The Girl Who Couldn't Feel

Jaden and Tammy were keeping their distance. We didn’t talk. The little girl was happy. I knew she was, because, though I didn’t see her when I was awake, she came into my dreams sometimes. She came to warn me. But I didn’t need the warning. I wasn’t going to go near Tammy or Jaden. Tammy and Jaden started talking to each other more. It seemed that I always saw them together nowadays. Not that I cared.

Tammy had tried to talk to me. She tried to tell me that I didn’t have to punish myself, because I hadn’t done anything. But she didn’t get that I knew. She didn’t understand that I knew I was guilty. The guilt was going to kill me if I stayed near those two. Every day was becoming more and more difficult, because the little girl was becoming more and more unbearable. I don’t think I could truly explain it to them. I was going crazy. If they were with me, they would not be able to go on. They would get stuck like me. My past was the thing that was holding me back, but I would be the one that was holding them back. I couldn’t live with that.

Guilt. Even if I didn’t have my memories, I could still feel it. The next few weeks blurred together. I don’t know what happened, that is, if anything happened. All that I know is that I woke up, went to school, came home, cleaned, got into some sort of trouble, ate dinner, and went to bed. The cycle continued, with no changes whatsoever. I don’t know how long this went on for. I probably would have continued like this if Kelly hadn’t decided to harass me.

I had been heading outside after school to go home. I didn’t notice Kelly or her two male “bodyguards”. It wasn’t until I was about to leave the building that she pulled my arm.

“Marie, dear, would you come with us for a second?” Kelly giggled as she pulled me.

I didn’t fight her at all, I hadn’t broken out of the endless daze that I had been trapped in for so long. By the time I was even slightly aware of the situation, the three of them had surrounded me and Kelly was smiling in front of me. We were in a restroom, and I could tell it wasn’t in the main buildings, since I didn’t hear any noise. We were probably in one of the abandoned buildings. No one would find us here. I didn’t know for how long Kelly had been trying to talk to me, but I finally tried to understand what she was saying.

“…So you see, this is the only way I could get revenge on Tammy, and that is you. This will teach her a lesson. She can’t mess with me nor can she have Jaden.” Kelly laughed. As she did so, I reached in my pocket and hit what I hoped was the number 1 and then dialed. Jaden was set on speed dial on my phone. One of the 2 guys, though, realized that I had done something, and told me to empty my pocket.

“Oh? You have a phone, Marie? And who might you have called.” Kelly smiled, as she took my phone. I was going to run at her to take the phone back, but the two guys grabbed me. That was my phone. “No, no, Marie. This is mine now.” Kelly smiled at me. “Hello.” She said into the phone. Jaden must have picked up because I could hear him.

“Oh, Jaden! Don’t worry, Marie is just fine. I think she called you by accident.” Kelly giggled. “Oh, you want to talk to her. Just a minute, okay?” She said, and then she covered the phone and glared at me. “Try anything funny, and I’ll destroy this phone. I will crush it to pieces.”

I nodded. It was Jaden’s gift to me, how could I let her destroy it? She put the phone near my ear, and I heard Jaden’s voice.

“Marie? Marie, are you okay?”

“Y-yes…” I muttered. I hadn’t spoken to him in what seemed like centuries.

“Are you sure? Where are you?” Jaden sounded worried.

“I’m fine.” I muttered, before Kelly pulled the phone away. He wouldn’t be looking for me now.

“Yes, yes. Don’t worry Jaden, she’s fine. Anyways, we have to go. See you tomorrow!” She giggled. “Bye!” Kelly hung up and turned to me. She came towards me and punched me in the stomach. I fell to the floor, coughing.

“Tie her up to that pipe. Make sure you tie it tightly, we wouldn’t want her getting away now, would we.” Kelly said. The 2 guys chained my hands to the pipe behind me. They had actually brought chains? I guess Kelly was going to underestimate my abilities. Once I was tied up, they let me go. I just sat on the floor as the three of them moved away and then came back.

I didn’t realize what they were doing until the cold water was dumped on me by the first guy. The water was as cold as ice, and I actually felt a few of the ice cubes that hadn’t yet melted hit my head. The first bucket was enough to make me shiver. After the first guy dumped his bucket of water on me, the second guy did the same with his bucket of water.

“I’m so sorry Marie. I promise, this time It wasn’t anything personal.” She said, as she pulled my wet hair up to look at her. Then she let go.

I didn’t realize that Kelly was calling anyone till she put her phone on speakerphone. “Tammy, dear, I don’t’ lie about things like this. She’s right here with us right now.”

“Kelly! You better be lying! Are you crazy or something? I didn’t drop the food on you on purpose. It was an ACCIDENT. And I wasn’t the one who dumped a bucket of water on you! I just happened to be there! Also, Jaden DOESN’T belong to you. Stop acting like he does. Now, if you touch even a hair on Marie’s head, I will hurt you.” Tammy growled into the phone.

Kelly just laughed. “Too late.” She sang, and she dumped another bucket of water on me. “Aww, poor thing, she’s shivering terribly. I guess getting ice water dumped on you isn’t very fun.” Kelly said loudly to make sure Tammy heard. “Marie, why don’t you say hi to your good friend, huh?”

“Marie? Marie, are you okay?”

“I-I-I-I’m f-f-f-fine.” I stuttered. The water had been so so cold.

Tammy began cursing and screaming into the phone, but that just made Kelly smile. “Sorry, Tammy dear, I have to go. Marie and I are just having so much fun! Too bad you can’t join us! Of course, you can try, but you won’t find her. Bye Tammy.” Kelly said as she ended the call. Kelly had a point. There were too many buildings and too many places to look. She wouldn’t find me.

“Let’s go.” Kelly muttered to the 2 guys. “Oh? What should I do with this?” She smiled, holding my phone in my face. “I’ll just put this right here.” She said, placing it in front of me. “Oh, wait, I forgot.” She said as she was about to head out the door. She came back and dumped some extra water she had onto my phone.

I looked at my phone, and I knew that it wouldn’t work anymore. Jaden had got it just for me. I glared at Kelly. For the first time, I truly struggled as much as I could. I ignored the pain coming from my wrists because of the chains. I continued to struggle, but she just laughed and followed the guys out of the old rotting bathroom.

“We’ll come for you in the morning, okay Marie?” she said, and then she left. I struggled for a while longer, hoping I could at least dry my phone, and maybe save it, but I gave up after a while. I felt something running down from my wrist, and I knew it was either water, or blood. I was too tired and cold to continue.

There were no windows in this bathroom, so I didn’t know the time. As time went on, though, I just felt colder and colder. My clothes were soaked, and it was because of them that I was freezing. I know I should have been expecting help. I should have been expecting someone to come for me, but I wasn’t. I didn’t expect anyone to arrive. The shivering kept me from falling asleep, so I just waited. I waited for Kelly to come back and let me go.

It was no surprise that by the time I saw the door open once more, I was going in and out of consciousness. I saw Kelly and the two guys come back.

“She doesn’t look too good…” one of the guys said.

“Don’t worry about her.” Kelly laughed.

That’s when I saw Tammy come through the door. She grabbed Kelly immediately and punched her in the stomach. But, she wasn’t paying attention to the two guys. I tried to call out to her but I couldn’t.

Then, Jaden came in. He started fighting the 2 guys, while Tammy focused on Kelly. I felt myself pass out again, and when I opened my eyes once more, Jaden was untying my hands.

“Don’t worry Marie, we’re here now.” He kept saying. “Her clothes are still soaked. She’s still shivering.” Jaden said to Tammy. I saw Tammy standing in the back of the bathroom. She was crying. Maybe it was because of the fact that she had promised not to fight anymore. Kelly was no longer in the bathroom, so I guessed that Tammy had let her run away. The two guys were still lying on the ground.

Jaden untied my wrists, which was the only thing that had been keeping me from falling forward, so I fell onto his chest. I was so tired; I couldn’t even keep myself from falling onto him. He hugged me tightly, and it felt so warm. “She has a really high fever.” I heard Jaden say. “Marie, Marie, Princess, can you hear me… I think she’s going in and out of consciousness. We should take her to the hospital.”

“N-n-n.” I tried to speak, but I couldn’t. I had to tell him no. I wouldn’t go there.

“We, we can’t take her there Jaden. She hates it there. She won’t want to go there.” I heard Tammy say through tears.

“Then WHAT THE HELL are we supposed to do!” Jaden yelled. I saw a glimpse of my wrists, they were bruised and bloody. I guess it had been blood after all. It was quiet for a while, but I had completely lost my sense of time, so I wasn’t sure how long it had been before Jaden spoke again. “I know. I’ll call my Skye. She’ll come and help.”

“Skye, Marie needs help…No, we can’t go to a hospital. She doesn’t want to…She has a really high fever. Ice water was dumped on her and she was left like that all night.” I heard Jaden sigh. “Okay, Okay. I’ll text you the address and we’ll do what you said. You’re at Dad’s right? So, I’ll see you in an hour. Okay, Bye.” He hung up the phone, and I was wrapped by his warm arms again. The warmth from his body made me feel so safe, and so sleepy. I closed my eyes. “You can sleep, Marie. I’ll protect you.” Jaden whispered in my ear. I fell asleep quickly.

I was too feverish to really understand what was happening. I was on Tammy’s couch, wrapped in blankets. Jaden tried to leave me, and I faintly remembered grabbing his sleeve and telling him not to go. Then everything went black again, and I woke up to a lady giving me some medicine.

“She’ll be fine, Jaden.” The lady said.

When I finally woke up once more, I saw the sun outside one of the windows in Tammy’s living room. My wrists felt sore, and I saw that they were bandaged. When I looked at my hand, I saw Jaden holding it. I had probably not let go of him. That was embarrassing. I let go of his hand, and I saw someone walk in with 2 cups of tea.

She had light brown hair with yellow highlights that was set in light curls. “You’re up! That’s great! I was getting kind of worried about you there. I know I told Jaden you’d be alright, but, I mean, what else could I tell him? There weren’t many options.” She smiled as she handed me a cup of tea. “Here, this is for you. Drink up.”

“What time is it?” I said, my throat was dry.

“6 a.m. on February the 4th…”

February the 4th? I couldn’t remember much from the last month. Had I really gone through a month so quickly? I had gone through everything without even realizing. I had spent a month of my life just going through the motions. Just like I had been doing before? But, hadn’t my life consisted of just that a few months ago? Most of all, wasn’t this what I had asked for?

“They found you yesterday in the morning. You recovered much faster than expected. I thought you would probably be asleep until tomorrow.” She looked at me curiously.

I had been through things like this before.

Skye realized that I wasn’t going to say anything. “Anyways, I’m Skye. I’m the brilliant older sister of that idiot.” She smiled as she pointed to Jaden, who was fast asleep. “You’re lucky that I’m a doctor. Otherwise, you would definitely be headed to the hospital.”

“Thanks.” I mumbled.

“No problem at all. So, you’re the infamous Marie.”

“Um…”

She laughed. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Jaden. He sounded pretty impressed with you.”

“Y-You’re the one who took care of Jaden.”

“Sure am.” She looked a Jaden, who was leaning on the couch, asleep. She looked at me a bit nervously for a second, and then she spoke. Marie, I couldn’t help but see the bruises all over your body…”

“They hurt me last night.” I muttered. It was the only excuse that I could think of.

“That’s what I was thinking at first, but then I realized that most of the bruises were old.” She said. I didn’t respond. “You know, Marie, I love my brother. I was about Jaden’s age when Mom died. I was so close to her, and it hurt me a lot. Jaden was 10 years old, and he wasn’t ready to be left on his own. That’s what Dad would do; he just left Jaden alone to let him figure out what he’s supposed to be doing on his own. That’s why I took care of Jaden.” She smiled as she pushed Jaden’s hair out of his face.

“I went to all his school events and helped him with his homework, though he rarely needed help. But Jaden always wanted only one thing. He wanted the love of his parent who was alive. He wanted Dad to acknowledge him. He started acting out, trying to get Dad to at least react to him. But after a while, he wasn’t pretending anymore. It became who he was. It was no longer him trying to get attention. That’s why I had him sent away. He wasn’t doing well living with Dad, especially without me there.”

“You…sent him here?” I muttered.

“Yes. I didn’t tell him, though. He wouldn’t have understood. But he did come here, and he met you. Marie, he’s changed so much because of you. He cares about you. Caring for him was what made me responsible, and he’s becoming more responsible because of you. Jaden cares about you, and if he cares about you, so do I. I won’t let my brother go through anything alone, and I have a feeling he’s bit off more than he can chew with you.” She smiled at me, but I knew what she meant.

I looked up at the ceiling. I couldn’t say this to her face. “You’re right. He has. That’s why I think he should stay away from me.”

Skye was quiet, but then I heard her sigh. “You know that’s not possible.” She said with a soft smile.

I knew. I knew it well. But if I did let this all continue, if I did stay near him, what would I do if he left. The week he was gone was the only thing that truly felt real. I was in pain. Even a month after, the bruises were still there. My ribs still ached, and remembering that week just made it hurt more. Why had I been punished like this? Why was change trying to force itself upon my life?

Jaden began moving and he woke up, and Skye immediately handed him the other cup of tea. “Here, this’ll wake you up.” She smiled at him.

“How’s Marie?” He said as he looked at me. “Oh, Marie, are you alright?”

“She’s just fine. Which is definitely good for me, since I hate being a liar.” She sighed.

“It seems you’ve met Skye.” Jaden smiled at me.

“Not only have we met, my little brother, we have also talked.” Skye smiled at him as she rustled his hair.

“Mar-Mar!” Tammy said running into the room. “I just knew there was too much noise for her to still be asleep.” She smiled. “Thank you so much Skye.” Tammy said politely to Skye.

Suddenly, tears filled Tammy’s eyes as she walked up to me. Once she was a few feet from me, she fell onto her knees. “I’m so sorry Marie. I am truly sorry.” She whispered.

“I guess my old image isn’t much of a threat anymore.” I sighed. “At least to Kelly; she’s getting gutsier.”

“This won’t happen again, Marie. I promise you. I will kill her if I have to bu-”

“Stop speaking nonsense.” I said. “I should have been paying attention.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Jaden asked.

Jaden didn’t need to know. “Just stay away from me and you’ll be fine.

“I should go home…” I muttered.

“What? No! You can’t you’re not well. And you’re parents…” Tammy said.

“I’m fine, and my parents are fine, right Jaden?” I said, looking at Jaden.

“Uh, yeah.” He responded, a bit confused as to what was going on. Tammy sighed and shook her head, and Skye just looked at all of us, confused. At least I could rely on his response.

“Then, I’m going.” I muttered, I got up slowly, knowing I would probably fall otherwise. I made it to the door and as I opened it, I heard Skye speak.

“Jaden, I don’t think you really know what you’ve gotten yourself into…” she sighed. I didn’t listen anymore. I knew it would be best if she was able to convince him to leave me alone. I knew it would be best she took him away. But, I still hoped, just a little bit, that he didn’t listen.

As I left the house, I heard Tammy. “Marie, Marie, listen to me.”

“Don’t worry Tammy I forgive you.” I said, as I turned to face her.

“No, that’s not it… Marie, do you really think you’re doing the right thing? Do you really think being unhappy will solve everything?” She said as she walked up to me. “Come on, Marie, you have to know it won’t work.” I didn’t say anything as she looked at me. She sighed. “Marie, I gave you a month, and now I’ve had enough. I don’t care if you say you don’t need me. I don’t care if you tell me you want me dead. I’m not going to leave you. I’ve had enough. I won’t let you keep doing this.” She growled at me. I couldn’t remember the last time she’s said anything against me. She never yelled at me. She never told me that I was wrong. I turned around and began walking away.

“Marie, sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking…I-”

“I how you still remember how to fight…” I sighed, stopping, but not looking back. “We’re going to need it.”

I heard her wipe her face. “I know.”

And with that, I left. I knew what would happen when I went home, and I knew I wasn’t going to try to stop it...

Yet.