knives out, ethan landry

xvii. PEEL AND UNPEELED

CHAPTER XVII:

( peel and unpeeled )

     SAKADI FELT LIKE SHE WAS GOING TO VOMIT EVERY LAST ORGAN IN HER BODY UNTIL ALL THAT REMAINED OF HER WERE BONES. Anika was dead. Sam and Mindy were back at the complex, but Anika was dead. Dead. God, why was the bathroom made with such bright murals?

Kade sat in her wheelchair with the bag of clothes on her lap and an unblinking stare at the multicolored linoleum tiles.

She was clean from the shower in her room and somehow she felt that her own clothes would provide her some form of satisfaction from leaving the drab hospital gown but aside from getting out of the gown, she wanted to peal out of her own flesh. Take her nails, puncture and break the skin, rake past the surface, then peel away. Tug at the tattooed surfaces, allow the blood to spill on the tile and seep through the cracks.

      The gilded eyes of her skull bore holes through the sight of her booted and propped-up foot. Bruised bone. Fucking bruised bone. The natural sign of grief shot through her nose while she compulsively gnawed at her bottom lip and her eyes agonizingly grew watery. Bruised bone. Bruised bone. Bruised bone. Bruised bone. Bruised bone.

      There hadn't been a monumental event embarking when Sakadi's breath suddenly hitched at the start of bile rising. When her lip started to tremble. When her nose began to run. When her hands started to shake. When her head hung low. Or when the tears finally fell into her lap.

She hadn't cried like this since last spring when she told her parents why she desperately needed to switch majors from criminal justice to fashion management after her first day in class. Only these tears weren't of humiliation and fear. These tears were of grief and mourning and anxiety and pent-up petrification as she pulled the gown over her sore body.

      The night's toll ticket to pay for her life had been aching muscles. The fluorescent lighting revealed the discolored bruises she gained from any injuries her adrenaline numbed. Kade had to stifle a scream as she lifted her arms to pull over the t-shirt Ethan had picked out for her.

      For once, she was grateful for him, contrary to her tears.

      Finished with putting the rest of her clothes on, she was still crying. Shoving the blue gown into the bag the fresh clothes had been in, pathetic rasps of breathing jolted her body in the wheelchair and she found the strength to pull up her right leg to her chest and put a hand over her mouth.

      The girl didn't care how long the outside world seemed to spin on its inevitable axis. She would be stuck in time in the ill-lit bathroom as she reeled back her security.

      Finally pushing her hair out of her face and tucking it behind both of her ears, she calmed herself as she had done so many times before.

Breathe in three counts...

      And out four counts...

      Breathe in three counts...

      And out four counts...

Wipe the tears, wash her face, breathe in, and breathe out. Leg down, breathe in, breathe out, and everything will heal itself like it always has before.

Sakadi Renaux will heal herself like she always has before.

SAKADI WAS IN THE BATHROOM FOR HALF AN HOUR WHILE HER CLOSEST FRIENDS PATIENTLY YET CONCERNINGLY WAITED FOR HER TO COME BACK TO THEM. Tara separated herself from the group and approached the locked door on the other side of the waiting room. Her ear nearly pressed against the door to hear slight sniffles coming from inside but soon they were followed by a deep breath before the door opened.

Sakadi Renaux was perfectly fine. Her hair was shiny, her cheeks were naturally blushed, her lips were lush, and her eyes remained as fierce as they never failed to be.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Tara lowly asked the girl as she wheeled herself out of the doorframe.

For a moment it seemed like she was about to break. Like every last strip of duct tape and sewn-up piece of patchwork, she crafted herself from had been ready to peel off to the stained linoleum to reveal what she had been doing for the last thirty minutes. But then she just furrowed her perfectly threaded brows at the question.

      "Yeah, had a problem getting the shorts on, but I'm all good." Tara hesitantly nodded at her statement but left it at that.

      "And she lives!" Callum exclaimed at the sight of the exhausted designer.

      "I live!" She exclaimed back with her arms in the air just as she had done on her first appearance. "But, I have one question." The interests of her friends had been piqued by the sternness of her tone. Her eyes shifted to Ethan. "How were you able to put together a decent outfit for me but you can't even try to put one together for yourself?"

They sighed at her unserious remark while Ethan groaned. "Here I was thinking you would, like, ask if someone could wait on you hand and foot because you're too hurt to do anything yourself."

Sakadi grinned. A real grin. "So you're saying you're welcome to the idea?" Passersby's watched the friend group concerned while they strolled out staying close to the girl on wheels.

"I- No, I'm not welcome to the idea because I know you'll force me to do it!"

      "See, Ethan? You're already prepared for the role."

Finally, as the young adults exited the hospital entrance, they felt like they had their normal back at last, even if it was only for a little.

NOTE. i would like to thank metro for getting me thru this chapter in one sitting