Old Version Shatter Pieces

Chapter 35: Slapped

Carter

I sat outside the bathroom door, listening for any movement. The only thing I could hear was the gentle sound of running water. I wanted to try to get Elinn to open the door again, but I knew it wouldn't work.

When Elinn had originally run out of the kitchen Darius, Xander, and I had all followed her. When we had reached the bathroom door something had been placed in front of it and we couldn't open the door. We had all pounded on the door trying to her but she wouldn't open it. Her brothers begged her to let them into no avail.

She had been in the bathroom for about two hours now and hadn't moved from wherever she was. I had been listening intently and there had been no movement and it was beginning to worry me. Right as I was about to give up I could herd Elinn moving around.

I scrambled to get to my feet as she moved whatever was in front of the door. I tried to make it look as though I hadn't been constantly worrying over the past hour. I knew that Elinn was standing right on the other side of this door, but I wasn't going to open it, I would wait until she was ready. After a few seconds, the door slowly opened and she stuck her head out.

"Elinn your drenched and shivering! Let's get you into some dry clothes and wrap you in a blanket. I don't want you getting a cold." I swept her into my arms and ran my hands up her quivering arms hoping the friction would warm them.

"Carter....I think I want to tell you about what it was like there. I need to tell someone so that I can start to get better and I think I trust you enough to tell you. Can you take me to your room so we can talk? I promise I will let a doctor look at my feet and make sure I'm okay after, but I have to get this all out before I lose my nerve." Elinn said it all so fast it took me a couple minutes to figure out what she was saying.

"Sure we can go to my room, but I have to insist that you change before anything else. You need to get warm so you don't get hypothermia and that isn't negotiable." Elinn nodded understanding that I needed this to ensure that she would be okay.

I hurried through the halls heading towards my room. When I tried to sneak by the living room we were caught by her brothers. They shot to their feet and were by my side in two seconds.

"WHAT THE HECK ELINN! YOU SCARED US TO DEATH! YOU CAN'T JUST GO RUNNING AROUND LOCKING YOURSELF IN BATHROOMS WHEN YOU DON'T WANT TO FACE THE REAL WORLD!" Xander yelled at Elinn as if she were some child who needed scolding

"THAT IS NOT THE WAY NORMAL PEOPLE BEHAVE! IT'S WHAT CRAZY PEOPLE DO, PEOPLE WHO HAVE REAL ISSUES WITH THEIR HEADS!" Darius followed up as he shook his head in disapproval.

I was about to start throwing punches when Elinn tapped my shoulder. She gestured for me to put her down and I did cautiously not wanting her to aggravate her feet. She looked up at her seething brothers and took a deep breath as if she were about to give a long explanation.

Suddenly the loud slap of a hand hitting someone filled the room. It took me a minute to register that Elinn had just slapped Darius across the face. Then before any of us could say a word she slapped Xander too. They both had hand prints on their cheeks and a shocked look in their eyes.

"You don't get to talk down to me like that. You don't know what I've been through the past twelve years, no one does. I have been beaten, whipped, cut open, deprived of every human decency and made into a slave. So you don't get to stand there and tell me that I don't function like a normal person.

News flash I never will, PTSD does that to a person. Being beaten every day and being told you deserve it does that to a person. Having to sleep in a room with only a box and a bucket does that to a person. I have issues, if you don't like it you can leave!" I had never seen Elinn like this before. She was sticking up for herself and I liked it, I wasn't sure what had happened in that bathroom but I was a fan.