Page 36 of Heartless Heathens

“You were asleep. You missed a lot. Mina come here,” he called her over and she approached nervously, like a scared little animal.

She was just another sheep in Frollo’s little fucked up flock of idiots.

“Romina, what are we going to find up here?” Sonny asked her as if it was some sort of test.

She began to stutter and mumble incoherently, and Sonny exhaled dramatically.

“She sounds like she’s glitching out,” I laughed.

“She does that when she’s trying to lie,” he said to me like he was filling me in on some juicy tidbit he and Felix were already in on. “She’s horrible at it,” he added.

It was like they already knew this girl, and I was somehow behind.

I hated feeling like I was behind.

Missing something.

That was the worst part of these black outs, not knowing what I had done or what may have happened while I was out of it.

“If you’re not going to tell the truth then don’t say anything at all,” Sonny commanded and she stopped her robot-like rambling.

Felix took her under his arm and Sonny led the way up the attic. None of us were prepared for what we would find up there.

“What the fuck?” Felix was the first to break the silence, but only because I didn’t have words yet.

There was an entire living arrangement up here, like someone had been squatting miserably in this hot belltower. The bed was a cheap frame that looked like it had been broken a few times and repaired with less care each attempt. The mattress was old and so thin you could see the lumps from where the springs were breaking.

Springs.

The mattress had fucking springs.

It was something I’d only seen in movies or on old tv shows.

A shabby blanket covered it and there was a little mini fridge next to the bed. A seriously old school television sat on the ground in front of it and I would have bet fifty dollars that if it turned on it would play in black and white.

There was a small oak chest at the end of the bed, and a tiny little desk with a three-legged chair tucked underneath next to a small bookcase. It was crowded with books that didn’t fit inside anymore. On the desk sat a tiny little two burner stove, a pot and a plate next to it.

Someone had been living up here.

It was unimaginably depressing to think about.

“Romina.” Sonny’s voice was filled with a darkness I had not heard in a long time. “Who has been living up here?” he asked her, already seeming to know the answer himself.

“I h-have.” Her voice was clear and though you could tell she was afraid she didn’t seem to bother with trying to hide the truth anymore.

We were too far past that.

Felix clenched his fists till I saw the white in his knuckles and his nostrils flared widely.

“For how long?” He spoke through clenched teeth looking down at her.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“How long did he have you living here?” he gritted out.

“Always,” she said and it sounded like a sharp pin dropping in the water.

Felix turned fast and stormed out of the belltower before taking even another second to examine it. The slamming of his bedroom door echoed loudly enough for us all to hear it even way up here.