Disorientated, disbelief and an abnormal amount of pain flooded in the moment she opened her eyes.
It took her a few blinks to get to the right of vision and get rid of the blurriness and when she did, she moved to her side, curling like a child just so that pain would decrease.
They hit her and most likely recorded it to send it to Leah's father. That would also explain why they had not been here for two days. That gap was left for Mr Adams to fill, his reaction was going to be taken into account. He must not have reacted which made the woman take harsh measures and before.
They had beaten her to the inch of life and if Mr Adams did not reply even now, she was going to die.
Victoria tried to get up but her limbs and muscles screamed in agony and opposition. There was no way she could get up from the bed but she had to look for safety or at least know for certain if they were here or not.
The first thing she saw was the packet of food, bigger than the previous one, lying on the other side of the bed along with a pack of water bottles.
It was clear who so ever had given her that had a heart in this place.
By the time she reached for the packet, she had almost drained herself of all the energy her body had acquired. On touching the packet, it was cold which made her believe that she must have been out for a few hours.
Shaking her head at the limited number of options she had, that were to eat or not to eat, she chose the former and the better one.
But first she drank an entire bottle of water before picking up another and reaching for an antibiotic but stopped the moment she was about to pop it out.
Did she really need antibiotics? Because she had just been beaten and maybe a muscle or a bone or too had broken but she still did not need an antibiotic.
The boy needed it more especially with the ones that had punched his foot. Sighing at her thoughts, she picked up three tacos out of five and two water bottles.
*****
Wordlessly, she handed him the food and the water bottles before falling into a sitting position right next to him.
This time she did not care if she was touching him or not. Her body ached enough for her to not care about things that were unnecessary.
"Thanks," He barely said the word before serving half of the taco into his mouth. Victoria could feel him looking at the side of her face that was bruised and by the looks of how she was walking and sitting, anyone could tell that she was unwell physically.
"What happened?" He asked after sometime and she could hear the crinkle of the water bottle.
She gulped, "I got beat."
"Why?" She could feel his shock. "You can't give them anything. They should have left alone."
"Ouch," she hissed, "but thank you for saying that."
"No," he drank a sip, "I mean that your parents cannot give her anything and nor does she know them. So why would she harm you?"
Victoria just ended up shaking. She had thought about it before this situation and now it seemed like nothing but a situation where the woman was desperate and was seeking any kind of advantage she could get.
"Do you remember the girl they threw in our cell?"
"Yeah?"
"Except for the hair colour and health, we look the same."
The boy was silent for a minute before he concluded, "She is using you for her parents."
"Yeah." Victoria sighed, "that."
"And I am guessing they did not reply which is why they hit you. They went a step further."
Victoria agreed, "that too."
"Yet, here you are with tacos in your hands for me." He huffed. " why the fuck would you do that? You look like you cannot not even get past the stairs!"
"Almost didn't." She agreed, having a small flashback of how she had to sit after every two stairs to rest and build energy just to repeat the same action again.
With a slight smile on her face even though it was uncomfortable to stretch her lips, Victoria angled her face to the side so that she could look at him directly, "you know, sometimes I wish I was just like you. Careless, unforgiving and just not kind. It would have helped me so much."
The British boy was speechless for the first time. They held and leveled the stair before he looked away and nodded to himself, almost in a daze.
Turning back to her, he said, "kind people like you keep unforgiving people like me alive."
Victoria smiled but the sadness in her eyes stood out. "Not worth what we go through, brit boy. Not worth it."