Zia leaned on the bed that she was only able to lay on for the last few days. Her arm did not pain her any longer. Her stitches were nearly healed, and she was able to take full, deep breaths. She felt strong.
Suddenly, she frantically felt for the braid in the back of her head, looking for the ring she braided into it. As soon as her fingers felt the ring she exhaled in relief. She was surprised it was still there after her hair was cleaned.
Zia redid the braid and secured the ring once again. She could take it out and wear it once she left the confines of the circus.
Anger was brewing inside of her the longer she stayed in the dark room. It was consuming her each moment that passed. She had never felt this way before.
Her eyes burned and her head felt tense. She needed to find a way to ease her anger and focus on escaping the hell she was forced to survive in.
"Knock, knock. I come bearing gifts." Aeson said pulling Zia out of her thoughts. He wore a smile, as he walked in with a tray of food.
"Oh wow! You are standing, and you took off your arm brace." He said nervously, as he placed the food tray on her bed and reached for her arm. He gently began rotating it and bending her fingers.
"How does this feel? Does it hurt?" He asked.
"Not at all, doctor. It feels completely fine." She replied with a half-smile.
"May I?" He asked as he gestured towards her side. "Of course, doctor." Zia replied, allowing him to examine her stiches.
"You look so much better. You scared us, Zia." He said, with a newfound enthusiasm at her progress.
"So I heard." She replied.
"Here let me check your vitals quickly before you eat." Aeson said. He completed a brief check on Zia to determine how well she was doing.
"Other than your pressure being low, which is probably because you have not been eating, you are about 60-70% healed. This is amazing, Zia. I have never seen anything like this before. Have you always been a healer?" He asked.
"Well, since I was a child, I felt I healed a lot faster than other people. I thought it was because I was young. I never really paid any mind to it." She said, reaching for the tray of food, pulling it closer to her.
"I am very curious to know what it is that allows you to heal like this. He said as he looked at all of Zia's injuries.
"I am not sure why this is happening, but I am just happy I made it through. As a matter of fact, let me try to eat something. I am not very hungry, but I don't want to slow down my progress." She said, pleased with Aeson's assessment.
She knew she had to be strong enough to get out of there, especially on foot. Not eating would weaken her and make it nearly impossible to make it that far.
Zia looked at the tray of food Aeson brought for her. It contained a whole spread of freshly roasted vegetables, brown rice, fruits and natural juice. You shouldn't have, Aeson. This is amazing." Zia replied. Aeson smiled. His energy allowed her to disguise how she really felt at the current moment.
After a few bites of food, Zia was full.
"Aeson, can I ask you something?" She asked as he was packing up his things for the day.
"Sure Zia. What's on your mind?" He asked.
"Well, I know you and Damien are friends, but I wonder, how can someone as sweet as you be close friends with someone like Damien?" She asked hesitantly.
Aeson was thoughtful for a moment. "I guess that is a fair question." He said as Zia smiled, using her fork to shovel around the remains of her food.
"Honestly, Damien saved my life once. When we were younger, I was much smaller than he was. He was older. I used to get bullied a lot, especially by one bully. His name was Cyrus, and he was plain old wicked." Zia looked at Aeson with sadness in her eyes.
"What did he do to you?" She asked.
"Well, Cyrus would always catch me and do crazy things to me. He slammed my head in the toilet, beat me up, took my money or anything nice I would have, like watches or hats. Since I was much smaller, he took advantage as much as he could. I never told my parents because I didn't want to worry them. I would just tell them I fell. I also couldn't handle them coming to school and me being teased because of it." He said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Wow, that is so sad. How did Damien help you?" She asked.
"Well, Damien hardly ever came to school but when he did, he would look out for me. "One day, I walked to school with a pocketknife. I was going to be ready for Cyrus that time. He would not get away with harming me any longer. I did not want to kill him, but I needed to be able to defend myself." He said in deep thought.
Zia could tell he was reliving the pain of it all.
"It is horrible you felt like you needed to protect yourself with a weapon." Zia said with a sadness in her voice. I hope you didn't have to use the knife." Zia said with worry all over her face, as she listed to Aeson.
"Well, I was walking down the hallway to my class when Cyrus grabbed me and dragged me into the bathroom, slamming me against one of the stalls. I reached into my pocket and pulled the knife out swinging it at him. I missed and Cyrus rushed me, tackling me to the floor. Before I could use the knife again, Cyrus grabbed it out of my hand, raised it over his head while sitting on top of me and tried to stab me." He said.
"Oh my goodness, Aeson." Zia cried. "I am sorry Zia, I will stop. I didn't mean to scare you." He said. "No! Please continue. I am just shocked at all of this.
"Are you sure, Zia?" He asked. "Yes, please." She replied.
"Ok. So, Damien appeared out of nowhere and kicked Cyrus off of me with amazing strength. It took a moment for Cyrus to recover from being kicked to the other side of the room. Damien told me to get out of the bathroom and go straight home. I did as I was told. The next day Cyrus wasn't in school. I never saw him again. I was never bothered by anyone again. To this day, Damien never said what he did. Maybe one day he will tell me." Aeson said, ponderingly.
"Maybe he will. Now it makes sense why you feel indebted to him. You wouldn't be here today if he did not step in. I am so sorry you had to endure that. When I see you, I see strength, peace and love. Don't ever change who you are. I appreciate you." Zia said with a smile as she leaned over and hugged Aeson.
"Thank you, Zia. Your kind words mean a lot to me. He said as they released their embrace.
"If you are finished, I will take your tray away for you. Is there anything else you need right now?" He asked.
"Actually, I would like to leave this place. It is cold and damp here. It is making me feel strange." She said as she rolled her fingers around each other, looking at the floor.
"I will see what I can do. I agree. You need to be more comfortable than this." Aeson said, looking around displeased with the room.
"Sit tight. I will deal with Damien." He said picking up the tray.
"Ok, Aeson." Zia replied, knowing that whatever the outcome between Damien and Aeson would be, it wouldn't change that she was leaving on her own. She just needed to get out of the holding room.