Page 62 of Distortion
‘Daisy.’
‘Mm.’
Fuck it.
I get out of the car with her in my arms and take her to the door. I can hear the music from out here. The brothers have been instructed to be as loud as possible tonight and it looks like they’re taking their orders to heart. I ring the bell and one of the pledges gets it.
‘Oh, fuck!’ He exclaims when he sees me holding Daisy. ‘What did you do to the retard?’
‘Get the fuck out of the way, pledge,’ I snarl so vehemently that he takes a couple steps back, looking from me to the girl in my arms.
‘I’m tired as shit and cold as hell,’ I say to cover my outburst as I walk up the stairs with her.
I get to the top floor and, instead of taking her to her room, I bring her into mine. I lay her on my bed and take one last look at her before I turn and press PLAY.
A screeching death metal track fills the room and the singer starts yelling. Her eyes snap open, and her mouth parts as she gasps. She blinks up at the ceiling and scrambles up, throwing herself into the corner and covering her ears. She’s breathing hard as her eyes find me in my chair,pretending I’m not noticing her when in fact I can see her in the mirror in the corner of the room.
Her eyes are confused and shocked and swimming with unshed tears as she tries to figure out what’s going on. She stares accusingly at the back of my head before she glances around, spies the door, and runs out to her own room across the hall.
I bring up the cameras, so I can watch everything. I put in some earplugs and turn up the volume so she can’t escape it even in there. I watch as she goes into her room and shuts the door. She stands in the middle of the floor and sinks down, curling into herself as she covers her ears.
Any minute now she’s going to do something on-camera that we can take to John and get her out of here. Shade mentioned she might throw things or get violent. But a part of me is disappointed and wishes she’d hold on.
I really want to fuck her.
But she surprises me. She stands up and takes something out of her pocket. I squint. It looks like folded paper, or something. She thrusts it into her desk drawer, grabs her towel, and leaves the room.
I let out a breath. If she thinks she’s getting a hot shower, she’s got another thing coming.
I hear her pad down the hall and the bathroom door closes with a bang.
I peer out of my room and listen as the shower starts, but it doesn’t stop after a while. She’s actually showering in the freezing water. I figured she’d wait when it didn’t warm up.
I frown. She was already cold.
I go back to my desk. This isn’t fun anymore. Even if Shade is right and she jumped into the river on purpose, this is fucked up. We’re taking it too far. She’s going to end up in the hospital with hypothermia, or something.
The door opens a little while later and I hear her paddown the hall. I watch the cameras and she goes into her room, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. When the door is closed, she goes to the bed and takes the comforter off, wrapping it around herself like a cocoon and sitting in the chair at her desk. Her hand darts out and picks up a book and she cracks it open.
After a few minutes of staring at the same page, she puts it down and rubs her head.
She gets up and before I realize it, there’s a tentative knock on the door.
I answer it and pretend I’m surprised that it’s her.
‘What is it, shut-in?’ I ask.
She falters and I wince internally. ‘I just wondered if you had any of those pills. The painkillers.’
‘Sorry,’ I force myself to lie. ‘I’m out.’
‘Oh. Okay.’ She’s shivering. ‘There was no hot water.’
Her tone isn’t accusing. She doesn’t know it’s been turned off on purpose.
‘Yeah, I heard. The maintenance guy is coming out tomorrow,’ I lie.
She turns away, going back to her room and I go back to the feed.
