Chapter 84 - Miss. Cheyenne
Freeing her foot was much easier once there were two people with proper leverage to lift the shelf from. There was a deep gash in her ankle, and the woman, whom Morrigan had yet to catch the name of, felt tentatively around the wound. She then forced Morrigan’s foot to move, which made her wince. “It’s sprained but doesn’t seem broken. You got lucky,” she said. “Stand up. I’ll help you upstairs.”
“I’m fine,” Morrigan hissed through her teeth as she got back to her feet. It hurt to put weight on it, but it wasn’t exactly unbearable.
“Fine, suit yourself if you wish to cause yourself unnecessary pain, but I will be treating that wound.”
Morrigan pulled her hood back over her head as she hobbled over to the staircase, each step feeling like a spike was shooting up her leg.
Once upstairs, the woman led them to the first room in the lower hall which was equipped like a hospital room.
“Pepper, stand in that corner. Morrigan, sit on the exam table,” the woman ordered.
“Are you a doctor?” Morrigan asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Military medic. Fifteen years of fieldwork,” she snapped. “Now sit.”
Morrigan glared at her, but since she had little alternative and her leg actually needed treatment, she complied and sat down. She just hated being ordered like that.
Pepper was wringing her hands as she stood in the corner and muttered. “I-I’m sorry, Miss. Cheyenne.”
“You can save your I’m sorrys,” Cheyenne said as she started gathering supplies from the cabinet. “You two are going to be responsible for whatever was damaged down there. If you thought life here in the group home was tough, you’re really going to hate juvie. And that’s somewhere you won’t be sneaking out from.”
Morrigan didn’t like this woman at first, but after that little threat, she downright hated her. “We’re responsible? That shelf fell on me! I could have seriously gotten hurt. That was a hazard just waiting to happen!”
“You snuck out of your room. You should have never been down there in the first place.”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re just lucky I didn’t get a more serious injury. I could have had a law suit on my hands.” Morrigan was pretty sure that was true, anyway. Either way, she knew that threat about juvie was just that, an idle threat.
Cheyenne pointed a finger at Morrigan and gave her a stern look. “I’ve had plenty of girls like you come through here over the years Miss. Livingston. You think you’re clever, but not clever enough to know when it’s better to just be quiet and do what you’re told.”
“Maybe I just don’t like listening to people who treat me like a criminal.”
“And you wouldn’t have to be treated like a criminal if you didn’t insist on fighting everyone at every turn!” She forcefully positioned Morrigan’s leg and then started treating her wound. “I was told all about you. First, you disappear for three whole months, nobody knowing if you’re alive or dead. I’m sure you were aware of how big the story got and how much effort the police have been putting into finding you. You could have put a stop to it at any time, but you didn’t.”
“It wasn’t like that! I—”
“And now that you’re caught, you’ve been uncooperative and fighting every single person who’s tried to help you around every single corner. But you don’t think of that. All you think about is how unfair it all is to you!” She was aggressively wrapping the bandages at this point, but somehow, she did it so smoothly that it was as if she had done it a thousand times.
Morrigan wasn’t paying much attention to her leg anymore, though. She was more focused on the verbal beating that was just laid on her as she gritted her teeth. “The hell do you know?” She leaned back with her palms behind her, her fingers splayed over the cold exam table. “Nobodys ever helped me. I’ve always had to fend for myself, and even now, after getting picked up by that cop, not a single one of you adults has actually listened to me. So save it with telling me how grateful I should be.”
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Cheyenne finished wrapping the bandage and sealed it with a piece of medical tape. “Well, no matter how hard you may or may not have had it, you live in a society. So whatever you may think about who you are, you can’t just have things your way. It’s like that for everyone, no matter what your age is.”
Morrigan clicked her teeth and looked down at her bandaged leg as Cheyenne started putting her supplies away.
“Now, I’d like to know how you two got out of your room in the first place.”
Morrigan only shrugged one shoulder in response.
Cheyenne turned her gaze to Pepper and folded her arms. “Pepper? How did you get out?”
“I… I don’t know… I…” Pepper sunk deeper into her shoulders.
Morrigan sighed. “It was me. I slipped some tape into the door jam when you let me out to use the bathroom.”
“I see. And why did you go down to the basement?”
Morrigan smiled softly. “Well… do you believe in ghosts?”
“Ghosts?”
“Yeah. Pepper told me this place was haunted. I wanted to see for myself. I kind of forced Pepper to show me, so she shouldn’t get into trouble. I just wanted to take a look, and then the shelf ended up falling on me.”
Cheyenne scoffed. “Ridiculous…” she muttered before turning her gaze to Pepper. “Young lady, we’ve been through this enough times. There is nothing in that basement. And you need to grow a little bit of a backbone. If Morrigan told you to jump out the window, would you do it?”
Pepper vehemently shook her head no.
“Alright. Enough of this. Back to your room you two. I’ll let Sarah decide what to do with you in the morning.”
With that, Cheyenne ushered them back upstairs, Morrigan limping slightly but trying to hide it. At the door, Cheyenne examined the jam and then peeled off the strip of tape. “Well, at least I know to keep a closer eye on you. Now get to bed.”
Morrigan didn’t argue but she was sick and tired of being ordered around like this. After getting in bed, she heard Cheyenne lock the door and then jiggle it to test it. Then, Morrigan just laid awake staring at the ceiling in the dark room.
“Hey… Morrigan?” Pepper whispered.
“Hm?”
“Um… You didn’t make me come with you. Why did you say that?”
“Figured she was going to hate me one way or another, so no point getting you in trouble. Besides, I don’t plan on staying here.”
“I’m sorry your leg got hurt.”
“It’s not too bad…” she sighed, knowing it was going to make shadow stepping all but impossible. Death could shadow step from a standstill, but she needed a running start first, which would be impossible until her leg healed.
“Um… what did you do to it? The gho—um… hollow.”
“Can’t talk about it. Sorry. Just pretend you didn’t see any of that. It won’t be bothering you anymore though. It’s gone.”
“You exorcized it?”
“If you want to see it that way.” Morrigan rolled onto her side with her back facing Pepper. “I’m tired. Go to sleep.”
Silence hung in the air for a little while but Pepper had one more thing to say. “Thank you, Morrigan. I’m really very grateful.”
“Grateful for what?”
“That I met you. I know you said you have to leave and I can’t go with you. But I am glad I met you. Even if I’ve only known you for one day.”
“Well, it was interesting meeting you, too. I didn't know regular humans could see spirits.”
“Regular… humans?”
“Uh. Forget it. I just phrased it weird. Look, I don’t think I can talk to you about this stuff, so stop asking. Okay?”
“Okay… I’m sorry.”
“And you don’t need to apologize. Anyway, I do need to sleep. Talk in the morning?”
It was too dark to see Pepper, even if Morrigan was facing her, but she could almost hear the smile in her voice. “Okay. Talk to you in the morning. Good night.”
Morrigan felt bad for her. She didn’t know much about Pepper, but she could tell how lonely she was. Probably because Morrigan related to that. But, its not like she could take her with her.
She wondered where Noir was and why he hadn’t shown himself yet. As far as she knew, she would still be expected to do some reaping tomorrow, so why hadn’t she been briefed on the game plan yet?
Then, she had the idea to whisper very quietly. “Noir… are you here?”
There was no response. So, she closed her eyes and eventually let herself drift off to sleep.
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