“I’m not a patient here anymore. Living my life how I want to live it is perfectly fine.” Arrow said defensively. “I’m taking it that you don’t want anything? Cool.” He began to back away and bounced his hands up and down in the shape of finger guns.
“I don’t think…”
“I don’t need your negativity, Doc. See you soon.” He turned on his heel and made a beeline for the stairs.
“I wasn’t done talking!” Clive shouted exasperatedly. Arrow raised a hand in nonchalant disregard and continued to walk away with his head down.
Clive didn’t bother going after him. He wasn’t his babysitter and he was not in charge of medically caring for him. Not at this time anyway.
Before Clive moved from the hall to go back to his room, he noticed Pat was making his way into view from the staircase. He glanced at Clive with silent confusion.
“Where is Arrow going?” Pat asked.
“To the store.”
“Oh.” Pat responded simply. Clive noticed more strongly how gangly Pat looked and just how young he was. When they had first met in person and the times he had seen him on TV, he seemed so mature. Clive was quickly learning that was just a front.
“So, from the sound of things, Zion might have us working together.”
“That is what he seems to think.” Pat said.
“What happened after you left us?” Clive said, trying to look into the young man’s downcast eyes.
“I have still been trying to sort it out.”
Clive was hoping Pat would elaborate, but he said nothing else. “Sort…what out?”
“I don’t want to have to rehash it twice. Zion wants me to cover everything tonight, so I should be ready then.” Pat said.
“Oh, right.” Clive nodded. “That’s fine.” An overly friendly smile spread across his face to mask his temporary offense. Clive was accustomed to people opening up to him, but Pat seemed to be reserved and he couldn’t figure out why. “If you need somebody to talk to though, I’m right down the hall.”
“I appreciate it but your room is such a long walk away from my room. Thanks anyway.” Pat was smirking, so Clive sensed it might have been meant as a joke. Even so, Clive had to manage his hurt emotions again when Pat walked away signaling the end of the conversation.
“I’m nice.” Clive reassured himself. “Everybody likes me.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
HARMONY COULD ALREADY sense the patriarchal nature of this establishment when she arrived. It didn’t help that she had seen articles describing how Zion was a hardcore creationist. Because of this, she naturally distrusted him. She typically spent her days with very open-minded people, but these people were Christians.
“It’s wonderful to have another woman stay with us.” Rachel said. “Majority of our adults here are men. While most of them are very nice, I enjoy getting to speak to other women.”
“Do you have any non-binary folks here?” Harmony demanded, an edge to her voice. She didn’t know why she was being so critical of Rachel, but she suddenly felt like she needed to show how inclusive she was by comparison.
Rachel didn’t seem bothered by the question. “Not any that have said as much. Most of the clients we receive are so strung out on drugs or recovering from the trauma of prison, that they do not speak about those things readily.”
This humbled Harmony significantly. Asking about diversity seemed a trivial question compared to questions like, “How is the quality of life for these traumatized individuals?” or “Is there a high success rate for adapting to life in the outside world after this program?”
“That’s so sad.” Harmony mumbled.
“It is.” Rachel nodded solemnly as she took Harmony up a flight of stairs to the second floor. Rachel’s eyes sparkled with the beginning of tears. “This can be some of the most terrible and most fulfilling work.”
As soon as they were on the landing, Rachel led Harmony to the first room off of the right-hand hallway.
“Here is your key.” Rachel said. “You have your own room. We’ll all talk together about the next steps at dinnertime, so I’ll see you then. If you need anything, the phones in the room have a directory.”
Harmony nodded. “Thank you, Rachel.”
Once Rachel had left, Harmony unlocked the door and walked into a room that was painted pale pink with white filmy curtains covering the blinds over the windows. A white canopy bed sat in the right corner closest to the wall facing the staircase. On the left was a narrow doorway leading to a bathroom.
Harmony wandered around the room examining everything. As she pulled open the dresser drawers, she noticed clean women’s clothes folded lovingly in the two top drawers. Gingerly, she pulled out an outfit that had caught her attention. It was a cheetah print sweater and a pair of black leggings. There were even packs of unworn underwear and bras. They had thought of everything.
Harmony took the clothes with her to the bathroom and quickly managed to find a towel and toiletries. She relieved herself and then started up the shower. The water pressure was poor, but the temperature was piping hot. She stripped off her clothes and climbed in.
She let her thoughts wander as the steam hypnotized her into a sleepy daze. She grasped the bar of soap and rubbed it on the loofah until it bubbled up. She scrubbed her body on autopilot and felt her body relax. She hadn’t realized how tense she was. Muscles she didn’t even know existed were stiff. After being in the shower for more than 30 minutes, she turned off the water and grabbed the towel to dry herself. Once she was bone-dry she slipped on the new clothes and left her curls to air dry.
She stopped mid-stride as she stepped out into her room. She saw the woman in blond dreadlocks sitting on her bed. Every inch of visible skin was covered in tattoos. The woman looked like she was made of water floating within a womanly form. Harmony barely dared to breathe.
The mysterious woman raised her bowed head and looked at Harmony with glowing eyes. The seconds stretched into minutes as the two women stared at one another. Harmony’s pulse was beating in her ears and her throat was drying out.
Then the woman stood and began walking towards her. If Harmony hadn’t been so afraid she would have moved out of the way, but instead, she remained glued to the spot. The mystery woman didn’t stop either and passed completely through Harmony’s body. She felt as though bursts of static electricity were passing through her. Then the woman was gone. She had walked easily through the solid wood door.
Defrosted from her panic she spun around, flung the door open, and rushed out into the hall. One woman stood in the hallway in awkward confusion, but she was not the woman with the dreads. Harmony took a few tentative steps forward and looked again. There was no sign of the mystery woman— and that’s when the fear set in.
“Are you okay, sweetie?” The random woman in the hall asked.
Harmony nodded and returned to her room. Cautiously, she examined the entire room for intruders. Under the bed, in the cabinets, behind doors, in closets. Nobody was there, but the room still felt like it was crackling with the strange electricity.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN