Page 11 of Heartless Heathens

I turned the sink on, turning my head to the side before shoving my mouth under the faucet, letting the water pour directly down my throat until I was practically choking from the force of it.

I was soaked, but at least now I had plenty to drink.

Walking back through the same bedroom I came in from, I took my time observing the space now that I didn’t feel like I was a stone’s throw away from death’s door. That’s when I noticed the little bookshelf next to the bed, and the word LIES captured my eye fast enough to force my feet closer. I picked it up and tucked it under my arm before climbing out the window and making my way back to my bell tower.

I happily ate a bag of chips while looking at the campus from Laverne’s ledge. Here I had a 360 view of the entire property. The lake glimmered a beautiful bronze hue while the sun set slowly over the reflected horizon, marking the end of another day. Each one felt like a countdown, but for what I didn’t know.

I heard the shuffling of grass and turned my head to see a reddish-haired student standing on the ground, just outside one of the chapel’s windows. He cupped his hands around his eyes while he tried to peer through the glass to take a look at what was inside. Even though I was watching him without his knowledge, there was something churning in my belly that made me uncomfortable about him watching them.

“Help me out Laverne,” I whispered over to her, and the resident crow flapped his way out of her mouth, taking a giant crow poop on his head.

“What?” he said in a confused tone, trying to remain soft and unheard but as the slow realization set in while he fingered his way through the bird poo in his hair his disgust became impossible to mask.

He dry heaved loudly enough to have one of the boys open the door and that’s when he took off running, cursing into the wind while he ran across campus with the wrath of Laverne on his head.

“Thanks, I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me.” I tapped her on the head and retreated back into the belltower. I spent most of my time up here, high above the attic, when the boys were in the chapel. Otherwise I was constantly tiptoeing and making sure I wouldn’t be noticed.

The belltower was a good two stories up from the chapel, here was the only place I felt free from the crushing panic I fell into every time I played out the scenarios in my head of them finding me.

Would they hurt me?

Would they toss me into a poorhouse to get rid of me?

Would Father Frollo fight to protect me when he’s tried to keep me from the world?

He had left me up here to starve for a week now. Would he do anything at all for me?

The heat of the summer was in full force, and I swept my silvery black hair into a bundle before tying it at the top of my head, letting the cool breeze dry the sweat beading on the back of my neck. I reached into my tote bag of treasures courtesy of the men living below me and pulled out a cold can of something.

It said hard seltzer on it, whatever that meant. What was soft seltzer? Was the can made of a different material? I drank big gulps of the fizzy fruity drink, suddenly feeling a pressure in my stomach from all of the bubbles piling up. The sound of my belch must have hit every tree in the nearby vicinity and I bent over the ledge of the stone balcony on the belltower to look below me.

Phew, that was close. My heart beat in my chest thunderously. I finished the can in three or four more swallows.

It was fantastic. I cracked another can open and chugged it down before realizing I’d soon have to climb all the way down again just to pee.

Since Father Frollo wasn’t coming for me, I didn’t have to pretend to use the bucket.

I burped loudly again, this time giggling at how the drink could force it out of me no matter how hard I tried to fight it. I reached into my tote and pulled out the book I’d found, still smelling the spicy, woodsy scent of that bedroom soaked into the pages. I hadn’t gotten anything new to read in weeks now, the worst part about summer break was that campus buildings like the library locked up until term started again.

I would have read a service manual for a lawnmower; I was so desperate to consume some sort of new content. Running my fingers over the cover of the book, I admired the satin feel of it under my touch, before finally noticing the title.

God of Lies.

I read the first few pages before the words began to blur into each other. My vision wasn’t the only thing that was hazy, it felt like my whole body was buzzing.

What was in that drink?

I stood up, my head feeling light and woozy from the sudden change. I shoved another handful of chips down my throat before I stepped and stumbled a bit. The room shifted under me and the floorboards lost their focus.

Or maybe I lost my focus? A wave of dizziness that paired itself with nausea struck me hard. The room spun and I lowered to my knees, slowly crawling my way over to Maria as if she could in any way help me.

She was just a bell.

Maybe I should have stayed outside where Laverne could see me, maybe she’d carry me to my bed.

Unlikely, she’d already done me a favor today, a second would be pulling teeth at this point. I resigned to defeat and lowered my face to the ground slowly, turning my head to the side to feel the coolness of the wooden plank under my skin.

That felt nice.