything served at Thanksgiving is my favorite food."

  It was quiet for a moment, "Could you just tell me why I'm in here right now? I already told you, if you’re trying to give me a lecture, I was already given one."

  "I don't want to give you a lecture."

  "Then what do you want?"

  "To get to know you."

  I paused for a moment, "Aren't you going to try and talk to me about my past, or those records on your desk?"

  Miss Shy looked down at the records, and then pushed them towards me, "Only if you want to. I didn't read them."

  I clenched my teeth and took the stack of documents on my life, "But don't you want to know about me?"

  "Of course! That's why I asked you your favorite color and food. We could keep going if you'd like."

  Miss Shy had the look of innocence on her face, and it almost made me feel like I could trust her, but I knew that I couldn't. She was just like all the other counselors.

  "No...I don't want to keep going."

  Miss Shy's smile dropped a little, but I didn't feel like I’d accomplished anything. Instead I felt guilty, but she couldn't be trusted. I needed a clean start, and bringing up the past wouldn't help me.

  Miss Shy sighed, but not like she was giving up. She looked as if she were in thought. “Well then, what do you want to talk about?" She cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

  "You," I squinted my eyes to show her that I was serious, "I want to talk about you."

  "Me?" she giggled, "My life is as depressing as it gets."

  I looked down at the documents in my hands, "So is mine."

  Miss Shy leaned forward, "Are you sure?"

  I couldn't read the expression on her face. It was gentle....kind of like my mothers. I'm sure it’s a look that she’s practiced to get people to talk to her, but it was comforting.

  I didn't answer her question. Miss Shy saw the confusion on my face as I watched hers. After a few seconds of silence she leaned back into her chair.

  "So, what do you want to know about me?"

  I bit my lip and looked around her room. I saw a picture taped to her wall of her and her cat, and then another picture of the same cat on her desk. There were no pictures of children, or family, or even friends. It didn't seem like much was going on for her except for this job. “Your life."

  Chapter 4

  I went home before the school day ended. I only had to stay for half of the day to go over my schedule and get the tour from Abigale. I didn't learn much about Miss Shy, but I didn't care, because all I needed was something to make time fly by, and I wasn't going to do that by talking about myself. No one needs to know about me, or what I've done. That's just between me and Arnold. Not even the police knows everything that's happened, and if I want to make a new life for myself, I plan on keeping it that way.

  I sat on my bed, in my room full of boxes, and rested for a moment, then I got up and started to unpack. If I finished my room early, I could start on the kitchen and surprise my aunt, Shannon. There wasn't much to unpack though. Just some clothes, sports gear, and one picture of my parents. I wasn't in it. Around that time, I was missing and they had moved on, but I'm glad that they did. It was my fault for getting kidnapped, and they shouldn't have had to suffer for that.

  I hung up all of my clothes and threw my sports gear in the closet. The picture of my parents was sat on the dresser faced towards my bed so that I could see it when I woke up in the morning.

  An hour had passed since I cleaned my room, and I went ahead and started on the kitchen. I only made it as far as getting one cupboard full of plates when my Aunt walked into the house.

  "Oh, you started," She walked in with a bunch of groceries, sounding like she was out of breath.

  "Let me get those for you," I closed the cupboard and took the grocery bags from her.

  "How was your first day?" She asked as she sat the rest of her things down.

  "Ask me tomorrow," I answered while putting the food away.

  Aunt Shannon deeply sighed, "Don't tell me you got into trouble already, Rose."

  I frowned and stopped what I was doing, "Did you get any bad reports from Miss Shy?" I felt my arms tense up, but remained calm, "I'm pretty sure that's why you have me seeing her once a week…so that she could report to you about me?"

  Shannon sighed again, "Calm down, I was just asking a question. I didn't mean to offend you."

  I took a deep breath and went back to putting away the food. I've been trying to control my anger and clean up my act, but it was always her that brought it back out of me. Everyone thinks that my Aunt is such a sweet old woman that's caring and generous, but I know how she really is.

  After I was found, I was put into her custody, and being with her wasn't so different from living with Arnold. Instead of locking me in a cage, she would take me down to this cold room in the basement and leave me there for as long as she wanted. My aunt didn't feel like dealing with a problem child that woke up screaming, and that constantly got into fights in school. The only reason she kept me was because she liked those checks that the government sent, but that was it.

  The abuse wasn't so bad. I had endured worse with Arnold, but when she realized that nothing seemed to hurt me she went to drastic measures. I guess she thought that she was fixing me, but instead she was just making me worse.

  As I got older, Shannon couldn't really do what she did to me in the past, and over time she left me alone. Sometimes she would try to bring me down verbally, but words don't hurt much either. Time passed, and one day she just randomly broke down into tears and started apologizing for everything she's done. Since that day she has been trying to make it up to me with showing kindness and getting me nice things, but I will never forgive her. I’ll never forgive anyone for hurting me, nor will I forget.

  Once I finished putting up the groceries, I headed back towards my room.

  "Hey, don't you want to help me set up the kitchen?" She asked

  "Looks like you got it," I went into my room and closed the door. An empty feeling filled up inside of me and for a second I felt alone. To be honest, I was, but I liked to pretend that my parents were still here. Right now they were in their bedroom watching their favorite show, and when I finished my homework I would go and watch it with them. So far, pretending is what kept me from offing myself.

  I looked outside, saw that the sun was setting, and got on my knuckles and started my daily routine of doing one hundred push-ups and one hundred sit-ups. I started counting in my head and went up and down at a steady pace. After fifty, my arms started to burn, but I didn't slow down, and if I stopped, I would have to start over.

  "Sixty..... Sixty one..." Arnold would count with one foot pressed on my back, "Let's go! Pick up the pace Rose!"

  My arms burned like crazy, and sweat ran down my neck, but I did as he said and picked up the pace. Even if it felt like my arms were giving out, I didn't dare stop.

  "I said faster! I don't care if you’re tired! Pick up the fucking pace!"

  Even now I could still feel the pain in my back as he stomped down on it, but I didn't stop.

  "Eighty.......Eighty-one....Eighty-two."

&nbs
p; My arms were starting to shake on my way down. My body couldn't take it anymore, but if I stopped....

  I was almost done now, and the yelling had stopped. Once I reached one hundred, I stood up and looked into the mirror. My brown hair had fell onto my shoulders, and my face was covered in sweat. It was hard to notice, but there were also tears. Just because I was freed from Arnold didn't mean that I was actually free. That man was always inside my head yelling, taunting me. He would probably get off on watching me squirm at the thought of him.

  It's almost like I was never freed from those bars nine years ago. No one could get in, and I couldn’t get out.

  Chapter 5

  The next morning, I woke up full of energy. After showering and getting dressed, I fixed my hair into a curled pony tail and put on my mother’s diamond earrings. Every time I put on these earrings, I would see her face staring back at me in the mirror. We looked just alike.

  I inherited her flawless caramel skin, and her bright hazel eyes that had a tendency to change colors. My eyebrows are also dark and full like hers were. People always said that we both looked like we were angry all of the time because of the way our eyebrows were shaped. Mine were a little less arched, but they still resembled hers.

  There wasn't much about me that resembled my father, other than my athletic build. My body still looked very feminine, but it didn't take much working out for me to get a six pack, horse legs, or toned arms. Back in California my friends would say I had the body of a goddess in a dress.

  Before I grabbed my book bag I realized that there was one more thing missing: my father’s silver Rolex. I grabbed it off of my dresser and slipped it onto my wrist, then I picked up my book bag and left out of my room.

  In the kitchen was Aunt Shannon buttering up some toast, "Need a ride?"

  I looked down at the table and saw a paper towel with toast sitting on top, "No, I can walk."

  Shannon sighed, "Well, I made you some toast for breakfast."

  I nodded, grabbed a slice, and headed out the door. I was still trying to adjust to her being so nice to me. It was weird, and I also felt myself wanting to be nice back, but after all of the things that she's done....no, there can be no forgiveness.

  On my way to school, I noticed that there were others out. Most of them looked younger than me, but I found a few that looked to be my age. One was a tall linebacker looking boy, two seemed to be the Gothic type, and the last one was a skinny nerd looking girl. If I wanted to find a friend to walk with, it would probably be the linebacker, but not yet. I'll give it a couple of days before I go and try to start making friends with complete strangers.

  Once I reached the front of the school, I walked through the crowded path towards the front doors. People did stare at me as I passed them by, and I started to feel a little awkward, but then I saw Abigale a few feet away heading in my direction. As I got closer to her it seemed as if people were staring even harder. It was like I had a big sign on my forehead that said look at me, I'm new! What felt even worse was the thought that maybe these people knew about my past. A few kids in California knew, but no one believed them, and hopefully no one in this school would find out.

  "Hey," Someone called out to me from my left. I stopped and turned to the girl. She was an African American standing with a group of other interracial females. The other students around me got quiet.

  "Yeah?” I said, nonchalantly.

  "You new here?" She asked.

  I nodded and was about to continue walking when she called me again.

  "What’s your name?" She stepped out of her little circle, but not too far. Her friends stood behind her with smiles on their faces.

  "Rose."

  The girl nodded, "Oh, okay. I'm Jessie."

  I didn't respond to her, because I couldn't tell what she was up to, but I knew it wasn't good. She didn't have a kind look on her face.

  "Is that all?" I asked. Abigale slowly made her way to me and stood by my side.

  "Yeah," Jessie nodded with a grin, "I just had to be sure it was you."

  I frowned and balled my fists, "What does that mean?"

  Jessie looked down at my fists and then at my face. Abigale got close and whispered, "Calm down," in my ear.

  I took a deep breath and released my fists, then I glared at Jessie. I saw it in her eyes that she knew who I was, but does she know what I did, or about my childhood? My rampage in Cali wasn't exactly a secret, so I'm pretty sure that’s what she was talking about, but still, I couldn't help but wonder.

  The bell rang and everyone started to head into the school. I watched as Jessie and her friends walked away laughing.

  "Don't worry about her," Abigale said, "She's a bitch to everyone, and always in someone’s business. Best advice is to keep your distance away from her."

  "I'm not afraid of anyone."

  "Exactly why you should keep your distance. Those hands look like they can do some damage that will get you expelled,” Abigale was right. They could definitely do some damage.

  We walked into the school and went to our lockers, then to our first period class. Abigale and I sat close to the back by the window. As students walked in they glanced at me, but they didn't stare like everyone else did outside, they just started talking to their friends, or texting on their phones.

  "You'll like this class. See what everyone is doing right now? That’s basically what you do the entire time. Our teacher is a joke," Abigale laughed.

  The teacher walked in and the other students quieted down. On my schedule it said that his name was Mr. Clothorn.

  Mr. Clothorn put his black bag down, and then pulled out some papers. "I have your tests from last week. You all did exceptionally well, and a hell of a lot better than the test before," he looked around the class and then spotted me sitting in the back, "Oh, I almost forgot, we have a new student."

  The class looked back at me. It was awkward having so many unfamiliar eyes faced in my direction.

  "And what is your name?" Mr. Clothorn asked.

  "Rose."

  "Nice to meet you rose, I'm Mr. Clothorn. Welcome to Government."

  I cracked a side smile. I didn't know what to say....

  "Can you tell us anything about yourself?"

  Automatically, I thought back to Miss Shy, "My favorite color is red, and my favorite food is Mac and cheese."

  There were a few giggles, but instead of feeling embarrassed I felt relaxed. Kind of like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. It sucked to be the new girl sometimes.

  "Okay," Mr. Clothorn chuckled, "Is there anything else? Hobbies? Sports?"

  "She looks like a hooper," One of the guys said.

  "Yeah, y'all might need her cuz our girls’ team sucks," Another boy said.

  "What-ever," a girl replied, "y'all niggas just mad cuz we better."

  I smiled. They were just like my classmates in Cali.

  "Do you? Play basketball? Our girls’ team really does need a push," Mr. Clothorn laughed.

  "What-" one of the girls started.

  "No," I answered, "I used to be a wrestler."

  The class got quiet.

  "A wrestler!?" One boy shouted, "Ain't no way a girl gettin' on our team."

  "You never know," I turned to the boy that said that, "I might take over."

  There was a bunch of dramatic ooooohs going around the classroom.

  The boy smirked, "What’s your record?"

  "I lost count of my wins, but I only lost once, and that wasn't even a real match."

  "What was it then?"

  "I was trying to take the captains spot."

  "So, if you couldn't take his spot, what makes you think you can take over our team?"

  I smirked, "I learn from my mistakes."

  "Riiiiiiight." He smiled at me, and I smiled back. Looks like I just made a new friend without trying.

  "Alright then," Mr. Clothorn started, "I expect to see you at tryouts, Rose," he nodded, and then began the class. Today, we had to do a group projec
t on our president of choice, and just like Abigale said, everyone was talking and texting.

  After class, I headed down to my second period. On my way there, I spotted Mrs. Pond walking out of the teachers’ lounge and waved. She didn't look like she recognized me at first, but then she realized who I was and waved back, "Rose!" She started walking with me, "How are you?"

  "I'm fine, you?" I answered.

  "I'm great. It’s a nice day! The weather usually determines my mood,” she said cheerfully.

  "I guess you’re always happy then. Ohio seems to always have nice cold weather," I laughed.

  "Yes, it does, and I love that about this state."

  I looked up at Mrs. Pond and had the feeling that I was really going to like her. She came off as a very positive person that knew just how to make someone smile.

  We made it into the classroom right before the bell rang. Most of the students were already in their seats looking up at me. I sighed, and almost started to panic when I couldn't spot a seat. I turned to Mrs. Pond with the look of confusion on my face.

  Mrs. Pond smiled. It was like she read my mind, "Why don't you sit right there?" She pointed to a seat on the far right side of the classroom in the second row. It was the only empty seat left....right behind the girl with the red and blond hair.

  "Thanks," I walked over to my seat and sat down. The students were still watching me, but eventually turned away. The red head still had her face buried in a book just like yesterday. Her hair was blocking her face, once again, so I still couldn't get a good look at her.

  "Class, we have a new student today. Her name is Rose, and I'd like you all to make her feel welcomed," Mrs. Pond announced. A few minutes later she started teaching. I tried to listen, so that I could figure out what I'm behind in, but I couldn't focus. I was too busy looking at the girl in front of me. There was just something about her that caught my attention, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

  The bell rang for third period and everyone got up to leave. As the girl in front of me stood up she dropped her school identification card on the floor, but didn't notice, and kept walking towards the exit.