After the Calling

<<<<Deceiving the Lie: Part IX A

No warnings. Hmph.

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Roux sat stiffly at the table staring down at the plate of food that had been placed in front of her.

“Aren’t you hungry, honey?” the woman who looked like and claimed to be her mother looked on worriedly.

Roux let her eyes travel slowly from the plate to the woman’s face, but she couldn’t keep them there. It was so disconcerting to have this lady, her mother, seemingly in the flesh, sitting right in front of her. She could hardly think because of it.

“I do wish you’d try a bite. You haven’t eaten solid food in days.”

Roux picked up a fork stiffly, and meekly scooped a lump of food into her mouth. Chewing slowly she realized it was good. Really good. And she was starving. She took another bite and caught a glimpse of the woman beaming at her from across the table. As she ate, the lady began chattering, as if her eating had signaled the opening of a floodgate of words.

“Jeffie has been coming over every day after school to check on you. Lovely young lady she’s turning out to be. I’m really so glad you’re friends, but I just couldn’t let her in to see you. I know you would have just killed me. I mean, when they released you into my care, you were still so swollen and puffy, and I couldn’t just let anyone in willy nilly. I mean you weren’t even awake. And Diane, that silly woman, wants to know when you’ll be back on the squad, and I told her, I said, I’m all for you getting back on your feet, but as for the cheerleading, we’re really going to have to discuss that. I mean, I know how important it is to you, but after this… well, I just don’t know Roux. I’m sure you can find some other way to release your pent up energy. You like chess, right? There’s a chess club at your school, I’m hearing.”

Roux swallowed the food she was chewing, but put the fork down, suddenly losing her appetite.

“Miss,” she said quietly. “I really appreciate this. Feeding me and everything, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She looked down, not wanting to see the hurt that was spreading across the woman’s face. “If you could just help me find Salem…”

“Roux,” the woman sighed. “I don’t know who Salem is. And to be completely honest, I’m not sure you do either. The doctors said that there would be some side effects to the head injury, but –”

“Salem’s my… she’s my guardian,” Roux said into the plate. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The woman shook her head sadly. “You had an accident, honey. You were so dead set on being at the top of that pyramid. I mean, as cheerleading captain, it was your right, but it was so dangerous… you fell, Roux. You hit your head. You were in the hospital for months.”

Roux remained quiet for a long time, before mumbling, “You’re saying I fell off the top of a human pyramid. A cheerleading human pyramid.”

“Yes, sweety.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

The woman sat back in surprise. “Roux, you’ve got a metal plate in your head! Holding your skull together! This was no joke!”

Roux looked up then, staring into the woman’s glistening eyes. She reached up slowly and ran her hand through hair, shocked to find a long ridge down the center of her scalp. “What is that?!” she exclaimed, jerking her hand from her head.

“Staples,” the woman answered. “They’ll dissolve. You’ll have a scar, but your hair will grow long again and cover it.”

Roux suddenly realized that her hair was very short. “Who cut my hair?” she asked, her voice quivering.

“The doctors honey, they had to,” said the woman. “But it’s already growing back.”

Tears were crowding on the edges of Roux’s eyes. “I just want to…” She didn’t know what she wanted. She didn’t know where Salem and Troy were. She didn’t know where she was. There was no where to go, and she couldn’t figure out what to do. She was practically bald, could barely hold up her own weight, and there was a row of staples across her skull. She looked back at the woman spewing insanities to her. “Can I go to…” she looked back towards the pink room that she had been sleeping in. “… my room?”

The woman nodded reluctantly. “Of course, honey. Do you need help?”

Roux shook her head quickly and stood to leave the table. Taking pains to keep her balance, she made her way slowly into the room and shut the door behind her. She let the tears fall freely from her eyes, but tried to keep her sobs to a minimum. She didn’t want that woman coming in to check on her.

She tried to think about what could have happened between the last time she had seen Salem and when she had woken up here, but she realized that she could not really remember the last time she had seen Salem. Her memory was fuzzy, holding snippet of confusing information, places, people. She couldn’t figure out where she was and how she ended up here.

She laid down heavily onto the pink covered mattress and closed her eyes. She was exhausted. From what, she had no idea, but she wanted to sleep. Needed it. At least in her dreams she could pretend she was somewhere else.

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Roux cried out as her knees gave out and she fell over into a tuft of soft grass. Grass?

“What the hell?” she said under her breath when the realization hit that she was outside.

“Are you okay?” a voice said from next to her.

Roux looked up and nearly screamed. She fell back on her palms and scrambled to push herself backward. Standing in front of her was John Levin. One of Nyxon Alexander’s cronies. One of Rowanne’s main suits. One of the many who had been out to get her since she was a little girl. He was a murderer with vendetta against her and he was mere feet away from her… wearing… coveralls…

“I’m sorry,” John said, smiling at her. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. You’re from the uh… McAllen farm, right? That blond hair sure runs strong with you all.”

She stared at him, open-mouthed. “What?” she asked. She couldn’t help herself. He wasn’t trying to kill her. He was smiling at her. In fact, he was making conversation. And he was… wearing coveralls?

“Sorry if I’m crossing over into your property, I just… well, I don’t really remember the boundaries anymore,” he continued. “I don’t know if you heard, but I had a bit of a spill a while back. My best horse, Jinx, threw me right over the stable fence. Hit my head pretty bad, and my memory has been a bit wonky ever since.” He sighed, but it seemed more like he was taking a deep breath of the open air. “I guess it’s what I get for naming a horse, Jinx!” he said, laughing at himself. “Anyhoo, I’ll be on my way. Tell your kin that I gave my regards. Oh, and tell your mother that Granny enjoyed the peach cobbler and is much obliged.”

She watched as he continued on his way through the field and stood up only when he was almost out of view. A light breeze blew in her direction and she felt strands of hair brushing against her shoulder. She reached up and gripped her head, finding her locks had been restored. She ran her hand along the line of her scalp, searching for the disgusting ridge that she had felt before. Her scalp was smooth.

“What the hell?” she whispered to herself again.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when a figure suddenly appeared in her peripheral vision. Roux jerked around, realizing immediately that it was the same woman who she had seen when she had been in a forest, mere yards away from Hadrian.

“You are annoying!” the woman, clad in pokadots and pig tails, fumed. “This isn’t yours! Stay in your own!”

“I – I didn’t mean – I’m – what?” Roux fumbled with her words.

The woman did not explain and before Roux could react, had seized her behind the head.

“Stay in your own,” the woman emphasized, and pressed her fingers against the side of Roux’s temple, pushing her backward.

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Roux woke up with a start. She looked around her. Gone were the lush fields and the smell of hay. She was back the pink room. Back in the middle of confusion. She reached up to touch her scalp. It was once again shorn with a disconcerting ridge down the middle of it.

She sighed. Had she been dreaming? No, she thought to herself. That was not a dream. There was no way she had dreamed that. It too real. Something was wrong here. Very wrong.

Decieving the Lie: Part X >>>>>>